I need some advice on upgrades of my 2009 4,1 --> 5,1 Mac Pro

I have just recently bought a 8-Core 2.26 Mac Pro and so far I'm very pleased with it. It performs better than my late 2011 17" MBP that I owned for 4 months, which I recently managed to sell with profit lol.

Anyway, the prices of the Xeon X56xx processors are fairly cheap these days, so I'm thinking about buying two 2.93GHz (X5670 I think). I don't really need the performance. I'm an enthusiast who just wants it for the heck of it =) However, I don't really need the upgrade now, but I fear it will become more expensive in the future.

However, isn't the ultimate upgrade for the 4,1 and 5,1 cMPs dual W5990? These CPUs are actually 130W and intended for the single CPU tray system while the X56xx are 95W and intended for Dual CPU, aren't they? Can anyone confirm this please?

I have already ordered the AC Wifi + BT 4.0 kit and also PCI-E SSD solution, so I guess I don't have to worry about it. I thought my next big upgrade would be to upgrade to EVGA GTX 970 ACX 2.0 Superclocked, which I hope I would hook up to two 27" LED cinema displays in the future if I get them cheap. Is that even possible? I couldn't find any adapter to plug mini display port cable which would plug into DVI on the graphics card. I currently have the 24" LED Cinema Display

So, any advice on my upgrade questions please? I hope I don't have to worry about the CPU prices increasing.

Thanks!

resonate said:

my advice : READ a lot before you lift your finger and go near the mac pro case. the upgrade is not for the light hearted & there is some bad advice on the interweb also. make sure you find a good proven method.

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Thanks. I've already read quite a lot of good advices and I've also seen a lot of bad advice. The upgrade is definitely not trivial. I have a part-time Apple computers repair business so with my experience (I have to be modest though. One never stops learning) I should be ok I hope.

apphotography said:

I read on here you can't dual anything that beings with W. Only the Xeon X5650, 5670, 5680, 5690 with ECC memory are the best options.

There are some services on eBay who will upgrade your logic board with new processors and offer your a warranty.

For single processor the best option is i7 990X Extreme Edition with non-ECC memory.

You will love the Geforce card. I have the GTX 980, my system scores the same numbers as the reviews I have read which are using 4Ghz i7 CPUs.

I got 104 fps in the Tombraider 1080p benchmark with all settings Ultimate to the max. My eyes couldn't believe it.

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So, would you recommend the GTX 980 over the 970? I currently have my eyes on the Palit Jet Stream version of the 970 and the Super Jet Stream of the 980. But I wonder if I'll be able to tell a difference because the GTX 970 would already be a big jump from my HD 4870 which was already quite a suprising jump from my HD 6770M. But then again, I always like to invest into something that will last long time

Macsonic said:

Nowadays there are other options on upgrading the classic Mac Pro CPUs. There is an eBay seller that sells an Upgrade De-Lidded CPU Kit set for 2009 Mac Pros http://www.ebay.com/itm/221616239012?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT#shpCntId The kit includes a pair of de-lidded 3.46ghz with thermal paste and 5.1 firmware flash drive. They also offer international shipping if you're based in Europe.

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Thanks for the link. I'm indeed from Europe and I would end up paying so much more. First, I'd have to pay the local vat and then custom fees, which are really high.

I'll probably get 2x X5670 or X5675 and I think I'll be set for probably 1/6 of the price lol, if things go as they should that is. But thanks anyway!

stjames70 said:

That is precisely the upgrade I did on my 4,1. Just tighten those screws on the heatsinks above the CPUs in an even manner and stop at 3.25 turns -- check -- tighten another 0.25 turn -- check -- etc. I put in 64GB of memory and the thing works really well. I had intended to put in a GTX Titan, but I will probably buy GTX 980 from MacVidCards here in the US. I put in a Titan on an older 3,1 and it was quite a pain to stuff an additional power supply in the empty optical drive bay to drive that card.

Good luck with your upgrade. It was quite easy. Just make sure you have a nice hex key (in a T-bar shape so you can accurately count your turns), some thermal padding (I got some that was intended for a PS3), and some thermal paste (I used Arctic 5 I think). Two hours maybe to do all this if no one is bothering you like my kids.

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Thanks for the advice!

I'm currently deciding whether to get GTX 970 or GTX 980, but do I need additional power supply for the 980? I don't really want to go that way, and since I want the card to have minidisplay port, I want to stick with Palit or Gainward