MP All Models Mac Pro CPU Compatibility List

[gerardomare1]

Hello everybody.
First thanks for this post to all of you. I have been reading this post for a few days.
I have an Mac Pro 4,1 single 2,66 ( I think is Nehalem 4 core Xeon W3520 2.66) 24gb and I want to change to Xeon X5675
3.06 3.46 1333 95W
.
I use Lightroom mostly and sometimes video.
I have 5.1 firmware and gtx 680 2 gb.

¿ I am going to notice some advantage in speed in the Mac Pro?
Thanks a lot for your attention

 

[Nessdufrat]

Hey, guys, quick question, I’m having my eye on a single cpu cMP 2012, I was planning on swapping the tray and putting my dual CPU tray from my 2010 inside (i know this can be done). But I read something worrisome on the first page of this thread... my idea was of course to take the single cpu tray from the 2012 and to put it inside the 2010 Mac Pro, and to sell the machine to cover the cost of buying the 2012.
My 2010, is now a dual cpu machine, would then become a single cpu machine. I read (or maybe misinterpreted?) that the fans would then run at full blast? Because you can’t put a single cpu tray inside a machine that was meant for a dual cpu? Is that correct?

 

[aclarubicin]

Hey, guys, quick question, I’m having my eye on a single cpu cMP 2012, I was planning on swapping the tray and putting my dual CPU tray from my 2010 inside (i know this can be done). But I read something worrisome on the first page of this thread... my idea was of course to take the single cpu tray from the 2012 and to put it inside the 2010 Mac Pro, and to sell the machine to cover the cost of buying the 2012.
My 2010, is now a dual cpu machine, would then become a single cpu machine. I read (or maybe misinterpreted?) that the fans would then run at full blast? Because you can’t put a single cpu tray inside a machine that was meant for a dual cpu? Is that correct?

No, your plan will work fine. You should not switch trays between 2009 and 2010/2012, is all, as their respective SMC versions are different and cannot be updated.

 

[reukiodo]

No, your plan will work fine. You should not switch trays between 2009 and 2010/2012, is all, as their respective SMC versions are different and cannot be updated.

Is there any actual difference between the 2010 and 2012 version? I thought they were exactly the same.

 

[aclarubicin]

Is there any actual difference between the 2010 and 2012 version? I thought they were exactly the same.

They're identical indeed

 

[Nessdufrat]

The daughter board is identical, you can swap it from one to the other.
The difference between the 2012 and 2010 is that the 2012 has the SATA 3. It will make a difference with the SSD.
I’m pretty sure the rest of the computer is identical.

 

[tsialex]

The daughter board is identical, you can swap it from one to the other.
The difference between the 2012 and 2010 is that the 2012 has the SATA 3. It will make a difference with the SSD.
I’m pretty sure the rest of the computer is identical.

mid-2012 and mid-2010 are identical, the only differences are a little faster Xeons with mid-2012 and the 12-digit serial number while mid-2010 has a 11-digit. Every component is interchangeable between mid-2010 and mid-2012.

No Mac Pro had SATA3 from factory before 2019 Mac Pro.

• MP1,1, MP2,1, MP3,1 have 6 SATA2 ports and 2 PATA-100 ports,
• MP4,1, MP5,1 have 6 SATA2 ports and no PATA-100 ports,
• MP6,1 don't have any SATA or PATA ports,
• 2019 Mac Pro has 2 SATA3 ports.

 

[Nessdufrat]

Ok, i was under the impression Mac Pro 2012 had the sata III, especially since it’s a main selling point for those, as opposed to the 2009 and 2010, and that I would be able to get up to 6gb/s speed on my SSD. Good to know that it’s wrong, then I won’t bother with the swap. Thanks for that.

 

[tsialex]

Ok, i was under the impression Mac Pro 2012 had the sata III, especially since it’s a main selling point for those, as opposed to the 2009 and 2010, and that I would be able to get up to 6gb/s speed on my SSD. Good to know that it’s wrong, then I won’t bother with the swap. Thanks for that.

Besides the new serial number and faster Xeons from factory, nothing else changed between mid-2010 and mid-2012. All parts are interchangeable.

