Possible to overclock E5520 found in entry 2009 Octad Mac Pro.

[beto2k7]

Back in the day when I liked tinkering with old PC's I found a way on the internet of making an old Q6600 (2.4Ghz) going up to 3.0Ghz by the simple fact of shorting a couple of pins. most commonly know as Bsel mod. Is there a way of doing the same with the E5520 inside my Mac Pro?

 

[Transporteur]

No. There is no way to overclock Nehalem/Westmere processors in the Pro.

 

[beto2k7]

That's what I kinda thought due to the changes in processors. Q6600 using FSB and E5520 QPI.

 

[Umbongo]

That's what I kinda thought due to the changes in processors. Q6600 using FSB and E5520 QPI.

It's more the combination of Apple hardware and dual processor board that prevents ease of overclocking. Things are much more flexible on a single socket board intended for overclocking. You could get an E5520 running at 3GHz on a $150 board.