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New 3.2GHZ Nehalem spotted on Ebay

Z

zeigerpuppy

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 2, 2009
30
0
Looks like the Mac Pro line may be getting an upgrade, there are 10 new 3.2GHz Quad Core 2009 Mac Pros for sale on Ebay

processor is listed as Intel Xeon W3570 3.2GHz

hopefully this will see a drop in price of the other models?

http://cgi.ebay.com/FASTEST-2009-QUAD-CORE-MAC-PRO-3-2GHz-16GB-DDR3-4TB-HDD_W0QQitemZ130334610267QQcmdZViewItemQQptZApple_Desktops?hash=item1e588c535b

Also noticed same seller has 3.33GHZ octo cores
looks legit....

http://cgi.ebay.com/2009-EIGHT-CORE-MAC-PRO-3-33GHz-32GB-DDR3-4TB-HDD_W0QQitemZ130336543733QQcmdZViewItemQQptZApple_Desktops?hash=item1e58a9d3f5
 
Technically neither one is legit. The first link says it has Apple Care and that's BS! The second link (as well as the 1st) violates Leopard and Snow Leopard's license agreement which specifies it is only to be installed on Apple Sold hardware. As the processors did NOT come from Apple, running OS X on it is technically illegal - errr, against Apple policy.
 
Thanks for the info, sorry I missed the other post.

This guy should be reported to Ebay then, applecare would surely not cover these mods... it says "sealed in box"

Hmmmm, oh well
 
Tesselator said:
The second link (as well as the 1st) violates Leopard and Snow Leopard's license agreement which specifies it is only to be installed on Apple Sold hardware. As the processors did NOT come from Apple, running OS X on it is technically illegal - errr, against Apple policy.
Click to expand...


You have to remember though that EULA is not legally valid all around the world...EU does not recognize it,afaik...

Not that it would matter in this case though...:D
 
You can do the same thing yourself for much less.... assuming you know how. I guess this is for the suckers out there :p
 
forester54 said:
that 3.33 would be badass but for $9700 ill pass
Click to expand...

Indeed. Man!!! What you can build these days for $9,700... Puts any mac to a shameful death of utter shame! Seriously! Like workstation grade system and parts with 8 physical cores at ~ 4 GHz (OC), 720 cores of Tesla (3 teraflops) plus a nice display card, 32 GB RAM, 8-Drive RAID for 12 Terabytes of storage, 6 or 8 open SAS connections, case and power solution of your choice, TV, WiFi, BlueTooth, BlueRay, any cooler you want, professional grade multi-track 32 bit audio, etc. etc.
 
Tesselator said:
Technically neither one is legit. The first link says it has Apple Care and that's BS! The second link (as well as the 1st) violates Leopard and Snow Leopard's license agreement which specifies it is only to be installed on Apple Sold hardware. As the processors did NOT come from Apple, running OS X on it is technically illegal - errr, against Apple policy.
Click to expand...

Well, the OS would be running on Mac Pro hardware from Apple when it is first installed, thereby violating nothing. If the Mac Pro is later upgraded with a faster processor, it's the hardware warranty that is the concern, is it not? Query: can't a processor upgrade qualify as a "user-installable upgrade" that does NOT violate the hardware warranty??

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=13946
 
To do this kind of upgrade you have to do some destructive measures, that cannot be reversed. So it is impossible to hide. Due to the nature of the socket design it is also an extremely damage prone operation. When it was first done a CPU and the CPU/RAM tray got destroyed in the process.
 
dcpmark said:
Well, the OS would be running on Mac Pro hardware from Apple when it is first installed, thereby violating nothing. If the Mac Pro is later upgraded with a faster processor, it's the hardware warranty that is the concern, is it not?

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=13946
Click to expand...

I'm not a lawyer but that doesn't sound right to me. This is a user upgrade? The machines are being sold as new right?


Query: can't a processor upgrade qualify as a "user-installable upgrade" that does NOT violate the hardware warranty??
Click to expand...

Guessing Apple, I would say no. But look it up if you're interested. It's probably easy to find.
 
Tesselator said:
Guessing Apple, I would say no. But look it up if you're interested. It's probably easy to find.
Click to expand...
This would be my take on it. The processors in these units aren't the originals, and I'd be totally amazed if Apple would honor the warranty at all.

Going by gugucom's indication there's evidence of tampering, even with the OEM processors back in the system, Apple's certainly going to deny any warranty claim. So warranty work will be vapor, no matter what.
 
Tesselator said:
I'm not a lawyer but that doesn't sound right to me. This is a user upgrade? The machines are being sold as new right?

Guessing Apple, I would say no. But look it up if you're interested. It's probably easy to find.
Click to expand...

Or simply an outright scam, almost seems like the deluxe everything included machine scams offering $15k systems with everything including Mac OS Server and all the SW for $2k.

Except, simply lower the number of options included and raise the price to entice the suckers. And let them think they are getting a pre-release machine.

