Upgrading Mac Pro 4,1 to 2 x 3.46ghz (X5690)

[tsialex]

Still nothing. I put the original gpu back in and updated to El Capitan 10.11.6 (do I have to update all the way to High Sierra?!?). The other guy said 10.8 should be enough. which booted up and everything, no problems. I just put the rx580 back in and no signal to the monitor. Please help, thank u

RX 4xx and 5xx support (initial and very poor) start with 10.12.6. It won't work before. Btw, you will need to do several Mac Pro firmware upgrades, read about here:

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)

 

[Taytrax]

All set! Up and running thanks a ton for all the help guys! I’m seriously grateful for all the prompt and detailed responses! Ya’ll rock!

 

[h9826790]

Still nothing. I put the original gpu back in and updated to El Capitan 10.11.6 (do I have to update all the way to High Sierra?!?). The other guy said 10.8 should be enough. which booted up and everything, no problems. I just put the rx580 back in and no signal to the monitor. Please help, thank u

please re-read post #21

[update: replied in rush. It seems you already fixed the issue]

 

[SteveSw]

Decided to take the plunge after picking up a DP 4,1 a few weeks ago. It was the base model 2 x 2.26 8 core machine, and came equipped with 12GB of RAM. Immediately, I ordered 6 sticks of 4GB 1333mhz RAM. Now the machine had 24GB. So far, so good.

I had a single X5690 in another 4,1 (a single processor model) that I decided to pirate, and then ordered a second on eBay for $100 shipped. After about 2 weeks, the new (to me) X5690 arrived from China, and I began the teardown.

View attachment 761839
Got the tray out, and removed the heatsinks.

View attachment 761840
I didn't know that there were small spacers on top of the CPUs in the DP setups. Interesting.

View attachment 761841
De-lidded the pair of X5690s using the vice only technique. This process took less than 5 minutes, and was super easy. I had 100% success with this procedure, and it was my first time doing it. Highly recommended to anyone on the fence about de-lidding their own CPUs... DO NOT pay someone $70+ to do this for you!
[doublepost=1526423057][/doublepost]View attachment 761850
Using a razor blade, I carefully removed the gasket and thermal material from the processors. Then, cleaned them up with isopropyl alcohol, and gave them a quick blast with compressed air.

View attachment 761851
Installed the CPUS, put the spacers back on, and began to tighten the heatsinks. I tightened them in an X pattern, switching screws every few turns until I felt resistance. Then, I gave them an extra 1/8 turn and started on the next heatsink. After that one became tight, I went back to the first one and they had loosened up a bit, so I gave them another 1/8 turn each and repeated the process to the second one. Keep in mind, I used very little effort to tighten these screws as I had heard horror stories. Finally, everything was done and put back in the Mac Pro.

Powered up the machine, and was treated with a reassuring bong. "About this Mac" recognized both new CPUs, and the RAM had been bumped from 1066mhz, to 1333mhz. Immediately, I fired up Geekbench and ran the CPU test. For comparison, here's what the machine did before the upgrade (2 x 2.26ghz 4 core CPUs):
View attachment 761852

And here is what my single processor Mac Pro scored with the X5690:
View attachment 761853

And finally, the results of the 2 x 3.46ghz 6 core processors:
View attachment 761854

So, my single-core score increased about 900 points, while the multi-core score leaped ahead by almost 12000 points. Unfortunately, the single-core scores were lower than the single X5690, but I did increase the multi-core score over that setup as well. All in all, it was a worthy upgrade that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone with a 4,1 or 5,1 machine. This will undoubtably increase the lifespan of this computer.

Anyone need a pair of E5520s?

Thanks for the clear tutorial! What is the latest Mac OS you can use with this setup? I have an early Mac Pro 2009 that I upgraded the firmware to 5,1 and currently have a Xenon 6 core 2.66 GHz X5650 in it. Running great but now I'm having issues with software saying my OS needs to be updated to at least 10.15. I tried to upgrade but Catalina says it is not compatible with my system. Will upgrading my CPU yo a X5690 solve the issue?

 

[Fastsavage]

Thanks for the clear tutorial! What is the latest Mac OS you can use with this setup? I have an early Mac Pro 2009 that I upgraded the firmware to 5,1 and currently have a Xenon 6 core 2.66 GHz X5650 in it. Running great but now I'm having issues with software saying my OS needs to be updated to at least 10.15. I tried to upgrade but Catalina says it is not compatible with my system. Will upgrading my CPU yo a X5690 solve the issue?

Hi there,

Now you need to use Opencore so that you can run the latest OS Monterey 12.2

Read this post carefully on how to do that.

OpenCore on the Mac Pro

This guide explains how to use the excellent OpenCore boot loader to install, run, and update the latest version of macOS on the MacPro5,1, resulting in a clean, unaltered operating system just like on a supported Mac.

forums.macrumors.com

You will also need a Metal compatible GPU

here is another great post

cMP {classicMacPro}{4,1 & 5,1} - Upgrade Guide Sticky Discussion

Hey Folks, Lets start a discussion and collect everything relevant for cMP upgraders out there. Topics to consider: CPU Upgrades Compatibility chart CPU Delid / standoffs 4,1 to 5,1 firmware upgrade Memory Compatibility and Upgrades UDIMM Model Numbers RDIMM Model Numbers RAM...

forums.macrumors.com