mac pro (2006) questions

[sOwL]

alright, i got a few questions about the mac pro of 2006:
1) Will a mac pro with 2 x dualcores get full advantage of the new snow leopard? I mean, can it work well with a full 64-bit system? Are 2xC2D Xeon true 64-bit?
2) I'm planning to get a bulk Blu-ray burner. Should i wait for an apple release? And if i do, will i get the drivers via a regular update? Or will it just work using a program capable of burning Blu-ray?
3) Is the mac pro's 2008 motherboard changed comparing to mac pro 2006? Could the 2006 model get the new quadcore cpus? (i remember that the 2006 model already had a 2xquadcore choice)
4) Could it be overclocked? (the 2006 model, and no, im not a windows fanboy)

 

[Saladinos]

1. Yes. There's no such thing as 'true 64-bit' or 'untrue 64-bit'. This is one of the few advances in recent times where there is little ambiguity.
2. I'd recommend waiting, unless you really need one. Toast should work with pretty much any BD burner.
3. Mobo probably has changed. You can upgrade the CPU to one of the same socket type. I don't think the socket has changed since the 06 models, so I believe you can upgrade (check if the chipset supports it).

 

[nanofrog]

alright, i got a few questions about the mac pro of 2006:
1) Will a mac pro with 2 x dualcores get full advantage of the new snow leopard? I mean, can it work well with a full 64-bit system? Are 2xC2D Xeon true 64-bit?
2) I'm planning to get a bulk Blu-ray burner. Should i wait for an apple release? And if i do, will i get the drivers via a regular update? Or will it just work using a program capable of burning Blu-ray?
3) Is the mac pro's 2008 motherboard changed comparing to mac pro 2006? Could the 2006 model get the new quadcore cpus? (i remember that the 2006 model already had a 2xquadcore choice)
4) Could it be overclocked? (the 2006 model, and no, im not a windows fanboy)

1. Yes.
2. You can use Blu ray for data storage if you use Toast w/ blu ray option. No HDCP capabilities in OS X at this time, and it's unknown when or if it will be.
3. There are a couple of other threads, here and here that may help.
4. ZDNet Clock 1.0 (software over-clocking)

 

[velocityg4]

1. Answered by Saladinos
2. I would just buy one as it could be a while before Apple officially supports Blu-Ray
3. The 2008 Mac Pro uses a different chipset allowing for higher speed memory, PCIe 2.0 and other advances. Anyways from what I have read the 45nm Harpertown processors are not compatible with the 2006 Mac Pros. The best you could get are 3.0Ghz Quad Core Clovertown's. I do not know if this is a physical limitation of the chipset in the 06 Mac or if it would simply require a firmware update. Such as many 945G motherboards simply needed a BIOS update to support 45nm Core 2 Duos, Core 2 Quads, Pentium Dual Cores and Celerons. Though why would Apple bother with the update?
4. It looks like ZDNet has made an overclocking utility, ZDNet Clock 1.0, I could not say how well it works as I do not own a Mac Pro.

Given the reputation for overclocking on the Core 2 architecture I would venture that your Mac Pro could handle a hefty overclock. However, I think the FSB for the Woodcrest CPU is 1333mhz so I would say the chipset or memory will be the big limiting factor in overclocking.

If I where to do this I would switch to 800mhz DDR2 Memory and raise the FSB to 1600mhz. Then the memory will actually function at it's designed 800mhz and the CPU will be well within it's tolerances given the numerous references for the OC'ing abilityity of it's architecture. This will reduce your Wildcards to the chipset and the expansion slots, your cards may not accept the overclocked PCIe. Though personally I would not risk tanking such an expensive computer.

If I truly wanted a tweaked overclocked Mac. I would build a Hackintosh with a good overclocking board. That way I could change the FSB speed and still be able to adjust PCI, PCIe and RAM frequencies independently to reduce the number of components being overclocked. Thus reducing the chance of errors.

edit: beat to the ZDNet tool

 

[Macinposh]

If I where to do this I would switch to 800mhz DDR2 Memory and raise the FSB to 1600mhz. Then the memory will actually function at it's designed 800mhz and the CPU will be well within it's tolerances given the numerous references for the OC'ing abilityity of it's architecture. This will reduce your Wildcards to the chipset and the expansion slots, your cards may not accept the overclocked PCIe.

