Mac Pro Westmere 2010 dual Hexa CPU upgrade recommendations

[Larry-K]

So I took off CPU A Heatsink and cleaned it. And then I saw a a hole in the copper of heatsink A. I then remembered that I had seen that when I did the upgrade. The hole had no thermal compound in it. Basically it was a bubble of air on the CPU. So I cleaned everything extra extra extra carefully and thoroughly. Then instead of the pea shaped/sized drop I did the first time I put a line of thermal compound on the cpu. Carefully placed the heatsink back on the cpu. Screwed the hex screws in and took my time and you guys were right, they do just stop at one point. I did the cross pattern for one full turn on every screw. The idle temperature of CPU A is now 45-46deg. And Full load on 64bit Geekbench hit 81 deg. I was hoping to keep it below 78.5 deg as per Intel's specs on these X5690 chips. Im not really sure what else I can do at this point to lower the temps.

Ive read some people talking about "lapping" the heatsink.
I assume that means polish to some degree. But I dont have any tools that can do that.
Plus the hole is a pretty serious hole. It's like a gouge. About 1mm deep and 1mm in circumference. And the internal color of it is not copper. It's like copper is only a surface treatment on the heatsink. Like a coat of copper.

What are your thoughts?
And thank you guys again for the info and the support.

As I recall, the surface of the processor/heat sink interface is around 10 or 12mm square or so (didn't measure it, and that's a conservative estimate), so your 1mm gouge would represent less than 1 percent of the contact area.

I think my full load GeekBench ran about 80C, but it backed off immediately after the test. I think you're fine, unless you plan on making a living running GeekBench all the time.

In any event, runs cooler than than a 5K iMac.

 

[scott.n]

Agree that your temps are reasonable. CPU A will always run a little hotter than CPU B because the heat from the latter gets blown over the former.

I've upgraded a couple of dual-processor 2009 models with delidded CPUs. With these I usually get a CPU A temp around 42º. The IHS might add a degree or two - as I understand it, that's why the overclockers sometimes delid their processors.

 

[juliodm]

Great to know.
Thank you!

Do you or anyone reading this know of a link or if you could post real world temperatures for the X5690 in both idle and full load under Geekbench or some other benchmark?

I have Novabench, Cinebench R15, Geekbench 3, Firestrike demo under bootcamp running Windows 10.
Intel's specs, I'm assuming, are best case lab scenario.

I just would like to see what kind of temperatures other people are getting with a 2010 Mac Pro dual X5690.
I guess I just want to feel better.

I tried to run Intel's Power Gadget for Mac but it doesn't support dual CPU setups.
I was hoping that maybe Hardware Monitor was wrong and that Intel's software would be more accurate.

 

[Larry-K]

Double Post

 

[h9826790]

So I took off CPU A Heatsink and cleaned it. And then I saw a a hole in the copper of heatsink A. I then remembered that I had seen that when I did the upgrade. The hole had no thermal compound in it. Basically it was a bubble of air on the CPU. So I cleaned everything extra extra extra carefully and thoroughly. Then instead of the pea shaped/sized drop I did the first time I put a line of thermal compound on the cpu. Carefully placed the heatsink back on the cpu. Screwed the hex screws in and took my time and you guys were right, they do just stop at one point. I did the cross pattern for one full turn on every screw. The idle temperature of CPU A is now 45-46deg. And Full load on 64bit Geekbench hit 81 deg. I was hoping to keep it below 78.5 deg as per Intel's specs on these X5690 chips. Im not really sure what else I can do at this point to lower the temps.

Ive read some people talking about "lapping" the heatsink.
I assume that means polish to some degree. But I dont have any tools that can do that.
Plus the hole is a pretty serious hole. It's like a gouge. About 1mm deep and 1mm in circumference. And the internal color of it is not copper. It's like copper is only a surface treatment on the heatsink. Like a coat of copper.

What are your thoughts?
And thank you guys again for the info and the support.

The 78.5 is TJMax, your 81 is core temperature, the core may be 10C hotter than the TJ temp, so it's nothing to worry about. Anyway, you can install some fan control software to cool down the CPU more if you wish.

 

[juliodm]

Lots of heat sinks are like that just copper on the surface for the better heat transfer to the underlying real heat sink metal. The gouge is not the best idea to have but your temperatures are reasonable. The intel specification would be one the tjmax things whatever it is called I would think, the point where they throttle is 100C I believe so you have plenty of headroom left. Lapping is just that polishing the cpu and heat sink until the have mirror like finish on them for better contact between them not recommended unless you know what you are doing/want to risk frying cpu you can't really hurt the heat sink unless you fill it full of gouges.

