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Mac Pro with Westmere x5690 (3.46GHz)

Neodym said:
Not sure whether you were serious there, but:

  1. The unused pins cost money to make, which has to be paid by the customers eventually.
  2. Where should the "unused" pins be connected to, if nothing is there currently? Any general-purpose expansion port is most probably outdated by the time it could come into use.
  3. How many unused pins do make sense as reserve? What if you overprovide 100 and suddenly need 101 more for the next revision?
  4. Technology evolves. Pin layout may have to be changed for technical reasons (LGA2011v3 has the same number of pins as v2) or things like e.g. optical interconnects become mainstream that weren't possible when the socket was originally conceived.
  5. Many companies make good money on recurring design changes, so why bother?
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I was serious at first, but then I realized it it a bit more complicated! Now would be nice if apple would design a cpu tray that features 2011 socket! that is more possible to do but even if it was easy they wouldn't! they would want you to buy the trash can!
 
EdDuPlessis said:
That's crazy price if they are new with warranty. Do they really come boxed and all?
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Mine are AT80614005913AB, i.e, the tray version of the SLBVX, but were factory sealed in plastic with protective covering. N.B. - On June 09, 2013, Intel announced discontinuation of, among others, X5690 Xeon CPUs. The last order date for those CPUs was December 27, 2013 [ http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/Intel-Xeon X5690 - AT80614005913AB (BX80614X5690).html ]. So Intel’s warranty may not apply since they probably aren’t being manufactured by Intel any more. However, Aventis Systems provides a one year limited warranty.

I recently purchased a large number of them from Aventis because:
(1) these CPUS are the top of the line for Westmere processors (if you buy slower CPUs you might find soon yourself trying to touch your behind with the heel of one of your feet shortly after the new X5690s are all sold out),
(2) they were/are selling for a deep discount (once they sold for $1,600 ea.) and now are selling at the lowest price that I'd (I've) seen,
(3) they are new (so they hadn't been improperly overclocked like many used CPUs for sale probably have been, unless they were pulled from servers [and that's where they were first and only installed - not overclockable there)], or only used in Macs - not overclockable there also), and
(4) the company is located not very far from me.
 
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Very very attractive for that price, but I need to get a dual processor tray first, don't want to buy a pair of CPU and then look for the tray.
 
Great write buddy # not the easiest of upgrades but I've done it twice now and both times worked fine, I did the 2nd time slightly differently and optimised the install and yeah, it's very satisfying to hear the start up bong!!
 
So just to be asking one of those questions that seems to get asked over and over again I can either use and X or a W as a replacement of a quad 3.2 in a 2012 5,1?

If there is no functional difference and little price difference I would rather have a new CPU. I just do not want to have to do any tweaking of the system. In that case I will get a W3690.

Thanks in advance.
 
scottsjack said:
So just to be asking one of those questions that seems to get asked over and over again I can either use and X or a W as a replacement of a quad 3.2 in a 2012 5,1?

If there is no functional difference and little price difference I would rather have a new CPU. I just do not want to have to do any tweaking of the system. In that case I will get a W3690.

Thanks in advance.
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I was always under the assumption that you use the W3690 in a single CPU setup and X5690's in dual CPU setups, the X series could work in the single set up but I believe the W series will not work in a dual setup? Correct me if wrong
 
Actually not quite true (close, but no cigar) My quote from another thread:

flowrider said:
Intel has changed what the leading Alpha means. The change happened when going from the 35XX (55XX) to the 36XX (56XX) series.

In the older series it meant:

E = Enterprise and CPUs with a TDP of 80 Watts
X = Accelerated and CPUs with a TDP of 95 Watts
W = Workstation and CPUs with a TDP of 130 Watts

and in every case the leading numeric after the alpha meant:

3 = for single CPU use only (1 x I/O Bus)
5 = for dual CPU use, but will work in single CPU applications (2 x I/O Bus)

the the later series, the above nomenclature rules stayed constant EXCEPT - The "X" prefix means accelerated (95 or 130 watt TDP) and is only used on CPUs with a 2 x I/O bus. The "W" prefix is now used only in the single CPU series (1 X I/O Bus).

In any case in both series, the meaning of leading numeric after the alpha has remained the same. A "3" for CPUs with a 1 x I/O bus and a "5" for CPUs with a 2 X I/O Bus.

I hope this makes sense to you. It took me awhile to figure it out.
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Lou
 
It doesn't really matter, the Mac Pro's PSU is powerfully enough for dual 130CPU + a high demand GPU. The problem is just no way to draw all the power from it.

And the heatsink in the CMP obviously is good enough to handle the 5690 as well. May just need to speed up the fan a little bit, still far from it's max capability.
 
I just pulled the trigger on getting two 5690s from Aventis for my 5,1 system. :) I'm pretty excited about installing them. I'm currently running 2.4 GHz chips, so hopefully I'll notice the difference.
 
Upgrade tutorial

Did anyone post some good pictures and a short tutorial when they put this chip in for upgrade? Thank you.
 
sauria said:
Did anyone post some good pictures and a short tutorial when they put this chip in for upgrade? Thank you.
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Seriously? Of the many tutorials that already exist on this subject what where they lacking that you feel another tutorial needed to be created?
 
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