If the mid-2012 case is in better shape, maybe will be worth changing to it.

 

[Nessdufrat]

Awesome. You actually saved me a long trip, provided I won that auction tomorrow. I upgraded mine to 3.33ghz 6 core CPUs, and it has 64GB rams, so it’s quite fast now.
I just have to reinstall it completely, even bought a nice caddy and new SSD to have windows and high Sierra on different physical SSDs.
Will probably be a loooong weekend

 

[bobitavu]

Was your 3,33 ghz 6 core cpu a w or a x ?

 

[LightBulbFun]

mid-2012 and mid-2010 are identical, the only differences are a little faster Xeons with mid-2012 and the 12-digit serial number while mid-2010 has a 11-digit. Every component is interchangeable between mid-2010 and mid-2012.

No Mac Pro had SATA3 from factory before 2019 Mac Pro.

• MP1,1, MP2,1, MP3,1 have 6 SATA2 ports and 2 PATA-100 ports,
• MP4,1, MP5,1 have 6 SATA2 ports and no PATA-100 ports,
• MP6,1 don't have any SATA or PATA ports,
• 2019 Mac Pro has 2 SATA3 ports.

just a quick heads up its worth noting that the very last of the 2010 MacPro5,1s also had 12 digit serial numbers

IIRC @bunnspecial owns such an example made just a month or so before the 2012 models where officially announced

 

[Nessdufrat]

Was your 3,33 ghz 6 core cpu a w or a x ?

Mine are x5680

 

[MisterAndrew]

Added CPUs for the 7,1. Hope that's okay.

 

[vmule]

does E7-4890 V2 work on a mac pro 6,1?
Sorry if this has been asked already.

 

[h9826790]

does E7-4890 V2 work on a mac pro 6,1?
Sorry if this has been asked already.

Only 32 PCIe lane available, seems not possible for 6,1. There is no user accessible BIOS setting to re-allocate PCIe lanes.

According to the Block Diagram, the 6,1 BIOS setting should be base on 40 PCIe lanes.

But if you can get this CPU for cheap, and have good return policy (or re-sell it). You may try it and report back if it works

Anyway, I assume you willing to take the risk that's a 155W TDP CPU, 25W higher than the E5-2697 V2.

 

[vmule]

Anyway, I assume you willing to take the risk that's a 155W TDP CPU, 25W higher than the E5-2697 V2.

Whats the worst that can happen?

 

[h9826790]

Whats the worst that can happen?

No idea, possible unstable system, overheat, kill the logic board, etc.

Anyway, Just look into more details, E7-4890 us socket LGA-2011-1 (R2). But the 6,1 has LGA-2011 (R). So, you can save yourself some time for testing, it won't work.

 

[MisterAndrew]

Is there any way to know if the 7,1 will support the Scalable processors that use the same socket (LGA 3647)? Or will we just have to try them?

Some of those, such as the Xeon® Gold 6240L, support up to 4.5TB of RAM, so the 7,1 could theoretically support 3TB using twelve 256GB DIMMs.

Edit: Maybe it depends on the firmware huh? Some LGA 3647 motherboards like this one from Super Micro lists support for both Scalable and W-32xx processors. It looks like the W-32xx processors support both RDIMMs and LRDIMMs, and even non-ECC, according to the info on that page. With Scalable processors it looks like you could use Intel Optane DC persistent memory.

 

[tsialex]

Is there any way to know if the 7,1 will support the Scalable processors that use the same socket (LGA 3647)? Or will we just have to try them?

Some of those, such as the Xeon® Gold 6240L, support up to 4.5TB of RAM, so the 7,1 could theoretically support 3TB using twelve 256GB DIMMs.

Edit: Maybe it depends on the firmware huh? Some LGA 3647 motherboards like this one from Super Micro lists support for both Scalable and W-32xx processors. It looks like the W-32xx processors support both RDIMMs and LRDIMMs, and even non-ECC, according to the info on that page. With Scalable processors it looks like you could use Intel Optane DC persistent memory.

Once Apple releases the firmware for MP7,1, with BridgeOS updates, we can see what microcodes it has and have an idea about what Xeons could work.

