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Just upgrade my DP Mac Pro to 12 core! It flies!

A

Amethyst

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 8, 2006
601
294
This is second time i upgrade my old 2009 DP 2.26.
First time i just upgrade to dual x5570 4 core 2.93 and make it top-end mac of 2009. get 32bit geekbench around 17000.
I very happy with it.

However, i just saw price drop on x5670 in the bay.
Now you can get pair of it just $300.

No need to wait. i just put it to my pros.
That make my mac pro to 24000 32bit geekbench.
More than today 2013 8core.

Recommend for everyone. this is best-bang-for-buck now.
 
Nice, that's what I have in mine and it can crunch some numbers! Surprising that the only faster BTO Macs are the 3.06 2010 and the 2.7 2013.
 
What do you do with your Mac Pro day to day? Do you load up all cores regularly or not?

Is there really that much difference between the X5570 and X5670?
Are your temps lower/higher?

I upgraded my E5520 machine to dual X5570s last year. I've toyed with the idea of going 12 core, but am waiting for X5680s on the cheap.
 
leon771 said:
What do you do with your Mac Pro day to day? Do you load up all cores regularly or not?

Is there really that much difference between the X5570 and X5670?
Are your temps lower/higher?

I upgraded my E5520 machine to dual X5570s last year. I've toyed with the idea of going 12 core, but am waiting for X5680s on the cheap.
Click to expand...

X5570
32-bit Single Core: 2,122
32-bit Multi Core: 15,821
64-bit Single Core: 2,307
64-bit Multicore: 17,760

X5670
32-bit Single Core: 2,296
32-bit Multi Core: 24,214
64-bit Single Core: 2,497
64-bit Multicore: 27,131

Gains:
32-bit Single Core: +8.2%
32-bit Multi Core: +53.04%
64-bit Single Core: +8.2%
64-bit Multi Core: +52.76%
 
I've upgraded ny dual CPU 5,1 twice. The first was to W5590 and the Second time to X5677. From the stuff I do on my machine, I felt the single core scores were more important to me than the total score. I could have afforded the X5690 pair, but I got to thinking that dual quad cores would run cooler than dual hex cores. I've turned my Boost Fans up to 1600RPM, and both of my CPUs are running pretty cool. At this moment CPU A is running @ 122° F and CPU B @ 110° F.

My Geekbench 64 bit scores are:

Single Core 2780
Multi Core 22019

Fo me, I made the right decision.

Lou
 
I would use LuxMark to gauge CPU performance rather than Geekbench. Geekbench will put a much higher load on all your CPUs for much longer.
 
ha1o2surfer said:
I would use LuxMark to gauge CPU performance rather than Geekbench. Geekbench will put a much higher load on all your CPUs for much longer.
Click to expand...

Isn't that the idea? While h.264 encoding, that is precisely what the CPU does. Other forms of rendering and SETI do that as well, except in even more extreme ways.
 
Zwhaler said:
Isn't that the idea? While h.264 encoding, that is precisely what the CPU does. Other forms of rendering and SETI do that as well, except in even more extreme ways.
Click to expand...

I meant to say LuxMark! wow.. lol LuxMark does a better job then GeekBench
 
Just by changing my 5,1 from stock 8 cores of 2.26 to 12 cores of 3.33, and everything else stock (gpu, hd), mine went from

single core 1810 multicore 13,249
single core 2643 multicore 30,217

Can't wait to put a nMP pcie SSD in this mother, a new GPU, and run it once more
 
CASLondon said:
Just by changing my 5,1 from stock 8 cores of 2.26 to 12 cores of 3.33, and everything else stock (gpu, hd), mine went from

single core 1810 multicore 13,249
single core 2643 multicore 30,217

Can't wait to put a nMP pcie SSD in this mother, a new GPU, and run it once more
Click to expand...
Epic!!!
 
These machines are the best goddamn computer Apple has ever made. My 2010 now sports:
Dual X5690 3.46Ghz Hexcore
64GB of RAM
Fibre Channel SAN
DUAL AMD 7970 GPUs.

It solidly kicks the snot out of even the top spec BTO new Mac Pro.
 
Congrats on the upgrade. I sold my 2008 mac pro to build a dual X5670 pc. Love the power. I miss OSX but not the price apple charges for mac pro's. Enjoy.
 
artherd said:
These machines are the best goddamn computer Apple has ever made. My 2010 now sports:
Dual X5690 3.46Ghz Hexcore
64GB of RAM
Fibre Channel SAN
DUAL AMD 7970 GPUs.

