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New Mac Pro 1,1 owner, w/CPU upgrade, (8900 Geekbench Result)

green86

green86

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 27, 2007
535
270
North Carolina
Hey all.

The Mac Pro 1,1 seems to be getting a bad rap these days, but I picked one up a month ago and have enjoyed it since. It came with a 4870 (now a 6870 though) & 4 GB of ram. It was originally a 4 x 2.66 GHz model, but I picked up two 4 x 1.86 ($200 on eBay, effectively making it an 8-Core), which I have successfully overclocked to 2.33 GHz using the BSEL mod... for an astonishing (IMHO) 8900 GeekBench result. When I run Geekbench on the stock system, it returned a 6100 result. A pretty nice increase. (I'll post screenshots tomorrow)

A few notes:

1. Quad channel does make a difference in 1,1's, by a couple hundred points in GeekBench. (This means 4 matching FB-DIMMs in the first upper and lower two slots)

2. Windows 7 64-bit installation was tricky, but not impossible.

3. I have successfully used the 6870 just using the drivers avail for download.

4. I can't find a way (other then looking at the Geekbench results) to show that the chips were overclocked to 1.86 GHz in Mac OS X, but it is easy to verify in Windows.

Overall, I find it to be a pretty high performance machine. Does anyone know if Lion drops (official) support for the 1,1s?
 
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People are worried about it because they assume that Lion will run on a 64 bit kernel. And as it stands for the current and past OS's, the 1,1 was not capable of booting on a 64 bit kernel, seemingly because of the 1,1's 32 bit EFI.

On the other hand, 32 bit EFI machines are technically capable of booting 64 bit kernel, the Developer's Preview of Lion has been running on the 1,1's, and Apple's official minimum requirement for Lion is a core2duo processor (which the 1,1 has). I assume they will be supported.

How are you liking the momentus XT with your MBP? I'm getting an MBP and want to go the SSD + optibay HDD route, but just don't think I can afford it so I'm leaning toward the XT.
 
bozz2006 said:
People are worried about it because they assume that Lion will run on a 64 bit kernel. And as it stands for the current and past OS's, the 1,1 was not capable of booting on a 64 bit kernel, seemingly because of the 1,1's 32 bit EFI.

On the other hand, 32 bit EFI machines are technically capable of booting 64 bit kernel, the Developer's Preview of Lion has been running on the 1,1's, and Apple's official minimum requirement for Lion is a core2duo processor (which the 1,1 has). I assume they will be supported.

How are you liking the momentus XT with your MBP? I'm getting an MBP and want to go the SSD + optibay HDD route, but just don't think I can afford it so I'm leaning toward the XT.
Click to expand...

Thank you, that answers my question completely. Yes, the 32-bit EFI is a source of confusion for a lot of things, but not seemingly yet as much of a nuisance as people seem to think.

As far as the Momentus, it is literally amazing. After 3 boots it learns the most used files and accelerates things substantially, and honestly I think SSDs are rip offs right now, esp with this on the market. Check my previous threads, I've written about it before IIRC.
 
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Here are the screenshots as promised. I'll add some from Windows in a little bit. First shot is of the chips themselves with the mod in place. Next is the System profiler displaying the incorrect speed. The third is the GB result when I bought the computer, and the forth is upgraded.

DSC00545.jpg

Screenshot2011-04-01at42423PM.png


Screenshot2011-04-01at43442PM.png

Screenshot2011-04-01at43353PM.png


For reference, details on the BSEL mod (in particular to the Mac Pro) can be found here:

http://www.o0o.it/pro/
 
I am considering picking up a 1,1 and doing the same thing. Which 6850 did you get?
 
Yes, I did the same end 2009: bought a 2x2.66 GHz MacPro 1,1 and upgraded to two 5340 engineering sample Quad CPUs (2.4 GHz running at 3GHz with BSEL mod). I paid 380 USD for the pair on eBay, and got around 150 USD for my old CPUs, so the upgrade only cost me ~ 230 USD.

With an SSD boot drive this machine screams (Geekbench in the 10,000). I have a capable HD3870 graphic card but I'm looking at a 6870 which provides the most bang for the bucks, IMO.
 
fiatlux said:
Yes, I did the same end 2009: bought a 2x2.66 GHz MacPro 1,1 and upgraded to two 5340 engineering sample Quad CPUs (2.4 GHz running at 3GHz with BSEL mod). I paid 380 USD for the pair on eBay, and got around 150 USD for my old CPUs, so the upgrade only cost me ~ 230 USD.

