Upgrading CPU's on Macpro

[sejanus]

Hi Guys,

I have the first Macpro, with the 2 x dual core 2.66ghz xeon cpu's

Can I just pull them out and put in 2 of the new quad core intel cpu's if I just buy them from the normal places?

i.e. the Q6700 or 6600 (I think) model?


cheers

 

[CanadaRAM]

Hi Guys,
I have the first Macpro, with the 2 x dual core 2.66ghz xeon cpu's
Can I just pull them out and put in 2 of the new quad core intel cpu's if I just buy them from the normal places?
i.e. the Q6700 or 6600 (I think) model?

Almost certainly no.
The guys at Anandtech did try an early Quad Xeon in a Mac Pro and got it running, but it would hardly be worth the expense and effort.
The Q6700 Core2Quadro requires a completely different motherboard.

 

[DoFoT9]

yea NO! it wont work... has to be the xeon server processor doovie ones.

 

[cal6n]

If you buy the right processors, it'll work fine. I believe we need the 771 socket XEON processors. Going to quad cores would require the 53X5 series processors. At the moment this is probably not financially viable but in a couple of years, who knows? I reckon that my Mac Pro is the last computer I'll be needing for a long time and I certainly anticipate upgrading the processors, RAM, hard drives and graphics card(s) as and when the prices of these upgrades slide towards affordability.

 

[Tracer]

Pretty Good Guide on How to do it here:

http://www.o0o.it/pro/

Uses 1066FSB Socket 771's with a Pin-Mod to run 1333FSB.

8-Cores @ 2.33GHZ for ~600 (Processors from E-Bay)

 

[Igantius]

Also, http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2832

 

[SDAVE]

Core 2 Duo and QX line are all consumer 775 Socket CPU's. They are completely different.

The Xeon line (what Mac Pro uses) is socket 771 and it is for Server/workstation type motherboards.

 

[dkoralek]

Core 2 Duo and QX line are all consumer 775 Socket CPU's. They are completely different.

The Xeon line (what Mac Pro uses) is socket 771 and it is for Server/workstation type motherboards.

This is one of those problems with Intel badging of processors. They make 775 Socket Xeons, which are identical to some of the Core 2 processors (of the desktop variety) for use by manufacturers who want to sell computers based off of these chips as "workstations" I guess. Somewhere in marketing land this all makes sense (like calling Conroes and Meroms both simply "Core 2 Duo" instead of calling Meroms "Core 2 Duo Mobile" or something of the like, I guess they don't want to imply that you can't make a desktop with the mobile chips like Apple does...).

So essentially what you get now are two current classes of core-based Xeon lines, the rebadged Conroes and Kentsfields (and if memory serves me correctly are the 3000 series Xeons) which could not be added to the motherboard that the Mac Pro uses and the Woodcrest and Clovertown (5000 series Xeons) variety used in the Mac Pro.

cheers.