Apple Mac Pro (Early 2008) 1,1 Upgrades?

[carvedeye]

Hi all I have recently purchased a Mac Pro Early 2008 and was wondering what upgrades I am able to do to breath some extra life in to this great machine.

Current Specs are;

2 x Dual Core Xeons (2.66ghz)
8 Gb Ram 667mhz
Nvdia 7300 GT 256 mb
OS X Lion 10.7.5

TIA

 

[pigoo3]

Are you absolutely sure this is an "Early 2008" Mac Pro? I'm pretty sure (99% sure) what you have is actually a 1st generation Mac Pro from 2006...which is much less upgradeable than an Early 2008 Mac Pro.

- Nick

Edit: Make that 100% sure. 2008 Mac Pro's don't use 667mhz RAM (they use 800mhz RAM). And...no 2008 Mac Pro has dual-core CPU's.

 

[carvedeye]

Are you absolutely sure this is an "Early 2008" Mac Pro? I'm pretty sure (99% sure) what you have is actually a 1st generation Mac Pro from 2006...which is much less upgradeable than an Early 2008 Mac Pro.

- Nick

Edit: Make that 100% sure. 2008 Mac Pro's don't use 667mhz RAM (they use 800mhz RAM). And...no 2008 Mac Pro has dual-core CPU's.

My Bad, it is the 2006 model

 

[lclev]

There are some things you can do to breath a little life into the old girl. Check out Macrumors.com and do a search for information. Here is one thing I found:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-1-1-firmware-to-2-1.1392341/

Upgrading the firmware will allow it to act like a 2,1 MP in effect a 2008 model. This means a potential CPU upgrade and OS up to El Capitan.

I have done some upgrading. I took my 2009 to be effectively a 2010 MP. I have done a ton of upgrades and she has become my main workhorse.

Lisa

Lisa

 

[pigoo3]

My Bad, it is the 2006 model

No problem. Just wanted to be sure we were talking about the same thing. A really cool upgrade you can do with a 2006 Mac Pro is upgrade it to 8 cores (replace the 2 dual core CPU's with 2 quad-core CPU's)...and do what Lisa mentioned...upgrade to newer OS's (via firmware change). But...both of these upgrades can "brick" or damage the computer beyond repair. So you got to be very careful & do things correctly.

I did the CPU upgrade at least 4-5 years ago (and upgrade CPU cost wasn't too bad). The same CPU's now should be dirt cheap!

- Nick

 

[carvedeye]

Ok so I have updated the firmware and it is showing as a 2,1. What CPU's are compatible and what ram and gfx card can I use?

 

[carvedeye]

Will these CPU's work?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2pcs-Int...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

And will this RAM work?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8GB-12GB-...var=572057617935&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

 

[pigoo3]

Will these CPU's work?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2pcs-Int...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

And will this RAM work?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8GB-12GB-...var=572057617935&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

I think the CPU's and RAM in the links will work. As far as the RAM. I would prefer to purchase from someone who specifically says "Works with Mac Pro 2006 1,1" (I think there are many). This way if there is an issue...then you have more rights to return them if they should not work.

I used these CPU's when I did my CPU upgrade:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pair-Intel...259056?hash=item44120785f0:g:AZYAAOSwSrNaKCiY

They are the same speed as the old CPU's (2.66ghz)...but I believe you can also go with 2.8ghz and 3.0ghz. I think that the 2.8Ghz & 3.0Ghz were more $$$ than I wanted to spend at the time...otherwise I probably would have gone with one of them.

- Nick

 

[carvedeye]

I think the CPU's and RAM in the links will work. As far as the RAM. I would prefer to purchase from someone who specifically says "Works with Mac Pro 2006 1,1" (I think there are many). This way if there is an issue...then you have more rights to return them if they should not work.

I used these CPU's when I did my CPU upgrade:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pair-Intel...259056?hash=item44120785f0:g:AZYAAOSwSrNaKCiY

They are the same speed as the old CPU's (2.66ghz)...but I believe you can also go with 2.8ghz and 3.0ghz. I think that the 2.8Ghz & 3.0Ghz were more $$$ than I wanted to spend at the time...otherwise I probably would have gone with one of them.

