OH MY GOD I'M FAMOUS!
I'm cracking up here...
...there goes the hope of any warranty work on your MP
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CORE i7 975 3.3 GHz in my New Quad!
- Thread starter AZREOSpecialist
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...there goes the hope of any warranty work on your MP
Core i7-860 here I come. Not in a Mac though......there goes the hope of any warranty work on your MP
http://translate.google.com/transla...07/1717513.html&sl=auto&tl=en&history_state0=
I too wish that I could over-clock the 975. During regular use, the temps stay at around 37-38 C. There's probably a lot of room to over-clock, and cooling shouldn't be an issue with the Mac Pro case.
ZDNET in Germany has an application called ZDNET Clock or something like that which will over-clock previous generation Mac Pros. Unfortunately, this tool just crashes on anything Nehalem or Core i7. Those that have over-clocked their 2008 Mac Pros suffer a side effect -- the system clock runs fast. Apple ties the system clock to the bus ratio, or something technical like that which I don't completely understand. I am a real estate agent by trade, after all!
The 8-core 2009 models can also have their CPUs swapped for 3.2 GHz parts. See the AnandTech article cited in another post. Because the replacement Xeons have integrated heat spreaders that are nearly impossible to remove, you will need to be extra careful when re-attaching the heat sinks and you'll also need to add some silicone thermal padding to the part of the heat sink that makes contact with CMOS sensors on the mobo. AnandTech burned out their two Xeons and processor tray, so be extra careful.
You cannot use the Core i7 975 on the 8-core, the Core i7 lacks the 2nd QPI present on the Xeon parts. They are otherwise identical, but it's a marketing differentiator for Intel. You will need to buy two Intel Xeon W5580 parts, which are currently priced at $1,659 each at New Egg.
Doing this type of an upgrade on an 8-core is not as cost effective, since there are two CPUs and you have to buy the much more expensive Xeon parts.
ZDNET in Germany has an application called ZDNET Clock or something like that which will over-clock previous generation Mac Pros. Unfortunately, this tool just crashes on anything Nehalem or Core i7. Those that have over-clocked their 2008 Mac Pros suffer a side effect -- the system clock runs fast. Apple ties the system clock to the bus ratio, or something technical like that which I don't completely understand. I am a real estate agent by trade, after all!
The 8-core 2009 models can also have their CPUs swapped for 3.2 GHz parts. See the AnandTech article cited in another post. Because the replacement Xeons have integrated heat spreaders that are nearly impossible to remove, you will need to be extra careful when re-attaching the heat sinks and you'll also need to add some silicone thermal padding to the part of the heat sink that makes contact with CMOS sensors on the mobo. AnandTech burned out their two Xeons and processor tray, so be extra careful.
You cannot use the Core i7 975 on the 8-core, the Core i7 lacks the 2nd QPI present on the Xeon parts. They are otherwise identical, but it's a marketing differentiator for Intel. You will need to buy two Intel Xeon W5580 parts, which are currently priced at $1,659 each at New Egg.
Doing this type of an upgrade on an 8-core is not as cost effective, since there are two CPUs and you have to buy the much more expensive Xeon parts.
First off, thanks for the great write-up! Nice to see people who don't conform
It's just a shame though that you have 975 and can't overclock that puppy... wish it were possible...
My only hope will be to find a technician who lives in a cave! Fortunately, I won't be having any problems and everything will work just fine...
...there goes the hope of any warranty work on your MP
You found my brain words.
Dunno why the hell I had a brain fart and couldn't remember that. But it's late here, so it's probably a sign I need sleep.
In order to overclock the majority of Core 2 based Xeons you're going to need to bump up the front side bus. You're already running high at 400 MHz quad pumped on the later models.
I never had a Core 2 based Mac Pro, but I had at that time built quite a few Core 2 LGA 775 systems. Even on the highest end boards, there was a 450 FSB wall. The rare exceptions, some overclocking boards, could hit 500 FSB, but even then it wasn't stable.
450 is pushing it for 24/7 stable, and that's on high end PC boards. I have no idea what the Mac proprietary Intel board was capable of.
