So far, every intel mobo has been compatible for at least two revisions (i.e. original + shrink at a minimum).
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Can we upgrade the 2.26 CPUs ourselves?
- Thread starter RiffOfTheWeek
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So far, every intel mobo has been compatible for at least two revisions (i.e. original + shrink at a minimum).
Yes this should be the case on both counts.
On the i7 processors the QPI and memory speeds are unlocked so you can set the QPI to 4.8, 5.86 or 6.4 and use 1333MHz and 1600MHz DDR3 even on the i7 920. Obviously we don't know if that will be the case with the DP boards and Xeons, or if it can easily be done on the Mac Pro.
This may be severely naive of me, but I've noticed 3.2GHz Intel Core i7 cpu's from November 2008 can be found for ~£120 cheaper than their original £720 price/1k. If the 3.2GHz Core i7 dropped this much in 4mnths, is it unrealistic to imagine that in 3-4yrs the Nehalem Xeon 2.66GHz or 2.93GHz may also be found affordably for a cpu upgrade in a 2.26GHz MP 2009? Or, at least more affordable than the £1K or so bump in price between the 2.26GHz and 2.66GHz MP 2009?
Yes, it's somewhat unrealistic.
Technology rarely gets cheaper; performance does.
In other words, todays 2.26, 2.66, 2.93 Gainestown will be replaced with something faster at or around the same price point.
At least you don't have it too bad with your tanking currency.
Despite being more expensive (parity wise) in England, some of us have it even worse.
£400 worse, two hours flight away.
*sigh*
And I don't see much point anyway in upgrading the processors in 3-4 years. In 2013 it's probably pretty irrelevant if the computer has 2.26 or 2.93GHz 2009 model processors. The only point in upgrading would be if the processors would be noticeably cheaper in the next 1 or 2 years time, which apparently is pretty hopeless when it comes to Xeons.
But I'm not dismissing anything yet, maybe there's an angle that could make this pretty nice
But I'm not dismissing anything yet, maybe there's an angle that could make this pretty nice
And I don't see much point anyway in upgrading the processors in 3-4 years. In 2013 it's probably pretty irrelevant if the computer has 2.26 or 2.93GHz processors. The only point in upgrading would be if the processors would be noticeably cheaper in the next 1 or 2 years time, which apparently is pretty hopeless when it comes to Xeons.
But I'm not dismissing anything yet, maybe there's an angle that could make this pretty nice
FWIW, I'd expect 2013 or thereabouts to hold 3-4GHz prosumer chips.
8 - 16 cores per chip, 2 - 4 threads per core.
The big difference between now and then will be local IO (which, more than anything, is the bottleneck today).
Today's 32MB disk cache is ridiculous. 2013 will most likely hold a 8 - 32GB cache, as we're seeing it in storage servers now (and have, for some time).
ZFS is a good indication of just how ridiculous 32MB cache is -- you'll want ~2GB free RAM for ZFS to thrive on normal workloads.
At some point soon, we're also bound to see "RAIDed" memory, as you don't want to starve all those cores, and you probably wouldn't want to dedicate memory per core (i.e., the easy way out).
Basically, local storage will once again be "slow memory", and RAIDed memory will be there because it should be a much cheaper option than going another few steps down the electroscope.
Of course, I could be wrong (my tea leaves won't even tell me what tomorrow will bring), but it sounds doable and reasonable.. IMNSHO
Whoa didnt know that the 2.93GHz had 6.40 GT/s Bus and this includes the 2.66GHz model as well.
Seems like the 2.26GHz is somewhat crippled to me. I think if you can swing it get the 2.93GHz but out of the 3 the 2.66GHz seems to be the best for the price/performance.
What about memory compatibility? Would the DDR3 1066 MT/s memory from a 2.26GHz Mac Pro be compatible with the 2.66 or 2.93GHz cpu after upgrade? The memory for the 2.66 and 2.93 cpu's is listed as DDR3 1333 MT/s. Would we need to swap all the 2.26's 1066 MT/s memory as well for the cpu upgrade? If so, it would probably be best to purchase a new Mac Pro rather than upgrade the cpu.
The 2.66 and 2.93 processors are indeed listed as having 1333MHz memory, but for some reason Apple uses the 1066MHz memory modules even with those models. The good thing about that is that the 2.26 memory modules should absolutely work even with upgraded processors. In that sense the upgrade would then still be a viable option.
The way I see it it's still mainly a question of the Xeon price evolution, i.e. is there any mentionable decrease in price over the next 1-2 years. Even if not, there still might be some who might want an octo-Pro now and upgrade the processors later, when their financial status allows them to.