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Mac Pro 2.66 Nehalem Upgrade

T

thattallchap

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 28, 2006
9
0
Chaps,

I've currently got a MacPro 4.1 2.66 (W3520) all running nicely however, I've done the EFI flash to 5.1 - all good - and installed 16Gb of 1333mhz cooled DDR3 - again, all good - but I'd like to upgrade the W3520 for 3.06 W3550 that I recently manage to bag.

Whilst it fits and runs nicely, my MacPro is overheating one of the Northbridge chips and hence it shuts down. I have no idea why this is over heating!

Now, I'm not a complete idiot, but this is starting to frustrate me, and I can only assume that the W3550 requires something that i don't have!

Any idea's, comments and general help, would be very much appreciated.

Cheers
D
 
What temperatures and behaviours are you seeing from the northbridge and its heat-sink? I see 60°C and 50°C respectively at idle.

The northbridge and its heat-sink are located under the processor heat-sink block and it has an external lead connecting its temperature sensor to the processor board. It's probably worth checking to see if this lead has become dislodged or damaged.
 

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cal6n said:
What temperatures and behaviours are you seeing from the northbridge and its heat-sink? I see 60°C and 50°C respectively at idle.

The northbridge and its heat-sink are located under the processor heat-sink block and it has an external lead connecting its temperature sensor to the processor board. It's probably worth checking to see if this lead has become dislodged or damaged.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll double check this
 
So, having pop'd the troublesome 3.06quad back into My MacPro, and following the steps on the ArcticSilver web site (around applying the Thermal compound), its still a no go.

With the new CPU installed, it will happily boot and do nothing, so I've assuming that this means there isn't an issue with the CPU but, as soon as you place any load on the machine - ie open a heavy app - Steam or Handbrake etc - it bomb's.

There doesn't appear to be any issues on the Northbridge H/Sink, no obvious issues with the connector. So I'm officially out of idea's

If any members have upgraded their 2009 4.1/ 5.1 (with Firmware upgrade) to a similar CPU, please let me know what you've had success with - and not.
 
What steps did you take when you did the CPU swap? Did you follow a tutorial? If so, which one?

You haven't used the 2mm washer trick, have you? That only applies to the dual processor models.

Also, have you tried the W3550 with the original 4,1 firmware? It shouldn't need the 5,1 version, although it shouldn't hurt either.

However, it does sound like you're overheating badly. I upgraded from a ver. 4,1 W3520 to a ver. 5,1 W3680 with no issues whatsoever. I don't use Arctic Silver, though. I use Zalman ZM-STG1. It has the same thermal properties but can be applied precisely where required, as it is applied with a brush.
 
cal6n said:
I certainly agree with that. I'd probably use TemperatureMonitor, though.
Click to expand...
Already using this, hence i knew that the Northbridge chipset was over heating massively.

I used the Arctic Silver instruction set, but to be far the additional attention to detail made no difference at all however, i feel better for using it; which i suppose is the point and no mate - Im not using the old washer/ 2p trick :)

I get the feeling its the 5.1 firmware, or something odd with the CPU clock and the expectations of the N/Bridge chip. I also get the feeling that i've been sold a dodgy CPU! - Shame i can't test it on anything else :(
 
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I did the 4,1 to 5,1 flash and put a W3680 in my formerly 4core Mac Pro a while back. As I browse MacRumors, my Northbridge Chip is running 51c, the heatsink 41c. Ambient temperature is 22c per Temperature Monitor.

Sounds like it may be a bad CPU.
 
DPUser said:
I did the 4,1 to 5,1 flash and put a W3680 in my formerly 4core Mac Pro a while back. As I browse MacRumors, my Northbridge Chip is running 51c, the heatsink 41c. Ambient temperature is 22c per Temperature Monitor.

Sounds like it may be a bad CPU.
Click to expand...

Yeah, thats my worry!

I'll take a look at the W3680 and see what the costs are like - how does it perform, or is that a really daft question :)
 
Chaps, has anyone fitted a Xeon L5639 into there Mac Pro, in theory its the same socket, however 6 cores, lower CPU and Voltage feeds.

I'd be really interested in seeing if this is a viable option.
 
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