It solidly kicks the snot out of even the top spec BTO new Mac Pro.
Click to expand...

I need to learn more about the fibre channel. Based on your setup, I'm guessing you work with video. Can you tell me more about your storage?
 
In the same boat here: upgrading an 8 core 4,1 to a 12 core 5,1.

Have read over all the threads to my best ability and can't seem to find an answer (despite others having asked the same question) to this:

what size diameter nylon washers should be purchased to properly fit the diameter of the heat sink corner screws?

This is not a question referring to the height of the washer(s), which has been established as approx 2-2.6mm, but rather the diameter of the washers interior opening.

@Amethyst did you use washers for the heatsink to correct for the 2mm offset with the new CPUs?

Any insight here much appreciated as always. Thanks in advance!
 
I would very incredibly strongly recommend not using anything but steel or stainless steel for the washers. Nylon is not good enough.
 
stmp said:
In the same boat here: upgrading an 8 core 4,1 to a 12 core 5,1.

Have read over all the threads to my best ability and can't seem to find an answer (despite others having asked the same question) to this:

what size diameter nylon washers should be purchased to properly fit the diameter of the heat sink corner screws?

This is not a question referring to the height of the washer(s), which has been established as approx 2-2.6mm, but rather the diameter of the washers interior opening.

@Amethyst did you use washers for the heatsink to correct for the 2mm offset with the new CPUs?

Any insight here much appreciated as always. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
I use aluminium washer. buy from my local shop for $0.3.
 
anyone know how hot the x5690's run? i heard somewhere people usually put extra fans inside there mac pro chassis.
 
Usually products are engineered for a certain min-max set of ambient temperature requirements. EG: it has to work from 20F-140F ambient, in 0-99% humidity. Then they fully load the box. 4 power-sucking drives of the time (or maybe resistive loads at full socket amperage) RAID card, 2 video cards. Full system load burn-in test, must remain within operational parameters (whatever those are decided to be) plus 20%-50% margin for "comfort". I'd imagine that a 130W TDP part at least on paper exceeded those margins. Maybe.

Maybe Apple just didn't want to spend the money and offer what at the time would have been a 15k machine.

----------

Now however, it kicks the new macpro's ass.
 
Another success story here

Just replaced the X5570s in my 2009 cMP 4,1 > 5,1 with two Westmere X5675, to match the 2012 TOTL 5,1 config.

Single Core GB score 64-bit: 2632, +12,63%
Multicore GB score 64-bit: 28650, +61,58%

Geekbench Vergleich X5570 vs. X5675.png

The CPUs came from Florida. I've patiently waited for affordable X5680s but realized they wouldn't come down this year to what I’m ready to pay. So I settled for X5675 and eventually got a decent deal on them: my offer for $175/ea was accepted (that equaled ~350€ for both, s/h and import tax included). In Europe the best offer I could find was ~240€/ea, X5680s are still around 300€/ea over here. Finally got around to install them now
ATM 10.10 & X5675.png
Used the Pindelski tutorial and yes, metal washers for the 2mm height difference is crucial, as is some caution & instinctive feeling when tightening the heatsink screws again. Other than that, it wasn't all that hard.

One of the advantages is the same 95W TDP as the Nehalems before. Another is, they run a bit cooler. RAM speed went up to 1333MHz so I've bought the right stuff for an upgrade last year. Very pleased with the performance boost for a 5 year old machine, particularly in apps that address all cores.
 
artherd said:
These machines are the best goddamn computer Apple has ever made. My 2010 now sports:
Dual X5690 3.46Ghz Hexcore
64GB of RAM
Fibre Channel SAN
DUAL AMD 7970 GPUs.

It solidly kicks the snot out of even the top spec BTO new Mac Pro.
Click to expand...

Could you tell me where you got your Fibre Channel SAN from?

Also are you using an auxiliary PSU for the dual GPUs?

Thanks
 
artherd said:
These machines are the best goddamn computer Apple has ever made. My 2010 now sports:
Dual X5690 3.46Ghz Hexcore
64GB of RAM
Fibre Channel SAN
DUAL AMD 7970 GPUs.

It solidly kicks the snot out of even the top spec BTO new Mac Pro.
Click to expand...
I'm thinking of doing that CPU upgrade, how hot does it run?
 
Last edited:
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