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Mac Pro 4.1 CPU upgrade

TruckdriverSean said:
I have NOT performed this processor upgrade, only read about it here and elsewhere...

...but it sure seems to me that this video skips a lot of steps!

Testing with CPU -A, adding thermal pads to the voltage regs, attaching the sensor from the heat sink etc.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding something.
Click to expand...

The Best Guide to doing a CPU update on a 4,1 Mac Pro is here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1609476/

With a link that leads here:

http://pindelski.org/Photography/technical/mac-pro/

This DIY was my impetus to upgrading my 5,1 Mac Pro, but of course the 5,1 is much easier to upgrade.

Lou
 
TruckdriverSean said:
I have NOT performed this processor upgrade, only read about it here and elsewhere...

...but it sure seems to me that this video skips a lot of steps!

Testing with CPU -A, adding thermal pads to the voltage regs, attaching the sensor from the heat sink etc.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding something.
Click to expand...

See my links to the complete instructions in my post above, which has detailed these steps as good as anywhere I've seen
 
CASLondon said:
See my links to the complete instructions in my post above, which has detailed these steps as good as anywhere I've seen
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've had these links favorited for a bit. Lots of good info. I'm just a bit allergic to "how-to" videos that leave important bits out. That video seemed to do just that.
 
Finding the Intel X5670

I'm having trouble finding authentic Intel X5670 processors. I've read its important to note the markings on the processor's lid to ensure its not a 'developer' or 'engineering' model. I've lost this material and wonder if others here can say what marking to look for to ensure what I buy is an authentic Intel retail processor.

Any refs will be appreciated. Thanks... :)
 
bxs said:
Thanks flowrider.... :)
Click to expand...

Wish me luck with my 2009 8-core/2.26GHz MP4,1 upgrade with the following components

1. 2x X5670s purchased used from eBay/IT-Creations - cost me 2x $260

2. Following items purchased from OWC

a) 64GB PC10600 (8x 8GB sticks) MacPro DDR3 1333 MHz (will get $136 credit for current OWC's 8x 4GB 1066 MHz sticks purchased back in May 2011). The X5670s supports 1333 MHz.

b) 2x 2.5" drive sled / 09-12 MacPro model

c) 2x 240GB OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSD 7MM (will RAID-0 these for AE cache, etc)

d) Mercury Accelsior PCIe R0 960GB PCIe card for boot and applications

e) Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB PCI Express SAPPHIRE 100352MAC Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card MAC Edition. This will be replacing current ATI Radeon HD 5870 card. OWC threw in a $20 discount for this item.

f) OWC gave me a grand subtotal discount of $120. So with the $136 for returning 32GB, $20 off the 7950 graphics card and the $120 that puts some $276 back in my pocket.

g) OWC was nice enough to also throw in FREE express UPS Shipping and Insurance. It really does pay sometimes to telephone the order in rather than doing it online.

The Mercury Accelsior PCIe R0 960GB PCIe card also sports 2 eSATA ports so I can ditch/sell my 4-port eSATA Sonnet card (I only use one of its ports any rate).

The Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 sports HDMI output so I can ditch/sell my Blackmagic card.

So will have one spare PCIe slot... for some other goodie.
 
Having a hell of a time finding some 2mm thick Thermal Padding from a local store.... Radio Shack nor Fry's stock/sell it... :(
 
All done except for the X5670 processor upgrade

All done except for the processor upgrade... Encountered no hitches at all.

System being upgraded: 2009 MP4,1 dual 2.26 GHz 8core.

