Mac Pro 1,1 CPU upgrade

[michael_aos]

My Mac Pro 1,1 (2x dual-core 2.66Ghz 5150's) is starting to feel a little sluggish.

8x 2GB = 16GB RAM, ATI 5770. Just ordered an OWC Mercury Accelsior PCIe 240GB SSD.

What are my options for a relatively straightforward CPU upgrade to last me another year?
--

 

[bpd115]

My Mac Pro 1,1 (2x dual-core 2.66Ghz 5150's) is starting to feel a little sluggish.

8x 2GB = 16GB RAM, ATI 5770. Just ordered an OWC Mercury Accelsior PCIe 240GB SSD.

What are my options for a relatively straightforward CPU upgrade to last me another year?
--

The x5355s for about $116 total on eBay. 8 core 2.66s. There are 5365s @ 3Ghz but the price difference isn't worth it. These are straight drop in upgrades, just did this to my machine about 2 weeks ago. Gives you a Geekbench score in the 9000-10000 range. You can also flash the firmware to a 2,1 model as well...although I believe the only benefit there is the correct CPU identifier in about this Mac, but it was easy enough to do.

I was looking at the Accelsior PCIe 120 gig SSD but I wanted it for a NEW Mac Pro since the 1,1 wouldn't use the full speed of the card. I guess that waits for 2013.

Let me know how it performs compared to a standard SSD (if you have one in your machine now).....

 

[michael_aos]

I do have an OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD 240GB now for comparison.

 

[michael_aos]

I was looking at the Accelsior PCIe 120 gig SSD but I wanted it for a NEW Mac Pro since the 1,1 wouldn't use the full speed of the card.

Thanks for the tip. I hadn't realized the Accelsior wasn't truly compatible with the Mac Pro 1,1. I'll be returning it when it arrives.
--

 

[TableSyrup]

hmmmm

 

[michael_aos]

My plan has been to just immediately return the OWC Mercury Accelsior as not being truly compatible with the 2006 Mac Pro 1,1.

They do have a note:

2007 & 2006: Mac Pros utilize four PCIe 1.0 slots. By utilizing the Expansion Utility in OS X, you can configure these slots for your needs. Installing Accelsior in Slot 2 can deliver up to 380MB/s data rate performance, but will reduce video graphics card speed. Installing Accelsior in Slot 3 or 4 will deliver 190-200MB/s data rates, but will not affect video graphics card speed. Slot 1 should only be used for video graphics cards.

I don't understand why the default 8x slot-4 wouldn't have the same speed as slot-2 in the modified config.

I'm not clear how big a deal the reduced graphics card speed is going to be. If it's not noticeable, I guess I could just keep it.