Overclocking Tool for the Mac Pro

[thermodynamic]

Either way, anyone putting down the money required for a Mac Pro and then dabbles with an overclocking tool should get their sanity checked. Or work for their money.

True. I'm going to wait for the 3.33GHz W3580s to get down in price. I prefer EFI to the BIOS any day, and one reason I went Mac is stability (and getting away from the wretched Windows Registry). Since the single quads can be easily upgraded, apparently, that's what I'll do down the road.

 

[thermodynamic]

I guess you never overclocked in the pc world. As an old time overclocker I spent far bigger dollars on the pc side than I ever did on my mac pro. Anyone who overclocks know the risks and is very willing to take them. Not for others to worry about what they do. If you don't approve of overclocking risks, you should not even be in this thread. There really is no argument here. It's a hobby. Like racing and supercharging your car. If it's not for you, cool, but don't criticize those that enjoy it.

By the way, this does seem to work fine with Snow Lepoard, at least in 32 bit mode.

Seconded. I always stayed with the latest technology (up to the Q9650), spent high two-digit figures for big fans, faster than possible RAM just so I could have a 1:1 ratio between RAM and FSB... (With Vista, going from 333MHz to 400MHz for the FSB is a freakin' necessity and the difference is readily noticed ). I don't see myself doing that with the newest generations of iMac and Mac Pro... and by the time I do need a faster CPU, the W3580 is said to work in the current single quad machine...

 

[Bubba Satori]

Overclocking a Mac Pro ? How about more than a low end and a midrange video card on a "Pro" workstation ?

 

[Terminal.app]

Overclocking a Mac Pro ? How about more than a low end and a midrange video card on a "Pro" workstation ?

This, please:

 

[haravikk]

I got my 8-core 3.2ghz "Early 2008" Mac Pro up to 3.52ghz without any noticeable instability after significant testing.

The clock-time however is still an issue, and causes your console log to be inundated with USB errors complaining about clock_get_uptime() having changed significantly.

So I set it back to the default, as I prefer my clock to work without restarting my computer a lot, and I can't leave my computer on 24/7 (since it's in my bedroom) so that would be a huge hassle.

Temperature only differs by about 1ºC compared with my average machine temperature before over-clocking.

So eh...if Apple ever does fix the real-time clock issue then I might re-apply the 320mhz speed bump, I suspect by the time they do it'll be good to breath a tiny bit of extra performance out of it, as it's still pretty zippy for the moment anyway

 

[Sherwinator]

I'd be afraid to overclock my mac.

 

[Inconsequential]

One of the reasons I joined MacRumors was to get away from these arguements. People even have arguments amongst themselves... about what thickness of arctic silver is the most effecient.
You have EXPERIENCE and FULL access to system settings. My argument was for inexperienced mac user OC noobs. Yes I ve done my fair share of Ocing on aswell.

The first things to go in overclocking are diodes and fuses. As diodes have small voltage tolerance and fuses are obvious. If the component dies overclocking doesnt mean that it will die in the near future. All parts FAIL EVENTUALLY.

Again your trying to make a point that upping a FSB will damage something.

It won't.

Simply because by the time your at speeds that draw currents at full load beyond the spec of the mobo power supply then it will fall over by crashing way before then.

There are no fuses that i've ever seen on a mobo either, just in the PSU and Plug, which again should be WAY overspecced for overclocking...

I never used to get involved with the way AS5 was spread. I Just sat it down and got on with the overclocking...

As for people saying overclocking a Mac Pro is silly. Again, no, its free speed with no risk. Which informed person wouldn't?

 

[MorphingDragon]

Again your trying to make a point that upping a FSB will damage something.

It won't.

Simply because by the time your at speeds that draw currents at full load beyond the spec of the mobo power supply then it will fall over by crashing way before then.

There are no fuses that i've ever seen on a mobo either, just in the PSU and Plug, which again should be WAY overspecced for overclocking...

I never used to get involved with the way AS5 was spread. I Just sat it down and got on with the overclocking...

As for people saying overclocking a Mac Pro is silly. Again, no, its free speed with no risk. Which informed person wouldn't?

There are fuses on a motherboard, they're just not the Vacuum Tube wire you're used to.

Just because you are not aware of this makes me wonder how informed you actually are.

 

[Inconsequential]

Just because dell has them in their mobos makes every one manufacturer have them?

