MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 5,1 upgrade (if you could do it all over again!)

[Diggi]

If (today) you were going to upgrade your 2010 - 2012 Mac Pro 5,1 with new CPUs, new GPU, new NVME, etc. etc., what would you do different?

I’m at the very beginning of organizing how I’m going to upgrade my machine, and I would love to hear from you… What would you do different?

Many thanks for all your replies.

 

[avro707]

Would just have gone with:

- single CPU 6 core X5690 3.46ghz
- 64GB RAM (4x16GB)
- Pixlas mod
- thunderbolt card (Titan Ridge 2.0)
- AMD Radeon Pro W6800X 32GB (needs to be flashed)
- 2TB Samsung SSD (not NVME). The Samsung does need latest firmware.

The single CPU models run much quieter, the dual CPU ones always have a hotter running northbridge and they just make so much fan noise.

NVME are fast but they also need a PCI-E card to run them. With a big GPU installed and thunderbolt card you have precious extra room in the mac. I could manage with a normal SSD.

Note: Regarding W6800X in MP 5,1 - see here: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...s.2262295/page-49?post=31328912#post-31328912

 

[jscipione]

I DID do it all over again and got a new tray and a pair of de-lidded X5690s for my 4,1. I agree with avro707 that the single socket 5,1 is a good way to go. Currently running a W3690 for style.

 

[Diggi]

I DID do it all over again and got a new tray and a pair of de-lidded X5690s for my 4,1. I agree with avro707 that the single socket 5,1 is a good way to go. Currently running a W3690 for style.

Forgive my ignorance, but what does “de-lidded” mean? And if I find a seller of such CPUs, what question should I ask him to confirm that they are de-lidded?

Thanks very much for your time

 

[Macsonic]

Forgive my ignorance, but what does “de-lidded” mean? And if I find a seller of such CPUs, what question should I ask him to confirm that they are de-lidded?

Thanks very much for your time

De-lidded CPUs comes with the heat sinks removed. De-lidded CPUs are only installed on 4,1 2009 Mac Pros, the dual CPU tray. With 2010 or 2012 Mac Pros, you don't need to use de-lidded CPUs. Here is a sample of de-lidded CPUs. https://www.ebay.com/itm/144658335391?hash=item21ae4f069f:g:bfkAAOSwPYFi2Pn2&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAAoI6rF2hsCH9LvvT1PxRJ9LgJgv1asoLxCJUYCfdpAEoUKAz69Me+SOOBba/t8vqRlYeMeVo4YsnR6zPXsqlR08WtMd+Ffi5vR9Acelg/yBH3VR9vv36STaUxR73c/hiomKiSs+cEkB7spe4Uia3LW3hDYzV5dQMOC815MPP1Lq3nUBDRYdh1Qt3O81G/Bh5AqSgdqk7CaLKnJwEF9anHSwg=|tkp:Bk9SR_zi48_bYA

 

[Soba]

De-lidded CPUs comes with the heat sinks removed.

Not quite. De-lidding refers to removal of the integrated heat spreader (IHS) of the CPU. The heat sink is separate. You definitely don't want to run your system with the heat sinks removed!

 

[Macsonic]

Not quite. De-lidding refers to removal of the integrated heat spreader (IHS) of the CPU. The heat sink is separate. You definitely don't want to run your system with the heat sinks removed!

Thanks for the clarification. I wasn’t sure if “heat sink” is the proper terminology, but I meant the heat spreader. It’s also the reason why in my previous post, I included a link on a de-lidded Xeon CPU on sale that was meant for the 2009 Mac Pro to to avoid any confusion. I also had the chance to upgrade a client’s 2009 Mac Pro dual CPU tray using De-lidded CPUs.

 

[ddhhddhh2]

In addition to CPU and graphics card, NVME upgrade, I also recommend upgrading BT and WIFI, I have forgotten the details of the chip model, you can check the forum article, in addition, if you have the ability, we recommend contacting @tsialex to understand the upgrade process of SPI flash, it is related to its life.

 

[Diggi]

In addition to CPU and graphics card, NVME upgrade, I also recommend upgrading BT and WIFI, I have forgotten the details of the chip model, you can check the forum article, in addition, if you have the ability, we recommend contacting @tsialex to understand the upgrade process of SPI flash, it is related to its life.

Sorry for my ignorance: “BT”?

I tried clearing the bootrom (using RomTool) - I disabled SIP before hand.… but received this error: “DirectHW.next could not be loaded”… what to do?

 

[Stex]

Sorry for my ignorance: “BT”?

Abbreviation for Bluetooth.

 

[Diggi]

Ah, so sorry.

