Possible to Overclock a Nehalem Mac Pro??

[TheSilencer]

Yep - unless one disabled turbo mode. Furthermore, turbo mode kicks in only for one core

Nope. The nice thng with the XEON is that it can run all cores at 4C Turbo Boost (depending on work load + 133MHz or + 266MHz) or less cores at maximum Turbo up to + 399MHz.

Just take a look at INTEL website for it.
Intel demo video

Intel specs PDF, look at page 8

 

[Dr.Pants]

I don't game at all.

It's set up as an EDA system. Recreation = Mac Rumors.

Dang. All I can say. I've done CAD stuff, but that just boggles my mind.

Nope. The nice thng with the XEON is that it can run all cores at 4C Turbo Boost (depending on work load + 133MHz or + 266MHz) or less cores at maximum Turbo up to + 399MHz.

Just take a look at INTEL website for it.
Intel demo video

Intel specs PDF, look at page 8

I knew about the last number there, but not the other two. Thanks for the correction.

 

[nanofrog]

Dang. All I can say. I've done CAD stuff, but that just boggles my mind.

It's not that far off, as it's CAD/CAE/CAM software for electronics design & manufacture. So it's not that bad. Well, not until you have to hunt down a bug.

 

[Dr.Pants]

It's not that far off, as it's CAD/CAE/CAM software for electronics design & manufacture. So it's not that bad. Well, not until you have to hunt down a bug.

There are insects in our CAD programs??!?!? That would explain why my CAD programs in highschool always had problems! That or the fact it was with a computer using AGP and 256MB RAM Sure, it was highschool, nothing intensive, but at the same time I paid for some upgrades. Just a random memory.

So, trying to get back on-topic, CAD/CAM/CAE software - I assume it would benefit from overclocking? Or would it become unstable without ECC RAM? Obviously it all depends on the amount OC'ed...

 

[nanofrog]

There are insects in our CAD programs??!?!? That would explain why my CAD programs in highschool always had problems! That or the fact it was with a computer using AGP and 256MB RAM Sure, it was highschool, nothing intensive, but at the same time I paid for some upgrades. Just a random memory.

Yup. What do you think the RAID is for?

Seriously though, a CAD system that hasn't adequate hardware, will always have problems.

So, trying to get back on-topic, CAD/CAM/CAE software - I assume it would benefit from overclocking? Or would it become unstable without ECC RAM? Obviously it all depends on the amount OC'ed...

It can. Some of it is single threaded, some is multi-threaded (suites consisting of multiple applications). Just don't go crazy with the BCLK frequency, or it won't remain stable.

ECC is nice, and a good idea to have (accuracy), but isn't an absolute necessity. It tends to slow you down a tad, so there's usually a price/compromise for the extra piece of mind.

 

[Wotan31]

wow, could you come off more elitest ?

Probably, but that's the best I could do on short notice. I'm a "tell it like it is" kind of guy. I won't sugar coat my words to avoid bending your hurty-feelers. Like my style or not, it's sound advice.

SGI

True that. Haven't played with the new Tezro's, but I know the Octane and Octane2 inside and out. Used to service them for a living. That point-to-point XIO architecture was brilliant. Probably where the PCI-Express folks got their inspiration from. Those Xbow compression connectors in the Octane were fragile though, I was never a fan of those.

SGI today is but a shadow of its former glory. Sun hardware is garbage. HP-UX is much more server oriented vs workstation. Same with AIX.

The Mac Pro really isn't the Rolls of the computer world...

For modern 2009 desktop workstations, I still think the Mac Pro is "Rolls Royce class" hardware. We've got some brand new loaded HP Superdome's at work that cost more than $1 Million. But that's not a desktop workstation, so doesn't count. The Compaq XP1000 Alpha workstation running Tru64 5.1b was pretty badass (have one at home still!) but that's circa 2000. What other modern machine (aside from an SGI Tezro) is a top-end workstation??