Just had a look inside my Mac Pro and over the DFi SLi-DR and Asus P5B-D.

Neither has fuses at all or anywhere near the CPU/Memory PWM.

I think did a little more research that shows fuses on the USB/Firewire ports to prevent shorting out or over current. Mainly resettable ones.

Here is an image for the P5B:

http://www.pcinlife.com/article_pho..._wifi_ap/asus_p5b_deluxe_wifi_ap_1.03g-01.jpg

Now I can't see anything but resistors, capacitors, ICs and diodes there around the CPU socket. But it seems you have a better eye for finding them than I do!

Im not argueing about the potential of overclocking damaging things. But that is ONLY when the voltage increased as well as the FSB.

All the FSB/Multiplier do is up the CPU speed, which then draws more current.

I guess the power draw increase vs CPU speed is reasonably linear so a 10% overclock on my 2.66 to 2.93. 130W TDP goes to 143W. Hardly a big increase?

Overcurrent is what makes things pop, but FSB on its own won't get the Current to a sufficient level.

And anyway, im probably willing to bet that a 1.3V E6600 2.4 which has been to 3.6ghz at 1.55V is probably drawing nearly double what it did at stock, nothing popped... I wonder why?

People think hardware is fragile, its just not. Im willing to bet the Mac Pros PWM is atleast capable of supply 200W 24/7. A 2x Safety Factor seems reasonable in the design of the PWM here.

 

[celtikmind]

work for my money? please show me 1 place that i can BUY a 4.2GHz Core2Duo? cuz thats what my 3.0GHz E8400 is clocked at with a tuniq tower.

your ignorance and koolaid drinking should really be in check.

besides, at the time i purchased a regular desktop and HTPC, the 3.0GHz C2D's were twice the price of a 2.2GHz, so i bought 2 E4500's and over clocked them both to 3.14 and 3.0GHz. (yes i bought new heatsinks, but even the cost of the $30 heatsink, it was still less than half price)

thats almost something for nothing if you ask me.

If you read my post again I think even you are able to realize I wasn't questioning overclocking in general. In terms of saving money it is in another view completely.

I was questioning the sanity in buying a computer that starts at $2499 w/o any display and then playing the fool in overclocking it, thus breaking all and any warranties. I've heard most of the dumb explanations or plain ignorance as to why a certain component or computer have failed and then the customer want it replaced through warranty even though it was their own fault to begin with.

However, if you never going to invoke any warranty claims when your precious Mac Pro hands in the towel then you have my apology, if you're that honest. Many people I've dealt with through work in similar instances isn't unfortunately.

If you have that amount of resources to throw away in a gamble, in times like these, then by all means there are plenty of venues that could put them to better use.

In short, if you want to dabble with OC - stay on the PC. Overclocking on a Mac is like buying a Rolls Royce or Bentley just to compete in Indy 500, an ill-fitting usage imo. That is all, continue.

 

[MorphingDragon]

Just because dell has them in their mobos makes every one manufacturer have them?

Just had a look inside my Mac Pro and over the DFi SLi-DR and Asus P5B-D.

Neither has fuses at all or anywhere near the CPU/Memory PWM.

I think did a little more research that shows fuses on the USB/Firewire ports to prevent shorting out or over current. Mainly resettable ones.

Here is an image for the P5B:

http://www.pcinlife.com/article_pho..._wifi_ap/asus_p5b_deluxe_wifi_ap_1.03g-01.jpg

Now I can't see anything but resistors, capacitors, ICs and diodes there around the CPU socket. But it seems you have a better eye for finding them than I do!

IMO, that picture is useless because you can't see the fine print on the components. I can "see" few fuses around the CPU but unless I can have a closer look at it its hard to tell what they actually are. Ceramic fuses can look like other components.

Im not argueing about the potential of overclocking damaging things. But that is ONLY when the voltage increased as well as the FSB.

All the FSB/Multiplier do is up the CPU speed, which then draws more current.

I guess the power draw increase vs CPU speed is reasonably linear so a 10% overclock on my 2.66 to 2.93. 130W TDP goes to 143W. Hardly a big increase?

Overcurrent is what makes things pop, but FSB on its own won't get the Current to a sufficient level.

And anyway, im probably willing to bet that a 1.3V E6600 2.4 which has been to 3.6ghz at 1.55V is probably drawing nearly double what it did at stock, nothing popped... I wonder why?

