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MacPro 5,1 upgrade options

Z

zterm

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 1, 2018
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At my studio we have two MacPros 5,1 (8-core / 2,4 GHz) and one MacPro 4,1 (4-core / 2,26 GHz) flashed to 5,1.
I wonder what would be the best options to upgrade the processors and GPU.

50% of our work is graphic (Adobe CC Suite) and the other 50% 3D stills (Cinema 4D - 80% w/integrated rendering engine and 20% w/VRAY). Would consider other GPU based rendering engines if HQ rendering speed is noticeably increased.

I know that processor upgrade should come first, but read too many posts and am a bit lost.

Any suggestions?

TIA
 
For graphic work, CPU speed does matter. By considering those Xeon CPU is so cheap now. I suggest go all the way to X5690.

However, if cost does matter. Or very hard to acquire this particular CPU, for graphic work...

Dual processor cMP, my own priority is X5690 -> X5677 -> X5680

Single processor cMP, I suggest X5690 -> W3690 -> X5677 -> X5680 -> W3680.

But if you prefer to have some CPU power for backup rendering (in case the GPU rendering doesn't work out), then X5677 will be the lowest priority CPU.
 
Last edited:
h9826790 said:
For graphic work, CPU speed does. By considering those Xeon CPU is so cheap now. I suggest go all the way to X5690.

However, if cost does matter. Or very hard to acquire this particular CPU, for graphic work...

Dual processor cMP, my own priority is X5690 -> X5677 -> X5680

Single processor cMP, I suggest X5690 -> W3690 -> X5677 -> X5680 -> W3680.

But if you prefer to have some CPU power for backup rendering (in case the GPU rendering doesn't work out), then X5677 will be the lowest priority CPU.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your clear and concrete response. I'll start by ordering two X5690s for one of the 8-core Macs and I'll see how it works.
 
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zterm said:
Thank you very much for your clear and concrete response. I'll start by ordering two X5690s for one of the 8-core Macs and I'll see how it works.
Click to expand...

Hope this end up will be a nice upgrade for you. Anyway, if you never change the CPU for your 2009 single processor "5,1", I believe that CPU should be 2.66GHz (turbo 2.93), but not 2.26GHz.
 
Easy to get lost on the myriad of options for upgrading these systems. But here's some (hopefully) straightforward suggestions - in addition to the CPUs outlined above:
- SSDs. If you have a spare SATA connector (and remember the 2nd optical bay...) then this one is great bang for the buck. Either 120 or 240 GB drives are cheap, and will do wonders.
- Don't forget I/O: add a USB 3 card. Innateck has been a favorite, but last I checked they were unavailable. Get the Sonnet, which also works well. And remember to get a USB 3 media card reader, plus a couple of USB 3 extension cables to bring this connection around from the back of the machine.
- 32GB memory (4x8GB) is available for approximately $100, give or take.

All these will breathe new life into these systems. If you have the original graphics cards in these, I suspect newer cards will certainly do better. But which ones (and how much to pay) is a more complex discussion.
 
zterm said:
Thank you very much for your clear and concrete response. I'll start by ordering two X5690s for one of the 8-core Macs and I'll see how it works.
Click to expand...

That should be a nice upgrade, especially for C4D render times .

You only mentioned CPU upgrades; do you have sufficient RAM and a good harddrive setup already ?
 
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