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Success: 2006 Mac Pro upgraded - 2 x Xeon 5355 Quad-cores!

Incidentally, how does his price of $365 shipped for 2x 2.0 quad core Xeons (E5335) sound? Obviously a bit of a clock speed hit for most of us, but a pretty cheap way to double the core count.

What do you guys think? I'm planning to just keep watching eBay for a great buy-it-now deal and see how great a difference the improved multi-core-awareness really is in SL, but this is a pretty interesting deal.
 
Just a quick request - can anyone post a link to an appropriate screw driver for sale from a US Vendor? My 6-7 minutes searching was kinda fruitless. Seems US sites don't like mm :)
 
Another Success :)

G'morning everybody. ;)

Last night I installed my X5350s. Unfortunately, my Mac Pro didn't like the BSEL mod to 1333FSB and gave me kernel panics just after the EFI boot screen, where the grey Apple is shown, the little wheel starts to spin and HD access begins. Once I got through to my desktop (auto log-in) and hit a kernel panic then. :(

Anyway, now they're running at 4x2.66GHz and 1066FSB each, and that's just fine. Maybe if I stumble over a pair of X5355s (or X5365s... :D) I'll try to get those and sell the X5350s. These are beats on an overclockable PeeCee mobo; should go even beyond 3.33GHz and sell quite well again.

Or maybe I'll try the BSEL mod in a few weeks again with some better tape. The only reason I can imagine for the kernel panics is that one of the CPUs pierced through its tape (resulting in two differnet CPUs recognized). Hm, should've checked that before peeling the tape off...
 
Best price for Xeon 5355

Hi folks, I have been monitoring this thread with great interest. I have been looking for a pair of 5355's for a few days now, but the best price I can find is £254 ($415). Has anyone found these anywhere cheaper?

Many thanks.
 
I just updated a 2006 Mac Pro dual-dual 3.0 ghz to dual-quad 2.66 Clovertowns. Worked like a charm. Benchwell score went from 590 to 964 :D
 
I had a nosy inside MacPro1,1 MacPro2,1 and MacPro3,1 EFI images looking for CPU microcode updates.

I can see that MacPro1,1 has data for CPUIDs 0x6F0, 0x6F1, 0x6F4, 0x6F5, 0x6F6.
MacPro2,1 adds support for 0x6F7 (e.g. x5355)
MacPro3,1 adds microcode data for 0x6F9, 0x6FB, 0x10671, 0x10674, 0x10676.

54xx CPUs with C0 stepping (5430 5440 5450 5460) all have CPUID 0x10676.

Maybe this is the reason MacPro1,1 and MacPro2,1 (2006-2007) won't boot up with 54xx installed? Would placing microcode update for 54xx CPUs in the 2006-2007 EFI image make 54xx usable in 2006-2007 MacPros?

Microcode update has a fixed format and supplied by Intel themselves so in theory even pinching it from any motherboard supporting 54xx should be fine.
Cheers
Leo

P.S. Correction: Latest Microcode data is available directly from Intel. Apple does not update microcode in EFI very often.
I think it's the init code itself that is the problem, not the lack of microcode update data that stops 54xx working in 2006 MacPros.
 
A quick survey question for all of you that have upgraded to x5355's. What is the sSpec number for the parts you used?

Thanks,

hyram
 
Bozz, I knew you would be the first to reply! So you have ES.

The 3 production sPSecs are: SL9YM, SLAC4, and SLAEG. Anyone have these?
 
Interesting. When I run it, here's what I get.


Edit: Ok I see... I was asking specifically about the x5355. Its the x5365.
 

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Mine are QWTMs, which makes them engineering samples, I believe. Their core stepping is G0, the same as the SLAEGs.

ref

@ Ibodnar: Good detective work, mate. I think you are saying that the 3.1 firmware still contains support for the "older" processors as well as enabling the newer ones. If so, might the same be true for the other hardware in the "older" machines, and might there be a way into install the 3.1 firmware onto a 1.1 machine and thereby upgrade from 32-bit EFI to 64-bit?
 
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