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jjahshik32

macrumors 603
Sep 4, 2006
5,366
52
I'm more than good. Maybe in 3-4 years I"ll upgrade to something more insane. :D

Only thing I really want is an SSD drive. Maybe in 3-4 years, I'll just upgrade to SSD drives and just stay on the Nehalem. Same goes for people who own the even the first gen Mac Pros.
 

nanofrog

macrumors G4
May 6, 2008
11,719
3
Well I want a 4.x GHz Mac Pro with 8 physical cores! Hell yes!

Somehow I see a dual-processor box in your future, Tesselator. And not from Apple... ;)
I smell a DP Nehalem Hackintosh in someone's future. ;)

The tool could prove rather handy, as so far, I've not heard or seen anything lately that there will be an Over Clock capable DP board, such as the SkullTrail or Z7S WS for the Harpertown parts. :rolleyes: I was hoping by now some confirmation would have surfaced. :(
 

Pressure

macrumors 603
May 30, 2006
5,044
1,384
Denmark
People with earlier models of the Mac Pro can use this ZDNet Overclocking Tool, which works in Mac OS X.

My Mac Pro (early 2008) easily overclocks from 2.80Ghz to 3.20Ghz :)

Oh yeah, one thing though. The clock will go faster if you overclock, just a funny way Mac OS X calculates time.
 

Tesselator

macrumors 601
Jan 9, 2008
4,601
6
Japan
People with earlier models of the Mac Pro can use this ZDNet Overclocking Tool, which works in Mac OS X.

My Mac Pro (early 2008) easily overclocks from 2.80Ghz to 3.20Ghz :)

Oh yeah, one thing though. The clock will go faster if you overclock, just a funny way Mac OS X calculates time.

Yeah, and this faster clock rate messes up my entire OS. Timed scripts, tasks and timer based utilities all get whacked. Sound playback get's whacked. File timestamps get whacked so sorting will be forever broken with them. Games and stuff that needs the timer or times the screen either crash or refuse to initialize. That includes Quake 3 & 4, Halo, Cars, Spore, Zenerchi, Platypus, Warhammer, & Close Combat just to name a few. No benchmark utilities work correctly as they time the operations using the clock. No, the ZDNet works I hear, on the 2008 OK but not anything else. To get it to work on the 2008 MP you need to restart the machine or something after running ZDNet. This resets the clock properly leaving the CPUs overclocked. In the 2006 and 2007 machines the system cannot be restarted after running ZDNet - the system just hangs till you hold the power button for 5 seconds to power it down.
 

shadow1

macrumors member
Jul 9, 2009
63
0
Would apple support overclocking to make more people turn from PC who like overclocking
 

Tesselator

macrumors 601
Jan 9, 2008
4,601
6
Japan
Of course not. Show me a new desktop Mac in the price range from 300 to 500 €...

apple_mac_mini_inhand_0.jpg



There you are.​


Would apple support overclocking to make more people turn from PC who like overclocking

They might. You never know. There's currently no signs of them doing so however. :p
 

Dr.Pants

macrumors 65816
Jan 8, 2009
1,181
2
They might. You never know. There's currently no signs of them doing so however. :p

It would make a living nightmare for AppleCare, dealing with everybody who decides to rack on the voltage over the processor's spec. :( In this case, I think not.

At least it would mean an EFI update.
 

brendu

Cancelled
Apr 23, 2009
2,472
2,703
With all of the overclocking potential Intel intentionally put in the Nehalems, both i7 and Xeons, to crush AMD I' m sure that the wizards at Apple could design a widget that would allow for some safe overclocking without having to impair the Apple Care program in the least bit. In fact, I submit that if Apple Cares truly about its best customers, i.e., those who purchase Apple's most expensive products, it is Apple's duty to give us the full advantage of the power of Nehalem forthwith.

+1
 

TheStrudel

macrumors 65816
Jan 5, 2008
1,134
1
Making that comment shows an utter lack of understanding of 's core philosophies, which do not include maximizing power or flexibility for the benefit of people who would overclock.

The  philosophy is a stable, turnkey system that does not break when used within specification. I should point out that no matter how much overclocking potential and speed technologies Intel puts in their chips, it does not mean that 's goal is to help you squeeze every last ounce of performance out of it.

They don't care about crushing AMD.

Also, Xeons are server parts. Servers are not designed or intended for overclocking and pushing the boundaries of speed. They're designed for stability. I think the decision to use server parts for the Mac Pro reflects 's intentions.
 

nanofrog

macrumors G4
May 6, 2008
11,719
3
Also, Xeons are server parts. Servers are not designed or intended for overclocking and pushing the boundaries of speed. They're designed for stability. I think the decision to use server parts for the Mac Pro reflects 's intentions.
Yep. They're built for stability & reliablility.

Though as it happens, this very trait does allow them to be OC'ed rather nicely. :eek: :p It's just hard to do on the Nehalem based parts (in general), as AFAIK, there's no OC capable DP board. Nor have I seen a pin mod method posted anywhere yet (equivalent to the BSEL mod on prior models).

There is infact SP boards that will, as they included the microcode to utilize the Xeon 35xx parts as well as the i7-9xx models. :) So for those interested in Quad core machines, they have a little more ability to consider OC as a possible motivator for making a Hackintosh, if they're willing and able to do so.

Apple isn't interested, so OC software utilities seem to be the only possiblility on the current MP models for the moment.
 

handheldgames

macrumors 68000
Apr 4, 2009
1,939
1,169
Pacific NW, USA
Overclocking is chip specific

if the chip is unlocked, changing the multiplier is the easiest method of achieving a cpu speed increase with minimal effect to the rest of the hardware. Most chips can run higher without voltage increases. Increasing the system bus also increases performance. But it can also cause issues.

