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Noob questions on a 5,1 upgrade plan

fuchsdh

fuchsdh

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jun 19, 2014
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So after crunching numbers on cost/year, yadda yadda, I've decided to just give myself a boost over my current rig. I came into a 5,1 2.8 Quad (MC250LL/A) for cheap, and plan on following this Macrumors guide to perform a CPU upgrade to a 3.33 hex.

A question: Given that this is a 5,1 and the CPU upgrade is a Westmere, I can get 1333MHz RAM to upgrade rather than 1066MHz, correct?
 
Yes, Indeed 1333 MHz RAM will work just fine. You can also use an X5680, same speed, but will handle more RAM if the need ever arises. However, let price be your guide.

Lou
 
drac said:
The W3690 with the hex 3.46 is frequently no more expensive than the 3.33:cool:
Click to expand...

Well too late, already ordered :cool:

Not a big worry though, since I got the guy on eBay to sell it to me for $40 off the median price. Not going to fret about a few MHz.

So I guess my only remaining question is about the heat spreaders. The best advice I've seen was simply to try undertightening it, although that was from a guy who fried his board the first time along: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2800/upgrading-and-analyzing-apple-s-nehalem-mac-pro/11

On the other hand, he says that the quad-core Nehalems had the IHS, so maybe this won't be an issue with mine since there's already the room?
 
fuchsdh said:
Well too late, already ordered :cool:

Not a big worry though, since I got the guy on eBay to sell it to me for $40 off the median price. Not going to fret about a few MHz.

So I guess my only remaining question is about the heat spreaders. The best advice I've seen was simply to try undertightening it, although that was from a guy who fried his board the first time along: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2800/upgrading-and-analyzing-apple-s-nehalem-mac-pro/11

On the other hand, he says that the quad-core Nehalems had the IHS, so maybe this won't be an issue with mine since there's already the room?
Click to expand...

Your 5.1 Single 2.8ghz is easier to upgrade. The CPUs uses IHS just like the link you showed. It's only the 2009 dual CPUs that's tricky to upgrade like the guy who fried his board. The 2010 5.1 dual cpus uses IHS so it's also easy to upgrade.
 
Macsonic said:
Your 5.1 Single 2.8ghz is easier to upgrade. The CPUs uses IHS just like the link you showed. It's only the 2009 dual CPUs that's tricky to upgrade like the guy who fried his board. The 2010 5.1 dual cpus uses IHS so it's also easy to upgrade.
Click to expand...

Excellent. Need all the assistance I can get as this'll be my first CPU upgrade. I'll probably post my tale of success and/or woe when I get the parts!
 
Edit: Sorry just realized this is the wrong thread, moved my question accordingly.
 
Last edited:
You don't need washers to upgrade either a 5,1 or a 4,1 quad. I'm not sure you should ever use them on the dual 4,1 either, frankly, but that divides opinions like mustards or vinegars.

There is no change in the fit of these heat sinks, unlike with the lidless CPUs.
 
Ok, so it's done! I guess while the fact that I haven't fried it in the ten minutes since I powered on is a good sign, wondering what temps people get on it so I can see if mine are in line? I did some quick checks on the original CPU while and after I was running benchmarks and got (in °F)

CPUA Tdiode 140/127/123
CPUA Core 0 85/92/100
CPU Heatsink 115/115/112

Currently I've got the following while idle:

CPUA Tdiode 91
CPUA Core 0 153
CPUA Heatsink 87

That Core temp seems higher than it should be (I'm running around 129° on both CPUs in my 3,1 presently on which I type.) Or am I being paranoid?

(Fans speeds are given as: Booster 1 856RPM, Exhaust 599RPM, Slots 1073RPM, Intake 600RPM, Power 667RPM).
 
That's NOT the core temperature.

That's the temperature of "How far from processor hot state". Therefore, the higher the better.

It means now you are still 153F below the CPU temperature limit.

You can try to stress your CPU by running Handbrake. This temperature should drop a lot but never hit 0.
 
h9826790 said:
That's NOT the core temperature.

That's the temperature of "How far from processor hot state". Therefore, the higher the better.

It means now you are still 153F below the CPU temperature limit.

You can try to stress your CPU by running Handbrake. This temperature should drop a lot but never hit 0.
Click to expand...

See, this is good to know. I wish they had more explanation of what the iStat abbreviations are. :) Thanks for the clarification.
 
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