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Upgrading a 2010 Mac Pro Quad (2.8Ghz) to a Xeon W3690

S

sskino

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 21, 2011
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Burque
Has anyone done this successfully? I just ordered a Mac Pro quad and am wanting to upgrade the CPU. The price for a W3680 is the same as a W3690, so I figure I would get the faster of the two.

Also, if I purchase DDR3-1333 memory, will this CPU utilize it and clock at 1333MHz? After talking with someone at OWC they told me that a six core processor will never see the 1333Mhz so it was not work paying the extra for the memory. This does not sound right.

Anyone?
 
sskino said:
Has anyone done this successfully? I just ordered a Mac Pro quad and am wanting to upgrade the CPU. The price for a W3680 is the same as a W3690, so I figure I would get the faster of the two.

Also, if I purchase DDR3-1333 memory, will this CPU utilize it and clock at 1333MHz? After talking with someone at OWC they told me that a six core processor will never see the 1333Mhz so it was not work paying the extra for the memory. This does not sound right.

Anyone?
Click to expand...

I just finished the hex w3670 3.2 there is no reason that the hex w3690 3.46 won't work just follow my thread.



https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1122551/ In fact I might buy a 2.8 just to put a 3.46 in it then sell it on ebay.


this is the seller that sold me my new w3670/3.2 here is a link for a w3690/3.46

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-XEON-W3690-...11?pt=CPUs&hash=item5d2d956977#ht_2183wt_1250


this is a link to my cpu from them

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Intel-Xeon-...EN_Servers&hash=item230e914a2e#ht_3265wt_1250



605 vs 1060 is a big difference.

my 2.8 gets 9950 geekbench

my 3.2 gets 15260 geekbench

my 3.3 gets 16100 geekbench


your 3.46 will get 17100 geekbench. so 450 more does not boost like the first 600 does. maybe do what I did and get a nice ssd. and your machine will use the 1333 but that is not much look at my 3.2 and my 3.3 scores are close and the 3.3 has both faster cpu and 1333
 
For someone who has a w3680.. it certainly does not make financial sense to go to the w3690 just for 5 percent speed increase.. either the w3680 or w3690 would be great for those with the 2.8 w3530 and w3565..

3.33 6-core is fast enough for my needs, though I am not getting anywhere near those results with what I use my mac pro for.. I only did it just to prolong the machine, as I am not doing any video editing.
 
I would most certainly get the 133MHz faster W3690 if they are the same price. Why not? Since overclocking in OS X is still a pipe dream get all you can. Should run cool enough as my W3680 idles at 29-32ºC. My W3680 sees memory at 1333MHz. Verified in CPU-Z and System Profiler. Not sure what OWC guy was talking about.
 
derbothaus said:
I would most certainly get the 133MHz faster W3690 if they are the same price. Why not? Since overclocking in OS X is still a pipe dream get all you can. Should run cool enough as my W3680 idles at 29-32ºC. My W3680 sees memory at 1333MHz. Verified in CPU-Z and System Profiler. Not sure what OWC guy was talking about.
Click to expand...



My thoughts exactly. I wanted the W3680 and they are $1059 at Newegg. However I can get the W3690 from Buy.com for $1065. I'd definitely pay the extra $6 to get the speed increase. I'm ready to order it, but wanted to make sure it would work. Either way, $1000+ is alot to pay for a processor if it won't work!

Thanks!
 
Hi, and excuse my ignorance!

Just to be double sure before I drop the cash - It is no problem to go from the w3565 to the w3680 or 90. ie from quad core to hex core. The MoBo is the same for both, right? :confused:

I had been looking at building a small PC using the new sandybridge for the sole purpose of video encoding using handbrake. However, doing a quad to hex core upgrade actually gets me more processing grunt for the money than going the PC route - plus i dont have to have ANOTHER PC under my desk :p

Thanks

:D
 
Last edited:
Hello,

ijhammo said:
It is no problem to go from the w3565 to the w3680 or 90. ie from quad core to hex core. The MoBo is the same for both, right? :confused:
Click to expand...