 

[aaronmacg]

First-time Mac Pro owner here . . . I've read a fair bit of this thread, but I'm still afraid I'm missing something.

I'll be acquiring a 5,1 Mac Pro shortly, and am trying to turn it into my day-to-day system. It comes with a W3565. Am I correct in understanding that I can pick just about anything on the list in the first post and being okay? (I'd be drawn toward the X5690 just to "max out" the system and not worry about it in the future, although it sounds like I could choose the X5680 and save a few bucks without any noticeable difference, maybe?)

If I upgrade, it seems like the memory that's installed should automatically work at 1333 — is there any way to test or check that before upgrading to be sure?

Basically, does anyone have any insight if this would be a worthwhile thing to do? It seems like it should be, especially with the memory boost, but I'm not certain. (I'd love to do all the tinkering I intend before I get the system how I like it, so I'm not trying to upgrade a system I'm relying on and accidentally breaking something.)

 

[kohlson]

Basically, does anyone have any insight if this would be a worthwhile thing to do?

Setting aside the elephant in the corner - that this system is not supported by Apple, and is 10 years-is old, and it sucks power like a bank of tungsten light bulbs - imho you can get some pretty big computing power for not much money. It's all documented here, and I found that at least part of the fun was doing the research. I suggest: GPU, SSD, CPU, memory, USB3. Of course, YMMV.

 

[kschendel]

...Basically, does anyone have any insight if this would be a worthwhile thing to do? It seems like it should be, especially with the memory boost, but I'm not certain. (I'd love to do all the tinkering I intend before I get the system how I like it, so I'm not trying to upgrade a system I'm relying on and accidentally breaking something.)

Depends on what you want to do with it, and how you define "worthwhile". I've relegated my 2009 Mac Pro to the back basement and cluster duty, but if the opportunity to replace it hadn't come along last summer, I'd still be happily using it for everyday software development tasks. It's still a good box for more intensive work, especially with the X5680/5690 upgrade (I'd stick with 5680 unless the price premium for 5690 is very small). SSD and added memory, of course. GPU, depends on what you do with it. On the other hand if you're using it for web, email, kids homework, family memos / documents, etc then it's large, hot, and sucks power; you might do better with a nice little Athlon 200GE (aka Ryzen) build.

 

[aaronmacg]

Thanks for the help!

I've definitely got a handle on the GPU, SSD, and USB3. (I'm going to try an old GTX 760 I've got kicking around — I know there's no pre-boot screen, but I'm hoping it'll work otherwise for Mojave — and I've got a 1TB SSD I'll be using. I've also got my power cables for the mini-power-to-video-card connection incoming. And I'll be ordering a highly rated USB3 card today or tomorrow.)

As I noted in my original post, the CPU and memory are the ones I'm trying to wrap my mind around. All my research has indicated that I can just drop in the CPU, and it'll all just work. But, having come from the PC world for so many years, that just feels "wrong" (since the CPU chip generation and memory are different) and I'm just trying to make sure there isn't something obvious I'm missing.

And by "worth it," I'm meant I'm trying to make sure that upgrading to a X5680/5690 from an W3565 will be worth the bother. By my math, it should be about a 25% difference, which seems like a pretty big jump. But I'm tapping the wisdom of the masses, since I don't know what I don't know.

Otherwise, I'm confident I'll find SOME use for this. If nothing else, having a fairly cheap MacOS machine on my network I can drop a bunch of hard drives into will be useful, even if the system itself isn't to my liking (although I suspect it will be).

 

[kohlson]

By my math, it should be about a 25% difference, which seems like a pretty big jump.

I've upgraded my 2009/ I swapped in an x5680 for the stock W3540. From a "hands-on" / user interactive perspective, a yawner. No perceived performance increase in UI, web browsing, etc. But for CPU intensive work, like Handbrake and FCPX - absolutely worth it.

If you do your homework and prerequisites (such as 4,1 to 5,1 firmware update), AND follow the instructions, the actual CPU swap is pretty easy. I am very familiar with taking things apart and putting them back together. For my single CPU, it took about 20-30 minutes.

Upgrading your cMP is very straightforward. But there are lots of potential pitfalls. Fortunately, it's all documented right here on MR.