- Nick

I have ordered the CPU's and will order the ram as soon as I have the funds (should be able to order them this weekend) and will update you all when I have done the upgrade, What sort of GFX Card should I be looking at getting?

 

[Slydude]

Keep in mind that we do not know how much longer these forums will be operating. See the links in my sig below.

 

[pigoo3]

I have ordered the CPU's and will order the ram as soon as I have the funds (should be able to order them this weekend) and will update you all when I have done the upgrade, What sort of GFX Card should I be looking at getting?

This is a bit more difficult to answer. Many older Windows video cards will work (as long as they fit in the Mac Pro's video slot for starters)...but there really is no comprehensive list. Do some web searches for ideas. If I remember correctly...when using a non-Mac version of a video card...you don't get the normal Apple boot screen.

- Nick

 

[lclev]

If you use a non-mac video card you will not get the Apple boot screen. You will be limit to only a few video cards due it being an older model. Check out this link:

http://www.macvidcards.com/i-want-the-best-graphics-card-for-my-mac-pro-where-do-i-start.html

I have used a Nvidia GT 120 and have found it to be a decent card and probably your cheapest option. The cards listed on the link above are frequently for sale on eBay. If you decide to purchase a card make sure they guarantee it is a genuine Mac card. There are a lot out there that will claim it will work on a mac but there will no boot screen and when rebuilding it is nice to see the boot screen to see what is going on.

Here is one example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Early-...862398&hash=item3a6d9d299d:g:Dm0AAMXQQQZR0S0g

You will find the genuine cards cost more.

Lisa

 

[Slydude]

Lisa, Refresh my memory about something. Given the boot screen issues with some cards aren't there some users running two cards in that machine with one of them being a card that will show the boot screen.

 

[lclev]

Sly - Yes that can be done. I ran an Apple Nvidia GT 120 on one monitor to show the boot screen plus a Geforce GTX 780 on a second screen in mine until I purchased a Nvidia GTX 1080 that had it's firmware flashed so it now shows the boot screen.

Lisa

 

[Slydude]

Thought I read that somewhere. Unfortunately my Mac Pro 1.1 died before I could muster the guts to do the updates that would have let it go beyond 10.7.5.

 

[carvedeye]

Well my Xeons arrived, turns out the where just dual cores so have sent them back and will purchase some Quad cores.

 

[harryb2448]

It still will not reun anything over and above Lion OS X.7 without making it a Hackintosh. Whilst the Mac Pro isd a 64bit architecture, Apple for some reason hobbled them with a 32bit EFI. Remember there is always a chance of turning it into a door stop.

Mac Rumours discuss this at length. If you go this way, upgrade to El Capitan OS X.11 and leave it there. Trying to upgrade further destroys the .kext you will use to get it to El Capitan.


https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2006-2007-mac-pro-1-1-2-1-and-os-x-el-capitan.1890435/

 

[carvedeye]

It still will not reun anything over and above Lion OS X.7 without making it a Hackintosh. Whilst the Mac Pro isd a 64bit architecture, Apple for some reason hobbled them with a 32bit EFI. Remember there is always a chance of turning it into a door stop.

Mac Rumours discuss this at length. If you go this way, upgrade to El Capitan OS X.11 and leave it there. Trying to upgrade further destroys the .kext you will use to get it to El Capitan.


https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2006-2007-mac-pro-1-1-2-1-and-os-x-el-capitan.1890435/

I Have change the firmware to 2,1 and will be buying some quad core Xeons along with some extra Ram so that I can run El Capitan.

 

[carvedeye]

Would these work?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Matched-...d=222713816343&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

 

[pigoo3]

They look exactly like the one's I put in my Mac Pro 1,1 a few years ago. WOW...they are super cheap now!

Remember you're going to need some really long allen wrenches (or the proper allen socket & extension bar) to remove the CPU heatsinks.

- Nick