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Mac Pro 2010 single to dual CPU upgrade

N

nebc100

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 28, 2012
15
0
Hello All,

I am new here so please forgive me if this question has already been asked.

I have just been given (yes, I was lucky) a 2.8Ghz Quad-Core single CPU machine.

I have acquired a dual CPU board, and this evening I tried switching the one CPU that I have over in to the new CPU board.

Sadly, it doesn't seem to work. The machine won't post, and the fans simply run a full speed.

Can some-one advise me...

1. will a dual board run with only one CPU in it?
2. will a CPU from a base mac pro (SP) work in a DP board?
3. I have ordered an X5650 CPU (single CPU) Will I be able to use it on its own in the dual CPU board (I hope to buy a second such CPU when I can find one for a good price).

Thanks for your help.

Best regards.

Nicholas Cross
 
Hi,

The answer is no. The Dual board is going to require two QPI in order to work. The dual boards require two cpus for it to work, and if you tried the w series w3560? 2.8 Nehalem? - NO W series based CPU will work in a dual QPI board. You will have to get two X or E series chips for it to work.

Hope this helps.


nebc100 said:
Hello All,

I am new here so please forgive me if this question has already been asked.

I have just been given (yes, I was lucky) a 2.8Ghz Quad-Core single CPU machine.

I have acquired a dual CPU board, and this evening I tried switching the one CPU that I have over in to the new CPU board.

Sadly, it doesn't seem to work. The machine won't post, and the fans simply run a full speed.

Can some-one advise me...

1. will a dual board run with only one CPU in it?
2. will a CPU from a base mac pro (SP) work in a DP board?
3. I have ordered an X5650 CPU (single CPU) Will I be able to use it on its own in the dual CPU board (I hope to buy a second such CPU when I can find one for a good price).

Thanks for your help.

Best regards.

Nicholas Cross
Click to expand...
 
May I ask where you got the board and how much you paid? I also consider turning my Single-CPU into a dual one. Thanks.
 
nebc100 said:
1. will a dual board run with only one CPU in it?
Click to expand...

Yes all dual CPU boards work with only one CPU.

2. will a CPU from a base mac pro (SP) work in a DP board?
Click to expand...

No. You need a Xeon 5500 or 5600 series CPU and those from SP Mac Pros are 3500 or 3600 series. It does however work the other way around.

3. I have ordered an X5650 CPU (single CPU) Will I be able to use it on its own in the dual CPU board (I hope to buy a second such CPU when I can find one for a good price).
Click to expand...

Yes. You will only be able to use half the memory slots until you have two processors.
 
I have just been through this exact process myself, but with X5680 (3.33GHz) chips. Didn't try the original chip in there, so can't speak for it not posting, but with a single X5680 in there it booted fine, however, the fans did run flat tack. Once the second chip arrived from a different seller (first eBay seller tried to rip me off, thank goodness PayPal were behind me) and I installed that, the fans instantly went back to normal, however, everything else worked normally with just one processor, but needs to be the X version.
 
maximage said:
I have just been through this exact process myself, but with X5680 (3.33GHz) chips. Didn't try the original chip in there, so can't speak for it not posting, but with a single X5680 in there it booted fine, however, the fans did run flat tack. Once the second chip arrived from a different seller (first eBay seller tried to rip me off, thank goodness PayPal were behind me) and I installed that, the fans instantly went back to normal, however, everything else worked normally with just one processor, but needs to be the X version.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that comment!! I have an X5650 (the X5680s are too expensive for me!!) on order, and I was hoping to be able to run it with one CPU for the moment, and then get a second CPU when the prices come down a little.

I was concerned, however, that the board would only run with two CPUs.

Is there any way to get the fans to run at their normal speed without the second CPU? It will be really annoying to have the funs running at full speed all the time.

----------
El Awesome said:
May I ask where you got the board and how much you paid? I also consider turning my Single-CPU into a dual one. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I got my board from the UK, from a company called macsmartonline.

I have to admit that the board is very expensive, because you need to buy the board AND the two heat-sinks. I wouldn't have bothered doing it normally, but I traded in an old Mac Pro (2006 model) plus an old MacBook Pro (pre unibody, C2D 2.4GHz) for the board plus the two heat-sinks.

I know that they got a good deal, but I think that I didn't do too badly either because there in Luxembourg people don't want to buy used IT equipment, and I had no use for those two machines.
 
I'm wondering if my MacPro 4,1 born with one Xeon W3520 (4 core @2,66/2,93GHz) can work well with one Xeon X5650 (6 core @2,66/3,06GHz), while I can get one for little money.
 
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