does the nehalem octa work with just one cpu?

[m4rk0]

thinking about processors upgrade, i may run it with just one of them installed for some time: is it possible? has anyone tried? i really don't think it would work but maybe someone has tried and may give me a good new.

thanks-

 

[J the Ninja]

I think it will run with one socket empty. I know Harpertown machines could, Apple actually sold the Penryn Mac Pro with a BTO option of one socket empty. (took $500 off the price). It WILL NOT run with mismatched CPUs though.

 

[Hellhammer]

Apple actually sold the Penryn Mac Pro with a BTO option of one socket empty. (took $500 off the price).

So did the previous generation quad-core Mac Pro have only one CPU but two sockets?

 

[m4rk0]

So did the previous generation quad-core Mac Pro have only one CPU but two sockets?

exactly.

I think it will run with one socket empty. I know Harpertown machines could, Apple actually sold the Penryn Mac Pro with a BTO option of one socket empty. (took $500 off the price). It WILL NOT run with mismatched CPUs though.

i see; well i am looking forward to read something from people who did try it. thanks for your reply.

 

[Umbongo]

You should have no issue doing it. The chipset is designed to work like that and it is very unlikely Apple did anything to change it. You would only be able to use 4 memory slots though.

 

[zeigerpuppy]

Iteresting....

this could make a dual cpu mac more affordable, scenario

buy 2x 2.93,
sell one of the 2.93 proc to someone who has a single 2.66 and wants the 2.93....

actually forget that, would never recover the cost.
it's always nice to have two slots but doesn't look like this is a way to get around the ridiculously expensive price differential they are charging for the octo core (see this thread https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=8584520&posted=1#post8584520)

 

[UltraNEO*]

thinking about processors upgrade, i may run it with just one of them installed for some time: is it possible? has anyone tried? i really don't think it would work but maybe someone has tried and may give me a good new.

thanks-

If your talking about buying a MP09 with single CPU then later upgrading to Dual. You'll have to buy a new CPU board since Apple don't ship when with dual sockets and those slot-in replacement boards are rare, often really expensive.

 

[thermodynamic]

So did the previous generation quad-core Mac Pro have only one CPU but two sockets?

Yup. Those were the days. One could make their single-quad a dual-quad down the road.

I wonder if Apple sells just the board containing the dual sockets for the Nehalem 2009 line...

 

[gugucom]

Anand said that the CPU/RAM board was 400$. According to Intel a certain mismatch of CPUs is possible although the errata increase the bigger the mismatch. Details are in the 5500 specification document.