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MP 1,1-5,1 Dual quad core 2.4 VS 6 Core 3.46 cMP Tray Swap

motomuso

motomuso

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 11, 2021
10
6
Lots Angeles
I just opened a package from OWC which I expected to contain a processor tray having two 6 core processors. I see one large sync and only 4 memory stick slots. It's supposed to be a 3.46 GHz 6 core, an easy swap for my dual 4 core Westmere Xeon 2.4 GHz. Since presale tech support kept using plural referring to the processors when i tried to get reassurance it was indeed 2x6 cord I thought it was a 12 core tray. Looks like a single core. Or is it? It's late on a Saturday night and cannot call OWC.
Questions:
1. Is there even such thing as dual 6 core at 3.46 GHz?
2. Even with one 6 core processor would this be a worthwhile upgrade to my 2.4 GHz Dual 4 cores? One worth around $500 US?
I'm using Logic Pro 10.x with heavy virtual instrument use.
OS 10.14.6 Mojave; 64GB; RX580; 2x 2.4 Westmere VS 1x 3.46 Westmere
Thanks for any advice.
I am one confused Moto.
 
I think You can easily tell from the (crazy) price of it if it should be dual or single cpu tray.
1639285705730.png

A single 3.46 will get you something about 40% more single core performance, but the multicore perf would be about on par with the old one. I can't tell anyhing about suiting your software any better, it just seems it would not be worth the spent money, not to me at least. I'd want a dual processor tray. I just can't understand those prices they ask for these.
 
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Oh wow! Yeah, I would not have sprung for one of those and did not even see any of these on the page I was buying from. My mistake I guess for shoddy research.

Question now is: Is this even an upgrade? Thanks for your reply. Much appreciated!
 
motomuso said:
Oh wow! Yeah, I would not have sprung for one of those and did not even see any of these on the page I was buying from. My mistake I guess for shoddy research.

Question now is: Is this even an upgrade? Thanks for your reply. Much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Oh whoops - i didn't see the text below your owc page. Thanks, I think I need to return this. As of yesterday OWC was showing no available upgrades for the mid 2010 Westmere cMP.
 
mikas said:
I think You can easily tell from the (crazy) price of it if it should be dual or single cpu tray.
View attachment 1927063
A single 3.46 will get you something about 40% more single core performance, but the multicore perf would be about on par with the old one. I can't tell anyhing about suiting your software any better, it just seems it would not be worth the spent money, not to me at least. I'd want a dual processor tray. I just can't understand those prices they ask for these.
Click to expand...
Wow, these prices are beyond insane. You can buy a fully upgraded Mac Pro for the price of a dual CPU tray with the weakest config.

@motomuso if you already have the dual CPU tray, why not buy two X5690 Xeons (no matching pairs with this Xeon generation) and ask for a friend to install it for you? You can get a X5690 from AliExpress at around $45 a piece.
 
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tsialex said:
Wow, these prices are beyond insane. You can buy a fully upgraded Mac Pro for the price of a dual CPU tray with the weakest config.

@motomuso if you already have the dual CPU tray, why not buy two X5690 Xeons (no matching pairs with this Xeon generation) and ask for a friend to install it for you? You can get a X5690 from AliExpress at around $45 a piece.
Click to expand...
Now that sounds like a plan. I think I can even manage the install with the amount of videos I've seen. It's all in the thermal paste job isn't it? Or if I chicken out I'm sure I can find someone to do it. Yeah, thanks for this idea!
 
motomuso said:
Oh wow! Yeah, I would not have sprung for one of those and did not even see any of these on the page I was buying from. My mistake I guess for shoddy research.

Question now is: Is this even an upgrade? Thanks for your reply. Much appreciated!
Click to expand...
I think I’d keep that and if you already have a dual processor CPU tray then get another pair of X5690 processors and Ram and away you go.

My dual 6 core was originally a quad core 3.2ghz with only 8gb Ram. I grabbed a second hand 2x 2.4ghz Mac Pro then used the CPU tray from it to make a 2x3.46ghz. Then put my original single CPU tray in the second hand machine and built it up to make a 6 core 3.46 which is an excellent machine.

It’s easy to change CPUs in the 5,1 - just make sure you have the long hex key to undo the heat sink and use arctic silver 5.

The 6 core 3.46 is fast enough but also runs very silently and cool.
 
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avro707 said:
I think I’d keep that and if you already have a dual processor CPU tray then get another pair of X5690 processors and Ram and away you go.

