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New Mac Pro 1 CPU -> 2 CPU?

SuperGrobi said:
Just want to add my experience. I have a single CPU 2.8 Mac Pro since March 2008 and I am very happy with it so far. Of course I was hoping to be able to "upgrade" to 2 CPUs whenever I have the "few bucks" for it. However, as seen in this forum, the upgrade is not at all secure or simple. At least I believe that the socket for the 2nd CPU is present in the 2008 single CPU Mac Pro. A Xenon E5462 will cost me around $860 (no, I didn't say this upgrade was cheap :eek:) plus tax and shipment from the US (I live in Switzerland). What really made me worry was how to get the Apple heatsink for the CPU!? I went to a local Apple reseller (they also have a repair center) and the guy told me yes, he could order a heatsink for the Mac Pro :p ... then he argued that the planned upgrade is not possible because, as far as he knows, there is no socket for CPU number two! Okay, so after writing this reply I will open my Mac and see for myself. If there is a socket I will order the heatsink next week and the CPU as soon as I get a confirmation that I really can get the desired part from Apple. I let you know if someone here is interested. Of course, some of you might state now that around $1000 or more for this upgrade is not worth it, but I don't want to exchange my Mac for a new model ... and I like to mess around with hardware myself :rolleyes: ... would be too sad to have a dual-workstation Mac Pro with just one Xeon forever :p
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If you are happy with your single CPU, what's the need for the another CPU? Your friends who have a "full pair" make you feel less than adequate? You have no "bragging rights"? Your Mac Pro leans to one side--the single CPU side? Inquiring minds want to know.:D
 
It just seems so much easier to give up on other things; hard drive upgrades, extra ram, video cards/PCI express items, multiple superdrives. Of course, I don't feel as comfortable inside a desktop as you all obviously do. But those items I mentioned don't worry me in the slightest, doing myself. The last thing I would want to touch is the motherboard.
 
crontab said:
Thanks for everyones input. I had no clue that the Apple world was like this at all. Part of it makes sense, maybe from a business model or professional users standpoint, but at the same time it makes no sense at all.
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One thing to consider is that Macs usually have very high resale values. The easiest way to upgrade is often: Put your Mac on eBay, buy a new one.
 
Roy said:
If you are happy with your single CPU, what's the need for the another CPU? Your friends who have a "full pair" make you feel less than adequate? You have no "bragging rights"? Your Mac Pro leans to one side--the single CPU side? Inquiring minds want to know.:D
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Just look at it as kind of a "hobby" ... others spend money and time on cars ... sometimes for minimal improvements ... all I wanted to say is that it can be done. I don't want to buy a new Mac Pro every few months and sell the old one ... I have a tuned Cube since 5 years and it is still fun using it with Leopard :D

Btw, I have no friends with Mac Pros ... ;)
 
SuperGrobi said:
Uhh, sorry for that ;) ... it is great to have you folks here to discuss, really ... I was talking about friends here in my surroundings.
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I know, just teasing. ;)
You should think of your situation in a positive way.
For example, for about a month after June 29th, I was the only person I knew (personally) with an iPhone. I got to be quite popular. I know, I know...they just loved me for my iPhone! But then I went to Europe in October for 2 weeks and was popular all over again. :D
If you are the only person you know (in your local area) with a Mac Pro, you should be proud.
 
iFizz said:
I know, just teasing. ;)
You should think of your situation in a positive way.
For example, for about a month after June 29th, I was the only person I knew (personally) with an iPhone. I got to be quite popular. I know, I know...they just loved me for my iPhone! But then I went to Europe in October for 2 weeks and was popular all over again. :D
If you are the only person you know (in your local area) with a Mac Pro, you should be proud.
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That is not the point of my Mac ... most people (e.g. at work where we use Macs as well) don´t even know that I own one. Most of my friends are PC guys. Also I have no problem with stating that actually, I don't need the power of 2 CPUs for what I do in Mac OS. However, I use some "resource-hungry" applications on the Bootcamp side and since I now upgraded to Vista Ultimate (recognizes more than 1 physical CPU) I believe that the second CPU makes a difference. I could be also happy using only my good old Cube G4 in Mac OS and buy a PC instead ... but I decided to go for the Mac Pro to have a great machine for both worlds - thats all.
 
SuperGrobi said:
That is not the point of my Mac ... most people (e.g. at work where we use Macs as well) don´t even know that I own one. Most of my friends are PC guys. Also I have no problem with stating that actually, I don't need the power of 2 CPUs for what I do in Mac OS. However, I use some "resource-hungry" applications on the Bootcamp side and since I now upgraded to Vista Ultimate (recognizes more than 1 physical CPU) I believe that the second CPU makes a difference. I could be also happy using only my good old Cube G4 in Mac OS and buy a PC instead ... but I decided to go for the Mac Pro to have a great machine for both worlds - thats all.
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It wasn't the point of my iPhone either. But it was a nice perk! ;)
 
Memory upgrade for Single Processor

First off this is my first post, ever, and I have no idea how to go about this so forgive me if this is an old question or posted in the wrong "thread".

I've ordered (but haven't yet received) a Mac Pro 2.8 quad single processor. It comes with two 1 gig memory chips as I understand it. I've also purchased from MacSales two 2 gig memory chips. Six gigs of ram total. As I've been trying to figure the proper way to install this memory I came across something that said the only reason Apple promotes a specific memory configuration is to take advantage of the duo processors. Which leads to me to the question does all this bank one, bank two stuff even apply to me since I only have the quad and not the 8 core?
 
appleretailguy said:
One of the greatest (and worst) things about Macs is that they are assembled by ONE company (not exactly, but you know what I mean), resulting in computers that are inherently more stable.

Cheaper? No. Easier to upgrade? Not really. Less conflicts between hardware parts? Absolutely.
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I think the situation on computer stability is a little different when you get into the workstations. I've not owned an unstable workstation class machine. And I've used Windows NT, 2000 and XP on some of them.
 
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