Xeon 5100, 5300, and 5400 are Core 2 derivatives.
You're not going to get much beyond a 400 MHz front side bus on the majority of boards. A few P45 boards could break 450 MHz stable but that's not what you're going to find in a Mac Pro.
I realize that. I was just saying I wasn't sure of the FSB capability on a Mac Pro motherboard since I'd never used them. There were more than a few X38, X48 and P35, P45 boards that could hit 450Mhz stable though. The problem is amateurs give up easily and settle for 400. But those were specifically designed to do so as overclocking and enthusiast boards. 500Mhz was the real "wall"
I'd still like to see that ZDNet tool released for the new Mac Pros though. Considering how well they cool I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see that platform capable of cooling an i7 975 to 3.8. 975's can get upwards of 4.0Ghz without a voltage bump if they're lucky. Hell, I've seen more than a few at 4.2 24/7 on air.
There appear to be quite a few Hackintoshes running at 4.0+ GHz air cooled Core i7 965 (3.2 GHz chip), and I'm pretty sure the cooling systems on those HackMacs aren't as good as what we have on a stock Mac Pro. The heat sink on the Mac Pro is pretty huge, although lightweight, with two fans cooling the CPU bay.
By the way, there's a really cute little widget called iStat Nano that will give you all kinds of information on CPU temp, CPU usage, memory usage, etc.
By the way, there's a really cute little widget called iStat Nano that will give you all kinds of information on CPU temp, CPU usage, memory usage, etc.
Interesting you mention that. That separate PCB and compartmentalized design in the Mac Pro would probably make an excellent overclocking platform.
Although on the HackMacs, some are using Noctua's in high rpm push-pull or are on water, in which case the cooling performance is better. But still, the Mac Pro cooling design I really dig. Wish mainstream PC's separated the PCB like that.
I can get 4.19GHz (stable) from air cooling on an i7-920.
On the cooling part, I'd dissagree with that, as most have the ability and knowledge to get a better cooling system. I run a Noctua in push-pull configuration myself. Ducting was added to prevent recirculation in the case by exhausing it straight away. Works well. Using an extreme edition and water cooling, it goes higher.
I think they'd make a great mainstream processor, or hackintosh (for those wanting to run OS X) but still have the ability to swap out/upgrade parts. Assuming said individuals don't need the triple channel memory configuration (non server useage), as there's not many applications that can even use it.
Don't see why you wouldn't be, the Turbo speeds on those processors go higher than the Nehalem. I'd say that would help single-threaded applications a lot.
I was thinking about something. Xeon support ECC but Core i7 does not. Did the orinigal ECC memory work or you where forced to use non-ECC ram ?
You use the same memory as in any Mac Pro 2009 and it work ?
You use the same memory as in any Mac Pro 2009 and it work ?
Good question. ^
AZREOSpecialist could you please fill us in on the specifics for those of use who want to try this and don't know much. You have been pretty thorough, but we would really appreciate all the minute details. Thanks
I purchase 4 x 4 GB sticks from OWC which are described as "1066MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM DIMMS" and include an Apple specified thermal sensor. They work just great!
Here is the link.
Here is the link.
Good question. ^
AZREOSpecialist could you please fill us in on the specifics for those of use who want to try this and don't know much. You have been pretty thorough, but we would really appreciate all the minute details. Thanks
Cool. Any precautions we should know about? What did you lift the old cpu out with? Plastic tongs, fingers???
And does anyone know if Intel is going to release an even faster chip that will work in the 2009 quads sometime in the future? I might as well go for the fastest chip that will work in the 2009 quad and wait for it.
Cool. Any precautions we should know about? What did you lift the old cpu out with? Plastic tongs, fingers???
And does anyone know if Intel is going to release an even faster chip that will work in the 2009 quads sometime in the future? I might as well go for the fastest chip that will work in the 2009 quad and wait for it.
If you are referring to a faster i7? Highly, highly doubt it. The 975 is probably going to be it.
Westmere is Socket 1366 and will work with current X58 based boards, but they will probably need a BIOS flash.
