Mac Pro Decision

[jasonrhcp]

Hi. I have my own project recording studio. I am running a Mac Pro 2009 2.66 Nehalem Quad with 8gb ram. I am wondering if I should upgrade the current one. If so, what would you upgrade. Or should I just bite the bullet and get a new one.
Thanks

 

[Lil Chillbil]

well if I was going to upgrade that one, you would wanna upgrade the ram to 16 gigs, and put in 8 core processors, also if you don't currently have one why not put a ssd into that beast?

 

[spoonie1972]

5,1 firmware flash, the fastest 6-core processor you can afford, and jam in the ram.

if you're not doing much with sample libraries 16-32gigs ram will be plenty (and fairly inexpensive) if you need more - the 16gb chips, while very reasonably priced, are not cheap.

 

[jasonrhcp]

how would you go about upgrading the processor? and where would I get it. Ebay?
I didn't see anything on macsales but i might not be looking right.

 

[DPUser]

how would you go about upgrading the processor? and where would I get it. Ebay?
I didn't see anything on macsales but i might not be looking right.

Spoonie has it right. Search the threads here... a ton has been written on the Flash 4,1 to 5,1 and 4 to 6 core upgrade, which is easy to do. I did it, and my 32 bit Geekbench score went from 8k or 9k to to almost 14k. Buy the hex processor from ProVantage for $590.

 

[jasonrhcp]

Is there a video tutorial somewhere on how to do it?

 

[PowerPCMacMan]

Tutorials? Plenty of them!

Plenty on the web showing step by step how to upgrade the 4,1 Mac Pro to accept 6-core goodness.

I have done it and its pretty easy. If you ever upgraded a processor before on a PC, you should have no problem at all. Remember, VERY IMPORTANT: If you use the 4,1 to 5,1 firmware understand that if you have the w3680, or 6-core Westmere chip in place and revert back to 4,1 firmware, your machine will NOT boot as 4,1's firmware does not recognize Westmere, or B1 stepping.

I would seriously and strongly consider you flash EFI firmware to 5,1 and get the 6-core and don't look back to 4,1 unless your machine is under AppleCare. Then you would have to remove the 6-core processor, re-flash the firmware back to 4,1 and then Apple can warranty repairs for your machine.

Another note: If your 4,1 Mac Pro has B08 firmware, I have the B08 should you need to revert back to it, otherwise if you go from 5,1 back to 4,1 and your machine has B08, you will lose that one forever and it will go back to B07 which is the default firmware which came with the later 4,1 Mac Pros.

 

[Macsonic]

Found this video on how to upgrade a 2009 Mac Pro cpu from 4 cores to 6 cores. Hope this helps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhBfHM4YiDc

 

[jasonrhcp]

Thanks so much.
I probably wont be able to afford this until the summer time. Would you guys suggest beefing up the ram to at least 16gb for now?

 

[spoonie1972]

Thanks so much.
I probably wont be able to afford this until the summer time. Would you guys suggest beefing up the ram to at least 16gb for now?

run the apps you use most often in a typical situation, and have Activity Monitor open (Apps/Utilities).

On the memory tab, If you're paging out a lot, it means you may need more ram. The number resets on every reboot.