Hi people
ive bought MP2010 4x2.8 (W3530) ... and now im considering cpu upgrade
my optins are:
x5677 - cheap 4cores
x5690 - expensive but highest performance and 6 cores
X5675 - cheaper than x5690, 6 cores, 95W
all these cpus support (i hope) 64gigs of ram which is one of the reasons
please advice ... i dont know hardware and software pros/cons of these cpus
Boot ROM Version: MP51.0089.B00
SMC Version (system): 1.39f11
SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f11
thanks
I recently purchased a x5677 (3.46Ghz, 4 cores) for $15 from Keystone Memory on ebay. They are based in Pennsylvania and ship quickly. My x5677 works well and is the same speed as x5690 (3.46Ghz, 6 cores). Will 2 extra cores make a difference to any of the software you use? If you cannot identify a specific use case then you have a simple answer. At $15 the x5677 is practically a throwaway.
If you are not satisfied with x5677 performance and you really need many cores consider going to a dual cpu tray for 8 or 12 cores which will be much much more expensive.
I went with the x5677 in order to be able to run Catalina without needing patches. Dosdude's Catalina software works but I did try this software and found it annoying to have to re-install Catalina with each beta or regular version change.
Instead I chose to use OpenCore which provided a UEFI pre boot environment. To use OpenCore you need a Westmere Xenon, such as the x5677 or x5690. With a Westmere you will be able to update using Apples updating software built into Catalina. Apple native updating requires the Westmere Xenon VMM feature which is not present in Nehelam Xenons such as the W3530.
You will need to upgrade your boot rom to the latest version. Follow the instructions in this thread
MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)
Then you have the option of installing either Mojave or Catalina as you wish.
I am using OpenCore 0.5.9 as pre boot software. This will give you the ability to update to either OS and in Catalina it will allow you to use Apple's native software updates which the dosdude software will not.
OpenCore will give you either a text or graphical boot picker when using a Metal capable video card so there will be no more staring at a blank boot screen and if you use multiple operating systems the boot picker will give you the ability at boot time to chose your OS.