With an SSD boot drive this machine screams (Geekbench in the 10,000). I have a capable HD3870 graphic card but I'm looking at a 6870 which provides the most bang for the bucks, IMO.
Click to expand...

thanks

I was concerned over the slower clock speed of the 2.33 upgrade as I understand clock speed is important in audio production which I do. Over the x5355...

However the e5340 seems pretty rare - just looked on ebay and nothing...
 
This thread made me want to try the BESL mod to over-clock some cheap processor upgrades. Found a pair of used Intel Xeon E5320 Quad Core 1.86GHz/8MB/1066MHz CPU SL9MV processors and will install then next week. $35 for the processors; hopefully they DO work and aren't crap. The price is unbeatable if it works. It would give this old machine a very nice boost and keep it quite useable for a few more years.
 
bozz2006 said:
People are worried about it because they assume that Lion will run on a 64 bit kernel. And as it stands for the current and past OS's, the 1,1 was not capable of booting on a 64 bit kernel, seemingly because of the 1,1's 32 bit EFI.
Click to expand...

This is Absolutely untrue! They're is already a quick, easy, and elegant hack out for the Mountain Lion install disk which has the MP 1,1 working perfectly.

Yes, the stock disc wont work, but creating your own works fine.

LINK

There is NO reason the 1,1 can't run Mountain Lion. However it seems the 7300GT is no longer supported.
 
slughead said:
This is Absolutely untrue! They're is already a quick, easy, and elegant hack out for the Mountain Lion install disk which has the MP 1,1 working perfectly.

Yes, the stock disc wont work, but creating your own works fine.

LINK

There is NO reason the 1,1 can't run Mountain Lion. However it seems the 7300GT is no longer supported.
Click to expand...

Ok, notice when I made this post. It was a year ago. Before Lion was even released. And I was just commenting on speculation, not making a statement about what would and wouldn't work.
 
bozz2006 said:
Ok, notice when I made this post. It was a year ago. Before Lion was even released. And I was just commenting on speculation, not making a statement about what would and wouldn't work.
Click to expand...

LOL I totally missed that and the fact you weren't talking about mountain lion.
 
green86 said:
Hey all.

The Mac Pro 1,1 seems to be getting a bad rap these days, but I picked one up a month ago and have enjoyed it since. It came with a 4870 (now a 6870 though) & 4 GB of ram. It was originally a 4 x 2.66 GHz model, but I picked up two 4 x 1.86 ($200 on eBay, effectively making it an 8-Core), which I have successfully overclocked to 2.33 GHz using the BSEL mod... for an astonishing (IMHO) 8900 GeekBench result. When I run Geekbench on the stock system, it returned a 6100 result. A pretty nice increase. (I'll post screenshots tomorrow)

A few notes:

1. Quad channel does make a difference in 1,1's, by a couple hundred points in GeekBench. (This means 4 matching FB-DIMMs in the first upper and lower two slots)

2. Windows 7 64-bit installation was tricky, but not impossible.

3. I have successfully used the 6870 just using the drivers avail for download.

4. I can't find a way (other then looking at the Geekbench results) to show that the chips were overclocked to 1.86 GHz in Mac OS X, but it is easy to verify in Windows.

Overall, I find it to be a pretty high performance machine. Does anyone know if Lion drops (official) support for the 1,1s?
Click to expand...


Yes, I did the 266 octo upgrade and my geekbench score nearly doubled...something like 6000 to 10,000 roughly. I also added SSD system disk and doubled my ram though.
 
Wirelessly posted

Mine roughly doubled too...to about 9500. Too bad we can't easily run Mountain Lion though now, even though our MPs scream.
 
OK, guys. I just did the BESL mod update with a 2x2.66 4-cores to 2x1.86 8-cores on my MacPro 1,1.

Sorry to provide mere anecdotal evidence, but 32-bit went on Geekbench from 5100+ to 7300+, and the 64-bit I didn't check originally (wtf?) and ended up 8000+ when done. SMOKING.

Now, this is the killer bit.... cost me $40. Ebay used processors in good shape: $35; heat sink goop: $5; time: $0; result: priceless. I took a chance on some used jobs a week or two back because $35 for a 50% increase in speed seemed too-good-to-be-true, and it wasn't too good to be true, but it is too good period.