1) Firmware upgraded from 4,1 to 5,1 without issues. MP is now a MP5,1. This allows for the new processors and running the new 64GB RAM at 1333MHz.
2) Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 installed easily.
3) OWC's 6G 960GB PCIe SSD installed easily and offered up close to 1 GByte/sec read/writes at times (...an aberration maybe as typically it's seen to run at 600 to 700 MB/s). This was configured to hold Mac OS X 10.9.2 + Applications and User data.
4) OWC's 3G 2x 240GB setup as RAID-0 offered up 534 MBytes/sec reads and 496 Mbytes/sec writes. Setup a scratch space for AE and FCPX.
5) 2x 3G 2TB Seagates setup as RAID-0 offered up 244 MBytes/sec reads and 192 MBytes/sec writes. Used for AE & FCPX project data.
6) 1TB 3G Seagate for OS 10.9.2 backup
7) 1TB 3G WD for Time Machine backups (a bit small but so far the 960GB boot OS is using only 401 GB.
8) OWC's 64GB RAM 1333Mhz (8x 8GB) replaced the 32 GB RAM (8x 4GB). RAM running at 1066MHz until the new dual 6-core 2.93 GHz X5670 processors are installed later next week.

Geekbench score did not change much and after all the reconfigs and upgrades it gave in 64-bit mode 1856 single core and 14226 for multi-core. When the new processors are installed I expect this to climb up to 25000 to 27000 for multi-core. By comparison our MP6,1 12core 2.7 GHz, with 64GB RAM, 1TB SSD and dual D700s comes in at for 64-bit, 2974 single core and 32286 for multi-core.

Boot time from startup bong to login panel was a steady 21.11 seconds. This compares to my MBP,8,3 (2.5GHz, 17-inch, late 2011, with OWC's 480GB SSD and 16GB RAM) that takes just over 25 seconds to boot.

Used AE and FCPX on the upgraded MP5,1 after I finished everything and it ran better and was more responsive than our souped up 27" iMac with 1TB Fusion drive and 20GB RAM... it was a huge improvement overall and very very responsive to all actions... I loved it. I will love it even more when later next week I install the new dual X5670s to give us 12cores at 2.93 GHz. I am very happy with his new MP5,1. ... I received instant gratification... :D

BTW... The Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 can drive our big 60" Sony Bravia TV easily via the 7950s HDMI and audio no longer stutters and is in complete sync vs. what we had at times with the previous Blackmagic card... which drove us berserk at times when showing stuff to clients.

The MP5,1 is driving a 30" Apple ACD, a 27" display and a 60" Sony Bravia TV without any issues.

OK... now waiting for my 2mm thick thermal padding and then will install the new X5670s to really make the MP5,1 move along.

I'm pleased with everything so far. ;) ..and can't wait to see what this system can do with the X5670s installed.
 
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Upgrade investment value info

It may be of interest to know what a mid 2010 MP5,1 with 2.93 GHz (Westmere) 12core BTO cost when new.

When first introduced in mid 2010 this BTO MP5,1 was priced at $6,199. It had just 6GB RAM, a 1TB 7200 disk and a ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card. If you were to add 5 more 3G disks, OWC's 64GB RAM, OWC's 960GB SSD, 2x 240GB 3G SSDs you could easily add another $2000 to the $6,199 to arrive at $8,200 and with AppleCare and tax this pushes it to above $9,000.

The current retail price (as of Aug 20, 2013) for the stock MP5,1 with 2.93 GHz (Westmere) 12cores was at around $5,500 to $5,700.

Ref http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_pro/specs/mac-pro-twelve-core-2.93-mid-2010-westmere-specs.html.

So let's say today this has fallen to say around $4,500 to $5,000.

Now having just upgraded the early 2009 MP4,1 to the same specs as the original mid 2010 MP5,1 with 2.93 GHz (Westmere) 12core BTO, PLUS the OWC goodies posted above, I'd venture to say we have a pretty good investment at around a resale price of $5,500 if it was put up for sale.

Note... The early stock 2009 MP4,1 (8core, 2.26GHz, Nehalem) that has been upgraded originally sold for $3,299 and now has a resale value between $2000 and $2400 as of Aug 20, 2013.
 
Installed the 2x 2.93 GHz X5670 processors today

bxs said:
All done except for the processor upgrade... Encountered no hitches at all.

System being upgraded: 2009 MP4,1 dual 2.26 GHz 8core.

