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Upgrading my 2009 Mac Pro - need advice
- Thread starter Mac Gus
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Wow, you're everywhere asking the same questions. Again, spend some time and do your own research.
Lou
Thanks a lot.
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Thank you for your advice about fans.
The Xeon W3690 3.46GHz 6-Cores.
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Sorry and excuse me but nobody forces you to answer about this question.
This is the first time I ask the question about the fans speed.
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Not to high-jack this thread, but since many upgrades lurk here...
I upgrade my 4.1 to dual x5660 processors. However since the upgrade my Mac Pro no longer goes to sleep on it's own. This used to happen occasionally before, but usually doing a disk repair, zapping PR and leaving it unplugged for 10 minutes would "fix" it. That is no longer working. I even went to some of the extremes of removing my USB 3.0 card, removing all my drives except one, switching my VC back to the GT120, turning off bluetooth and wifi. Doing a fresh install of 10.8 on a clean drive. Still won't go to sleep on idle. If I schedule a sleep time it does however work.
Anyone else experiencing this?
I upgrade my 4.1 to dual x5660 processors. However since the upgrade my Mac Pro no longer goes to sleep on it's own. This used to happen occasionally before, but usually doing a disk repair, zapping PR and leaving it unplugged for 10 minutes would "fix" it. That is no longer working. I even went to some of the extremes of removing my USB 3.0 card, removing all my drives except one, switching my VC back to the GT120, turning off bluetooth and wifi. Doing a fresh install of 10.8 on a clean drive. Still won't go to sleep on idle. If I schedule a sleep time it does however work.
Anyone else experiencing this?
Hope that everyone who is hesitant about taking on the tricky CPU upgrade of the 2009 models seriously considers going for it. I upgraded my 2.26 octo's to 3.33 octos with 24 gigs of 1300 ram about 2 weeks ago and the difference is night and day. I'm easily going to get another 2 years out of this bad-boy. Pretty crazy for something i purchased almost exactly 5 years ago already.
Just follow the guide http://pindelski.org/Photography/mac-pro/
I followed it step by step, only difference is that i added washers.
went without a hitch and booted up on my first attempt.
DO IT. the 2013 mac pro is a bit too closed for my taste
Just follow the guide http://pindelski.org/Photography/mac-pro/
I followed it step by step, only difference is that i added washers.
went without a hitch and booted up on my first attempt.
DO IT. the 2013 mac pro is a bit too closed for my taste
Thanks. I read through that thread you posted and the whole power supply thing is starting to make sense to me. Do you know if the 3gb v-ram and the 6gb v-ram version of the 7970 have the same TDP? I'm wondering if a single 7970 GHz version with 6gb Ram could run on the internal power supply.
The TDP of 7979 GHz Edition is 300W according to this link, while the base model is 250W.
You can read all the posts made by KBS756 starting here from page 11 to 12. Note that the poster used an external PSU for his 7970 6GB VRAM card, and only 2GB was recognized in Mountain Lion, encountered driver issues and eventually considered returning it. Mavericks finally seems to recognize all 6GB VRAM. Given that the 7970, especially the 6GB version, was not officially supported in OS X by AMD and Apple, you need to draw your own conclusions by reading the whole thread.
Thanks for the reply. Yes I read through the whole thread, it was a lot to wade through... It seems pretty clear that running a 7970 GHz edition is a grey area on the MP. But from that thread I gather that at least the OP and a few others have done so w/o problems. I realize that KBS756 used and external PSU, but if the 6gb version of the card has the same TDP than theoretically it would function the same as the 3gb version. I'm just wondering if more ram would use more energy.
Unfortunately it's not so straightforward as you seem to imply. Scroll down to the bottom of the first link in my previous post. There are only two 7970 6GB video cards listed, both by Sapphire and both are overclocked 5% and 10% over the reference design, which is already an overclocked version of the base model. Based on common sense, the extra power increase would be more than the clock speed increase in terms of %, in addition to increased VRAM. However the two posters (K15 and KBS756) who reported using the 6GB cards somehow decided to attach to an external PSU.
