W5590s in 4,1

[mattspace]

Hi Folks,

Pondering options for a boost from dual 2.26 in my 4,1 and was wondering what the wisdom of the interwebs is regarding a pair of the 3.33ghz W5590 (used lidless).

Pros as far as I can see - faster clock speed, a lot cheaper than twin 6 core chips (cheap enough that stuffing up a delidding isn't the end of the world if I have to DIY that), and utilises 1333mhz RAM without a 5,1 firmware upgrade, so keeps the machine more "stock".

Cons - Hotter? Uses more power (to do the same task or has more headroom to use more power doing more tasks)? Finding a tutorial on applying thermal paste to a lidless CPU?

thoughts?

 

[carpsafari]

That will not work, W series are single cpu only!
You need a X series.
Look at X5677 that would be a nice one for you.

I would NOT de'lidd CPU's, the work around is MUCH safer!!

 

[mattspace]

That will not work, W series are single cpu only!
You need a X series.
Look at X5677 that would be a nice one for you.

I would NOT de'lidd CPU's, the work around is MUCH safer!!

According the the CPU guide here, the W5590 is a dual CPU SKU - it's the original top end XServe config.

Nehalem 4 core Dual Xeon W5590 3.33 1333 130W x x -

I dunno - at ~$AU70 for a CPU, vs a whole processor tray - I could probably trash 7 or 8 processors before getting close to the cost of replacing a socket.

 

[carpsafari]

I used W5590 before, work great, although I would do the 5.1 hack, because it will show only 3.2 as 4.1 and 3.3 as 5.1.
But as far as I know W series are single cpu.

 

[h9826790]

QPI Links =2 from Intel. That's good for dual CPU.

 

[mattspace]

Ok so having established it's a suitable cpu for a dual processor config, are there any opinions on whether its a "good" upgrade - primarily in terms of heat output, power consumption, and the sorts of things it'll do faster.

Real world doing the same tasks, is it likely to use more power / make more heat at idle, for example?

My real painponts performance-wise are Aperture rendering from preview to processed RAW, and photoshop cs5 viewport movement / zoom using a trackpad.

I don't really want to update my GPU yet, until we see what the options are for (non-Apple) 5k displays beyond the current dell 5k, and whether single stream / single cable becomes a thing.

 

[flowrider]

That will not work, W series are single cpu only!
You need a X series.
Look at X5677 that would be a nice one for you.

I would NOT de'lidd CPU's, the work around is MUCH safer!!

They will. Below is from a post I made three years ago:

Well, Intel has changed what the leading Alpha means. The change happened when going from the 35XX (55XX) to the 36XX (56XX) series.

In the older series it meant:

E = Enterprise and CPUs with a TDP of 80 Watts
X = Accelerated and CPUs with a TDP of 95 Watts
W = Workstation and CPUs with a TDP of 130 Watts

and in every case the leading numeric after the alpha meant:

3 = for single CPU use only (1 x I/O Bus)
5 = for dual CPU use, but will work in single CPU applications (2 x I/O Bus)

With the later series, the above nomenclature rules stayed constant EXCEPT - The "X" prefix means accelerated (95 or 130 watt TDP) and is only used on CPUs with a 2 x I/O bus. The "W" prefix is now used only in the single CPU series (1 X I/O Bus).

In any case in both series, the meaning of leading numeric after the alpha has remained the same. A "3" for CPUs with a 1 x I/O bus and a "5" for CPUs with a 2 X I/O Bus.

I hope this makes sense to you. It took me awhile to figure it out.

And with the W5590s, upgrading the firmware to a 5,1 is not necessary

I ran W5590s in my 5,1 before doing a second upgrade to X5677s. They were fast, but ran a bit hot. Below are GeekBench scores from both CPUs.



Lou