05-21-2012, 02:23 PM

I have a 2009 Mac Pro 2.66 Quad Nehalem that I want to upgrade the CPU on. Has anyone done this?

05-21-2012, 03:35 PM

Originally Posted by FatherTime

I have a 2009 Mac Pro 2.66 Quad Nehalem that I want to upgrade the CPU on. Has anyone done this?

It is possible...but expensive. The cpu's either need to be purchased brand new, or come from a faster Nehalem Mac Pro. There is no official cpu upgrade product for the Mac Pro...it's a DIY project only. Thus potentially risky if you do something incorrectly.

- Nick

05-21-2012, 03:48 PM

Originally Posted by pigoo3

It is possible...but expensive. The cpu's either need to be purchased brand new, or come from a faster Nehalem Mac Pro. There is no official cpu upgrade product for the Mac Pro...it's a DIY project only. Thus potentially risky if you do something incorrectly.

- Nick

Well I see a "2009 3.33 Core Xeon W5590", and a "2010 Nehalem 3.2 Core Xeon W3565" so If I get one of these chips then it should work without other mods?

05-21-2012, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by FatherTime

Well I see a "2009 3.33 Core Xeon W5590", and a "2010 Nehalem 3.2 Core Xeon W3565" so If I get one of these chips then it should work without other mods?

Ahem...have you seen the price on that 3.33ghz Xeon W5590?...$1579 bucks!!!:

Intel BX80602W5590 Xeon W5590 Four Core 3.33GHz... in stock at OWC

The Xeon W3565 is a much better price ($316.99):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tel-_-19117244

- Nick

05-21-2012, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by pigoo3

Ahem...have you seen the price on that 3.33ghz Xeon W5590?...$1579 bucks!!!:

Intel BX80602W5590 Xeon W5590 Four Core 3.33GHz... in stock at OWC

The Xeon W3565 is a much better price ($316.99):

Newegg.com - Intel Xeon W3565 Bloomfield 3.2GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Server Processor BX80601W3565

- Nick

Well, at that I'll just have to be happy with what I haveI don't think the W3565 3.2 will be a lot faster.

05-21-2012, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by FatherTime

Well, at that I'll just have to be happy with what I haveI don't think the W3565 3.2 will be a lot faster.

Exactly! I'll mark you down as person 5,824 to ask about a Macintosh processor upgrade question...and after seeing the price-tag or performance gain/dollar spent...decided not to do it!

- Nick

p.s. Thanks for asking the question. It "encouraged" me to check out the prices of cpu's to upgrade my 2009 Mac Pro. Still too expensive for me as well!

05-21-2012, 06:21 PM

And be cautious about changing the CPUs if you go that way. Am writing a paper on Mac Pros and upgrading. The problem with the 4.1 is the CPU's Apple used are 2mm lower than other processors. As a result when you tighten down the heat sink the daughter card shatters. Apple used these CPU's on their own and they are not replaceable with Dell, HP etc without some work.

There is a work around using small washers to build the 2mm up, however then the fan cable is a little short and will not connect without replacing with a longer cord.

05-21-2012, 06:51 PM

Originally Posted by harryb2448

And be cautious about changing the CPUs if you go that way. Am writing a paper on Mac Pros and upgrading. The problem with the 4.1 is the CPU's Apple used are 2mm lower than other processors. As a result when you tighten down the heat sink the daughter card shatters. Apple used these CPU's on their own and they are not replaceable with Dell, HP etc without some work.

There is a work around using small washers to build the 2mm up, however then the fan cable is a little short and will not connect without replacing with a longer cord.

Very interesting info Harry. Most DIY instructions don't mention this (I did find one link that mentioned doing some "shimming"...but they weren't very specific on what sort of shims to use or what to use as the correct shim thickness):

Accelerate Your Macintosh! News Archive for Tuesday May 10th, 2011

And here's a link where someone "fried" their Mac Pro trying to do a cpu upgrade. It sounds like the situation you described...where the replacement cpu's were thicker, and when the heat-sink screws are tightened...something broke!

