Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Success: 2006 Mac Pro upgraded - 2 x Xeon 5355 Quad-cores!

Spacedust said:
Don't buy these. They won't work in Mac Pro 1.1. You can have only Xeons from Dual Core series 51XX and Quad Core 53XX made in 65 nm process. The 54XX's are made in 45 nm and are completly different.

Here is the list of working CPU's in Mac Pro 1.1 2006:

Model Speed (GHz) L2 Cache (MB) FSB (MHz) TDP (W)
5110 1.60 4 1066 65
5120 1.83 4 1066 65
5128 1.83 4 1066 40
5130 2.0 4 1333 65
5138 2.13 4 1066 35
5140 2.33 4 1333 65
5148 2.33 4 1333 40
5150 2.66 4 1333 65
5160 3.00 4 1333 80

Model Speed (GHz) L2 Cache (MB) FSB (MHz) TDP (W)
E5310 1.60 2x4 1066 80
L5310 1.60 2x4 1066 50
E5320 1.83 2x4 1066 80
L5320 1.83 2x4 1066 50
E5335 2.00 2x4 1333 80
L5335 2.00 2x4 1333 50
E5345 2.33 2x4 1333 80
X5355 2.66 2x4 1333 120
X5365 3.00 2x4 1333 120

I got my E5345's from eBay.de and contacted the guy who was selling them and he told me they will work in dual CPU and sSPEC numer doesn't matter.

Will post results and photos soon, so everyone would know how to do this properly.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting this. I presume the bottom set of models are the 4 core models? There don't appear to be any deals for E5345 or X5355 at present - unless there's another way to search for these?
 
JPamplin said:
Yeah, I really love it. The front fan in that area moves air through the card adequately, and it's dead silent. Even with 5 hard drives and now 2 quad-cores, this thing is strikingly quieter than the PC sitting next to it.

I turn off the PC sometimes, and my wife doesn't realize the Mac is still ON unless the screen is on. ;-)

JP
Click to expand...
I get the same effect from the intake fan in my P180 mini case. It's still manageable without the airflow from the intake but it dropped 5° C with the fan.
 
bearcatrp said:
You would save on energy if you go with the 2.33 clovertowns but the heat issue is higher. The heat from the 2.33 raised 10 degrees from my 2.0. Installed smcfancontrol to bump up the fans.
Click to expand...

What's the point ?

Take a look at my current temps with Dual Core Xeons 2.0 GHz

tempsa.jpg


CPU's and HDD's (2xBarracuda 12 series) are cold, but 7300GT and some non Transcend RAM's are really hot, because they use small headspreaders (2xSamsung + 2xMicron).

Will post the same after upgrade soon :)
 
nightfly13 said:
Thanks for posting this. I presume the bottom set of models are the 4 core models? There don't appear to be any deals for E5345 or X5355 at present - unless there's another way to search for these?
Click to expand...

They are really hard to get. I got two E5345 from eBay.de, because I'm from Poland and this German guy was speaking fluent polish :)

Xeon 51XX series are all Dual Core (4 cores total in 2x CPU)
Xeon 53XX series are all Quad Core (8 cores total in 2x CPU)

I also hope I'll have a small benefit from lower energy consumption. These new Xeon's got Extended Halt state and should slow down FSB when not fully utilized. My current Dual Core Xeon's always run at 2 GHz.
 
JPamplin said:
Your heat / power savings wouldn't be that significant, and those chips won't even run on that board - please don't do that. I know the Pro puts out a truckload of heat - if it's an issue, the best thing for you is to turn it off for the hottest part of the day (or port the exhaust out of the room).

If you're having to run on UPS daily, just put your internet connection / Airport on the UPS and whip out the MacBook Pro for the rest of the day. I know working on the Pro is nice, but if you really have that kind of power restrictions, then the MBP seems like it would be fast enough considering the battery life it has.

JP
Click to expand...