Have been a bit out of the loop lately, but does the old woodcrest 4x3.00ghz (5160?) mobo support the 800mhz memory?
Buying memory shortly and thinking if I should go that way instead of buying the old 667mhz..

[/Hijack]

 

[nanofrog]

Have been a bit out of the loop lately, but does the old woodcrest 4x3.00ghz (5160?) mobo support the 800mhz memory?
Buying memory shortly and thinking if I should go that way instead of buying the old 667mhz..

[/Hijack]

No.
FSB on that board is 1333 MHz, so you'd have to stick to the 667 MHz variety. Sorry.

 

[ThirteenXIII]

Have been a bit out of the loop lately, but does the old woodcrest 4x3.00ghz (5160?) mobo support the 800mhz memory?
Buying memory shortly and thinking if I should go that way instead of buying the old 667mhz..

[/Hijack]

No.
FSB on that board is 1333 MHz, so you'd have to stick to the 667 MHz variety. Sorry.

actually, it will just reduce its speed to the proper 667mhz bus speed, so it wont perform as 800Mhz but rather 667Mhz

 

[nanofrog]

actually, it will just reduce its speed to the proper 667mhz bus speed, so it wont perform as 800Mhz but rather 667Mhz

Technically speaking, but why waste the $$$ on the 800 MHz flavor if it can't make use of it at full potential?

Perhaps I shouldn't have tried to keep it simple.

 

[ungraphic]

does anyone know of any overclocking utilities/software for WINDOWS? id like to add a little bit of a speed boost when gaming.

Thanks!

 

[sOwL]

alrite guys, thnx for the replies..

so, velocity, if i bought a third party blu-rady drive, it should come with some drivers shouldnt it?

and about the overclocking thing, yes, i wouldnt overclock my mac (this whole thread is for my friends mac), but ill be sure to check zdnet myself but anyway mac pro's air cooling is rly great, you could overclock it without getting any extra for cooling

edit: oh, and... wtf is that windows post above? i mean.. wtf?

 

[velocityg4]

Have been a bit out of the loop lately, but does the old woodcrest 4x3.00ghz (5160?) mobo support the 800mhz memory?
Buying memory shortly and thinking if I should go that way instead of buying the old 667mhz..

[/Hijack]

No.
FSB on that board is 1333 MHz, so you'd have to stick to the 667 MHz variety. Sorry.

actually, it will just reduce its speed to the proper 667mhz bus speed, so it wont perform as 800Mhz but rather 667Mhz

While it is true that the old Mac Pro only supports 667mhz memory. I suggested the 800Mhz if the OP tries overclocking with the ZDNet clock. Since it offers basic FSB increase only that means everything gets overclocked including the memory. So if the OP OC'ed to 1600 FSB the default memory multiplier would bring the memory to 800Mhz, usually the memory speed is set on a multiplier just like the CPU. Which could seriously overheat the memory depending on it's quality. Unless of course the Mac Pro has an O'C friendly firmware that will reduce the multiplier as bus speed increases to always maintain 667mhz, or 533 if for some reason the OP bought slower memory.

While I know the Mac Pro in normal use will adjust the multiplier if 533mhz memory is installed and will drop 800mhz memory to 667mhz as that is the max speed it supports. I do not know if the firmware is intelligent enough to adjust multiplier for changes in FSB speed or if it keeps working off the same multiplier as before regardless of FSB speed.

Also to clarify you are not really changing Front Side Bus speed but the system bus speed. All other systems speeds are multiplied off the system bus including FSB.

alrite guys, thnx for the replies..

so, velocity, if i bought a third party blu-rady drive, it should come with some drivers shouldnt it?

and about the overclocking thing, yes, i wouldnt overclock my mac (this whole thread is for my friends mac), but ill be sure to check zdnet myself but anyway mac pro's air cooling is rly great, you could overclock it without getting any extra for cooling

edit: oh, and... wtf is that windows post above? i mean.. wtf?

Since your original question was regarding burning you can burn onto Blu-Ray with Toast, but if you plan on watching movies with the Mac that is a no go without installing Windows. Most any blu ray drive should work but for the Mac it can only be used as data storage or to export your HD videos from final cut and burn them to Blu Ray, but it will not allow playback on the Mac. It will remain this way until Apple officially supports blu-ray, a third party company makes a blu-ray playing program, or the open source community brings it about.

As for overclocking the air cooling should be more than sufficient for the CPU's. Though the Northbridge and Southbridge may need extra cooling depending on how fast you go.