Mac Pro 3.1 upgrade

[bluesbleu]

Hi guys,

i have an old mac pro 3.1.

been using it for photoshop and premier for a while.
but lately it seem like a bit lagging......
have already max out the ram with 32GB,
also the video card -NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 1.8GB.
got 4 hard disk with the main 250gb, 1tb, 3tb, 3tb.

so now aim actually looking to upgrade the processor since the one i have is dual 2.8ghz.

but i have read in the forum it seem like there is not much a difference or should i put it not a significance gain in speed with the 3.2ghz.

but i think there is another processor that is 3.4ghz in the xeon family. dunno if anyone has done anything with it......
and if it fit the bill, then i think the 3.1 will have more life than now

anyone??

 

[bizzle]

I believe the highest Xeon you can put in that machine is the X5482. It won't make a huge difference, but would help a little bit. You can get pairs pretty cheap on ebay.

 

[yomibro]

Maybe a newer GPU and replacing those mechanical drives with SSD's might help?

 

[NOTNlCE]

The upgrade to 3.2 GHz Xeons isn't going to make as much of a difference as the cost of them, even on Ebay. TECHNICALLY you could shove 64 gigs of RAM in it, but it would cost you a fortune at FB-DIMM prices, and the amount of money it would cost isn't worth the investment in a 3,1. I would for sure recommend an SSD, though. Grab a PCIe controller like a Velocity Solo x1 or x2 and an 840 EVO (or other SSD of your choice) and migrate your boot drive. Speed increase is absolutely great.

I'm sure you know this as an experienced Photoshop/Premiere user, but simultaneous reading/writing to a drive causes severe system lag. I'm sure that's why you've got 4 drives.

But honestly, not much can be done at this point. If it's really getting unbearable, you might start looking for an upgrade to an '09 or '10, and selling that 3,1 while prices are still reasonable. Any machine with 32 gigs of RAM in FB-DIMMs will still fetch a good sum.

 

[johnnywideopen]

cpu upgrade

The server cpus for LGA 771 (i think it's the x5492 at 3.4ghz) supposedly uses a different "stepping", rendering it unusable for the desktop 3,1. I really wanted to put those into my guy, they can be had for around 200 bucks on ebay. It'd be sweet if you could figure it out though.
johnny