So an offer was just made to me for a new heatsink. I think the mac it came from is a dual cpu 4.1 system.
I have an official 5.1 2010 mac pro. Are the heatsinks the same in the dual cpu systems?
EDIT--
It is in fact a 5.1 system. I think I'm golden. Wish me luck.

EDIT--
I installed the new heatsink. It only made a negligible difference. About 1 degree at load.
I will have to accept things as they are, as you all have suggested.
Thanks guys.

 

[Macdctr]

I would like to score a pair of 5690s to upgrade my setup with sometime but for now I settled on the 5675's. The upgrade process in itself was not too difficult since I'm working with a 5,1 processor board so the swap was relatively straightforward. There was no need to torque the retaining screws on both heatsinks when I reinstalled them. I just tightened them until each screw was snug. So far after running a few benchmarks and videos I haven't had any issues regarding performance of my newly upgraded MacPro Eventually I will score a pair of 5690s to put in and then I can use one of the 5675s for upgrading my single processor 4,1

 

[juliodm]

I would like to score a pair of 5690s to upgrade my setup with sometime but for now I settled on the 5675's. The upgrade process in itself was not too difficult since I'm working with a 5,1 processor board so the swap was relatively straightforward. There was no need to torque the retaining screws on both heatsinks when I reinstalled them. I just tightened them until each screw was snug. So far after running a few benchmarks and videos I haven't had any issues regarding performance of my newly upgraded MacPro Eventually I will score a pair of 5690s to put in and then I can use one of the 5675s for upgrading my single processor 4,1

This listing on ebay has a matched pair for $679 which is almost $100 less than what I paid for a pair:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Matched-Pai...349582?hash=item4af82e154e:g:QJQAAOSwvUlWqT-c

 

[Macdctr]

This listing on ebay has a matched pair for $679 which is almost $100 less than what I paid for a pair:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Matched-Pai...349582?hash=item4af82e154e:g:QJQAAOSwvUlWqT-c

Thanks for looking out Yeah, I'm still checking eBay weekly for a good deal on these. I will get my set sometime

 

[juliodm]

Thanks for looking out Yeah, I'm still checking eBay weekly for a good deal on these. I will get my set sometime

My pleasure. I wish I had seen that listing 2 weeks ago. Happy hunting.

 

[Macdctr]

My pleasure. I wish I had seen that listing 2 weeks ago. Happy hunting.

I think the fun part is in the hunting! I scored a 30 inch Apple HD Cinema display for $272 on eBay... it's only a matter of time I will score a pair of 5690s for a killer price.... I can wait a little bit longer

 

[ActionableMango]

I think the fun part is in the hunting! I scored a 30 inch Apple HD Cinema display for $272 on eBay... it's only a matter of time I will score a pair of 5690s for a killer price.... I can wait a little bit longer

You might want to look for complete servers too. From time to time a server complete with the CPUs will cost less than the pulled CPUs alone, because nobody wants old servers and everyone wants CPUs to upgrade with.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Thanks for looking out Yeah, I'm still checking eBay weekly for a good deal on these. I will get my set sometime

Personally, I'd scratch the idea of X5690's and get X5680's instead. 3.47 vs 3.33 Ghz and you'll NEVER know the difference unless you spend your days and night running benchmarks and like to gloat about numbers!

There is a matched pair on ebay for $400. That's a heck of a lot cheaper than almost $700 for a pair of X5690's!

There's also a single X5680 (the other 7 sold in less than 24 hours) for $175 here .

 

[pastrychef]

Wow. I hadn't looked since I upgraded the CPUs in my Mac Pro but prices for these CPUs have really gone up a lot. I guess they are becoming scarce on the market.

 

[nigelbb]

You might want to look for complete servers too. From time to time a server complete with the CPUs will cost less than the pulled CPUs alone, because nobody wants old servers and everyone wants CPUs to upgrade with.

I had noticed dual Xeon servers for about the same price as the pulled CPUs. I do wonder if there is a false market in CPUs suitable for upgrading the MP 4,1 & 5,1. Can the demand really be that high when sales of dual Xeon servers must dwarf those of the Mac Pro. The prices for 12-core Mac Pros already upgraded with 3.46GHz CPUs are generally less than the cost of buying a dual CPU 4,1 or 5,1 then buying the CPUs & fitting them.

