Highest CPU upgrade for 2010 Pro?

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I get that it's not been released yet but already I'm not impressed with the new Pro in terms of what I was looking for from a professional's tool.

I was hoping for something ultimately less hamstrung as the Pro's already are compared to what's available in Windows/Linux-land, but if anything it's kind of hamstrung taken to the logical conclusion IMO. What you'll end up is with a giant sprawl of separate boxes to achieve what was done in a single box before, and ultimately nothing is actually as upgradeable as they make it out to be since the GPU's are now completely fixed and everything in the box is made as unupgradeable as possible.

So it looks like I'm looking to eke more life out of my older Pro's while I consider my options.

I know that it's possible to upgrade CPU's within the same generation, but how about later hex's? Could I turn my 2010's into 2012's (especially as nothing changed in terms of the basic hardware) and drop in one of those CPU's (or better)?
 
C

chas_m

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I'm not sure I understand the difference between your preference -- one gigantic, heavy, very noisy box -- and the new Mac Pro: one TINY container with a single connection that can daisy chain swappable, moveable, configurable, replaceable (hide-able!) QUIET boxes, but that's what makes the world go round I suppose. I can't put it to the test yet so I can't really say.

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck with the processor upgrade.
 
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I'm not sure I understand the difference between your preference -- one gigantic, heavy, very noisy box -- and the new Mac Pro: one TINY container with a single connection that can daisy chain swappable, moveable, configurable, replaceable (hide-able!) QUIET boxes, but that's what makes the world go round I suppose. I can't put it to the test yet so I can't really say.

I'm curious to see what makes you assume the rest (after what I put in bold)?

Who cares if it's tiny when nothing else but the basics for a pro machine is on the unit (and which is essentially sealed - though it's fair to say nothing on the current Mac Pro is that upgradeable in practical terms anyway)?

Have you heard e.g. just a Pegasus R6 deskside vs an actually pro machine such as the HP Z820 (one gigantic, heavy, very accessible, superbly engineered, comparatively silent box - even with dual Quadro 6000's)?
 
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Well yes you can. This is the best suggested CPU upgrade:-

Accelerate Your Macintosh! News Archive for Wednesday April 20, 2011

Thanks - I did google part of that link before, but I realised I tl'dr'd about a firmware hack and said 'urgh no' - it's not required on a 2010.

I've read that thread in more depth and there does seem to be some heat issues with the 3.33 which needs to be cured by spooling the fans up and that won't work for me.

In terms of a cost/benefit/compatibility ratio, would I be right in saying that two X5650's would be the best bet? What would that get me over the '10 8-core in real terms?
 

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