Overclocking Mac Pro

[yipster222]

I know in the PC world computers can be overclocked to achieve higher performance. Can this be done in a Mac?

[EricNau]

No, but you don't need to.

[Carguy172]

um... first question why? and I'll bet you don't even you use half the power of the mac pro it's over powered already no apps will even come close to pushing the Mac Pro's performance

[FF_productions]

I'm sure it might be possible, but nobody is willing to give it a try.


Not sure how you'd keep it cool if attempted to OC it. You'll have to wait a few years when this machine becomes really cheap,then people will play around with it.

[Sesshi]

Originally Posted by yipster222

I know in the PC world computers can be overclocked to achieve higher performance. Can this be done in a Mac?

Not easily. The design is such that it's already thermally less than conservative in favour of low noise. Even if you could OC the motherboard (which is uncertain) cooling becomes a major issue. You don't have the flexibility of equivalent PC's to specify higher-cfm fans and routing for watercooling systems may be compromised by the design of the case. I'm sure someone will eventually have a crack at it, but it's not going to be anywhere near as easy as overclocking your bog-standard C2D PC.

[Chone]

Originally Posted by Sesshi

Not easily. The design is such that it's already thermally less than conservative in favour of low noise. Even if you could OC the motherboard (which is uncertain) cooling becomes a major issue. You don't have the flexibility of equivalent PC's to specify higher-cfm fans and routing for watercooling systems may be compromised by the design of the case. I'm sure someone will eventually have a crack at it, but it's not going to be anywhere near as easy as overclocking your bog-standard C2D PC.

Nah Mac Pro is well cooled, the real problem is the lack of a decent BIOS (well EFI I guess in Mac Pro's case) utility for changing FSBRAM ratios, FSB speed, multipliers, voltage, etc, etc

Without that, no computer can be decently overclocked, there are some in-OS applications but they are not nearly as complete, reliable and effective as a good BIOS OC utility.

It is not like Mac Pro needs much overclocking anyways.

[Me1000]

the G3 B&W was very easy to overclock just switch some jumpers. im sure it can be don on a mac pro. prolly not the same way, but go for it!!!!! lol easy to say when its not mine!

[FireArse]

Well, the G4 was overclockable too!

http://www.lbodnar.dsl.pipex.com/macmini/

Who knows - I am nowhere near using this 2.66 Mac Pro to its fullest! What'll happen when these 8core clovertown's join the party?! talk about overcompensation....



I wouldnt be interested in O/C my Mac Pro....but I'd like to see it done just for Engineering's sake. Bring back the CPU wind Sheild i say. The inside of the G5 was a lot prettier than my Mac Pro

[Transeau]

Mine is overclocked... I bought a 2.0GHz and it's running at 3.0GHz now

All it took was swapping the processors out of a new Dell server
Okay, so I cheated a little.

[Chone]

Originally Posted by FireArse

Well, the G4 was overclockable too!

http://www.lbodnar.dsl.pipex.com/macmini/

Who knows - I am nowhere near using this 2.66 Mac Pro to its fullest! What'll happen when these 8core clovertown's join the party?! talk about overcompensation....



I wouldnt be interested in O/C my Mac Pro....but I'd like to see it done just for Engineering's sake. Bring back the CPU wind Sheild i say. The inside of the G5 was a lot prettier than my Mac Pro

But not nearly as functional and well designed. CPU Wind Shield? That was only needed because G5 was one of the worst processors ever designed, the Xeons in the Mac Pro should actually overclock and cool a LOT better than any G5 ever will.

[dusanv]

Apple's EFI would need to be modified to allow this but I don't see the point. Woodcrest Xeons are all multiplier locked so all you can do is crank up the FSB (front side bus). The thing is, all Mac Pros have the FSB at the max already so it doesn't look like there's anything you can do even if the EFI allowed it. It's a shame because all these chips could easily run at 3.0+ GHz with air cooling only.

[christoh]

Simply download ZDNet Clock. No EFI mods or voltage increase. Run a 2,8 GHz at 3,20 GHz and up.

[macintosh tech]

Originally Posted by christoh

Simply download ZDNet Clock. No EFI mods or voltage increase. Run a 2,8 GHz at 3,20 GHz and up.

I am gonna give this a try.

[doastler]

I wonder how far you could overclock a 3.2 macpro?

David

[Tallest Skil]

Originally Posted by doastler

I wonder how far you could overclock a 3.2 macpro?

David

Why wonder when you can find out?!