 

[juliodm]

-QUOTE-
Personally, I'd scratch the idea of X5690's and get X5680's instead. 3.47 vs 3.33 Ghz and you'll NEVER know the difference unless you spend your days and night running benchmarks and like to gloat about numbers!

There is a matched pair on ebay for $400. That's a heck of a lot cheaper than almost $700 for a pair of X5690's!

There's also a single X5680 (the other 7 sold in less than 24 hours) for $175 here .
-END QUOTE-


Very presumptuous... I definitely notice!!!
I encode full length videos and do renderings and audio encoding. Every second matters. You don't get to decide what I need. I do. I can accept that something is cheaper. But my time and spending less of it front of a computer is priceless.

 

[Appleseed_74]

Great to know.
Thank you!

Do you or anyone reading this know of a link or if you could post real world temperatures for the X5690 in both idle and full load under Geekbench or some other benchmark?

I have Novabench, Cinebench R15, Geekbench 3, Firestrike demo under bootcamp running Windows 10.
Intel's specs, I'm assuming, are best case lab scenario.

I just would like to see what kind of temperatures other people are getting with a 2010 Mac Pro dual X5690.
I guess I just want to feel better.

I tried to run Intel's Power Gadget for Mac but it doesn't support dual CPU setups.
I was hoping that maybe Hardware Monitor was wrong and that Intel's software would be more accurate.

I just upgraded my 8 core 2.4Ghz to 12 core 3.46 (X5690). Did it yesterday and just like you, now is the first time I am concerned with cpu temps. So making some research I found this post, so...
These are mines in this moment:

 

[juliodm]

I just upgraded my 8 core 2.4Ghz to 12 core 3.46 (X5690). Did it yesterday and just like you, now is the first time I am concerned with cpu temps. So making some research I found this post, so...
These are mines in this moment:

Your temperatures are looking pretty good to be honest. Those are idle temps Im assuming.
My next experiment today is to use a different thermal compound. I was using Arctic Silver 5. The new one is Tunic TX-4.
Im just trying it to see. It may do nothing at all. My CPU-A can reach 82 celsius under load. Which according to the good fellows on this forum should be fine. But, the PC guys I know say that its way to high. That under load I should be hitting 60s. I know Apple runs things hot. I just want this machine to last me as long as possible you know. So much time and money spent on it over the years. Ill post my results hopefully tonight. Wish me luck.

 

[flowrider]

82° C is!

My CPU-A can reach 82 celsius under load. Which according to the good fellows on this forum should be fine. But, the PC guys I know say that its way to high. That under load I should be hitting 60s.

Not according to Intel's spec sheet:

Lou

 

[Larry-K]

But, the PC guys I know say that its way to high. That under load I should be hitting 60s. I know Apple runs things hot. I just want this machine to last me as long as possible you know. So much time and money spent on it over the years. Ill post my results hopefully tonight. Wish me luck.

You can look thought the oMP CPU upgrade threads, but this looks pretty normal from what I've seen.

These are Xeons, they're designed to work for a living.

 

[h9826790]

82° C is!

Not according to Intel's spec sheet:

View attachment 620112
Lou

That's the Tcase max (Case Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor Integrated Heat Spreader), not the max core / Tdiode temperature. By considering that Tcase temperature can be 10C (or more) lower than the core temperature, 82 should be fine.

Of course, you can always argue that since we have no way to measure the Tcase temperature, we better keep all temperature below that official limit. However, in reality, there should be no problem at all, 82C core may not even hit the thermal throttling temperature, and still far far away from the thermal shutdown temperature.

I agree that constant high temperature may shorten the CPU's (or surrounding components') life, but should be nothing unsafe.

If we are so care about the imitation from that table, then we should care about the lower limit as well. Since it's an unknown, so we should keep the temperature right at the max, anything lower than that is unknown, may damage the CPU

 

[juliodm]

So my boss received his Oculus Rift CV1. He was nice enough to lend it to me for a weekend. It totally worked on my Mac Pro. I have a GTX 980 ti in there now too and a USB 3.0 pcie card. Im running windows 10 in bootcamp on an SSD dedicated hard drive. It works beautifully. So if any of you wanted a Rift but wasn't sure if it would run in a Mac Pro. Now you know.