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Appleplanet
Oct 4, 2010, 01:32 PM
Has anyone that know if it's possible to upgrade MacPro Nehalem 2.26 to 2.66 Ghz Westmare with the following processors : Intel Hexa Core Xeon® Processor X5650 12M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel® QPI part #:BX80614X5650 ? Could you help me telling if it’s possible to upgrading MacPro Nehalem octa core 2.26 Ghz to Mac Pro Westmare hexa core 2.66 Ghz ?


goMac
Oct 4, 2010, 01:34 PM
I believe you also need to replace the motherboard for this to work.
Hellhammer
Oct 4, 2010, 01:40 PM
Not possible. Xeon 56xx (Westmere) uses new B1 stepping that didn't exist by the time your Mac Pro was released thus it's firmware does not support B1 stepping and Apple has not released a firmware update for 2009 Mac Pro that would add support for B1 stepping.

You would need a new motherboard from 2010 Mac Pro and that will likely cost you more than selling your current one and then buying new one.
Appleplanet
Oct 4, 2010, 01:56 PM
But I've compared Intel processors and I've seen nothing that could incur problems to upgrade . I'm adding the comparative between both processors Intel® Xeon® Processor X5650 (12M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel® QPI) and Intel® Xeon® Processor X5550 (8M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 6.40 GT/s . Because they are similar .
Hellhammer
Oct 4, 2010, 01:59 PM
But I've compared Intel processors and I've seen nothing that could incur problems to upgrade . I'm adding the comparative between both processors Intel® Xeon® Processor X5650 (12M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel® QPI) and Intel® Xeon® Processor X5550 (8M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 6.40 GT/s . Because they are similar .

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=47922
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=40200

Click "ORDERING / SSPECS / STEPPINGS" on the left hand side. E5520 uses D0 stepping while X5650 uses B1 stepping. As I said in my post above, the B1 stepping is not compatible with 2009 Mac Pro since Apple has not added support for it.

It's a minor detail but it's enough to be incompatible. If this was about PCs, then you could add X5650 without issues as long as you update your BIOS
Appleplanet
Oct 4, 2010, 02:09 PM
Ok Hellhammer , thanks a lot for your help . I'll try now to find the Intel Xeon (quad core) X5550 2.66Ghz 8M LGA1366 - PN: BX80602X5550 for this upgrade .