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Success: 2006 Mac Pro upgraded - 2 x Xeon 5355 Quad-cores!
- Thread starter JPamplin
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Has anyone figured out if Lion is ok with the new CPU's?
Also:
If anyone is interested I made a video tutorial for the CPU swap:
Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmz7gPw31L0
Part 2:
http://youtu.be/phzn8MPaDtQ
Enjoy!
Also:
If anyone is interested I made a video tutorial for the CPU swap:
Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmz7gPw31L0
Part 2:
http://youtu.be/phzn8MPaDtQ
Enjoy!
Are you guys sure? Because I read that 2.66GHz was the fastest.
We are sure the X5365 are the fastest, but for the extra cost, stick with the 5355 2.66GHz processors. Usually about half the price again for a 13% increase.
Yes Lion runs great on X5355 upgraded Mac Pro.
Yes Lion runs great on X5355 upgraded Mac Pro.
It all depends on what you are doing. If your processing makes good use of multiple processors, then going from 4x to 8x cores is a big win, and you won't get much out of the extra 13% of going from 2.66GHz to 3Ghz.
If you do stuff which is poorly multithreaded then you may want the higher clock rate, and more cores may buy you little.
What is your usage pattern? Are you seeing all four cores pegged now?
Spidey!!!
Long shot, but does anyone still have a pair of quad xeons sitting around they're willing to part with? Don't mind the model as long as they match each other.
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just to add to this, I have 2 E5345s in my mac pro 1,1 (2.33GHz QC) and 16GB of FB-RAM from a server I had and the 120GB SSD from my laptop.
The things flies, boots in less than 10 seconds and temps around 30-35C
The things flies, boots in less than 10 seconds and temps around 30-35C
Processors Needed
There's a guy on ebay that has several matching pairs of X5365 (3.0 Ghz Quad Core) SLAED procs for $475 per pair. Seller name is vlaen
Had I waited, I could have saved a good bit. Oh well.
I put a pair in mine, and I've been giving Handbrake a darn good workout with them. Taking a lot of my DVDs to .m4v files.
There's a guy on ebay that has several matching pairs of X5365 (3.0 Ghz Quad Core) SLAED procs for $475 per pair. Seller name is vlaen
Had I waited, I could have saved a good bit. Oh well.
I put a pair in mine, and I've been giving Handbrake a darn good workout with them. Taking a lot of my DVDs to .m4v files.
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It's not actually for a Mac Pro (It's a Dell Precision 690)... but just picked up a pair of X5345s for £50 each (About $160 total). It's a significant upgrade from my lowly dual core X5110's which is all I'm bothered about!
That right there ladies and gentleman is the holy grail of videos of a how to for the Mac Pro 1,1 CPU upgrade.
Man I just got my hands on a MacBook Pro 2011 Core i7 2.3ghz about a week ago. Its literally twice as fast as my current 2.66ghz Mac Pro but an upgrade like this would be awesome considering I can still use higher end video cards like the 5870.
What do these processors usually cost? I'm *kind of* tempted to keep my Mac Pro.
I have a question. I found x5355 and 5365 but there are different kind:
SLAEG, SLAED, SLAC4,SL9YM... Do they all work in macpros ? thx
SLAEG, SLAED, SLAC4,SL9YM... Do they all work in macpros ? thx
These codes stand for the various revisions of the respective CPU (see this thread for more details).
The latest revision ("G0") has had significant improvements regarding power consumption, but generally spoken they do all run fine in a MacPro (1,1/2,1). You can even mix two different revisions with the same speed.
In theorey there is a small problem: CPU's get "firmware" (microcode) updates now and then to correct glitches, which are usually implemented by OSX as part of a patch. When you implant a x5355 or x5365 into an early MacPro, its firmware won't recognize the new CPU's completely (even though they run fine) and thus won't install the microcode updates to them.
In daily use, however, there are no known problems due to this (maybe in scientific use with high-precision calculations). By going for the latest revision ("G0") of such a quad-core chip (e.g. SLAEG for the x5355) you have most of the possible updates already installed in the CPU, which may be another reason (besides the lower power consumption) to go for those.
The latest revision ("G0") has had significant improvements regarding power consumption, but generally spoken they do all run fine in a MacPro (1,1/2,1). You can even mix two different revisions with the same speed.
In theorey there is a small problem: CPU's get "firmware" (microcode) updates now and then to correct glitches, which are usually implemented by OSX as part of a patch. When you implant a x5355 or x5365 into an early MacPro, its firmware won't recognize the new CPU's completely (even though they run fine) and thus won't install the microcode updates to them.
In daily use, however, there are no known problems due to this (maybe in scientific use with high-precision calculations). By going for the latest revision ("G0") of such a quad-core chip (e.g. SLAEG for the x5355) you have most of the possible updates already installed in the CPU, which may be another reason (besides the lower power consumption) to go for those.
