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New Harpertown Processors in Old Mac?

Still doubting it.

We know that Wolfdales (52xx series) and Dempseys (50xx series) won't work in a Mac Pro -- I've seen a report when it's been tried, red lights and noboot. -- AND they are both Socket 771 processors too.

A Woodcrest or Clovertown Mac seems like it must be upgraded with a 5100 or 5300 series Xeon (Woodcrest or Clovertown respectively)

and a Harpertown, Mac, thus would only work with processors from the 54xx line, those are the Harpertowns, all 45nm, and all Harpertowns are quad-core.

Look at this, this is the intel lineup of the 5000 series Xeons:

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/xeon5000/specifications.htm?iid=products_xeon5000+tab_specs

You will notice the 50xx series at the bottom (Dempsey), are dual-core and have a 3.2 GHz and a 3.73 GHz option. WHAT?! Also, notice the slower system bus and the lower amount of cache. These are Socket 771 processors, but the Dempseys won't work in a Mac Pro.

Also, notice the 5200 series under the 45nm processors. Those are Wolfdale processors, and won't work in a Mac Pro either. Dual-core 45nm options up to 3.40 GHz but with a lower 6MB of cache.
 
The FSB doesn't automatically disqualify the processor (just as you could use 800mhz memory in the older mac pro, it would just run slower). I bet it's the northbridge (chipset) that's the problem.
 
Okay, the Wolfdales and the Dempseys are based on old Pentium4 technology, Hypertreading, not the current Core 2 technology. The Woodcrest, Clovertown, and the Harpertown are the Intel Core based Xeons.

Also, the Core processors are going to be much faster. I read that a 2.66 Woodcrest smokes a 3.73GHz Wolfdale. It's all about the processor architecture...not that clock speed.
 
It was suggested by another poster that I look here for upgrading my 2.66 CPUs: I'm curious if anyone here has made an upgrade since these April posts. I figure that once we know what the highest-end CPUs are that will work in this machine, I'll wait until the price drops and snag them. The Quad 2.66 is fine for this use, but the upgrade might be nice later.
 
schalliol said:
It was suggested by another poster that I look here for upgrading my 2.66 CPUs: I'm curious if anyone here has made an upgrade since these April posts. I figure that once we know what the highest-end CPUs are that will work in this machine, I'll wait until the price drops and snag them. The Quad 2.66 is fine for this use, but the upgrade might be nice later.
Click to expand...

You have two dual-core Xeon 2.66GHz chips. These are the 5150 chips. I have the 3.0GHz ones in my Mac Pro, dual processor, dual-core 3.0GHz 65nm. (5160)

For these models, I believe the highest chips they can take are the 65nm Clovertown 3.0Ghz quad-core chips (2 chip install, resulting in 8-core Mac Pro). Same size die and technology (65nm) The chip is the X5365. they are 4-core chips 65nm die size.

I am still highly doubtful that our Mac Pros will take 5400-series Xeons (ie Harpertown), they are 45nm and I think they are just plain incompatible. I've read a few articles/reports about people trying to chip up their Macs, the Clovertowns have been successful but most have reported No-go with the Harpertown chips in an older Mac Pro. Perhaps with some tweaking and hacking it may be possible, but I just think the architecture incompatibility is enough to render any trial useless.

Very useful list to study, the full-lineup of 5000-series Xeons. You will see the 5100 series, the 5300 series, and 5400 series are the only ones we are concerned with:

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/xeon5000/specifications.htm?iid=products_xeon5000+tab_specs
 
Hi sorry for posting on such an old thread but i have i question with regards to upgrading my mac pro 2x2.66 dual core system. My current spec is a follows.

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 5 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP11.005C.B08
SMC Version: 1.7f10

If i was to change the processors to 2 Intel Xeon X5355 Clovertown 2.66GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 771 120W would this type not create a greater level of heat? My current processor is 65W and as you can see the x5355 powers at 120W.

According to a firmware update the smc version on a 8 core should read 1.5f3, does this refer to the cooling for the cpus and if so, & i go ahead and swap cpus, i guess my system is going to boot set up for a 4 core mac. Won't this increase the possibility of bricking the machine? http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/22830/apple-mac-pro-smc-firmware-update

To the people that have done this upgrade on a Mac Pro 1.1 has your SMC Version changed automatically or have your reinstall the firmware to achieve change. As you can imagine am a little concerned about the possibility of over heat at the install reboot or later down the line. Will my cooling fans just automatically adjust?
 
The firmware doesn't update and I haven't tried installing the 8 core version.

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per processor): 8 MB
Memory: 9 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP11.005C.B08
SMC Version: 1.7f10

I use the fan control software (somewhere on this forum) and it works great. I did this around a year ago without any problem (5150 to 5365).
 
rexie said:
The firmware doesn't update and I haven't tried installing the 8 core version.

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per processor): 8 MB
Memory: 9 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP11.005C.B08
SMC Version: 1.7f10

I use the fan control software (somewhere on this forum) and it works great. I did this around a year ago without any problem (5150 to 5365).
Click to expand...

Hi rexie

Thanks for your reply,

With regards to the fan control is it easy to use? By that i really mean are you having to monitor the temperature your self or is you program automatically taking care of any over heating problems.

These are two programs i could find that may fit the bill.

http://homepage.mac.com/holtmann/eidac/software/smcfancontrol2/index.html

http://www.lobotomo.com/products/FanControl/
 
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