Video processing (I'm processing video from mkv to mpeg to compressed mpeg-4 in batch) has sped up 2x. Can't beat it.

I figure I prolonged the life of this computer 3 more years. Maybe 2. There are still faster processors I can install when they get cheaper in a few years. Lovely.

Anyone wanting to do it, just beware that fan housing, because that was the only painful bit. Reinstalling sucked. The rest was effortless.

EDIT: Don;t forget to use the fan control to wham up those fans. My computer went from 97º to 127º on the default fan settings. I'm getting it down, now.
 
Sorry to revive an old thread, but are the Intel Xeon E5345 processors compatible with the 1,1 Mac Pro? And how much of a performance hit (or increase) would I notice going to the 2.33GHz Clovertown processors from the 2.66Ghz Woodcrest CPUs?


And how do I get the About This Mac to show the correct CPU's?


I had another thread just started about this, but no replies yet (I know I'm in a hurry) and this one has useful info for other people looking to do this upgrade.
 
Tucom said:
Sorry to revive an old thread, but are the Intel Xeon E5345 processors compatible with the 1,1 Mac Pro? And how much of a performance hit (or increase) would I notice going to the 2.33GHz Clovertown processors from the 2.66Ghz Woodcrest CPUs?
Click to expand...

I just installed a pair of E5345's stepping SL9YL last month and it has worked great (Edit: to be clear, this was on a Mac Pro 2,1). I don't know about the 2.66Ghz, but I upgraded from 2.0 GHz (5130's) and it doubled my Geekbench score. 64-bit Geekbench score went from 4463 to 9018. I bought the pair of used E5345's for $18 and was nervous it was too good to be true, but it all worked fine; can't complain.

One recommendation when doing the installation: make sure you have a good tool for the hex bit to unlock the heatsinks. My hex bit kept getting stuck when I tried to pull it out (would detach from the screwdriver); I ended up having to tape it together for the spots where fishing it out would be challenging, and even then I ran the risk of the tape getting shredded (which it did for one of the ones where I luckily could fish it out). I wished that I had one of those tools I've seen in one of the videos where it just one long hex tool (no detachable pieces), but I don't know where to get that.

Edit: Not sure if you need to upgrade firmware or not for these, may want to check that. It's a pretty simple process to upgrade the 1,1 to the 2,1 firmware, and I believe once done your machine will be no different than a 2,1 (firmware is the only difference -- correct me if I'm wrong here). I already had a 2,1, so didn't have to do this.
 
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Tucom said:
Sorry to revive an old thread, but are the Intel Xeon E5345 processors compatible with the 1,1 Mac Pro? And how much of a performance hit (or increase) would I notice going to the 2.33GHz Clovertown processors from the 2.66Ghz Woodcrest CPUs?


And how do I get the About This Mac to show the correct CPU's?


I had another thread just started about this, but no replies yet (I know I'm in a hurry) and this one has useful info for other people looking to do this upgrade.
Click to expand...

Flash to 2,1 firmware will get the CPU's to show correctly..
 

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GermanyChris said:
Flash to 2,1 firmware will get the CPU's to show correctly..
Click to expand...

But I don't think that would work for the E5345's, no?


Thanks for the info nilk!

I think I'm going to stick with the 5160's I purchased to upgrade for it and get the X5365's when the price drops (if it does)
 
Tucom said:
But I don't think that would work for the E5345's, no?


Thanks for the info nilk!

I think I'm going to stick with the 5160's I purchased to upgrade for it and get the X5365's when the price drops (if it does)
Click to expand...

to the best of my knowledge it does. Neither your nor my processors were ever factory options.
 
GermanyChris said:
to the best of my knowledge it does. Neither your nor my processors were ever factory options.
Click to expand...

My 5340 Engineering Sample CPUs do not show up correctly in the About this Mac details, with 1,1 or 2,1 firmware. Not that it matters, though. It has no impact on performance.
 
fiatlux said:
My 5340 Engineering Sample CPUs do not show up correctly in the About this Mac details, with 1,1 or 2,1 firmware. Not that it matters, though. It has no impact on performance.
Click to expand...

If I had to pluck something out of my 4th point of contact I'd say it's because they are ES's is why they don't read correctly.
 
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