Unless the motherboards in the current Mac Pros support Westmere without needing a firmware update, then no. But I'm sure someone will drop one in and try it.
Personally I'm waiting until Sandy Bridge. Westmere doesn't interest me at all at the moment. But adopting on the Tick cycle of TickTock is usually ass backwards. Better to adopt on the new architecture changes.
I was tempted to use salad tongs, but then I figured my fingers would work just as well! It's hard to screw up removing the chip. Once you pull the lever and release the clamp that holds the chip down, it slides around quite loosely and is easy to lift out.
As far as waiting is concerned, you can keep waiting until the next best thing. I had already decided to upgrade to the Nehalem since I'm using a 5 year old G5 dual, but I was extremely unhappy that Apple's highest-end Mac Pro didn't break the 3 GHz barrier. Thank goodness I found a way around that!
Does anyone know of a utility that will monitor the CPU in real-time and alert me when or if it utilizes Turbo? The Core i7 975 will turbo up to 3.6 GHz.
It's hard to screw up removing the chip. Once you pull the lever and release the clamp that holds the chip down, it slides around quite loosely and is easy to lift out.As far as waiting is concerned, you can keep waiting until the next best thing. I had already decided to upgrade to the Nehalem since I'm using a 5 year old G5 dual, but I was extremely unhappy that Apple's highest-end Mac Pro didn't break the 3 GHz barrier. Thank goodness I found a way around that!
Does anyone know of a utility that will monitor the CPU in real-time and alert me when or if it utilizes Turbo? The Core i7 975 will turbo up to 3.6 GHz.
Cool. Any precautions we should know about? What did you lift the old cpu out with? Plastic tongs, fingers???
And does anyone know if Intel is going to release an even faster chip that will work in the 2009 quads sometime in the future? I might as well go for the fastest chip that will work in the 2009 quad and wait for it.
I was tempted to use salad tongs, but then I figured my fingers would work just as well!
So the BIOS, EFI and everything else works as it should with no special configuration? Does anything need to be configured for the MacOS to work and Bootcamp to work without a hitch? Do you know if a new OS like snow leopard could render the machine problematic? i.e. not work without major hassles, and tweaks, etc. I would hate for my MP to suddenly be thrown into the hackintosh category with all the tweaks associated with them.
That would be a major bummer...
I was tempted to use salad tongs, but then I figured my fingers would work just as well!
As far as waiting is concerned, you can keep waiting until the next best thing. I had already decided to upgrade to the Nehalem since I'm using a 5 year old G5 dual, but I was extremely unhappy that Apple's highest-end Mac Pro didn't break the 3 GHz barrier. Thank goodness I found a way around that!
Does anyone know of a utility that will monitor the CPU in real-time and alert me when or if it utilizes Turbo? The Core i7 975 will turbo up to 3.6 GHz.
The only way I could monitor my CPU's turbo was to boot to Windows and run CPUz.
Everything works like a charm, and haven't had a single freeze or kernel panic yet. I suppose Apple *could* specifically code Snow Leopard to block CPUs that are not currently supported, but it wouldn't make sense for them to do that. It's such a small group of people who are upgrading as I am, it wouldn't be worth it to Apple to spend money to purposely exclude these folks. There's always the possibility, I suppose, but the odds are against Apple doing this.
I briefly considered going the Hackintosh route, but after reading what those poor folks have to put up with I decided against it. Replacing the CPU in my Mac Pro was the perfect compromise between performance and "doing my own thing".
I briefly considered going the Hackintosh route, but after reading what those poor folks have to put up with I decided against it. Replacing the CPU in my Mac Pro was the perfect compromise between performance and "doing my own thing".
So the BIOS, EFI and everything else works as it should with no special configuration? Does anything need to be configured for the MacOS to work and Bootcamp to work without a hitch? Do you know if a new OS like snow leopard could render the machine problematic? i.e. not work without major hassles, and tweaks, etc. I would hate for my MP to suddenly be thrown into the hackintosh category with all the tweaks associated with them.