Mac Pro upgrade (for the future)

[Mah9933]

Hello people, how are you? I was thinking about sell my Mac Pro, because my fees about electricity in my country (BR) are too high (R$180,00), Mac Pro consumes a lot and I need something more friendly energitically. Well... nobody wants to buy this Mac from me and for the future I will need something better.

I like OS X and I like Windows, some tasks I prefer in OS X, some tasks I prefer in Windows. I was thinking about purchase an used Mac Pro 2008 or 2009 motherboard and change motherboard, RAM, CPU and GPU, but for a better energy balance, I woldn't put two processors, but just one quad-core Xeon, instead of the HD 5770 one GT 120. Do you think I will have a better consumption with this upgrade? Detail: not for now, for the future! Now I use:
2x Intel Xeon 2.66 Ghz dual-core
9 GB RAM DDR2-667 FB-DIMM
7300 GT
Wi-Fi
2 HDs

What do you think about I upgrade this Mac? Any solution? Thanks!!!!

I work with this Mac and I want to improve my work.

 

[G4DPII]

2009 at the very earliest. 08's were great but drank energy like it was going out of fashion. Plus they are not getting any future OS updates.

If you can find a way to stretch finances to a 2009 or later.

 

[Mah9933]

2009 at the very earliest. 08's were great but drank energy like it was going out of fashion. Plus they are not getting any future OS updates.

If you can find a way to stretch finances to a 2009 or later.

So, if I upgrade my Mac Pro for the 2009 platform, it will consumes less energy?

 

[pl1984]

What do you run on your Mac Pro? The description of your Mac suggests it's a first generation (1,1) model which is now 12 years old. If it's meeting your needs then a more power efficient solution is a Mac Mini. To give you an idea:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/3843/apple-mac-mini-review-mid-2010/8

Granted his comparison was with a PowerMac G5 but I think the general idea still holds true. IMO if energy consumption is a concern and you don't need the capabilities of a mid to higher spec Mac Pro a modern Mac Mini is worthy of consideration.

 

[meanmean]

I was thinking about purchase an used Mac Pro 2008 or 2009 motherboard and change motherboard, RAM, CPU and GPU, but for a better energy balance

You are not really reducing energy consumption that much by moving to a 2008. However, you could at least run High Sierra with an updated GPU and wifi, possibly Mojave.

A 2009/2010/2012 motherboard is not compatible with the 2006/2008 case. For the 2008 case you will need a fair number of things beyond just the motherboard as well, but at least you won't be drilling holes etc...

 

[Zeke D]

I run a 2009 & 2010 Mac Pro with a 38" 4k monitor, and with both units on and awake, I use about 215w performing "regular" tasks. When I'm gaming, I've seen it go up to 260w.

To get the lower power consumption, I upgraded them both to 6-core X5670 since they're 95w CPUs, but the L5639 is 6-core and only 60w. if the L5639 is cost prohibitive, then the E5659 & E5645 run at 80w. I'm running a GTX680 (200w) in one, and a Radeon HD 5770 (110w) in the other. The 680 requires quite a bit of power, so there could be some savings there. I could probably shave off another 75w by swapping out the 6y80 for a 5770, but I'd lose metal, and Mojave compatibility. Finally, I'm running a pair of ADATA 256GB SSDs in both machines for windows and OS X. The difference between a single 1TB rotational hard drive (30w) and the pair of SSDs (6w) is enough to sacrifice disk space.

 

[h9826790]

It only helps a little bit when idle, but not much difference when under stress.

However, if you want to save power. Most likely you should switch OFF your Mac but not leave it idle.

If you really want to lower the power consumption, you need a much much newer system.

 

[ssgbryan]

Hello people, how are you? I was thinking about sell my Mac Pro, because my fees about electricity in my country (BR) are too high (R$180,00), Mac Pro consumes a lot and I need something more friendly energitically. Well... nobody wants to buy this Mac from me and for the future I will need something better.

I like OS X and I like Windows, some tasks I prefer in OS X, some tasks I prefer in Windows. I was thinking about purchase an used Mac Pro 2008 or 2009 motherboard and change motherboard, RAM, CPU and GPU, but for a better energy balance, I woldn't put two processors, but just one quad-core Xeon, instead of the HD 5770 one GT 120. Do you think I will have a better consumption with this upgrade? Detail: not for now, for the future! Now I use:
2x Intel Xeon 2.66 Ghz dual-core
9 GB RAM DDR2-667 FB-DIMM
7300 GT
Wi-Fi
2 HDs

What do you think about I upgrade this Mac? Any solution? Thanks!!!!

I work with this Mac and I want to improve my work.

You have a 1,1 Mac Pro. Get a pair of Xeon L5335 (4 cores @ 2.0Ghz). Together, they draw only 80 watts. that would draw about a third less than what they are drawing now.