AnandTech - Upgrading and Analyzing Apple's Nehalem Mac Pro

Thanks for the info/warning Harry!!!,

- Nick

05-21-2012, 06:52 PM

Originally Posted by harryb2448

And be cautious about changing the CPUs if you go that way. Am writing a paper on Mac Pros and upgrading. The problem with the 4.1 is the CPU's Apple used are 2mm lower than other processors. As a result when you tighten down the heat sink the daughter card shatters. Apple used these CPU's on their own and they are not replaceable with Dell, HP etc without some work.

There is a work around using small washers to build the 2mm up, however then the fan cable is a little short and will not connect without replacing with a longer cord.

Thanks for the heads up on the thickness of the chips. I would think that any processoer out of an Apple of the same series would be the same dimensions, however I've found strange little unknowns the hard way, recently I learned the difference in HDD cables in the G4 PB's, they look exactly the same and fit but no cigar.

05-22-2012, 12:21 AM

Yep FatherTime only from the same series. With earlier models one could use say Intel X5355 and X5365 CPU's as the identical units were used on Dell, HP etc. Not the 4.1 Apple went their own way. Your best upgrade path would be from the 2.66 Quad to 2.66 8 core, increase Geekbench test results from 8144 to just on 15,500.

At what costs however? OWC offer to upgrade to this for a mere $2,500.00!


http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/turnk...Mac_Pro_2010_1

05-22-2012, 01:14 AM

Originally Posted by harryb2448

Yep FatherTime only from the same series. With earlier models one could use say Intel X5355 and X5365 CPU's as the identical units were used on Dell, HP etc. Not the 4.1 Apple went their own way. Your best upgrade path would be from the 2.66 Quad to 2.66 8 core, increase Geekbench test results from 8144 to just on 15,500.

At what costs however? OWC offer to upgrade to this for a mere $2,500.00!


OWC Processor Upgrade Program options for Apple Mac Pro 2010 currently equipped with Quad-Core or 6-Core Processor

So I may be able to swap the single W3520 for a X5550. My Nehalem has one processor. Where as the 8 Core has two processors, do you mean to just swap the one chip and almost double the speed?

05-22-2012, 04:13 AM

Originally Posted by FatherTime

So I may be able to swap the single W3520 for a X5550. My Nehalem has one processor. Where as the 8 Core has two processors, do you mean to just swap the one chip and almost double the speed?

To the best of my knowledge the 2009 Quad Core 4,1 Mac Pro's cannot be upgraded to 8-cores. The slide-out processor tray on the quad-core:

- does not support TWO quad core processors (8-cores total)
- has a different heat sink setup (the 8-core models have two separate heat sinks, one for each cpu)
- the quad-core models have 4 ram ram slots, the 8-core models have 8 ram slots

In other words...the slide out cpu tray on 2009 quad-core 4,1 Mac Pro's is VERY different from the 8-core models.

Here's a video from OWC showing how to upgrade the ram in a 2009 Mac Pro. Watch the whole video (fast forwarding as necessary). The first half of the video shows the quad-core cpu slide out tray, the 2nd half of the video shows the 8-core cpu slide out tray (BIG difference)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo_bnZ_RT0I

- Nick

05-22-2012, 05:47 PM

Sorry FatgherTime showed upgrade for a 2010 model. My bad.

Interesting Nick the video ~ no problem handling the memory modules, even the connectors.

05-23-2012, 11:26 AM

didn't the '09 MP have the fixed cage? and when you do the upgrade don't you need the '10 EFI flash?

and $1500 for an upgrade is cheaper than $2500+ for a new one if you need the power.

05-23-2012, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by Germany_chris

didn't the '09 MP have the fixed cage? and when you do the upgrade don't you need the '10 EFI flash?

The quad-core 2009 Mac Pro does have the cpu cage...the 2009 8-core does not.

Regarding the 2010 EFI flash. Some 2010 Mac Pro's came with Nehalem cpu, and some came with a Westmere cpu. As far as I understand it...you only need to do the 2010 EFI flash if you upgrade a 2009 Mac Pro with a "Westmere" cpu(s).

So I think that if a quad-core Nehalem cpu is used to do the upgrade (2009 Nehalem or 2010 Nehalem)...then I don't think you need to do the flash.

- Nick