Mix & Match Processors?

[revilate]

Hi everyone,

I have a Mac Pro* from 2011 that I have an experiment planned for.

I've recently got my hands on a brand new processor tray that doesn't have a processor chip installed in it yet.

I'm thinking of putting a 3.33GHz Six Core i7 (Gulftown) in it.

Questions:
• Do Mac Pros need a specific type of Intel chip or will it run off any Intel chip?
• The trays are the same, will a 2.8GHz quad motherboard handle this experiment of mine?

- Thank you and stay tuned for results!

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

CPU's need to be compatible. For example my model handles Intel 5300 and 5500 CPUs ONLY.

Run it and see if she explodes?

 

[alust2013]

That may work, although the i7s don't support ECC memory, which the xeons require, so you'd have to have different memory.

 

[Chaos123x]

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Probably better off building a hackintosh then risking your Mac Pro.

 

[minifridge1138]

Actually, I think the i7 Will work as long as you are using a single CPU tray. I've read of others upgrading a single CPU to an i7.

The ECC memory might not work though, and that could cause a kernel panic or boot failure.

if it is an extra cpu tray (meaning you can keep your original untouched with its cpu) then I don't think you can hurt anything by trying.

I've never tried, so I have no idea what will happen. What have you got to lose?

 

[revilate]

Hi and thanks for your responses everyone,

CPU's need to be compatible. For example my model handles Intel 5300 and 5500 CPUs ONLY.

Run it and see if she explodes?

What type of compatibility are you mentioning here? With the RAM and Motherboard?

That may work, although the i7s don't support ECC memory, which the xeons require, so you'd have to have different memory.

Thanks for this hint.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Probably better off building a hackintosh then risking your Mac Pro.

What are the benefits and losses of this route?

Actually, I think the i7 Will work as long as you are using a single CPU tray. I've read of others upgrading a single CPU to an i7.

The ECC memory might not work though, and that could cause a kernel panic or boot failure.

if it is an extra cpu tray (meaning you can keep your original untouched with its cpu) then I don't think you can hurt anything by trying.

I've never tried, so I have no idea what will happen. What have you got to lose?

This is correct. If I do this, I'm going to just take my normal processor and RAM tray out, and swap this empty one that I will add the according RAM and processor to to see if it works.

 

[Cindori]

yes, Mac Pro can run i7's, desktop CPU or simply "non-xeons" just fine as long as it's the non-xeon eqvivalent of the compatible xeons for that mac.

ECC ram will not work though, you will have to replace it with standard DDR3 RAM. (or perhaps ECC ram ran fine but just lost ECC feature, cant remember)

i7's cant run dual CPU mode though, so only single CPU.

 

[Umbongo]

• Do Mac Pros need a specific type of Intel chip or will it run off any Intel chip?

You need an LGA 1366 Core i7 from the 900 series or a Xeon 3500 or 3600 series processor. Xeon 5500 and 5600s will work as well, but there is no reason to use them, you can make more selling them and using one of the processors designed for single CPU use.

• The trays are the same, will a 2.8GHz quad motherboard handle this experiment of mine?

Are they the same? 2009 and 2010 models look the same if I'm not mistaken, but the older ones can't take Westmere CPUs (6-core) without a firmware update.

In your situation I'd sell the tray on eBay and buy a Xeon W3680 which is the same sort of price as a new Core i7 980, but will let you use your existing memory, won't give you any instability issues reported by people using Core i7s and has a higher QPI.

There are guides on this forum on how to switch the processors.

 

[Cindori]

Are they the same? 2009 and 2010 models look the same if I'm not mistaken, but the older ones can't take Westmere CPUs (6-core) without a firmware update.

which, should be mentioned, can be downloaded from netkas forum

 

[revilate]

You need an LGA 1366 Core i7 from the 900 series or a Xeon 3500 or 3600 series processor. Xeon 5500 and 5600s will work as well, but there is no reason to use them, you can make more selling them and using one of the processors designed for single CPU use.

Are they the same? 2009 and 2010 models look the same if I'm not mistaken, but the older ones can't take Westmere CPUs (6-core) without a firmware update.

In your situation I'd sell the tray on eBay and buy a Xeon W3680 which is the same sort of price as a new Core i7 980, but will let you use your existing memory, won't give you any instability issues reported by people using Core i7s and has a higher QPI.

There are guides on this forum on how to switch the processors.

Thank you so much for the info on this Xeon W3680 processor. I just looked and saw one on NewEgg.

Here's a question for you on that specific processor: If I were to obtain a dual processor tray void of chips, and if I were to place two of these Xeon W3680s in them, would it work?

Also I think it's important to note I'm only doing simple relatively simple computing... music production, video production, gaming... but I'm very serious about performance, too.

which, should be mentioned, can be downloaded from netkas forum

Thanks very much for this tip... I will check them out!

 

[Umbongo]

Here's a question for you on that specific processor: If I were to obtain a dual processor tray void of chips, and if I were to place two of these Xeon W3680s in them, would it work?

No you need 5500/5600 series to use two together.

 

[revilate]

No you need 5500/5600 series to use two together.

Thank you for this response.

A quick question about dual processors: A friend told me once that most applications don't utilize both of the processors, they only utilize one. He then explained that only 'server' computers are meant to use dual processors... is that true?

 

[Umbongo]

Thank you for this response.

A quick question about dual processors: A friend told me once that most applications don't utilize both of the processors, they only utilize one. He then explained that only 'server' computers are meant to use dual processors... is that true?

Most applications don't use many cores well, that's all it is. In the past this was more the case because desktops only had one processing core for a long time.

 

[revilate]

Most applications don't use many cores well, that's all it is. In the past this was more the case because desktops only had one processing core for a long time.

Thanks for the reply.

Also just out of curiosity, what type of a difference would one notice between a quad-core 2.8GHz machine and a six-core 3.33GHz machine?

 

[Neolithium]

Thanks for the reply.

Also just out of curiosity, what type of a difference would one notice between a quad-core 2.8GHz machine and a six-core 3.33GHz machine?

That would depend on what you're using the computer for. If you're doing multithreaded encoding, some scientific programs or anything that would utilize all the cores, then you'd notice a significant difference. If you're talking email, games, or standard "desktop type stuff" the difference would be a mouse fart in a hurricane.

 

[revilate]

That would depend on what you're using the computer for. If you're doing multithreaded encoding, some scientific programs or anything that would utilize all the cores, then you'd notice a significant difference. If you're talking email, games, or standard "desktop type stuff" the difference would be a mouse fart in a hurricane.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm mainly using my computer for gaming and music production... using specific programs as Logic 9, Ableton 8, Reason 4... Battlefield 3...

 

[goMac]

Most of the programs you listed can use dual processors.

Games are an exception, usually.