If your chip is locked, you need to change system bus(like on the 08 macpros), manipulate dram timing ratios, adjust the voltage of different components dealing with the increase of bus speed, etc. The list goes On. Lots of settings to take and adjust not just one multiplier.

Personally I'd welcome either method above to use with my unlocked i7 975.


With due respect for Salavat23's comment that changing the base clock is the most important aspect of overclocking, I'm not putting forth an all or nothing proposal. With all of the overclocking potential Intel intentionally put in the Nehalems, both i7 and Xeons, to crush AMD I' m sure that the wizards at Apple could design a widget that would allow for some safe overclocking without having to impair the Apple Care program in the least bit. In fact, I submit that if Apple Cares truly about its best customers, i.e., those who purchase Apple's most expensive products, it is Apple's duty to give us the full advantage of the power of Nehalem forthwith.
 

nanofrog

macrumors G4
May 6, 2008
11,719
3
Overclocking is chip specific

if the chip is unlocked, changing the multiplier is the easiest method of achieving a cpu speed increase with minimal effect to the rest of the hardware. Most chips can run higher without voltage increases. Increasing the system bus also increases performance. But it can also cause issues.

If your chip is locked, you need to change system bus(like on the 08 macpros), manipulate dram timing ratios, adjust the voltage of different components dealing with the increase of bus speed, etc. The list goes On. Lots of settings to take and adjust not just one multiplier.

Personally I'd welcome either method above to use with my unlocked i7 975.
Yep. Any OC util for the '09's would be different from the earlier models, as they aren't the same architecture.

Perhaps some on the PC side would help give some ideas, and possibly offer some source code made available by the author (to give ideas, but you'd have to compensate for EFI firmware, since it would be written for BIOS operational boards). The i7-9xx utils I've seen/tried don't have the details (all the options) available via firmware though. But it's better than nothing.

I'm not sure how well they'd work under windows on an '09 MP though, given the EFI64 firmware (not sure if the BIOS emulator would work in this case either; see above).

Anyone care to guinea pig an attempt? :eek: :D
 

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
1,245
NYC
If they were give me free upgrade, I'd take it; otherwise I'm pretty satisfied with what I have.
 

hyram

macrumors regular
Jun 15, 2009
190
0
In fact, I submit that if Apple Cares truly about its best customers, i.e., those who purchase Apple's most expensive products, it is Apple's duty to give us the full advantage of the power of Nehalem forthwith.

Thanks for the laugh... I needed a good chuckle to get my day started :D

Just ask any G5 owner how much :apple: cares about them because they bought the most expensive computer that was offered. Or how about mp1,1 or 2,1 owners that would like the oppertunity to run the 64bit kernel, they bought the most expensive computer that was offered as well.

I thnik it's a safe bet that we are not, nor ever will be :apple:'s best or most important customers.

hyram
 

Tesselator

macrumors 601
Jan 9, 2008
4,601
6
Japan
No offense to the folks here who think they know but... How do you know what Apple's philosophy is? They do not say what it is at all. They say crap like "Be Different", "Think Outside The Box", and "Think Apple". WTH does that mean? There is no Apple philosophy other than "Make Money" and this is subject to exactly the same dynamics that it is for every company on the planet. If overclocking becomes a critical factor they will implement it. But it's you and I (customers) who determine whether or not OC is a major selling point, a deal-breaker, or etc.. Just look at Blue Ray. It's starting to become an issue but so far the interest way too low. With Apple's connections I'm sure they know exactly the ratio of BRD to DVD media sold - both prerecorded commercial stuff and blank media. I'm sure overclocking is something similar. I don't see anyone here forming a petition. ;)

Anyway, I'm a 1,1 owner - and if you ask me they care (about money!). My MP 1,1 works fine with Snow Leopard and frankly I nor no one else even knows what a 64-bit EFI will do for me. The benefit is entirely unclear to me. I read most of the threads here about it and I still don't know. People I trust to comment (the minority here) often say there is none. So WTF? Why would 64-bit EFI be a sigh of Apple's responsibility or commitment? It seems a bit of a straw-man to me.

Anyway if OC becomes a big deal Apple will likely implement it in some way or another. Probably in the X-Tools distribution as a prefs-pane. <shrug>



.
 

TheStrudel

macrumors 65816
Jan 5, 2008
1,134
1
For the record, my statement is based upon the design of most  computers and devices, which is vertically integrated hardware and software - not something designed to be tinkered with. The Mac Pro is a concession to power users - not the best possible machine that can be made.

I ignore advertisements. I'm going on the basis of their industrial design, which has been consistent in ideology since the days of the original Macintosh in 1984.

And it's worth pointing out that  doesn't put a ton of stock in focus groups or what consumers supposedly want. They operate on more of a, "We'll tell you what you want" ideal. 's signature desktop computer is an iMac. You'd do well to remember that.

64-bit EFI is a compatibility issue for GPUs made by Nvidia, so that's not entirely a strawman argument. I believe you knew about that already. 64-bit EFI is also relevant in terms of the goal being to transition everything to 64-bit - kernel, OS, apps, EFI. They don't want everything like that tomorrow, but eventually. Maybe in 10.7 or 10.8.

I will agree that  has no responsibility to make their computers last for 8 years. It's not even good business sense for them to do so. Keep it in mind, kids.
 
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