My dual 6 core was originally a quad core 3.2ghz with only 8gb Ram. I grabbed a second hand 2x 2.4ghz Mac Pro then used the CPU tray from it to make a 2x3.46ghz. Then put my original single CPU tray in the second hand machine and built it up to make a 6 core 3.46 which is an excellent machine.

It’s easy to change CPUs in the 5,1 - just make sure you have the long hex key to undo the heat sink and use arctic silver 5.

The 6 core 3.46 is fast enough but also runs very silently and cool.
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avrov707, So you're suggesting I hang onto the tray I just purchased (single 6 core 3.46) for use in a second cMP that I might find cheap? And then replace the processors from my current machine with a couple of X5690 processors? Do I have that right?

I think the amount I spent on the tray with the 6 core would have to be added into the cost of the second Mac so that even if I found one for 100 bucks I'd still be into it for over $600. So I think I'm going to call for a refund from OWC on return.

Thanks for the tips on the processor swap. I should have been looking at that as opposed to swapping the entire trays. And OWC should have been clear on what they were selling. A picture would have had me avoiding this problem entirely. Living and learning.
 
Following up I want to thank you tsialex, mikas, and avro707. I popped in two of the 5690, 3.46 processors as recommended (as opposed to paying the huge cost of a tray swap from OWC). With the money I saved I picked up faster memory, a couple of SSDs, and a USB 3 card.

Next big decision is whether to go Open Core for a more modern OS. It's my only machine, mission-critical for my work using Logic Pro. I'll be asking around for opinions on how bulletproof these systems on 5,1 cMP are proving to be.
Thanks again!


Screen Shot 2022-01-23 at 12.11.53 PM.jpg
 
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Just out of curiosity, is there a massive performance difference between the 5680 and the 5690? The 5680 is nearly half the price :)
 
I never thought that performance improvement of X5690 over X5680 justified the price difference, at most benchmarks it's just a ~3% improvement, and I always bought X5677/X5680. Just recently I bought the first X5690 for myself.

forums.macrumors.com

MP5,1: BootROM thread | 144.0.0.0.0

Sorry for the off-topic. I recently bought a dead pristine MD770BZ/A (the single CPU mid-2012), missing just the RAM/GPU, from a media company liquidating old/defective gear. It was extremely cheap (~US$ 85 with shipping) and I bought it most for the immaculate case, but I had a tiny gleam of...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
Popsi-DBW said:
Just out of curiosity, is there a massive performance difference between the 5680 and the 5690? The 5680 is nearly half the price :)
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm less price sensitive but I just approached it as the X5690 wasn't especially expensive anyway so I just got those.

I have three X5690s now, two in the one machine, the third one in the single processor machine. The single processor one was originally a 2x 2.4ghz 5,1 bought secondhand from an ad-agency just to get the CPU tray from it to put in my original 5,1. So I ended up putting my single CPU tray in that second hand machine and getting it running and use it for Zwift. It's a great machine.

@motomuso - I'd suggest going to opencore and getting Monterey running, it's a very polished OS. You don't even have to worry about Surplus and or Monterand anymore with 12.2 and the final 12.1. However, I'm not using logicpro on mine.

@tsialex - I might need to do the bootrom reconstruction on my dual 3.46, I don't know how far it is from impending doom.
 
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avro707 said:
snip...

@motomuso - I'd suggest going to opencore and getting Monterey running, it's a very polished OS. You don't even have to worry about Surplus and or Monterand anymore with 12.2 and the final 12.1. However, I'm not using logicpro on mine.

...snip

avro707, Sweet! Seems pretty solid then; thanks for the info and vote of confidence. I may as well give it a go since I have my Mojave SSD well backed up via Time Machine and CCC.
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Attach files
 
tsialex said:
Wow, these prices are beyond insane. You can buy a fully upgraded Mac Pro for the price of a dual CPU tray with the weakest config.
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You ain't kidding. I bought my 2010 cMP 5,1 with dual 3.46 CPUs, 128gb of RAM, Vega 64, and 2 OWC PCIe SSD cards in mint condition for less than the price of a dual CPU 3.06 board in the OPs screenshot. Nuts!
 
amstel78 said:
You ain't kidding. I bought my 2010 cMP 5,1 with dual 3.46 CPUs, 128gb of RAM, Vega 64, and 2 OWC PCIe SSD cards in mint condition for less than the price of a dual CPU 3.06 board in the OPs screenshot. Nuts!
Click to expand...
Now just the Vega 64 and the DIMMs are worth that price.
 
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