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Attachments
This one.
I have a 7950 and I only get like 60fps on that benchmark. How are you getting over 70? Is that you higher CPU clock speed?
This one.
I am happy that you have found a processor that is working. W3680 is a safe choice since Apple used that particular one.
I am fixing a early 2009 Mac Pro which says in the diagnostics LEDs that both the CPUs are bad. As this is a computer I got for free, I will start with just getting it to boot and have bought a pair of E5520 2.26GHz from a working Mac Pro.
Is it correct to assume I will not need any washers and will have an easier job as the new CPUs is exactly the same as the one in the broken machine I got?
Also, I do not have to use thermal pads on the voltage regulators as I don't have a 2mm higher CPU? Do I need thermal paste on these regulators?
Is it correct to assume I will not need any washers and will have an easier job as the new CPUs is exactly the same as the one in the broken machine I got?
Also, I do not have to use thermal pads on the voltage regulators as I don't have a 2mm higher CPU? Do I need thermal paste on these regulators?
If the CPUs you are buying are pulled from another 2009 mac pro, then they should by lidless, and, therefore, not require washers or taller thermal pad.
I am not certain about the thermal paste application, though I suspect that it does need to be applied.
When removing yours, they (the processors) will stick to the heat sink. I would think thermal compound is the reason for that.
Thermal "pads" not "paste". Yes to paste, no to pads. The pads were just to make up the difference on the lidded processor.
same here.. bought the x5650's for about 230USD and they are on their way also purchased 64GB ram, the Thermal pad (2mm 50x50mm 3.0 W/mk) and a new Sapphire HD 7950 HD Mac..
just need to go to the hardware store for the final stuff.. hopefully all will be in mid-march for the full upgrade..
just need to go to the hardware store for the final stuff.. hopefully all will be in mid-march for the full upgrade..
I'm also thinking of upgrading one of my machines. I can't decide between the w5590, x5650, x5660 or the x5670.
I have spent about a week researching this and I'm still no further forward. One of my main concerns is the low clock speeds of the 6 core chips. At the moment I have narrowed it down to the W5590 or the x5660.
I use the machine for final cut x, aperture and some single threaded apps.
Any advice welcome.
I have spent about a week researching this and I'm still no further forward. One of my main concerns is the low clock speeds of the 6 core chips. At the moment I have narrowed it down to the W5590 or the x5660.
I use the machine for final cut x, aperture and some single threaded apps.
Any advice welcome.
Sorry, that should have been "hex". I haven't had the quad for some time now. It's the 2.4 machine that I will be upgrading.
Ah, makes sense.
Well I'm partial to the w5590. Fastest quad available and very little software takes advantage of more than 4 cores anyway. Great value for the money. Hex is once but for the price difference I don't think it's worth it.
Yes, software will hopefully eventually take advantage of more cores, but it's likely that by the time that happens, then you won't be using the older mac pro anyway. Fast clock speeds and good GPUs are the way to go.
I would go with the x56xx series, and let your budget decide which speed to get. I recently installed the 5660s and I'm very happy. My main application is FCPX.
I just put 8gigs from OWC in my early 2009. Fired it up and it never booted; graphics card just whirred and whirred. Any thoughts on what the problem is? I got it with the base 6gigs in 123 and 567 and put the 4gs in 4&8. Cool to know the cpu's can be upgraded. Might try that in a year or two.
Update: I did the ctrl+opt+p+r on startup and got me no further. If it was some slightly different combo, don't worry, I tried it too.
Update: I did the ctrl+opt+p+r on startup and got me no further. If it was some slightly different combo, don't worry, I tried it too.
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I had a problem with OWC RAM as well in my 2009 MP but sold my original RAM and bought more OWC so it all matches 32Gb all good now...