We Modest Mac Pro 1,1 Owners with 2.0 GHz CPUs

[QSDP-User]

Just a heads-up that may make a few Mac Pro 1,1 owners excited, nothing more

Note: Mods - This is not my eBay auction.

Xeon 5160 --> 3 GHz Dual Core for $1.79 each (!).

This eBay auction to end in 11 or 10 hours, but I'm assuming will be relisted:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191410086225?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

So, I upgraded my bottom-of-the-line,
1st Gen Mac Pro originally w/ 2.0 GHz Dual Core Xeons,
now with 3.0 GHz Dual Core for $3.58 shipped

I bought 2 of these SLAG9s which I installed & worked perfectly
and were indicated as "2 x 3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon" in About This Mac.

Now the uber-upgrade for the Mac Pro 1,1 cpu seems to be the X5365
3.0 GHz "Quad Core" Xeon which will cost a lot more on eBay (~$50 - $100 matched pair)
as most of you experts in this forum probably already know.
The video, 3D & music track experts will most likely prefer the X5365.

Anyway, so if interested in this much cheaper 5160 upgrade,
an up-grader may also need the proper advice/guidance for
disassembly & heat sink compound &/or cleaning solvents per YouTube:

 

[pastrychef]

Nice find!!

 

[NOTNlCE]

Awesome find! Personally, I've swapped both my 1,1 machines (Mac Pro and '06 Xserve) to L5335 CPUs. WAY cheaper than other quads and at a THIRD of the power consumption of X5365s. It's a lesser know chip, but still racks up about 8.5K on Multi Core Geekbench. The best part? My machine runs cooler than with the stock 2.0GHz E5130s.

Just another option for all of y'all considering upgrades. But heck, for THAT price? I might just grab some to HAVE. I still do work on a bunch of 1,1 machines. Might even bring this up to a client considering an upgrade right now.

Thanks for the post!

 

[DIY_glenn]

Hahaha, that's awesome!
$1.79

 

[cw48494]

You could buy dual quads for cheap. Unless you favor the single core performance, I would jump on the e5320's as they're only $5.59/ea, with a simple bsel mod you'll have 8cores running at 2.33ghz for less than $12.

 

[bunnspecial]

I realize this is about low cost processors, but I just paid $35 for a pair of 5355s...not much more for a speed boost(if you have a 2.0, although mine is already a 2.66) and a core count boost.

 

[orph]

vary cool find, good luck
(there on amazon America used for only $10)
3GHZ is a big jump over 2GHZ and 99% of the time single core speed is what matters, overhead increases with every extra core so will be a vary nice speed up, have you noticed it?
any extra fan nose ?

 

[QSDP-User]

3GHZ is a big jump over 2GHZ and 99% of the time single core speed is what matters,
overhead increases with every extra core so will be a vary nice speed up, have you noticed it?
any extra fan nose ?

Disclosure: The following answer leads into a long-winded prequel.

Answer:
The improvement that I've really notice is gaming, especially in my Bootcamp partition with 32-bit XP.
I've been playing Tomb Raider 2013 over & over having a blast
I play it windowed @ 1278 x 720 just like I did before the cpu upgrade (the gpu, a 5770 was upgraded last year).
I can play around with the higher settings w/o artifacts & other misc burps & wowees.
The cpu upgrade has obviously complemented the gpu upgrade.
Although Lara's movements during certain game environments still have some-but-less buffering choppiness.
The drag about the 32-bit XP is the memory dump errors that interrupt the game about 45 mins to an hour on. Might not be a problem with a 64-bit Windows OS running on a 1,1 with a 64-bit EFI hack.

I haven't noticed any difference in fan usage & fan noise.

Long-winded Prequel:
However, I must add that I did a major overhaul on my original Apple Refurbished 1,1
which surely adds to the improved performance I now strongly sense.
After 6 years of trouble-free use (in my case)
I, like many Mac Pro users across the model spectrum,
experienced the recurring "blackout & reboot" syndrome.
I'm sure many here at the MacRumors fora know about this.

At the Apple Discussion Forums, a long, 6-year-old thread is still open
giving various complaints & solutions,
"My Mac Pro Spontaneously Restarts"
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2098873?start=0&tstart=0

Dust it out, re-seat the RAM, change the battery, etc.
Check out the diagnostic LEDs.
Replace the power supply.
Tom & Dick did that & it didn't work, but it worked for Harry.
Mr. Lucky was still under warranty & had the mobo, etc replaced.

