Well, after patiently awaiting to upgrade to the 2009 MP, I'm not sure I'm going to take the plunge. I had read here of people dropping in the quad core processors into the dual core 2.66 Mac Pros. I'd be willing to explore this instead but am having a hard time finding this on Google. Does anyone have any firsthand experience or links? After being a Mac person from the beginning, I think that it is interesting the current frustration in the value of the hardware that was last evident during the time of the clones... We all remember how Apple did during that time
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Upgrade MP Woodcrest 2x2.66 Processors to Quads?
- Thread starter eddiek
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I researched this superficially.
Anandtech actually has a brief write up here.
You can upgrade to Intel "Clovertown" quads (5300 series Xeons) but not any others.
The increased TDP doesn't seem to matter as Apple seems to have extra cooling capacity built into the machines. You can try to find them on eBay and they pop up pretty often but the 3.0GHz are expensive and the 2.66 are harder to find (and not cheap)...
Anandtech actually has a brief write up here.
You can upgrade to Intel "Clovertown" quads (5300 series Xeons) but not any others.
The increased TDP doesn't seem to matter as Apple seems to have extra cooling capacity built into the machines. You can try to find them on eBay and they pop up pretty often but the 3.0GHz are expensive and the 2.66 are harder to find (and not cheap)...
I've done it on a few systems - including my own.
What do you wanna know?
Currently the x5355 (quad core 2.66) procs are between $500 and $600 a piece. I think this is an opportune time to go for the 3.0gig procs used from e-bay or craig's list.
If you upgrade to the same speed procs but just quad instead of dual, you're not going to "feel" the speed under your mouse - unless you're rendering or processing slash batch-processing in a multi-threaded app.
This is why Apple's reduced clock speed replacements for the 2009 line are so crazy.
Anyway, just ask anything. I'm here and others here know what they're doing too.
BTW, I thought this was very interesting: http://www.o0o.it/pro/
Something else you should maybe know. These sites that show an image for every step and comment on the difficulty level are very misleading. The upgrade really is as easy as opening the machine and replacing the processors. The only weird part is popping off this cover:
Which kinda lifts up-over-out inward.
It'll make sense when you're in there.
Also, really all that's needed to remove the heat-syncs is a standard allen-wrench.
Something else you should maybe know. These sites that show an image for every step and comment on the difficulty level are very misleading. The upgrade really is as easy as opening the machine and replacing the processors. The only weird part is popping off this cover:
Which kinda lifts up-over-out inward.
It'll make sense when you're in there. Also, really all that's needed to remove the heat-syncs is a standard allen-wrench.
I've got a thread going about this right now. I'm doing the upgrade on Monday with 2.66 Clovertown procs. I have done a dry run, and have gotten as far as removing the heat sinks. Quite easy.
edit: the biggest problem for me in this process has been finding a suitable screwdriver to remove the heat sinks. Seriously.
Edit #2: Saw the guy say that all that's needed is an allen wrench... crap!
edit: the biggest problem for me in this process has been finding a suitable screwdriver to remove the heat sinks. Seriously.
Edit #2: Saw the guy say that all that's needed is an allen wrench... crap!