If that w3565 is in a 2010 Mac Pro, then you can simply upgrade.

Loa
 
Loa said:
Hello,



If that w3565 is in a 2010 Mac Pro, then you can simply upgrade.

Loa
Click to expand...

It is indeed a 2010 MacPro! Many thanks for your swift reply :)

----------
philipma1957 said:
Follow my link to the upgrade thread


https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1122551/


it is under an hour to do this upgrade

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Intel-X...EN_Servers&hash=item588e8a32cd#ht_2941wt_1189

below is a good deal for the w3680 chip

http://www.provantage.com/intel-bx80613w3680~7ITEP374.htm
Click to expand...

Great stuff - thanks for the links. I am in the UK so am trying to find someone EU based with stock - which is proving tricky ;-)
 
thanks for the advice - i managed to get hold of a 3690 for reasonable money and now have a hex core monster with 24Gb of 1333 ram :D

I am getting about 40fps from handbrake which is really impressive.
 
ijhammo said:
thanks for the advice - i managed to get hold of a 3690 for reasonable money and now have a hex core monster with 24Gb of 1333 ram :D

I am getting about 40fps from handbrake which is really impressive.
Click to expand...
How much is "reasonable money?" :)
I've not seen less than $1013.
 
wonderspark said:
How much is "reasonable money?" :)
I've not seen less than $1013.
Click to expand...

I paid $715 for one from Hong Kong, although it was the last one that seller had (which possibly accounts for the price) At the moment the others are all around the $1000 mark :(
 
OWC did the turn key upgrade to a 6core 3.46 GHz, March of 2011...

I purchased a refurb'd 2010 Mac Pro 2.8 ghz unit from Apple. Upgrading the CPU to OWC's 3.46 GHZ. Yep, the math worked out pretty darn well compared to a brand new 3.33 GHz Mac Pro(getting a low end model at the refurb price is THE key). Actually, if it was like the old days in the Apple store online -- no state sales tax, it would be cheaper over all! But for about an extra $100(tax) I can have the 3.46 speed. Yes, please...

diglloyd PS speed test on my 2008 3.0 GHz Mac Pro( now sold to a friend) w/ 20 GB of RAM, boot OWC SSD, and 3 HDD's striped RAID for Data score: 34.4

Same test on the the new "turbo" Mac Pro (same SSD boot, 24 GB of RAM, 3 HDD's striped for Data --w/ backup!): 21

Pretty good.

If I didn't have pay state sales tax w/ the Apple online store, The OWC upgrade(to a 2010 refurb'd 2.8 GHz Mac Pro) to the 3.46 GHz would've been even cheaper than a brand new 3.33GHz!
 
Just to clarify, isn't the turn-key program the one where you send in your lower tray and they replace it entirely with new tray and proc? They keep your old one and you get "credit" to new upgrade?
 
derbothaus said:
Just to clarify, isn't the turn-key program the one where you send in your lower tray and they replace it entirely with new tray and proc? They keep your old one and you get "credit" to new upgrade?
Click to expand...

That's the one. OWC is easy to deal w/. They deliver on what they promise.
 
Hello,

Just checked on OWC... They charge 1200$ for the W3680... WTF? How much do they charge for the turn-key?

Loa
 
Less your trade in part. They have a value chart somewhere on that site. Kind of like a pawn shop though. big value drop off if I remember correctly. But last I looked was the release week of W3690. Dual's were available. Still are. So if you want a single CPU turned into a Dual, go for it. Spendy.
 
Hello,

You can get the w3680 for 600$, since the price drop a couple of months ago. Why are they still charging 1200$???

And in the product description, the turn-key is not mentioned.

Loa
 
Loa said:
Hello,

You can get the w3680 for 600$, since the price drop a couple of months ago. Why are they still charging 1200$???

And in the product description, the turn-key is not mentioned.