I did all the user-friendly suggestions,
but the one easy instant solution that worked for a majority (& me) was simply pull out the lower RAM card.
*Grumble*...works, now no more blackouts & restarts but limits the RAM capacity
(was 5 GB, now 4 GB -- 2x 2GB on one card).

Many users felt that Apple's preference for a quiet, working machine compromises proper
cooling.
That could account for possible baked components shortening a Mac's working lifespan,
causing wonky behavior like blackout and restarts.
At risk might be RAM slot circuitry or the power supply.

SMC fan controller was suggested to up the minimum RPM of the four fans.

Then 7 months later the blackout & reboot syndrome returned to my 1,1.
I pulled out 3 drives & only left the boot drive in.
Aside from the 5770, only a cheapo Syba e-SATA card was in a PCI-e slot.
Also CoD Mod Warfare 2 seemed like it was straining the power supply (blackout) while Tomb Raider less so.

I didn't have a lot of money burning a hole in my pocket like I did when I bought the 1,1 refurb.
I was thinking of saving up for a used 4,1 from Mac of All Trades ($529, single cpu).
But, taking a chance, I opted to nickel & dime (haha ) my 1,1 back to working order.
Now if I knew a grandmother who was selling her Mac Pro 1,1 and
she only took it out for an email or web-surfing spin, I buy into that option.

So, semi-patiently, over time:
$40 mobo, $20 for two memory riser cards w/ 4GB RAM total &
I opted for a $65 Power Supply with a 30 day warranty.
$3.58 for 2x 5160 cpus. Feedback of all sellers noted.
Overall, cheaper than the average-priced used 1,1 of unknown abuse

So, with a better working mobo & power supply than before,
(knock on wood) and more RAM has improved my 1,1's performance.
All & all, this is good enough for a lowend Mac-user like me
who does acknowledge the OS upgrade limitations, bandwidth limitations & possible hack options.

If the 1,1 craps out on me again, than salvage out what I can & then on to something different.
Apologies for the long-wind reply

 

[Sko]

The drag about the 32-bit XP is the memory dump errors that interrupt the game about 45 mins to an hour on. Might not be a problem with a 64-bit Windows OS running on a 1,1 with a 64-bit EFI hack.

You don't need an EFI hack for 64Bit Windows on Mac Pro 1,1.

 

[orph]

Happy to hear your noticing the speedup, your a braver user than me im still shy about pulling out my GPU thats stuck in the bottom slot (i want to clean it but the leaver seems stuck ).

SKo is correct it's only osx that needs a work around.

hope you mac pro lasts till you can get an upgrade.

 

[QSDP-User]

You don't need an EFI hack for 64Bit Windows on Mac Pro 1,1.

I didn't know that; I quess I just assumed the EFI hack was needed.
Indeed, googling shows you're correct. I see the links for Vista on up.
I think I read an Apple Forum thread about Boot Camp never being developed or compatible with a 64-bit XP.

 

[QSDP-User]

Happy to hear your noticing the speedup, your a braver user than me im still shy about pulling out my GPU thats stuck in the bottom slot (i want to clean it but the leaver seems stuck ).

SKo is correct it's only osx that needs a work around.

hope you mac pro lasts till you can get an upgrade.

Thanks for the kind words, orph.
Now, I'm just a Weekend Warrior.
I'd never want to disassemble & upgrade Mac Pros for a living
I'm thankful for YouTube's potential for the DIY-ers.
I was a bit nervous pushing the power button after the upgrade/replacements,
but...I didn't puke my guts out, LoL.

btw, that release lever on the GPU PCI-e slot can be a b*tch!

 

[Macdctr]

@ QSDP-User.... I also purchased a refurb MacPro 1.1 (updated firmware to 2.1) and still use it as my main desktop today... in the time I have owned it, I upgraded from the two dual core 3.0 GHz processors it came with to two X5365 3.0 GHz "Quad Core" Xeon processors, put in a Radeon 6870 GPU and 6GB RAM. After reading your "long-winded" post (which I enjoyed reading by the way...), I realized I may need to look into changing out my power supply although I haven't had any issues like what you have had with your MacPro (knock on wood). There's a lot you can still do with this computer...

I'm thinking I may get a good power supply and two memory riser cards so that I have them on hand as I have heard the memory riser cards tend to go bad over time. Right now everything on my MacPro has been solid and so far no issues going on 9 years of use and I now have El Capitan running

As low as pricing is for upgraded processors, memory as well as SSDs for these machines... You can still refresh these awesome machines to seriously improve their performance and use them for many more useful years...