I thought about upgrading my CPUs from a pair of six core 2.93 GHz Westmere to a pair of x5690s… But would only do it if I could actually see better performance while using the machine. Geek bench scores are interesting, but they don’t really tell me how the machine is going to feel while I’m using it. Know what I mean?

This machine is used only for audio recording (Logic pro X) and Internet is only connected when I absolutely, positively must download something. This the CPU upgrade would have noticeable results?

 

[Stex]

Thanks for the clarification. I wasn’t sure if “heat sink” is the proper terminology, but I meant the heat spreader. It’s also the reason why in my previous post, I included a link on a de-lidded Xeon CPU on sale that was meant for the 2009 Mac Pro to to avoid any confusion. I also had the chance to upgrade a client’s 2009 Mac Pro dual CPU tray using De-lidded CPUs.

Just to avoid confusions -- OP has a 5,1 so won't be using de-lidded CPUs. OP, if you decide to upgrade look for regular lidded CPUs.

 

[Soba]

Ah, so sorry.

I thought about upgrading my CPUs from a pair of six core 2.93 GHz Westmere to a pair of x5690s… But would only do it if I could actually see better performance while using the machine. Geek bench scores are interesting, but they don’t really tell me how the machine is going to feel while I’m using it. Know what I mean?

This machine is used only for audio recording (Logic pro X) and Internet is only connected when I absolutely, positively must download something. This the CPU upgrade would have noticeable results?

In late 2017, I upgraded my 5,1 from dual quad-core 2.4GHz to dual six-core 3.46GHz and the improvement was very noticeable in everything I did, starting with faster boot time. In my case, the original 2.4GHz Nehalem Xeons meant my RAM was also only operating at 1066MHz, so I gained a RAM speed improvement to 1333MHz in addition to the major improvement in CPU clock speed and the 4 additional cores.

You could probably guess that this was absolutely worth the upgrade (which at that time cost me $220 USD for the pair of Xeons). It felt like I had a new machine.

You would surely notice gains, but perhaps not dramatic ones except under specific circumstances since you already have 6-core CPUs and RAM that should already be operating at 1333MHz.

Your SATA SSD might also prove to be a bit of a bottleneck. In 2017, I was using AHCI SSDs and then moved to NVMe SSDs on a Highpoint 7101 controller in 2019 when the 144.0.0.0.0 BootROM update added support for these drives, so my storage was quite speedy.

 

[Diggi]

Just to avoid confusions -- OP has a 5,1 so won't be using de-lidded CPUs. OP, if you decide to upgrade look for regular lidded CPUs.

Yes, thank you. That is one thing that I fully understand. I’ll probably make the upgrade at some point…

Right now I’m trying to install Big Sur using open core, and it’s just not letting me. Holding down the option key for many many minutes and nothing happens… just a black screen.

Trying to clear the bootrom with ROM tool, but get an error that a specific kext can’t be loaded.

Ah the magic and wonder! 😂

 

[Stex]

In late 2017, I upgraded my 5,1 from dual quad-core 2.4GHz to dual six-core 3.46GHz and the improvement was very noticeable in everything I did, starting with faster boot time. In my case, the original 2.4GHz Nehalem Xeons meant my RAM was also only operating at 1066MHz, so I gained a RAM speed improvement to 1333MHz in addition to the major improvement in CPU clock speed and the 4 additional cores.

You could probably guess that this was absolutely worth the upgrade (which at that time cost me $220 USD for the pair of Xeons). It felt like I had a new machine.

You would surely notice gains, but perhaps not dramatic ones except under specific circumstances since you already have 6-core CPUs and RAM that should already be operating at 1333MHz.

Your SATA SSD might also prove to be a bit of a bottleneck. In 2017, I was using AHCI SSDs and then moved to NVMe SSDs on a Highpoint 7101 controller in 2019 when the 144.0.0.0.0 BootROM update added support for these drives, so my storage was quite speedy.

It appears OP has Westmere 2.93Ghz (X5670), so if that's the case, performance improvements will be apparent but much less so than your upgrade scenario from Nehalem to Westmere....

 

[Diggi]

Looks like I have to DOWNGRADE to High Sierra just to get something other than a black/blank screen.....then try to upgrade to Big Sur with OpenCore.

Should've just bought a used iMac pro.... 😀
😀😀

 

[Stex]

Looks like I have to DOWNGRADE to High Sierra just to get something other than a black/blank screen.....then try to upgrade to Big Sur with OpenCore.

