Mac Pro CPU + Video Card Upgrades....

[imanz90]

So just a few questions before I go out and spend the money. I looked online but it seems like I got a few mixed answers. I currently have the newest Quad Core 2.8Ghz Mac Pro, Will I be able to upgrade it to dual CPU? If so what are my options, and if not what are my single CPU options?
1. Can I just buy an identical CPU and throw it in there? Will i need a heatsink replacement?
2. If I have to get different CPUs which ones do you recommend?
3. If there is only 1 slot for a CPU in my machine which 6 Core CPU could I get?

Also.. as a side question, I remember when I had a Powermac G5 I bought a windows video card and flashed it to work, are there any options for such a thing with the newer/newest line of cards and if so does anyone have a link?

Thanks!

[Hellhammer]

1. There is only one socket

2. W3670 or W3680, those are the only SP hexas that are currently available.

The Golden Guide to Flashing Graphics Cards (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=877441)

[imanz90]

Has anyone tried a i7-980x? Would that be possible?

[Hellhammer]

Has anyone tried a i7-980x? Would that be possible?

It will work but you have to replace all your RAM with non-ECC RAM, thus the total price would end up being around the same, or even more.

[philipma1957]

http://www.provantage.com/intel-bx80613w3680~7ITEP374.htm

is this the correct cpu

[Hellhammer]

http://www.provantage.com/intel-bx80613w3680~7ITEP374.htm

is this the correct cpu

Yes, but you can get it for 899$ from eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Xeon-W3680-3-33-GHz-12MB-6-4GT-s-Hex-Core-980X-/400164829381?pt=CPUs&hash=item5d2baeb8c5)

[imanz90]

I bought the machine with 3GB of ECC ram and had 8GB of DDR3 laying around from a different build so that has been replaced. Speaking simply performance wise what will be the difference between the xeon and i7-extreme? Also my current processor is the 3460, correct?

[johnnymg]

Yes, but you can get it for 899$ from eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Xeon-W3680-3-33-GHz-12MB-6-4GT-s-Hex-Core-980X-/400164829381?pt=CPUs&hash=item5d2baeb8c5)

Is there a street price trend that will help predict the future price of this bad-boy?

cheers
JohnG

[Hellhammer]

Speaking simply performance wise what will be the difference between the xeon and i7-extreme? Also my current processor is the 3460, correct?

ECC RAM decreases the performance by ~2% so you would gain a bit of performance when using non-ECC RAM. i7 and Xeon should be equal.

Your current CPU is W3530.

Is there a street price trend that will help predict the future price of this bad-boy?

cheers
JohnG

Well, W3690 should come Q1 2011 and it will likely take the 999$ price point. Maybe W3680 will drop by a hundred or two. However, there is already W3670 for 885$ so may be that W3680 will be discontinued. It's likely that there will be more W36xx in early 2011. If they follow the pricing of W35xx, W3620 (2.66GHz) could be as low as 300$. Of course this is assuming that there will be a such CPU, could be that there will only be e.g. W3640 for ~550$.

eBay prices are different of course. Fairly hard to say anything, too many question marks.

[imanz90]

If you where to pick one in this situation what would you say, $900 for the Xeon or $940 for an engineering sample of the i7-extreme?

[Hellhammer]

If you where to pick one in this situation what would you say, $900 for the Xeon or $940 for an engineering sample of the i7-extreme?

I would get the Xeon. ES version of i7 isn't very useful unless you plan to do heavy OCing but Mac Pro isn't very suitable for that since there is no OC utility for OS X

[imanz90]

http://blogs.computerworld.com/overclock_your_macpro_from_2_8ghz_to_3_24ghz_with_easy_tool - Seems like there is but it might not support the i7 chip.

[Hellhammer]

http://blogs.computerworld.com/overclock_your_macpro_from_2_8ghz_to_3_24ghz_with_easy_tool - Seems like there is but it might not support the i7 ship.

That's for pre-2009 Mac Pros that used different generation of CPUs. It won't work with current Mac Pros, I think.

[imanz90]

Looking at this benchmark, http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+W3680+%40+3.33GHz it seems the Intel Core i7 980X has almost a 11% advantage over the Xeon W3680. Any ideas why this may be? They just seem like very similar chips and basically are the same price.. Just want to be happy with the one I get.