 

[nanofrog]

True that. Haven't played with the new Tezro's, but I know the Octane and Octane2 inside and out. Used to service them for a living. That point-to-point XIO architecture was brilliant. Probably where the PCI-Express folks got their inspiration from. Those Xbow compression connectors in the Octane were fragile though, I was never a fan of those.

SGI today is but a shadow of its former glory. Sun hardware is garbage. HP-UX is much more server oriented vs workstation. Same with AIX.

I understand what you mean. The dropping of the MIPS chips and custom designs, have led to homogeneity/parity with other systems (Intel and/or AMD based models). Even though they still do a nice job, and the systems do seem to remain stable, they've lost their uniqueness and will to excel.

For modern 2009 desktop workstations, I still think the Mac Pro is "Rolls Royce class" hardware.

For workstations & servers, I've always preferred "tanks".

 

[TheSilencer]

I wonder if the benchmarks we see floating around for the 2009 MPs involve Turbo Boost, especially in single thread benches? I read that you can enable a persistent Turbo in Windows 7 RC, idk about Vista. So, can you force OS X to use persistent 4C Turbo, does Leopard even utilize Turbo Boost or is this one of the "features" of Snow Leopard?

 

[Firefly2002]

Even if you get around to it, you won't get great overclocking out of them.

For starters they're Xeons, and Quad core, and there's (presumably) two CPus each with four cores. That's a lot of cores that need to be up to firing at a higher than rated speed.

 

[lemonade-maker]

SGI

That is hilarious. SGI has to be one of those worst computer companies I've ever dealt with. Hardware, software, and support were the worst. Could not wait for Pro-E to be available on windows nt.

 

[nanofrog]

That is hilarious. SGI has to be one of those worst computer companies I've ever dealt with. Hardware, software, and support were the worst. Could not wait for Pro-E to be available on windows nt.

What where the specifics?

 

[jadam]

Why would you even consider this? Seems pretty pointless to me.

That's like buying a Rolls Royce and then asking to install some shi#ty K&N air intake and loud rice boy muffler. Go buy a crap honda civic if that's your thing.

Are you serious? My 2.66ghz i7 920 which is the same chip that's in the mac pro is overclocked to 4.0ghz and runs at that speed 24/7 on air cooling... And it's quiet.

Or do you just like Apple price gouging you on parts

Even if you get around to it, you won't get great overclocking out of them.

For starters they're Xeons, and Quad core, and there's (presumably) two CPus each with four cores. That's a lot of cores that need to be up to firing at a higher than rated speed.

Hardly, the Nehalems are amazing overclockers, people hit 3.8-4.2ghz on AIR cooling. With water cooling people run reliably at 4.4-4.6ghz...

 

[Tesselator]

Nope. The nice thng with the XEON is that it can run all cores at 4C Turbo Boost (depending on work load + 133MHz or + 266MHz) or less cores at maximum Turbo up to + 399MHz.

Just take a look at INTEL website for it.
Intel demo video

Intel specs PDF, look at page 8

I watched an Intel tech conference that said otherwise.

They basically said that only one core could achieve maximum turbo-boot. Two cores could achieve a mid-level boost and all four cores could only get a very slight boost. And they were talking about and showing the Xeon. So apparently it's a bit of a balancing act.

 

[jadam]

I watched a tech conference that said otherwise.

If basically said that only one core could achieve maximum turbo-boot. Two cores could achieve a mid-level boost and all four cores could only get a very slight boost. And they were talking about and showing the Xeon.

This is how the Nehalems work at stock, they will never turbo all 4 cores very high, only 1-2 cores will get turboed by a 2x multiplier increase.

 

[Spoffo]

I've never tried to over-clock one of my Mac by myself, but about 8 months ago, I bought a used 2009 8 core Pro from OWC that had been overclocked from 2.66 to 3.32. I have no idea how it was done, but it has been running stable all that time with no issues of incorrect time display etc. I haven't done any formal benchmarking, but there's no question this rig is quite a bit zippier than any other Mac Pro tower I've run.

