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Mac Pro 2010 CPU upgrade -- what's worth the money?

joaopmaia

joaopmaia

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 11, 2016
17
1
I have a dual quad-core 2010 Mac Pro that I would like to upgrade, but I'm wondering if upgrading the CPU all the way to a dual 3.46ghz 6 core is such a good option (~$500 for a matched pair on eBay) when the 3.06ghz or 3.33ghz are so much cheaper.

I'm finding 3.06ghz matched pairs for ~$220 and 3.33ghz matched pairs for ~$250.

Is there really that much of a performance difference between these to justify the price increase?
 
The performance difference of these isn't a complex question -- you can get on top of it with a basic calculator.

Only you can answer whether having the best (or having x% perf increase) is worth $xxx of your own money.
 
frou said:
The performance difference of these isn't a complex question -- you can get on top of it with a basic calculator.

Only you can answer whether having the best (or having x% perf increase) is worth $xxx of your own money.
Click to expand...

I appreciate that, but I'm asking for your (or everybody else's) opinion on this. I could live with a slight performance difference -- it just seems like I might be missing something obvious here. Seems crazy how much more expensive the 3.46ghz is when comparing it against the 3.33ghz.
 
joaopmaia said:
I appreciate that, but I'm asking for your (or everybody else's) opinion on this. I could live with a slight performance difference -- it just seems like I might be missing something obvious here. Seems crazy how much more expensive the 3.46ghz is when comparing it against the 3.33ghz.
Click to expand...
The difference in performance is exactly proportional to the difference in clock speed. The 3.33GHz is the best price performance at 96% of the performance of the 3.46GHz.
 
joaopmaia said:
I appreciate that, but I'm asking for your (or everybody else's) opinion on this. I could live with a slight performance difference -- it just seems like I might be missing something obvious here. Seems crazy how much more expensive the 3.46ghz is when comparing it against the 3.33ghz.
Click to expand...
You're not missing anything -- it's just market being strange.

Curveball: You could get Octo-Core 3.46 GHz (dual X5677s) for approx $125 total
 
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joaopmaia said:
Would this eBay listing work on the MacPro 2010?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pair-of-Int...322009?hash=item58dd43ad19:g:PCoAAOSwGIRXXxOi

I'm pretty sure the 2010 version accepts lidded Xeons, but I just want to double check since you have done this before.
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Perfect. De-lidding is only necessary (actually, optional with work-arounds) with 2009 4,1 DUAL CPU MPs.

frou said:
You could get Octo-Core 3.46 GHz (dual X5677s) for approx $125 total
Click to expand...
If your workflow uses primarily single-threaded apps, the above is a good suggestion, but if you do any audio work, go for the hex CPUs for sure.
 
joaopmaia said:
What do you mean?
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"Matched pair" is not "Hooey" (whatever that is), if it simply means that they are the same stepping (same revision number down to the last transistor).

It's only "Hooey" if someone is trying to claim that CPUs of the same stepping need to be matched, and some pairs of the same stepping aren't as good as other pairs of the same stepping.

Another point of possible "Hooey-ness" would be if you are overclocking - but since you can't do that on an Apple Pro it doesn't matter to get same stepping with similar tolerance for overclocking.
 
AidenShaw said:
"Matched pair" is not "Hooey" (whatever that is), if it simply means that they are the same stepping (same revision number down to the last transistor).

It's only "Hooey" if someone is trying to claim that CPUs of the same stepping need to be matched, and some pairs of the same stepping aren't as good as other pairs of the same stepping.

Another point of possible "Hooey-ness" would be if you are overclocking - but since you can't do that on an Apple Pro it doesn't matter to get same stepping with similar tolerance for overclocking.
Click to expand...
OK you got me technically. But, when it comes to X5680's, as far as I know, they are ALL matched to the full extent required (except for engineering samples, which no one can legally buy anyway.) Just buy two (non-ES) for the best price you can find, preferably pulled from a server, not previously subjected to some heavy overclocker's machinations.
 
go with the best bang for your buck I say if its a little slower and cost 25 to 40 percent less go that way I say but what do I know!

good luck
 
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