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MP All Models Mac Pro CPU Compatibility List
- Thread starter ActionableMango
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Great thread, and I really appreciate the advice. I bought a single CPU 4,1 for dirt cheap not long ago after reading about the possibilities of the 4,1 to 5,1 mod. This thread helped me decide on what to do for a CPU upgrade, as I had the base W3520. I went with the X5670 (lower TDP, a few extra cores, higher clocks), which I got for $35 on eBay, and it increased Handbrake by ~50%! I already had an SSD installed, and I dropped in a non-EFI 7870 for another boost. Couldn't be happier for what I've paid.
I'm still rocking 16GB of 1066, but I may go with 1333 eventually. From what I'm gathering from this thread, I can use 8GB or possibly even 16GB DIMMs, right? I'm thinking I'll just go 3 x 8GB 1333 to maximize performance and still get a small bump in overall RAM. Any flaws in that logic?
16GB DIMMs will work perfectly in your Mac Pro with that CPU, we are even working on seeing how well 32GB DIMMs work in the 5,1, 3x8GB should work nicely as well
Thanks! Wow, I bet that will get expensive! I rarely max out my 16GB, so I'm banking on 3 x 8GB.16GB DIMMs will work perfectly in your Mac Pro with that CPU, we are even working on seeing how well 32GB DIMMs work in the 5,1, 3x8GB should work nicely as well
I don't know what's your definition of expensive, but the server pulled DDR3 ECC RAM is actually cheaper than the normal desktop DDR3 RAM because lack of demand. You may go to check it out if it worth the upgrade.
In the moment i try to get the 5450 working at 3.6GHz in my Pro 3.1. If anyone is interested in my old 5440 @ 3,4GHz PM me.
Just wanted to thank all of you for the information in this thread. It was very helpful. I recently picked up a 2009 (4,1) dual 2.26ghz E5520 Mac Pro and then flashed it to (5,1).
I also picked up a used Dell Poweredge R610 1u server, and took the dual X5690 cpus out of it and put them in the MP. Was planning on delidding them, but I didn't do so well on a test lidded E5520 that I had so I just went with the washers/thermal pad install. Everything has been running fine so far.
Also put in a 500GB Sandisk Extreme Pro SSD I had lying around and took the 48GB (8GB x 6) ECC RAM from the server and moved it over as well. Now I just need to see about a GPU, AMD RX480 or RX580 I think.
I also picked up a used Dell Poweredge R610 1u server, and took the dual X5690 cpus out of it and put them in the MP. Was planning on delidding them, but I didn't do so well on a test lidded E5520 that I had so I just went with the washers/thermal pad install. Everything has been running fine so far.
Also put in a 500GB Sandisk Extreme Pro SSD I had lying around and took the 48GB (8GB x 6) ECC RAM from the server and moved it over as well. Now I just need to see about a GPU, AMD RX480 or RX580 I think.
Go for the RX580 if you choose between these 2. The RX480 may pull more than 75W from the PCIe slot. So far, there is not much info around what will happen if pulling too much from the slot.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it here, but I've just upgraded my 2nd cMP 1,1 to 2,1 using netkas's firmware (thanks by the way mate, very cool!) and quite funnily, both my cMP's have displayed the same behaviour in regards to RAM. After the 2,1 firmware upgrade, both my cMP's show red light on the top ram board (riser A), and looses 1gb on 2 sticks, with a failed dim result on bank 3.. Both were identical.
Does the firmware change the timing requirements of ram?
Both ram sticks check perfectly in another cMP 1,1 and if i swap out the ram to a different slot, it checks out fine too?
weird...
its not a problem as ill replace the ram with a 32gb kit anyways, but just wondering if anyone else has come across this?
Does the firmware change the timing requirements of ram?
Both ram sticks check perfectly in another cMP 1,1 and if i swap out the ram to a different slot, it checks out fine too?
weird...
its not a problem as ill replace the ram with a 32gb kit anyways, but just wondering if anyone else has come across this?
I haven't heard of this before and I would be surprised that the 2,1 firmware update would do that. I believe you can use the Netkas firmware utility to flash the 1,1 firmware back in, so give that a try and see what happens. Or update the other 1,1 and see what happens.
There’s precedence: In the mini forum, someone complained about how updating to High Sierra (which seems to include some kind of firmware update) seemed to have rendered one memory slot useless/defective (Link).
Perhaps the root cause is already present in the old firmwares and it's only that High Sierra somehow triggers it. On old machines - like those cMP's - an important factor is component aging, impacting tolerances and timings. When a demanding modern OS meets those components under certain conditions, it may make problems.
It’s pretty easy to search the post, but anyway, the link is here.
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ac-pro-late-2013.1698707/page-6#post-21436809
Always go for 2Rx4, it’s not just the matter of speed, but the cMP may not even able to boot with eight 4Rx4 DIMM installed.
Also, by using all 8 slots, the memory performance may be degraded because there are only 3 memory channels from each CPU. So, slot 3 and 4 (also 7 and 8) have to share the bandwidth. So, when you really doing somet memory bandwidth limiting operations, the performance will be affected.
However, in general, that’s not noticible in most real world usage because the system has cache etc. And rarely really memory bandwidth limiting. On the other hand, when some extra memory available. The OS will able to use those free memory as cache to speed up the system. In fact, most users can benefit from having more memory than faster memory (only faster in some specific conditions in this case).
Thanks for the advice. I had to wait a bit for my mini dual 6pin pcie -> 8pin pcie cable to arrive. After that I ordered the MSI Radon RX580 Gaming X and have been using it without any problems so far.
Currently running dual X5690's in my 2009, along with 48GB (6x8GB) DDR3 ECC and the RX580. Need to see if I can use my old pcie USB3 card in it now and then check if the SAS card from my server will work as well.
Updated the 6,1 section with a new column for maximum Intel TurboBoost speed and a new row for E5-2695 V2 CPU.
Updated the 4,1-5,1 section with a new column for maximum Intel TurboBoost speed.
I looked up every single TurboBoost value. However, I could not find CPU information for E5659, so the TurboBoost value I have there is a guess based off of patterns from other processors.
Updated the 4,1-5,1 section with a new column for maximum Intel TurboBoost speed.
I looked up every single TurboBoost value. However, I could not find CPU information for E5659, so the TurboBoost value I have there is a guess based off of patterns from other processors.
I'm having an issue with my CPU upgrade and am wondering if I'm missing something obvious. First, I upgrade the rom on my early 2009 mac pro from 4,1 to 5,1. I needed to do that to run High Sierra so I thought I was ready for the CPU upgrade. From what I read, I should have been able to replace the original Nehalem 4 core Dual Xeon X5550 2.66 with the faster Westmere 6 core Xeon W3670 3.20. When I swapped everything out, it wouldn't boot. I monkeyed around a bit, but ultimately put the old CPU back in. Do I need to upgrade my RAM to 1333 with the Westmere, or will the old 1066 RAM still work? Again, the machine shows MacPro5,1, but It won't boot/chime. Thoughts? Thank you!
^^^^1066 RAM is the specified RAM for a W3670. How much RAM and how populated? Could be a bad CPU.
http://cpuboss.com/cpu/Intel-Xeon-W3670
Lou
http://cpuboss.com/cpu/Intel-Xeon-W3670
Lou
Thanks Lou,
I'm running 16GB (4x4). Could be a bad CPU I suppose. Good to know it at least "should" work.