Loa
Click to expand...

Here's the link: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/turnkey/MacPro/2010_Xeon_Processor

For the DP upgrades, it looks like they are doing this for pretty much the cost of the new processors. So, you're trading the ability to resell your old processors, for not have to do the swap yourself. This maybe costs you $400-500(my guess?), if you're upgrading from 2xE5620s and would otherwise sell them on ebay.

You're getting totally ripped off with the SP upgrades, however. Since they are charging well above retail on the 36XXs and you don't get to sell your old processors.
 
I am interested in purchasing used a 2009 mac pro nehalem 1 x quad core 2.66ghz and upgrading it to a W3690 hex-core.

What I noticed was the particular mac pro was 8gb max supported ram.

What I would like to know is does the processor I am looking to replace in the said mac pro decide what is the max amount of RAM capacity? or is it the logic board that decides this?

In this particular case is it both? I would like to upgrade more than 8gb RAM.
 
Hey,

Ok, in order for you to even remotely use a w36xx series based processor, you will need to flash the firmware of the 4,1 to 5,1. The good news is that the same heatsink is used for both 2009/2010/2012 mac pros(Sorry, 2012 is really 2010 :) ). Once you flash the firmware over, then you can proceed to get the w3690. Also, your newly flashed firmware based mac pro will accept 1333-mhz memory, but will only show up if the processor supports it.

The following processors support 1333:

w3670 3.2- 6 core
w3680 3.33 6-core
w3690 3.46 6-core

Anything under w3670 will only support 1066 mhz memory. Really though you won't see much difference between the two unless you are using really sophisticated scientific software, like weather related and engineering software which would utilize the max mhz of the memory.

Both the 09/10 Quad singles can go as high as 64GB of memory, both 1333 and 1066. 1333 with the 5,1 firmware flashed.

Summary: If you flash the 5,1 firmware to the 09, you can use 1333 mhz memory, provided the following processors above are what you have.

I hope this helps.

1333 Mhz support is governed by the processor, and the 5,1 firmware of the 2010 mac pro. 2009 only supports 1066, period. Even if you put a w3580 3.33 Quad in there it will only support 1066 even though it can run 1333 also.

fedism said:
I am interested in purchasing used a 2009 mac pro nehalem 1 x quad core 2.66ghz and upgrading it to a W3690 hex-core.

What I noticed was the particular mac pro was 8gb max supported ram.

What I would like to know is does the processor I am looking to replace in the said mac pro decide what is the max amount of RAM capacity? or is it the logic board that decides this?

In this particular case is it both? I would like to upgrade more than 8gb RAM.
Click to expand...
 
W5690?

Will this CPU work?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117253


PowerPCMacMan said:
Hey,

Ok, in order for you to even remotely use a w36xx series based processor, you will need to flash the firmware of the 4,1 to 5,1. The good news is that the same heatsink is used for both 2009/2010/2012 mac pros(Sorry, 2012 is really 2010 :) ). Once you flash the firmware over, then you can proceed to get the w3690. Also, your newly flashed firmware based mac pro will accept 1333-mhz memory, but will only show up if the processor supports it.

The following processors support 1333:

w3670 3.2- 6 core
w3680 3.33 6-core
w3690 3.46 6-core

Anything under w3670 will only support 1066 mhz memory. Really though you won't see much difference between the two unless you are using really sophisticated scientific software, like weather related and engineering software which would utilize the max mhz of the memory.

Both the 09/10 Quad singles can go as high as 64GB of memory, both 1333 and 1066. 1333 with the 5,1 firmware flashed.

Summary: If you flash the 5,1 firmware to the 09, you can use 1333 mhz memory, provided the following processors above are what you have.

I hope this helps.

1333 Mhz support is governed by the processor, and the 5,1 firmware of the 2010 mac pro. 2009 only supports 1066, period. Even if you put a w3580 3.33 Quad in there it will only support 1066 even though it can run 1333 also.
Click to expand...
 
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