Hello. I read that it might be difficult to find heat sinks that could fit in the Mac Pro case. I consider to buy the basic 2.8GHz 8-core system and upgrade the CPUs later. Anybody knows if it is possible to just change the CPUs (let's say faster ones) and use the same heat sinks which came with the Mac Pro?
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Can I upgrade the Mac Pro's CPUs and use the same heat sinks?
- Thread starter hajime
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Problem is even to get that heatsink from a reliable source. Apple does not sell them and honestly so far there was no info of somebody doing the upgrade on the early 08 Pros.
Right now, it looks like Intel will not be releasing follow-on processors in the Xeon 5400 series, so the 3.2GHz X5482 might be the top end for the current Mac Pro. Since the TDP of the X5482 is 20% more then the 3.0GHz X5472 and almost double that of the 2.8GHz E5462, the heatsink used in the X5472/E5482 would be stressed a bit trying to keep an X5482 cool.
Before you get excited about the possibility of upgrading CPUs realize that although it is possible it may not be worth the cost. Unlike standard desktop CPUs, Xeons sell new for ~$1000 apiece.
So for $2K, you can upgrade your processors, but that much money is much better spent towards the purchase of a new Mac Pro. This will be especially true once the Nehalem model is released.
If you're lucky you may be able to score some off of Ebay for cheap, but I'd be wary.