Just try to sue me when you burn your monster out. You aren't using its full power now anyway. I don't care who you are. No one on Earth is currently maxing out their Mac Pro.

*waits happily to be proven wrong*

[iToaster]

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil

Why wonder when you can find out?!

Just try to sue me when you burn your monster out. You aren't using its full power now anyway. I don't care who you are. No one on Earth is currently maxing out their Mac Pro.

*waits happily to be proven wrong*

Well, SETI@Home leaves me with not a lot of power left over...


EDIT: and BTW, ZDNet Clock freezes my quad when it gets up to 408.

[macintosh tech]

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil

Why wonder when you can find out?!

Just try to sue me when you burn your monster out. You aren't using its full power now anyway. I don't care who you are. No one on Earth is currently maxing out their Mac Pro.

*waits happily to be proven wrong*

Since when does that matter? Faster clock is faster clock. Doesn't matter if I can't utilize all the cores. I will still get faster performance per core.

[rockinrocker]

so wait a minute, would this be a lot of added wear 'n tear on our precious xeons? or is this totally safe?

[FF_productions]

Originally Posted by rockinrocker

so wait a minute, would this be a lot of added wear 'n tear on our precious xeons? or is this totally safe?

Matter of keeping it cool, run SMC fan control and monitor the temps.

Ok, I tried 3 Ghz, and the thing just turned off, power light blinked...

I'll try something lower and hope for the best...

Ok I tried something lower, by hitting the plus button a couple of times, was fine..Then I gave it a slightly bigger bump and it shut off.

I just gotta be careful.

[aLoC]

Sweet! I just overclocked my 2008 Mac Pro to 3GHz. Will leave it running a few days and see if stable.

[FF_productions]

Originally Posted by aLoC

Sweet! I just overclocked my 2008 Mac Pro to 3GHz. Will leave it running a few days and see if stable.

Did you do it slowly or just set it to 3 Ghz?

Seems if I do it VERY slowly (plus sign every 20-30 seconds) I may slowly creep it up to 2.8 ghz.

I figured out the problem...it's the ram that's in my Mac Pro, I need Transcend Ram (all Transcend) to get this thing to 3 ghz. 2.66->3 Ghz cost a lot and to get it for free via software is sweet.

[aLoC]

Originally Posted by FF_productions

Did you do it slowly or just set it to 3 Ghz?

Seems if I do it VERY slowly (plus sign every 20-30 seconds) I may slowly creep it up to 2.8 ghz.

I figured out the problem...it's the ram that's in my Mac Pro, I need Transcend Ram (all Transcend) to get this thing to 3 ghz. 2.66->3 Ghz cost a lot and to get it for free via software is sweet.

I just did it in one hit. Since 3.0 was working so well I tried 3.2 but no luck, it panicked after about 5 minutes.

3.0 seems fine. I have 4GB Apple supplied memory.

[FF_productions]

Originally Posted by aLoC

I just did it in one hit. Since 3.0 was working so well I tried 3.2 but no luck, it panicked after about 5 minutes.

3.0 seems fine. I have 4GB Apple supplied memory.

According to the site they got the Octo 2.8 ghz to run at 3.2 ghz stable, and the Quad 2.66 to run at 3.1 ghz stable...

Cool stuff. But I guess my Mac will stay at 2.77 ghz for now.

This Mac easily can get to 3.1 ghz...this thing is still staying cool under full load with SETI@home. Golly that is impressive.

[christoh]

@aLoC:

If you experience a kernel panic after about 5 minutes @3200 MHZ, ckeck your RAM for parity errors using the Console (Applications - Utilities - Console) or check /var/log/system.log in any other way.

In the Console select "all messages" or "system.log". Then set your CPU clock to 3200 MHz. You should notice some RAM related messages immediately, which is normal.

Then run any form of stress test, e.g. Geekbeench. If you get more RAM-related errors (parity or correctable fbd) better RAM will probably help. If you don't get these errors, other components (CPU, FSB, MCH, etc.) are the cause for the panic.

Our test machines worked fine @3178 MHz with Apple-RAM and @3241 MHz with Transcend or Kingston.

-Christoph (Author of ZDNet Clock)

[DLary]

No luck at all on my 2.66 mhz MacPro 1,1

Even with only one speed bump, My machine will not boot, just a flashing power light. Maybe this doesn't work on older MacPro's? Maybe my memory is not so good? I have 2GB Apple and 2GB Crucial Technology.