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2009 Mac pro, add your own a second cpu?

O

Outcast-au

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 12, 2007
34
0
Just wondering if the single cpu (quad core) mac pro has the same mainboard and dual heat seeks of the multi CPU machine? thus enabling me to buy cheep today and upgrade down the line should I want to ?

I search but couldn't find the answer :)

Thanks in advance.
 
Outcast-au said:
Just wondering if the single cpu (quad core) mac pro has the same mainboard and dual heat seeks of the multi CPU machine? thus enabling me to buy cheep today and upgrade down the line should I want to ?

I search but couldn't find the answer :)

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

no, they are different motherboards... well, at least the part that slides out with the CPU sockets and RAM slots are different, not sure about the rest of it.
 
Right, you probably just need a dual CPU daughter card... and the second CPU of course. :)

It might be too early to find this part in the shops. Maybe in a few months?
 
It is not just the motherboard (or logic board as Apple calls it) it is a completely different chip set (i.e. the 58X whilst the dual processor uses the 5520 chip set or possibly the 5500).

You'd also have to throw out the original cpu as it is a 3500 series and does not have the link to connect it to a second processor but you could keep the ram:D

It is very different from the 08 series which all used 5400 processors and the same logic board.

It is funny that Apple made a big thing about everything being 8 core for the 08 Pros and quietly dropped the notion with the latest round.
 
Unless you buy used parts you are probably going to be looking at $1500-$1700 for the daughter board, heatsinks and two 2.26GHz processors. And $2700-$3000 for two 2.66GHz processors and the rest.

I'm sure you will still get close to $2,000 for a Quad 2.66GHz a year or more from now and a 2.26GHz reburb is only $2,799. Even used parts can command a premium and it'll will still be cheaper to sell and buy used or refurb and probably even new.
 
Gonk42 said:
It is not just the motherboard (or logic board as Apple calls it) it is a completely different chip set (i.e. the 58X whilst the dual processor uses the 5520 chip set or possibly the 5500).
Click to expand...

Dual uses a dual socket variant, haven't really looked at the daughter card and I wouldn't be surprised in it had the X58 on it in two different configurations for the single and dual socket daughter cards.

So the motherboard probably has the southbridge, and the daughtercard the northbridge. And that huge socket is the path between the north/south and the power.

Edit: Looked, backplane carries the DMI between North/South, power, and likely PCIe signals.
 
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