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Need advice on Mac Pro processor upgrade

P

postbeck

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 21, 2013
7
0
Hi All.
Just to be upfront i've never posted in a forum before but i've really stuck for some advice.

My MacPro (Listed Below) has kicked the bucket and it looks like the cause of the problem is 1 or both of the processors. I have no issues or worries with actually changing up the processors to try and fix things but i figured i should see if there is some way to add a little juice to my system.

I've looked around and read many different post about processor upgrades but i'm a little lost on what processor i should actually be looking to get that works with my board and ups the speed.

any advice or help would be great.

Mac Pro Spec.
"Quad Core" 2.8 (Early 2008)
model A1186
MacPro3,1
ECM 2180
 
Hey, there, Postbeck
I actually just went through this upgrade myself. Your computer currently has one processor installed, and if that's truly your problem, it's as easy as getting another processor. You have a Xeon E5462 SLANT processor. If it's really dead, now would be the time to upgrade to an 8 core system. To do that, you'll want to get 2 processors. They come in 2.8, 3.0 and 3.2 variants, using 2 Quad Core Xeon E5462, E5472, or E5482 processors, respectively.
I ordered mine on Ebay - make sure you get another heatsink! There is a placeholder to protect the CPU socket on your board, and be careful of the heatsink you order. The 2006/07 model heatsinks work in the 2008, but the 2008s are shaped ever so differently that the fan array will not fit back in properly if the top heatsink is a 2006/07. I had to move my existing heatsink to the top processor slot. Check out my thread here for more info on that. Hope I was of some assistance, and good luck with your upgrades!
-N
 
postbeck said:
Hi All.
Just to be upfront i've never posted in a forum before but i've really stuck for some advice.

My MacPro (Listed Below) has kicked the bucket and it looks like the cause of the problem is 1 or both of the processors. I have no issues or worries with actually changing up the processors to try and fix things but i figured i should see if there is some way to add a little juice to my system.

I've looked around and read many different post about processor upgrades but i'm a little lost on what processor i should actually be looking to get that works with my board and ups the speed.

any advice or help would be great.

Mac Pro Spec.
"Quad Core" 2.8 (Early 2008)
model A1186
MacPro3,1
ECM 2180
Click to expand...

If you want to go to 8 core you will need the Xeon X5482 SLANZ, these are quad core processors so 2 of these will make it an 8 core, with a clock speed of 3.2GHz per processor. I can't seem to find the dual core ones so maybe someone more used to the 3,1 models can help you there but if you want to go for a 8 core thats what you want to get.

Hope this helps a bit

Jake
 
Hi Postbeck. For the 3.1 2008 Mac Pro you are limited to the Xeon 5400s series. I think if I am not mistaken, the next highest speed is 3.2ghz though the speed difference with 2.8ghz may not be noticeable. The Xeon 5500s will not work with the 2008 Mac Pros also due to socket being different
 
Thanks for all the great feedback and advice. Very awesome.

as one last question is there anything i might not be thinking of with this upgrade... ie, firmware, different Ram, ect?
 
The 2008 Mac Pro used DDR2 FB-DIMMs, preferably 800mhz, but will also accept 667mhz. These are still absurdly expensive, and are required to be paired. It took me some work to get all 14GB working in my machine. There's no firmware flash for the 3,1 - it's the only one that takes socket 771 and has 64bit EFI.
 
Thanks NOTNlCE. I'm currently fully loaded with ram. I just wanted to make sure i didn't have to replace it.

As for the question on how i came to bad processor. I've swapped out every part in the computer into another computer and vice verse. The last thing is the processor which if i had one laying around i would try it before buy something off ebay. Also i've had the machine into an apple repair shop to confirm my findings.

Yet again thanks for the all the help and advice.
 
Maybe I missed it, but did you already upgrade the boot drive to an SSD? That made such a huge difference on my MP 3.1.
 
Success. almost.

So as an update i finally got my new (to me) processors in the mail and installed them. They show up and work.

But now i face a slightly different issue.

Basically my existing video card (Geforce 8800 GT) won't allow my computer to boot past the grey screen. I've swapped in another one of these cards from a working mac pro and it works but won't show the boot up process, black screen until computer is fully loaded. The process reminds of what it is like to use and non EFI card in a mac.

Normally i would just say my video card is shot and buy a new one but i fear that getting a new card might not fix the issue.

I almost feel like i'm chasing a ghost in the machine.

any suggestions would be great.
 
postbeck said:
Success. almost.

So as an update i finally got my new (to me) processors in the mail and installed them. They show up and work.

But now i face a slightly different issue.

Basically my existing video card (Geforce 8800 GT) won't allow my computer to boot past the grey screen. I've swapped in another one of these cards from a working mac pro and it works but won't show the boot up process, black screen until computer is fully loaded. The process reminds of what it is like to use and non EFI card in a mac.

Normally i would just say my video card is shot and buy a new one but i fear that getting a new card might not fix the issue.

I almost feel like i'm chasing a ghost in the machine.

any suggestions would be great.
Click to expand...

It is likely other 8800 is in a different gen MP. You could flash it to work on yours.

Are you the guy I responded to yesterday about CPU upgrade upsetting 8800?
 
Nope not me.

Ya the other mac pro is a 2006/07.

Didn't think i would have to flash an already working Mac video card. Shouldn't it just work?
 
2006 is EFI32, yours is 64.

There was literally a guy yesterday or day before with exact same story.

Upgraded CPU, jostled 8800 now it's dead.

Check my recent posts, couldn't be more than 10 or 20 ago

Gave him whole story
 
I 100% forgot about 32/64 when swamping out cards.

I actually just pulled apart my card and was going to bake it tonight. Not worried if i toast it even more.


Thanks for the advice.
 
Baked Card now works and my system is up and running. At least until the card craps out again. Any advice on buying a NVIDIA card and flashing with EFI boot.
 
postbeck said:
Baked Card now works and my system is up and running. At least until the card craps out again. Any advice on buying a NVIDIA card and flashing with EFI boot.
Click to expand...

MacVidCards always a great buy if you need the EFI. I put a PC card, unflashed, in my system a little while ago and it's running great, I have the original Radeon 2600 XT in to drive my VGA display, and also for an EFI boot screen if I need it. It's not super easy to flash NVIDIA cards like it was with the 6000 series Radeons, which is why MacVidCards has such a great business going. A friend of mine has personally recommended him to me, and I'm sure plenty of people in this forum will as well.
 
There are 2 "do it yourself" NVIDIA flashes that are super easy and guaranteed to work. For $50 or so you can get an EVGA 8800GT and those flash easily.

Or, get a 680 2GBreference card, also pretty much a sure thing.

The 8800 can actually be flashed in 10.7 but instructions are arcane. The 680 must be flashed in Windows/DOS.
 
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