Upgrading Mac Pro (2006) to 8-core Processor?

Hello i just purchased a Mac Pro locally for $775, and it has 2 x 2.66 intel xeon duo processors, making it a quad-core machine. I've read that you can upgrade the quad core setup to an 8-core setup. Is this true? And if it is, would this be something that would be difficult to do?
I read that the Intel Xeon x5355 quad processors (code name: "clovertown")are plug and play. Would these processors be able to sit right in the original heatsink? I know you could configure the Mac Pros to 8-cores, and I assume the MOBO is the same on all Mac Pros from the 2006 line. If so, would I have to buy new heatsinks for the quad-processors, or would the original heatsinks work just fine?
Thanks guys!

Xeon 5355s are drop in replacements for the 5150s in the '06 MP. You will find more info here:
Hardmac.com - Le "Macbidouille" in English - Upgrading CPUs of a Mac Pro to Quad Core Xeons;
Apple's Mac Pro - Upgrading CPUs, Memory & Running XP - AnandTech -- Your Source for Hardware Analys…
A Google search will also help you find some videos. The task is not trivial and involves quite a bit of disassembly plus the need for special tools.
On eBay the 5355s are selling for around $290 each for refurbs. Altogether the tools will run around $50-70 if you don't have any of what's needed. If you also upgrade your RAM from 667 MHz modules to 800 MHz modules that will cost close to $250 for eight 1 GB modules.
You may also want a better video card depending on what you currently have installed. The ATI 5770 from Apple is about $250.00 or you can go with the less expensive ATI 4870. There's no real difference in performance since the old MP only has a PCIe 1.0 slot.

Similar Messages

Full backup ( ~ 1 TB ) using external HD - speed USB vs. Firewire vs. eSATA - what are relative speeds - how to install eSATA on mid-2010 Mac Pro desktop ( dual hex-core processors)_

    Hi All,
     I'm trying to resume regular scheduled Full backup ( ~ 1 TB ) of drives using external HD (to allow off-site redundant backup storage) .
     What are relative speeds of USB vs. Firewire vs. eSATA ?
     I suspect eSATA connection may be considerably faster … how to install eSATA on mid-2010 Mac Pro desktop ( dual hex-core processors)?
      ( The quicker and easier backup protocol is, the more likely one is to use it to backup on a routine repetitive basis.)
Thanks

Jim Bogy wrote:
...I suspect eSATA connection may be considerably faster … how to install eSATA on mid-2010 Mac Pro desktop ( dual hex-core processors)?
      ( The quicker and easier backup protocol is, the more likely one is to use it to backup on a routine repetitive basis.)
Adding a USB 3.0+eSATA PCIe card, which The hatter mentions, is the best solution that I've found. See http://eshop.macsales.com/item/CalDigit/FASTA6GU3/. The card is not cheap, but the USB 3.0 works flawlessly (which can't be assumed; ask me how I know) and the eSATA connection allows booting from the connected drive. Grant Bennet-Alder's point about HD speed is important to consider; in addition, the size of the individual files being backed up and where on the backup disk they're going will affect overall transfer speed. For example, using the USB 3.0 connection on that CalDigit card going to a Toshiba 3TB external, the transfer rate for a big file (say a virtual machine file) from an internal SSD boot drive was about 145 MB/sec while a bunch of little files might drop to 30 MB/sec and both rates decrease as an inner partition on the external is used. All told, a nearly 700 GB backup took under 1.5 hours. Using a HD as the source added almost an extra hour, though a WD external was used for that. Using a WD green drive plugged into this http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/FWU3ES2HDK/ with an eSATA connection took about 2.5 hours also, but that was bootable whereas the USB 3.0 connection is not.
Another point to consider is that USB 3.0 is ubiquitous on PC's now so there's lots of price competition for externals; not so much for eSATA externals.

Will upgrade to mac pro 2010 give huge improvement from mac pro 2006?