If such is the case, then these processors cost very little. Look here;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-...9YM-/220823764533?pt=CPUs&hash=item336a1f3e35
$130 for a single 5355 Quad Core 2.66ghz chip.
Looking at the 'completed listings' on ebay, some have even sold for $70. This is giving me second thoughts as to whether or not I should sell my desktop mac pro. Slap in the upgrade and I can easily squeeze out another 2 years at the very least with the Mac Pro.
Thank you for answering. I'll go for SLAEG.
I hesitate between 5355 and 5365. If 5365 have only 13% more power and 5355 are half priced.....mmmm
I hesitate between 5355 and 5365. If 5365 have only 13% more power and 5355 are half priced.....mmmm
This is tempting. Upgrade my 1.1, find a good deal on Craigslist on a 2009/2010 mp, move to a 2011 mm server I7. The upgrade looks pretty tempting, but I'll need to get a new video card as I have an ATI 3870, which, sadly, is not compatible with Final Cut X, which is something I want to look into.
Decisions, decisions, decisions!
Decisions, decisions, decisions!
Even factoring in the additional cost for a new graphic card, the CPU upgrade path would probably be the most inexpensive solution.
A Mac mini server lacks 2 internal HD bays in comparison (and requires more expensive 2,5" drives with less storage space in the first place) and offers less maximum memory (which may be an important issue with video editing), speedwise (CPU) it is roughly in the same ballpark of an upgraded Mac Pro 1,1.
A used 2009/2010 MP would cost significantly more (already considering the Sales value of an old 1,1), though would also offer significantly more power and cheaper Ram upgrades.
Also - with either a Mac mini or new MP you would not need to work inside the computer as you would do when upgrading the CPU on a MP 1,1. Depends on whether you feel uncomfortably doing so or not (though it's really straightforward).
If i remember correctly Garageband has been kind of a benchmark for CPU power with the number of tracks being playable in parallel, so i would assume that Logic Pro could also profit from more cores (if being programmed multithreaded, which i don't know).
I, too, have a pair of X5160s, 3.0 ghz taken from my Mac Pro 1,1 in order to install X5365s.
Make me an offer I can't refuse. I also have eight 1 gb memory sticks for anyone interested in a memory expansion.
Make me an offer I can't refuse. I also have eight 1 gb memory sticks for anyone interested in a memory expansion.
Hi so Im new to all this Mac stuff but yea Im updating my Mac Pro 1,1 and the only thing left to do is update the processors. So I've read all posts and what not (gr8 job by the way lads, so helpful) but I'm slightly unsure of one thing. Wikus posted a link to 2.66Ghz 5355's on Ebay but I've noticed that these are a "SLAEG" configuration as opposed to "SLAED" which is mentioned in Midphase's video tutorials above (amazingly helpful tutorial btw). So of course my question is am I still good buying the "SLAEG" versions on Ebay? Forgive my ignorance but I have no idea what any of this means, it's been a long time since I've built/upgraded PC's so I'm totally out of the loop.
Cheers Lads!
Cheers Lads!
Hi so Im new to all this Mac stuff but yea Im updating my Mac Pro 1,1 and the only thing left to do is update the processors. So I've read all posts and what not (gr8 job by the way lads, so helpful) but I'm slightly unsure of one thing. Wikus posted a link to 2.66Ghz 5355's on Ebay but I've noticed that these are a "SLAEG" configuration as opposed to "SLAED" which is mentioned in Midphase's video tutorials above (amazingly helpful tutorial btw). So of course my question is am I still good buying the "SLAEG" versions on Ebay? Forgive my ignorance but I have no idea what any of this means, it's been a long time since I've built/upgraded PC's so I'm totally out of the loop.
Cheers Lads!
I think you're good to go. The ones I used to upgrade my Mac Pro (some time ago, don't have it anymore) were SL9YM, so yet another sSpec number. IIRC, it's not important.
SLAED is the 3.0GHz flavour, while SLAEG is for the 2.66GHz chips. Basically you can take any revision you like, but it is advisable to take the SLAEx variants (for details see this thread).
Just updated my Mac Pro 1,1 2.66 Dual Core to two 2.66 quad cores along with an ATI 5770 and 16 Gigs of Ram. I've had this computer since new in 2006 and it has been trouble free since the (with the exception of the optical bay doors sticking open).
Looked at buying a new iMac, Mini server and i7 mini but wanted to hold out and see if the MacPro gets updated anytime soon.
I think this was worth the minimal expense. Went from Geek Bench score of about 5000 to over 9500. This should hold me over until Apple decides what they are going to do.
Looked at buying a new iMac, Mini server and i7 mini but wanted to hold out and see if the MacPro gets updated anytime soon.
I think this was worth the minimal expense. Went from Geek Bench score of about 5000 to over 9500. This should hold me over until Apple decides what they are going to do.