People think hardware is fragile, its just not. Im willing to bet the Mac Pros PWM is atleast capable of supply 200W 24/7. A 2x Safety Factor seems reasonable in the design of the PWM here.

I'm not going to bother arguing further because you seem to lack basic knowledge of electronics.

 

[Inconsequential]

IMO, that picture is useless because you can't see the fine print on the components. I can "see" few fuses around the CPU but unless I can have a closer look at it its hard to tell what they actually are. Ceramic fuses can look like other components.



I'm not going to bother arguing further because you seem to lack basic knowledge of electronics.

I've done electronic engineering as a part of my course as a aerospace engineer. I've also been involved in a complex simulator project involving AC/DC conversion esp using 400hz 115V sources, step up and step down transformers, surges, phases and god knows what. I have a good enough understanding of the subject to know that a simple FSB increase will not increase the power demands enough to blow or damage anything.

There are safety factors and whatever included in the design and computers arn't that fragile.

There is no reason to not overclock, esp as I recon my MP could hit 2.93 no problems at all. Xeon decent wafers ftw only thing I could see not working is memory, but I still think they have 13Mhz in them.

 

[Techhie]

I've done electronic engineering as a part of my course as a aerospace engineer. I've also been involved in a complex simulator project involving AC/DC conversion esp using 400hz 115V sources, step up and step down transformers, surges, phases and god knows what. I have a good enough understanding of the subject to know that a simple FSB increase will not increase the power demands enough to blow or damage anything.

There are safety factors and whatever included in the design and computers arn't that fragile.

There is no reason to not overclock, esp as I recon my MP could hit 2.93 no problems at all. Xeon decent wafers ftw only thing I could see not working is memory, but I still think they have 13Mhz in them.

Looks as though the kids at MR have gotten into yet another penis measuring contest

 

[Inconsequential]

Looks as though the kids at MR have gotten into yet another penis measuring contest

Well I'm hardly saying I'm the worlds best, I'm just saying that I do know the basis of electronics otherwise I wouldn't be in my second year now

Also if I'm so wrong then please with explanation tell me why.

 

[Flybye]

All we need now is for Danger Den to design a water cooling kit for the Pro, and we are set.

 

[charlesbronsen]

Will this only work on Mac Pros? Or will it work on all macs?

 

[diamond.g]

Will this only work on Mac Pros? Or will it work on all macs?

The better question is are the other macs able to handle it thermally as I believe the technique should work on all macs?

 

[haravikk]

I think the tool only currently works on Mac Pros. I expect all other Macs have similar heat-sensors etc. in them, but I really dunno what you'd get, iMacs and Mac Minis are packed like laptops anyway, and I wouldn't ever want to over-clock a laptop personally.

 

[MorphingDragon]

I've done electronic engineering as a part of my course as a aerospace engineer. I've also been involved in a complex simulator project involving AC/DC conversion esp using 400hz 115V sources, step up and step down transformers, surges, phases and god knows what. I have a good enough understanding of the subject to know that a simple FSB increase will not increase the power demands enough to blow or damage anything.

There are safety factors and whatever included in the design and computers arn't that fragile.

There is no reason to not overclock, esp as I recon my MP could hit 2.93 no problems at all. Xeon decent wafers ftw only thing I could see not working is memory, but I still think they have 13Mhz in them.

You've completely forgotten my original argument. I said that people who dont know what they're doing will turn the sliders all the way up. Not 13MHz.

Oh God,

Even pro overclockers know overclocking is dangerous to the system. In the hands of a mac user? Apple gonna have a lot of dead macs to deal with. I can guarantee that someone is going to slide the sliders all the way up. Pssh, there goes the northbridge... and a few grand.

No No No. This is a bad idea for most here. Anyway, macs dont have the cooling system to overclock.

 

[xgman]

I have always found it quite odd that some people seem to really get upset at what others do to their own computers. What do they care? If they don't like overclocking or whatever, just move along. We do it just because we can! Trust me the overclocking bandits aren't going to come into your house at night and secretly overclock your mac while you sleep. Seriously, move on.

 

[Toe]

I find it odd that this thread continues to... continue.

It started over 16 months ago.

 

[N64]

Bringing this thread back! The tool doesn't work in Mavericks it seems. It keeps saying that I don't have a Mac Pro even though I have the right one (early 2008). It used to work in Snow Leopard.