---

Or simply overclocked systems ... which is what they are doing with the PCs.
 
gugucom said:
To do this kind of upgrade you have to do some destructive measures, that cannot be reversed. So it is impossible to hide. Due to the nature of the socket design it is also an extremely damage prone operation. When it was first done a CPU and the CPU/RAM tray got destroyed in the process.
Click to expand...

Got it. From a newbie's perspective it seemed like you were just dropping in a new processor....I didn't know that the process screwed up anything.

The funny part is that "user-installable upgrade" is not really defined. Forget about the eBay guy.....if I get a stock Mac Pro for my personal use, and install a new processor myself, is that not a "user-installed upgrade"?? You would have thought that Apple's lawyers would have not left that so open-ended.
 
dcpmark said:
Got it. From a newbie's perspective it seemed like you were just dropping in a new processor....I didn't know that the process screwed up anything.

The funny part is that "user-installable upgrade" is not really defined. Forget about the eBay guy.....if I get a stock Mac Pro for my personal use, and install a new processor myself, is that not a "user-installed upgrade"?? You would have thought that Apple's lawyers would have not left that so open-ended.
Click to expand...

Apple uses CPUs without heat spreader. They are not available on the open market. When you fit a different CPU they are almost 2 mm higher and the automatic connection mechanism of the internal heat sink (booster) fans fails. You cannot get the CPUs to POST without irreversible mods to the connector design. This is the first thing that an AASP worth his salary will check if you make a CPU related claim.
 
gugucom said:
Apple uses CPUs without heat spreader. They are not available on the open market. When you fit a different CPU they are almost 2 mm higher and the automatic connection mechanism of the internal heat sink (booster) fans fails. You cannot get the CPUs to POST without irreversible mods to the connector design. This is the first thing that an AASP worth his salary will check if you make a CPU related claim.
Click to expand...
Ah. I would have thought it was a float with limit type connector (allowing it to slide up and down a bit to make sure it alligned properly, then attach when the screws were used on the HS assy). Silly me... :D :p

I presume you had to cut the retaining tabs and connect it manually then (rather carefully as well, to make sure of connection)?
 
nanofrog said:
I presume you had to cut the retaining tabs and connect it manually then (rather carefully as well, to make sure of connection)?
Click to expand...

Yeah, the heat sink side of the connector has to be unclipped from the heat sink aluminum casting. Then the connector has to be stripped off the injection molded clips that locks it in the casting. And finally the connector has to be closed manually before the heat sinks is lowered back on the CPU in the open socket. The first thing you notice if you ever remove a heat sink is that the connector will not disconnect automatically any more.
 
gugucom said:
Yeah, the heat sink side of the connector has to be unclipped from the heat sink aluminum casting. Then the connector has to be stripped off the injection molded clips that locks it in the casting. And finally the connector has to be closed manually before the heat sinks is lowered back on the CPU in the open socket. The first thing you notice if you ever remove a heat sink is that the connector will not disconnect automatically any more.
Click to expand...
If it works, then it's a necessary compromise, given Apple's design choices with it. But it seems like a bit of a PITA. :D :p

At least it's not something you should have to remove often, if ever again. :D
 
The missing heat spreader is only an issue on the octocore, the quad core has a standard design and socket...
 
zeigerpuppy said:
The missing heat spreader is only an issue on the octocore, the quad core has a standard design and socket...
Click to expand...

That was what I thought I had read, but since I didn't know much about it, I differed to you guys.

For the record, I'm talking about putting a 3.2 ghz in a quad core. An easy "user-installed upgrade", or not??
 
dcpmark said:
For the record, I'm talking about putting a 3.2 ghz in a quad core. An easy "user-installed upgrade", or not??
Click to expand...
Fairly. You don't have to bother with thermal gap material on the voltage regs, or getting the fan connector loose from the CPU cooler either.

But from what I've read on the posts, it's not quite as easy to remove/reinstall the cooler as some of the units used by other vendors. Or 3rd party offerings usually used in OC'ed systems on the PC side either.

Caution and patience should get you through it without causing any damage though. ;)
 
Your new Custom Mac Pro includes a three year limited parts and labor warranty. Our warranty covers any and all parts we used to customize your Mac that may not be covered by Apple. You must obtain an RMA number before returning your Mac or affected parts for warranty service. All shipping charges to us will be at the buyer's expense. Shipping charges back to the buyer for repaired or replaced items will be at our expense unless the item is determined to be non-defective, in which case return shipping charges will be at the buyer's expense.
Click to expand...
Seems they acknowledge it is a custom build and THEY are doing the warranty - still expensive though
 
What is the cheapest way to get a 3.2 ghz 2009 Mac Pro quad with any kind of warranty?

I ask because I think this is way I might want to go for my video work.
 
Tesselator said:
Technically neither one is legit. The first link says it has Apple Care and that's BS! The second link (as well as the 1st) violates Leopard and Snow Leopard's license agreement which specifies it is only to be installed on Apple Sold hardware. As the processors did NOT come from Apple, running OS X on it is technically illegal - errr, against Apple policy.
Click to expand...

I agree with Tesselator here. How can there be Applecare on the processor? I would stay away.
 
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