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Upgrade Mac Pro 4.1 or 5.1 using Core i7

E

Ewen Cameron

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 15, 2004
31
14
I was aware that you could upgrade the single cpu in a 4.1 5.1 using the Xeon W3680 or W3690 cpu.

But I just read you can also use a core i7…

"Single CPU Mac Pro 6-core upgrade: For the 4-core, single processor Mac Pro. Your stock 2.66 GHz (2009) or 2.80 GHz (2010) 4-core processor is upgraded to an Intel Core i7-980 3.33 GHz 'Gulftown' 6-core CPU. (The alternative 'Westmere' Xeon 6-core CPU provides identical performance but at twice the cost. It is not remotely cost effective). I use a Gulftown Core i7-980 in my 2009 single CPU Mac Pro".

Has anyone done this?
Does this mean there could be faster Core i7 upgrades available?

I am aware that the ECC ability of the ram will not work.
 
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Ewen Cameron said:
I was aware that you could upgrade the single cpu in a 4.1 5.1 using the Xeon W3680 or W3690 cpu.

But I just read you can also use a core i7…

"Single CPU Mac Pro 6-core upgrade: For the 4-core, single processor Mac Pro. Your stock 2.66 GHz (2009) or 2.80 GHz (2010) 4-core processor is upgraded to an Intel Core i7-980 3.33 GHz 'Gulftown' 6-core CPU. (The alternative 'Westmere' Xeon 6-core CPU provides identical performance but at twice the cost. It is not remotely cost effective). I use a Gulftown Core i7-980 in my 2009 single CPU Mac Pro".

Has anyone done this?
Does this mean there could be faster Core i7 upgrades available ?
Click to expand...


Yes this works. However you need to qualify the "can use a core i7" statement. You can ONLY use the LGA1366 first-generation Core series For example you can use the

I7-980X "extreme"
I7-990X "extreme"

These above chips are identical to the W3680, W3690 respectively, minus the ECC Ram.

Those two chips are "the end of the line" for the LGA1366 i7 series. There are no faster/better core i7 processors you can use in a MacPro 4,1/5,1.
 
Thanks for answering, I thought that might be the case.

Not sure if I should bite the bullet and get a new iMac or get a Mac Pro 4.1 on Ebay and do the firmware & cpu update.

I love the expansion abilities on my 3.1, which I have had from new and upgraded with a new gpu and SSD but the new mac pro is far too much for what I need which is mainly graphics CS6 stuff.

What would you do if you only use Adobe CS suite…

iMac i5 21.5" 2.9ghz with fusion drive (about £ 1225.00)

or

buy a Mac Pro 4.1 on ebay and upgrade with Xeon 6 core 3.42mhz (about £950 - £1100)?

My current Mac Pro 3.1 is to be handed down to my son (part of his xmas present) :D.
 
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I have a 4,1 with a W3690 hex.

Couldn't be happier with it. Fantastic at everything I throw at it.

My use cases are different than yours (I use it for x-plane scenery development, having the sim + editing tools + gfxconverter all loaded simultaneously and flipping back and forth between them constantly to check the results of my edits). Works very well for my purposes

I also recently picked up BF4 in the Win7/Bootcamp side of things, and the system performs beautifully at very high/ultra on the GTX670.

My suggestion is (much like everyone else recommends) is to get a cheap 4,1, flash it, drop a Hexacore into it and toss in an NVidia GTX 680.
 
Do these:

I7-980X "extreme"
I7-990X "extreme"

give you the ability to do Airplay Video streaming? Meaning do these processors have the built-in optimizations?

That would be one way to get Airplay to work from a MacPro. Has anybody tried this?
 
snarfquest said:
Do these:

I7-980X "extreme"
I7-990X "extreme"

give you the ability to do Airplay Video streaming? Meaning do these processors have the built-in optimizations?

That would be one way to get Airplay to work from a MacPro. Has anybody tried this?
Click to expand...

Airplay requires a Sandy Bridge chipset. It won't work.
 
An i7-970 will also work and be slightly cheaper. I run one in a flashed 4,1 with 12GB of non-ECC triple channel RAM.
 
When upgrading Xeon processors in Mid-2010s, does it matter where the CPUs come from? For example, X5650 sells for $500/pair. A dual CPU board is $700. That's $1200 vs $3200+ for OWC to do a single-to-dual upgrade. What's the catch???
 
idiiamots said:
When upgrading Xeon processors in Mid-2010s, does it matter where the CPUs come from? For example, X5650 sells for $500/pair. A dual CPU board is $700. That's $1200 vs $3200+ for OWC to do a single-to-dual upgrade. What's the catch???
Click to expand...

CPUs are CPUs. The catch is OWC wants to make large markup like Apple but you leave off the hundreds of dollars a piece the cpu coolers are going to cost for that board upgrade. Oh and you can do better on them processors just got matched pair for $350 shipped on there couple of days ago.
 
snarfquest said:
Do these:

I7-980X "extreme"
I7-990X "extreme"

give you the ability to do Airplay Video streaming? Meaning do these processors have the built-in optimizations?

That would be one way to get Airplay to work from a MacPro. Has anybody tried this?
Click to expand...

Airpay does not work on Mac Pros? Why?:confused:
 
MacUser2525 said:
I'm sure I read somewhere it requires Ivy Bridge or better cpu which until today no Mac Pro has had.
Click to expand...

Looks like this thread are little bit dead. Rising it up :)

are AirPlay capability depending from CPU? i think it depends on AirPort card. Or i something misunderstand :)
i got there an old macpro 3.1 and mac pro 5.1 - on 3.1 i got AirPlay working when i upgraded AirPort card.

On MacPro 5.1 i'm looking for some i7 option because MacPro 5.1 chipset AC82X58 are capable of it.
I try with i7-990X EDIT: maybe! :confused: ...i think, it not worth this. Better is to get somewhere Two CPU Bay. Because now i had bay with only one CPU. But these on ebay are too expensive.

BTW someone done this before? if yes then how is the results with i7-990X ? (so far i not seen anywhere that somebody do this. Everyone upgrade to Xeon's (i'm little bit confusing about this)
Just looking and trying to dive into this thing.

There are compability list of AC82X58 chipset. By the way, it confuses me more, there are not listed X5690 as many upgraders put in macpro's. Perhaps, this is not listed there and have firmware updates: https://ark.intel.com/products/36785/Intel-X58-Express-IO-Hub

And last, it performs a little better when we see on marks. Question - it worth it? https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-i7-990X-vs-Intel-Xeon-X5690/867vs1314

:confused:
 
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