 

[Mah9933]

Well, I decided to use only one CPU, so I left just one cpu on the Mac. I replaced the thermal grease and installed Windows 7 for check temperature. It accused 62 celsius as maximum, I need now one software for check temperature for Mac, in the case macOS Lion. Which one do you recommend? About the temperatures, it's normal to wait some time, 200 hours, for example, for the thermal grease start to make some effect, right?

 

[tsialex]

I like Bjango iStat Menus a lot. Take a look, 14-day trail https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/

Some thermal greases sets almost instantly, some will take some hours. 200 hours it's a urban myth IMHO.

P.S.: thermal grease with epoxy, tri-component ones, used to fix heatsinks permanently on components like heavy power transistors takes 24h or more to set/fix. That type of thermal grease it's not used by Apple, at least not recently if ever.

 

[Mah9933]

I like Bjango iStat Menus a lot. Take a look, 14-day trail https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/

Some thermal greases sets almost instantly, some will take some hours. 200 hours it's a urban myth IMHO.

P.S.: thermal grease with epoxy, tri-component ones, used to fix heatsinks permanently on components like heavy power transistors takes 24h or more to set/fix. That type of thermal grease it's not used by Apple, at least not recently.

I used the Akasa AK 450 thermal grease. About iStat, I downloaded, but one temp. as I remember showed 129 celsius about CPU, it's impossible because Tj max is 85 celsius for the CPU and I believe 85 should be the limit.

 

[tsialex]

I used the Akasa AK 450 thermal grease. About iStat, I downloaded, but one temp. as I remember showed 129 celsius about CPU, it's impossible because Tj max is 85 celsius for the CPU and I believe 85 should be the limit.

What's your Mac Pro? 1,1 with 2,1 firmware?

 

[Mah9933]

What's your Mac Pro? 1,1 with 2,1 firmware?

Yes and SMC 1.7. I downloaded iStat Menus 4.22. What should I look for about CPU temp., CPU-B Die 1 Offset?

 

[tsialex]

Yes and SMC 1.7. I downloaded iStat Menus 4.22. What should I look for about CPU temp., CPU-B Die 1 Offset?

I can't say for sure what software will read the correct temps with your config. The problem is: the hardware descriptor of the 1,1 is kept on the private part of the NVRAM and not upgraded to the 2,1 one when you install the 2,1 firmware. It's the Base_XX part of the NVRAM on the BootROM.

So you are running 2,1 firmware and SMC but with 1,1 hardware descriptor…

With 4,1 and 5,1 firmwares, I know exactly how to upgrade this, but to do this with 1,1 we will need to get a REAL 2,1 dump.

 

[Mah9933]

I can't say for sure what software will read the correct temps with your config. The problem is: the hardware descriptor of the 1,1 is kept on the private part of the NVRAM and not upgraded to the 2,1 one when you install the 2,1 firmware. It's the Base_XX part of the NVRAM on the BootROM.

So you are running 2,1 firmware and SMC but with 1,1 hardware descriptor…

With 4,1 and 5,1 firmwares, I know exactly how to upgrade this, but to do this with 1,1 we will need to get a REAL 2,1 dump.

Even using Windows, this confusion exists?

 

[tsialex]

Even using Windows, this confusion exists?

I don't know 1,1/2,1 like I know the details of 3,1 to 5,1. Maybe If the CSM mode of the 1,1 do not have dependencies with the hardware descriptor. I don't really know.

 

[Mah9933]

I don't know 1,1/2,1 like I know the details of 3,1 to 5,1. Maybe If the CSM mode of the 1,1 do not have dependencies with the hardware descriptor. I don't really know.

But normally, which info should I look for about CPU? CPU Die?

 

[tsialex]

But normally, which info should I look for about CPU? CPU Die?

You got my answer wrong, it's about how the firmware interacts with the components of the computers in the firmware code. It's not about a specific processor, it's about the code that manages sensors, describe ports, connections etc. It's the code that defines what's is what in the firmware.

 

[Mah9933]

You got my answer wrong, it's about how the firmware interacts with the components of the computers in the firmware code. It's not about a specific processor, it's about the code that manages sensors, describe ports, connections etc. It's the code that defines what's is what in the firmware.

Ah, ok, for example: one sensor isn't working 100%, but wrongly because of the firmware/smc change with the older settings about 1.1, so even if it shows a higher temperature, it's possible it's running cold, it's right?

 

[tsialex]

Yes, it's possible.

P.S: to fully upgrade your Mac Pro you need to dump the BootROM of a REAL 2,1 one.

The code that is needed is this one that I highlighted with cyan. That screenshot is from a 1,1>2,1 BootROM dump, not a real one.