1) Firmware upgraded from 4,1 to 5,1 without issues. MP is now a MP5,1. This allows for the new processors and running the new 64GB RAM at 1333MHz.
2) Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 installed easily.
3) OWC's 6G 960GB PCIe SSD installed easily and offered up close to 1 GByte/sec read/writes at times (...an aberration maybe as typically it's seen to run at 600 to 700 MB/s). This was configured to hold Mac OS X 10.9.2 + Applications and User data.
4) OWC's 3G 2x 240GB setup as RAID-0 offered up 534 MBytes/sec reads and 496 Mbytes/sec writes. Setup a scratch space for AE and FCPX.
5) 2x 3G 2TB Seagates setup as RAID-0 offered up 244 MBytes/sec reads and 192 MBytes/sec writes. Used for AE & FCPX project data.
6) 1TB 3G Seagate for OS 10.9.2 backup
7) 1TB 3G WD for Time Machine backups (a bit small but so far the 960GB boot OS is using only 401 GB.
8) OWC's 64GB RAM 1333Mhz (8x 8GB) replaced the 32 GB RAM (8x 4GB). RAM running at 1066MHz until the new dual 6-core 2.93 GHz X5670 processors are installed later next week.

Geekbench score did not change much and after all the reconfigs and upgrades it gave in 64-bit mode 1856 single core and 14226 for multi-core. When the new processors are installed I expect this to climb up to 25000 to 27000 for multi-core. By comparison our MP6,1 12core 2.7 GHz, with 64GB RAM, 1TB SSD and dual D700s comes in at for 64-bit, 2974 single core and 32286 for multi-core.

Boot time from startup bong to login panel was a steady 21.11 seconds. This compares to my MBP,8,3 (2.5GHz, 17-inch, late 2011, with OWC's 480GB SSD and 16GB RAM) that takes just over 25 seconds to boot.

Used AE and FCPX on the upgraded MP5,1 after I finished everything and it ran better and was more responsive than our souped up 27" iMac with 1TB Fusion drive and 20GB RAM... it was a huge improvement overall and very very responsive to all actions... I loved it. I will love it even more when later next week I install the new dual X5670s to give us 12cores at 2.93 GHz. I am very happy with his new MP5,1. ... I received instant gratification... :D

BTW... The Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 can drive our big 60" Sony Bravia TV easily via the 7950s HDMI and audio no longer stutters and is in complete sync vs. what we had at times with the previous Blackmagic card... which drove us berserk at times when showing stuff to clients.

The MP5,1 is driving a 30" Apple ACD, a 27" display and a 60" Sony Bravia TV without any issues.

OK... now waiting for my 2mm thick thermal padding and then will install the new X5670s to really make the MP5,1 move along.

I'm pleased with everything so far. ;) ..and can't wait to see what this system can do with the X5670s installed.
Click to expand...


Today I received my long awaited 2mm thick thermal padding so I installed the 2x Xeon X5670 2.93 GHz 6-core processors in the already upgraded MP4,1. It's now a MP5,1 with 12-cores at 2.93 GHz, 64 GB 1333 MHz RAM, Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 graphics card, OWC's 960 GB PCIe SSD card and OWC's 2x 240 GB 3G SSDs setup as 480 GB RAID-0.

The processor installation upgrade took me 4 hours today. CPU A was the learning curve and took maybe 2 hours. CPU B installed a lot quicker in about 1 hour based on my experience installing CPU A. I then spent 1 hour performing benchmarks on office Macs -- a MP6,1 12core, 64GB RAM, 1TB SSD and dual D700s, a 2013 27" iMac13,2 with 3.4 GHz 4-core processor, 20 GB RAM and 1TB Fusion drive and of course the upgraded already 2009 MP4,1.

Apart from me jabbing my index finger with a razor blade when trimming off some plastic tags to allow the fan and temp sensor connectors to seat down properly. I bled like a pig as I scurried about the office looking for a first aid kit.... ended up wrapping my finger with a small piece of paper towel from the bathroom and then holding that together with some 3M sticky tape. Someone will find a bloody paper towel in his waste can... so hopefully they will not be too alarmed... and can assume I bled for a cause.