The problem with the power cuts is that they're random. 3-4 outages per day, between 5 minutes and 2 hours in duration and no rhyme or reason. Also, share the laptop with my wife.. in fact, unless we're traveling or I take it to work to teach off of, the laptop is her machine. I've spent the money and sporadically replace batteries (around $200 a pop - I have 6 over 2 systems) so it's sustainable for me to run on the UPS... I just turn off the 2nd or third monitor :)

I have 2x 12k BTU split ACs in the room (they're old and don't perform great), basically one runs almost all day long just to take the edge off the heat the Pro creates, and when I have a group in there for movies or whatever, I fire up the second one and the temp actually drops down to 25-26 (77-79F). Porting the heat into the next room is something I've considered. I have a laser thermometer, so I'll try to investigate how much heat comes from the Mac Pro vs the 3 LCDs and my 7.1 receiver that's always pretty toasty to touch. (the ACs don't run on the batteries!)
 
JPamplin said:
Check this out - it's exactly what I have:

http://www.drillspot.com/products/64300/Eklind_54930_Metric_Cushion_Grip_T_Handle_Hex_Key

You might be able to get them to ship one to you.

JP
Click to expand...

Thanks. The are really cheap in USA, but probably due to some fees, taxes etc. the cost a lot more right here in Poland. I've asked them if I can get only one 3 mm key, not the whole set of keys.

I'll be returning this Beta key today.

I got a question: How to you remove your graphics card from PCI-Express ? I unscrewed the two screws from PCI-Express slots, but my 7300GT still stays in. There is a PCI-Express lock directly in port, but I can't find it :)

Also how do you remove the front fan block ? After unscrewing the black screw I used a lot o force to remove it, but I'm not able to. I don't want to brake anything.
 
The little plastic lock on the PCIe socket has to be pushed in. It is akward to do with a dual slot card. Most computers have them broken off after several exchanges. It does not seem to have any negative effects.

The fan unit is sticky in the vertical guide. Use one of the PCIe slot covers to hook under the right side and pull up. Wriggle it from the left side to unstick the guide.
 
Fans in my Mac Pro smells really terrible. Anyone got this problem ?

I even bought Compressed Air to get rid of this problem while upgrading CPU's.
 
bozz2006 said:
what does it smell like? Do you have cats or dogs? Could be dander.
Click to expand...

No. When I sold my 2 month PC to get a Mac Pro then everything started to smell really terrible. It's smells like a garlic.

It's really annoying when I press power on my Mac Pro everyday and after a while the smell comes from the case - YUCK! I discovered the smell comes from the fans. It looks like this plastic is a crapy material or whatever ;)

There is absolutely no dust inside the case, because I cleaned mostly everything. I hope to clean the fans when replacing the CPU.
 
Might as well post some Handbrake numbers with the octo-core:

One hour DVD track takes about 15 minutes to do h.264 encoding WITH Decombing. Here's a screenshot that shows CPU utilization, temps, fan speeds, and Handbrake speeds as it progresses:

UPDATE: I just looked at this encoding and I don't like the settings. 3.44GB file and it's quite blocky in places. Does anyone have the best tradeoff in file size vs. quality vs. encoding speed in Handbrake? I can't seem to figure it out.

Let me know, TIA - JP
 

Attachments

  • JP.Mac.Pro.Handbrake.test.png
    JP.Mac.Pro.Handbrake.test.png
    253.7 KB · Views: 260
I've found that with some of the TV shows that I've encoded, things get quite choppy if the camera moves fast or if a character moves fast. To correct this, I turn "detelicene" on and also "decomb" on. It fixes that. I also encode at constant rate of 64%. I've found it to be a good tradeoff between quality and file size.
 
I got my Eklind key today and IT WORKS :D

I've made a lot of photos from this procedure and will post them here today :)

So as you can see CPU stepping doesn't matter for Mac Pro :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back