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Upgrading a mac pro 2012 from 6 core to 12 core questions

P

Pedrith

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 13, 2013
28
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Hi. I have a 2012 6 core mac pro. At the time I could not afford a 12 core machine. I am wondering how to go about upgrading to a 12 core. Is it as simple as buying the 12 core tray and processors and sliding it into place? Would I have to reinstall anything or would boot as normal and reflect the change?

Or do I need to buy a refurbished 12 core machine and replace the hard drives with the one from my old 6 core machine?

Thanks for all your help.

Cheers,

David
 
You will need a tray from a 2012 (not sure if a 2010 will work). 2009 definitely won't work. The system will boot but fans will run at full speed.

So your safest bet is to get a dual CPU tray from 2012 model and boot up.
 
I like that approach. I've been seeing very expensive prices for dual CPU trays.
Are you able to swap the CPU's yourself?
 
Is swapping the cpu tray as simple as taking it out of one and putting it in the other? I'm not very good at tech stuff.
 
Prices are a little insane for dual CPU 2010/2012 trays, even worse when buying from a reputable seller.

Was looking to replace the one that had been on lone for awhile and needed to return after a long-term project was complete. I found a decent enough deal with RAM included. Glad I made the investment before the 7,1 "delay" news. Think there's some additional price gouging right now.

Decided to keep my single CPU tray on the shelf instead of selling, just in case there's ever an issue.
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Pedrith said:
Is swapping the cpu tray as simple as taking it out of one and putting it in the other? I'm not very good at tech stuff.
Click to expand...

Depends on the CPU you're starting with. If all stock, the answer is NO.

If you're just asking about fully assembled trays, the answer is YES. Takes about 15 seconds.
 
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If you get the correct dual processor tray with all CPU and RAM installed. Then yes, the swap can be finished within 1 min with no complicated step at all.

However, depends on your current CPU option and the new tray's CPU options. Your computer not necessary will run faster. Therefore, may I know why you want the dual CPU options, use it for what?
 
I'm digitizing and processing video. I also use handbrake a lot. I'm currently running 10.7.5, with Final cut pro 7 with 12 gb ram

I currently have a 6 core processor in a late 2012 machine.
 
Are you on a 3.33ghz 6-core currently?
What GPU are you using currently?

The better spend of your money might be SSDs (if not already using) and/or a PCIe adapter for SSD, improved GPU, and additional RAM. Unless the applications you're using can utilize dual CPU and/or additional available RAM properly (if you're also adding additional RAM with dual CPU), then the benefits may be minimal.

FCP7 was a memory hog back when I was using it daily. Did not make a tremendous difference between 6-core and 12-core at the time if I recall correctly.
 
Tray costs are so high that the most cost effective way to bump a MP from single to dual CPU is to buy a used dual CPU model and sell your single CPU model.

There are two side bonuses:
1) You can get the dual up and running before you sell the single.
2) No worries about board mismatches.

There is one pretty big drawback:
1) You might end up keeping both because you like them both so much. This happened to me.
 
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Hi. Yes it's a 3.33ghz 6-core. I don't know what a gpu is but my graphic cards is a ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB.

I need the larger hard drives as it is also the family computer now. I know that handbrake will benefit from the 12 cores.
 
For reference, there's a reputable seller on eBay that has 2010/2012 dual 3.46GHz 12-Core trays fully assembled with 64GB RAM for $1000 without "tray return" required.

Be careful on eBay if you go that route and pay attention to the listings. Anything that claims 2009 in their listing will not work with an authentic 2012 Mac Pro. The 4,1 > 5,1 firmware flash makes the tray purchase a bit more confusing, especially if buying part pulls.
 
Also to add to that I'm not sure what the stamping is on dual tray models (I have a dual tray 4,1 flashed to 5,1) and a "pure 5,1 single CPU model).
The single CPU model has a board stamped 2009. I've verified this by installing into my 4,1 and another 5,1.
 
My authentic 2012 Mac Pro 5,1 6 core tray (single CPU) is part number 820-2482-A and (C) 2009. This is the same part number as the 2009 and believe makes it impossible to visually tell the difference between 4,1 & 5,1 single CPU trays. If you can see the system information of the tray, that would be the easiest identification.

6 core tray photo here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/bought-a-cpu-tray-fans-at-full-speed.2108446/#post-25883728

Can try to pull the 12 core (dual CPU) tray in this machine later this week to see if there are any markings. Would not be shocked if they are identical to the 2009 4,1.
 
I agree that your best bet is getting an entirely new Mac Pro with the dual socket configuration and sell the old. I wouldn't even swap trays, but just the storage devices. You could also keep the old as a reserve machine, as you'll be paying a hefty sum to ship a 50 lb Mac Pro.

One thing to keep in mind is that your single socket Mac Pro likely has the W3680 Xeon if it's straight from Apple. The W-series Xeons can't be used in dual socket configurations. You'll need to use the X-series. The X5680 is your equivalent, but the X5690 is the max CPU.
 
Pedrith said:
I'm currently running 10.7.5, with Final cut pro 7 with 12 gb ram
I currently have a 6 core processor in a late 2012 machine.
Click to expand...

FCP7 by itself doesn't fully use all available cores. If you have plugins, however, more cores would benefit FCP7.

BTW, is there a particular reason you're still using FCP7? I'm assuming by "digitizing," you use FCP7 to ingest analog media recorded on tape? I keep FCP7 around to open archived projects, and that doesn't happen often, but for everything else a modern NLE (FCPX, Resolve) performs better than FCP7. It's a 32-bit app, and it's no longer supported beyond Sierra 10.12.6.

If you're going to upgrade your cMP, maybe also upgrade our NLE to take advantage of the upgraded Mac?
 
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Work is slow to upgrade anything and everything must be compatible.
 
Craigslist is a great place to find really nice deals on used Mac Pros. I recently picked up an 8-core 2010 for $500. It hit the market at $800, didn't sell, and when the seller lowered to asking price to $600, I offered $500 and made the deal. It now houses 2 hex CPUs, an RX460, 2 spinning backup drives and a bunch of SSDs and is running great. I sold the hex machine it replaces, but still have another hex MP in the house as emergency backup for my studio.

The CPU swap for 2010/2012 dual-CPU Mac Pros is a piece of cake.
 
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CPU tray swap is piece of cake, even for non technical. Actual CPU swap with thermal paste is not as simple for the non technical.
 
Guess where a lot of eBay parts come from, These old Mac Pro's go to local e-cyclers the hard drives are removed and degaussed for data security and the parts are tested for functionality. But $1000.00 is a bit much since the last one I worked on was a dual X5680 with 32GB and went for $400.00 upgrade to 64GB would be $500.00. I would love to save all the old Mac pro's that come into our warehouse but there is no need to charge so much for these old workhorses.
CV5hhdw.jpg
 
Groovy said:
Guess where a lot of eBay parts come from, These old Mac Pro's go to local e-cyclers the hard drives are removed and degaussed for data security and the parts are tested for functionality. But $1000.00 is a bit much since the last one I worked on was a dual X5680 with 32GB and went for $400.00 upgrade to 64GB would be $500.00. I would love to save all the old Mac pro's that come into our warehouse but there is no need to charge so much for these old workhorses.
CV5hhdw.jpg
Click to expand...

Could you ship some to Europe? :p
 
$350 is an average price for a DP 2010 cpu tray on eBay. Plan on replacing the CPU’s for $200. 64gb of 2r4 ecc rdimms for $160.

It’s easy to pay too much on eBay. With time and patience, good deals can be found.
 
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