Here are the benchmarks

The MP6,1 is named Titan
The upgraded MP4,1 is named Mercury
The iMac13,2 is named Saturn

In short...
Titan/Mercury/Saturn multi-core Geekbench 3 64-bit scores were
Titan 33191
Mercury 27658 (was 14146 originally as a MP4,1)
Saturn 13907

Titan/Mercury/Saturn single-core Geekbench 3 64-bit scores were
Saturn 3542
Titan 3137
Mercury 2573 (was 1853 originally as a MP4,1)

The Cinebench R15 CPU rendering scores were
Titan 1515
Mercury 1396 (was 743 originally as a MP4,1)
Saturn 666

Cinebench R15 for the OpenGL Car Chase showed Frames Per Sec (FPS)
Titan 70.86
Saturn 68.17
Mercury 60.86 (was 41.13 originally as a MP4,1)

Saturn with its 3.4 GHz processor scored best in Geekbench 3's single core benchmarks... which was to be expected.

Saturn also has a good performing NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX graphics unit as it's FPS is very close to what Titan scored.

In terms of raw performance with Titan as a baseline of 1.0, Mercury is 0.83 and Saturn is 0.42. I think the upgrade for Mercury at this point has been well worth it as it gives 83% of Titan’s raw multi-core performance and 2x what Saturn provides with its 4 cores.

Total cost for upgrading Mercury came in at $2,100.

I left the office with Mercury running a CPU stress test for 10 hours. It's 5 fans were barely noticeable.

I must give credit to the Pindelski's web site at http://pindelski.org/Photography/technical/mac-pro/ that provided excellent instructions making this MP4,1 upgrade possible for me.

BTW... I had to reset the NVRAM after installing and running the new processors in order for the system to recognize the 1333 MHz RAM.
 
bxs said:
Cinebench R15 for the OpenGL Car Chase showed Frames Per Sec (FPS)
Titan 70.86
Saturn 68.17
Mercury 60.86 (was 41.13 originally as a MP4,1)
Click to expand...

Just for your reference, my MP 4,1 [flashed 5,1], shows that the HD 7950 Mac Edition card can provide a very close result to your Saturn scored

Cinebench CPU.png

As the picture shows, the test ran on 10.9.3, but the result is almost identical when I was on 10.9.2.

I don't know why there is more than 10% performance difference, but it seems you can squeezes more performance from your HD 7950.
 
Last edited:
h9826790: Thanks... I will test again.

I note however, you are using the W3690, 6-core running at 3.46 GHz... I bet that makes a difference... but dunno for sure.
 
bxs said:
h9826790: Thanks... I will test again.

I note however, you are using the W3690, 6-core running at 3.46 GHz... I bet that makes a difference... but dunno for sure.
Click to expand...

I don't know if that related to the single core performance.

If it only related to the GPU power, we should have very close result.

If it related to the overall CPU power, your dual CPU setup should have better result then my machine.

Anyway, let's find out the answer ;)
 
h9826790: I was using an Apple 27" display via mini-display port. I also had an Apple 30" ACD and a large screen Sony Bravia TV attached via the 7950's HDMI's port, but they were not lit up.

I also had a Blackmagic card in slot #4 but not connected to anything. I also had a PCIe RAID controller card that connected to two disk located in my lower Optical bay.

One of the things that I have not examined is what portion of the 300 watt limit am I using for the PCIe slots.
 
I only have the HD 7950 in slot 1 and a Sonnet TempoSSD in slot 4 with 1 SSD on it.

And I only connect 1 27" Apple Cinema Display via the mini display port.
 
I wonder if the 2nd and 3rd displays are sucking up any residual resource in the 7950. I'll test with those two displays disconnected.

Also, I simply installed the 7950 in its pristine state and did not bother to check if there were any driver updates for it ! Did you or is there any newer driver software for the 7950.

I can also test 10.9.3 build 13D55 next time I'm in office.

BTW... the 10 hours CPU test passed with flying colors.... no issues found with the CPUs.

Oh... and I also have the OWC's PCIe 960GB SSD in slot #2. It's fantastic and Mercury is one VERY fast beastie...
 
Last edited:
bxs said:
Also, I simply installed the 7950 in its pristine state and did not bother to check if there were any driver updates for it ! Did you or is there any newer driver software for the 7950.
Click to expand...

I just use the OSX native driver.
 
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