At first, there were two situations that would cause an overtemp total freeze/system crash: 1) Attempts at long rips in Handbrake (which I've confirmed as a known issue in some video forums) and 2) certain heavily loaded scenarios in Flight sim X running under boot camp.

After reading up on a wild liquid cooling solution, I tried the simple approach first: I downloaded one of the free fan-control utilities ( I use "Macs Fan Control" which is also available in a Windows version specifically for boot camp and has a read-out on all the measured temps in the Mac.) I now manually turn up the main input and exhaust fans and the A and B core booster fans to near their max for either of the above situations. The fan noise is certainly very un-Mac-like, but the CPU cores stay down below 70c and I can run either of the above apps all day with no issues.

 

[h9826790]

I've never tried to over-clock one of my Mac by myself, but about 8 months ago, I bought a used 2009 8 core Pro from OWC that had been overclocked from 2.66 to 3.32. I have no idea how it was done, but it has been running stable all that time with no issues of incorrect time display etc. I haven't done any formal benchmarking, but there's no question this rig is quite a bit zippier than any other Mac Pro tower I've run.

At first, there were two situations that would cause total an overtemp freeze/system crash: 1) Attempts at long rips in Handbrake (which I've confirmed as a known issue in some video forums) and 2) certain heavily loaded scenarios in Flight sim X running under boot camp.

After reading up on a wild liquid cooling solution, I tried the simple approach first: I downloaded one of the free fan-control utilities ( I use "Macs Fan Control" which is also available in a Windows version specifically for boot camp and has a read-out on all the measured temps in the Mac.) I now manually turn up the main input and exhaust fans and the A and B core booster fans to near their max for either of the above situations. The fan noise is certainly very un-Mac-like, but the CPU cores stay down below 70c and I can run either of the above apps all day with no issues.

How do you determine its been over clocked to 3.32GHz?

 

[prvt.donut]

Maybe they put in a different CPU and said it was overclocked because the clock speed was greater than Apple provided stock. Seems strange that there is only 1 instance of Mac Pro overclocking that was a computer recently purchased by someone who says it was sold to him as an overclocked machine.

It requires modification of efi to overclock, yes, there are people who modify efi, but if overclocking had been figured out, then everyone on here would be doing it and subsequently installing custom water cooling loops in their systems. These CPUs are known to be able to run faster if overclocked, but everyone here is limited to 3.47Ghz. The fastest CPU that can be put into these computers.

Ps, didn't you think it strange that the last post on this thread was 7 years ago before you posted?

 

[Spoffo]

When you open up the system report, it reads as follows

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro4,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3.32 GHz
Number of Processors: 2
Total Number of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per Processor): 8 MB
Memory: 32 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 6.4 GT/s
Boot ROM Version: MP41.0081.B08
SMC Version (system): 1.39f5

The factory specs for the 8 core 2009 mac Pro specifies speeds of 2.26GHz, 2.66 or 2.93, so this is definitely a non-stock configuration. Whether it is literally "over-clocked" or some other approach to higher speeds using different core chips, I couldn't tell you, but the OWC website referred to it as "over-clocked" in the sales listing.

 

[h9826790]

When you open up the system report, it reads as follows

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro4,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3.32 GHz
Number of Processors: 2
Total Number of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per Processor): 8 MB
Memory: 32 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 6.4 GT/s
Boot ROM Version: MP41.0081.B08
SMC Version (system): 1.39f5

The factory specs for the 8 core 2009 mac Pro specifies speeds of 2.26GHz, 2.66 or 2.93, so this is definitely a non-stock configuration. Whether it is literally "over-clocked" or some other approach to higher speeds using different core chips, I couldn't tell you, but the OWC website referred to it as "over-clocked" in the sales listing.

Sure that's just a pair of Xeon W5590, nothing overclocked.

Anyway, you can go to Appstore, download OpenGL Extensions Viewer. It will tell you the processor name in the 1st page.

 

[thornslack]

They just installed faster processors aftermarket like any sane person does on their own.