Should've just bought a used iMac pro.... 😀
😀😀

If you are running Mojave and did install OC properly, then you should probably be offered the option to upgrade to Monterrey OTA (over the air) in Sys Prefs? If none of the options to download Big Sur worked for you, you maybe could try this option -- the Internet Archive has ISOs of multiple versions of macOS. This next link is a (relatively) recent Big Sur version, you would need do a clean install of this Big Sur version (after having properly installed OC), and then upgrade Big Sur to the latest 11.6.8...

macOS Big Sur 11.6.6 16.7.04 20G624 USB Bootable Read Only Installer Image : Apple Inc. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

A copy of macOS Big Sur 11.6.6 16.7.04 20G624 USB Bootable Read Only Installer ImageImage prepared this way:1-Created image with size of 13280...

archive.org

 

[m1maverick]

Forgive my ignorance, but what does “de-lidded” mean? And if I find a seller of such CPUs, what question should I ask him to confirm that they are de-lidded?

Thanks very much for your time

De-lidded on the left, lidded on the right:

 

[Diggi]

De-lidded on the left, lidded on the right:

View attachment 2048769

Thank you very much. I went down that rabbit hole last night and now I understand!

 

[Diggi]

If you are running Mojave and did install OC properly, then you should probably be offered the option to upgrade to Monterrey OTA (over the air) in Sys Prefs? If none of the options to download Big Sur worked for you, you maybe could try this option -- the Internet Archive has ISOs of multiple versions of macOS. This next link is a (relatively) recent Big Sur version, you would need do a clean install of this Big Sur version (after having properly installed OC), and then upgrade Big Sur to the latest 11.6.8...

macOS Big Sur 11.6.6 16.7.04 20G624 USB Bootable Read Only Installer Image : Apple Inc. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

A copy of macOS Big Sur 11.6.6 16.7.04 20G624 USB Bootable Read Only Installer ImageImage prepared this way:1-Created image with size of 13280...

archive.org

Thank you for this.

 

[arw]

I can only recommend to replace the fans with modern Noctua ones and to remove the plastic fan guards of the PCIe and CPU bay. Under mild load even the Dual CPU version is almost inaudible with this mod (like really!). And under full load the noise level is sooo much more pleasant compared to the stock state.

Mac Pro (4.1/5.1) aftermarket fans WITH automatic SMC control

I've been reading around this subject for a while as a pet peeve of mine is noisy computers. My normal workstations are entirely passively cooled and silence is bliss, but I do still use my cMPs when I need machines with a bit more power or more cores for testing virtual environments and the...

forums.macrumors.com

I have the dual 6-core x5690 3.46 GHz. I also replaced the GPU fans with Noctua ones.

 

[ww2_1943]

There is a mid-2010 2.8 quad core for sale near me. I’ve been looking for a dual processor, 12 core model but the prices are nuts.

I’d like to run Ventura with OpenCore and Windows 11. I’d like to run some older games like LA Noire and GTA V. The newest game I’d like to play is Red Dead Redemption 2.

What is the best single processor I can replace the stock one with? Or should I find a dual processor machine?

 

[MrScratchHook]

There is a mid-2010 2.8 quad core for sale near me. I’ve been looking for a dual processor, 12 core model but the prices are nuts.

I’d like to run Ventura with OpenCore and Windows 11. I’d like to run some older games like LA Noire and GTA V. The newest game I’d like to play is Red Dead Redemption 2.

What is the best single processor I can replace the stock one with? Or should I find a dual processor machine?

the dual trays are way over priced with the better processors, but if you buy a dual tray with the lesser processors it could be cheaper. for now you can buy a 5690, 5680 or 5675. any one of those will do. 5690 and 5680 use 130 watts while the 5675 uses 95 watts so if you have this concern then choose accordingly. you will need a metal capable video card, the safest bet is a saffire pulse rx580 8 gb.

 

[ww2_1943]

the dual trays are way over priced with the better processors, but if you buy a dual tray with the lesser processors it could be cheaper. for now you can buy a 5690, 5680 or 5675. any one of those will do. 5690 and 5680 use 130 watts while the 5675 uses 95 watts so if you have this concern then choose accordingly. you will need a metal capable video card, the safest bet is a saffire pulse rx580 8 gb.

This is helpful! It looks like the W3530 in the machine I am looking at is 130W so I'd stick with one of the faster processors you listed which is also 130W. Thanks for the advice on the graphics card. That was my other concern! Does the card have to have Mac-specific firmware or is it universal?

 

[avro707]

There is a mid-2010 2.8 quad core for sale near me. I’ve been looking for a dual processor, 12 core model but the prices are nuts.

I’d like to run Ventura with OpenCore and Windows 11. I’d like to run some older games like LA Noire and GTA V. The newest game I’d like to play is Red Dead Redemption 2.

What is the best single processor I can replace the stock one with? Or should I find a dual processor machine?

Use the 5675 if you need the lower power consumption.

I upgraded one of my 5,1s with a Sapphire Radeon RX6600XT 8GB which is much faster than the RX580 and runs cooler/quieter. It uses the same power cables as per RX580. It just needs to be flashed on a PC to work in Monterey.''