I asked in an earlier post but may not have been clear. Basically, if I upgrade to a new mac pro 2010 quad core 2.8 GHz (12GB ram) will it give me a huge improvement from a mac pro 2006 2.0GHz (with 5GB Ram) and thus reduce the need to render and the time it takes to render? My thoughts are that it will because the graphics card is much more powerful and has more memory and hence any FXplug effects will have better RT playback. Is this a correct assumption?
Or is this too difficult to quantify. Is it simply "You will see an improvement but..."
I mainly edit 1080 25p Pro Res.
Thanks

Further test has astounded me. I installed my copy of Premiere Pro CS4 on the core i3 iMac. I don't use it on my Mac Pro. I only bought it for Encore CS4 (I had an old copy of Premiere from Windows that I used to upgrade).
I copied an avchd card to the iMac desktop. I opened the media in Premiere Pro cs4 and played it back at Highest Quality: it was smooth as butter even with transitions. There were 47 minutes of footage that I added to the timeline and exported out as AIC 1080 50i. This took 2 hours 20 minutes!
I know that this is far from the ideal: ie editing source files from desktop and rendering to the desktop on the system drive (something I would not normally do, but I did not have an FW800 external drive available). I don't like PPro to edit with and was using to compare to my Mac Pro.
The same clips card were on my internal raid 0 on my Mac Pro. I loaded them onto the timeline in Premiere Pro and it struggled at preview quality and the render to an external esata drive was showing in excess of 15 hours!
I am amazed. But this raises questions for me too. The core i3 is a 3.06 GHz cpu (hyperthreading but no turbo boost) and shows as four cores (two real, two virtual) in activity monitor. They were at 310% when playing back the avchd files. If I get the 2.8GHz Mac Pro there will be eight cores and turbo boost. Will this be faster than the core i3 in playing back footage and much faster in rendering? Or does the higher clock speed of the i3 mean that for editing it is better but will lose out to the Nehalem Xeon when rendering?
Translating these finding to an FCP context, might this mean that a rewrap of the avchd to h.264 for editing in FCP is possible? In some cases this might be preferable to transcoding.
I cannot get over how much better the core i3 performance is over the Woodcrest Xeons. This makes me wonder if the Nehalem Xeons are as good if not better?

Hello I am in Afghanistan i searched that in realtek but that told me you coulde not use this sit   I writ again my problem    i installed win 7 32 bit in my mac pro 13-inch, Late 2011 Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5

On Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 12:54 PM, mahdi ehsani <[email protected]> wrote:
On Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 7:29 PM, Apple Support Communities Updates <[email protected]> wrote:
Apple Support Communities
Re: after install windows 7 32 bit there is no sound my mac is os x 10.7.2
created by The hatter in Boot Camp - View the full discussion
This solved my question
This helped me
you have RealTek on your workstation and just download the current driver which is easy to findwww.realtek.com
This solved my question
This helped me
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hello I am in Afghanistan i searched that in realtek but that told me you coulde not use this sit
I writ again my problem
i installed win 7 32 bit in my mac pro 13-inch, Late 2011 Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5   Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 (11C74)
but there is no sound in windows 7 please send me a address sit for downoad driver that i can use in Afghanistan
believe it is confus me and other friend that bought 5 mac's that are the same and i serched a lot of site without result
please help us by address site please please .....
<Edited by Host>

hello I am in Afghanistan i searched that in realtek but that told me you coulde not use this sit
I writ again my problem
i installed win 7 32 bit in my mac pro 13-inch, Late 2011 Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 (11C74)
but there is no sound in windows 7 please send me a address sit for downoad driver that i can use in Afghanistan
believe it is confus me and other friend that bought 5 mac's that are the same and i serched a lot of site without result

Currently running 10.9.3. will i be able to upgrade to yosemite just as any os upgrade online? just acquired a Mac Pro 2.4 ghz core duo 2 gb ra 667mhz ddr2 scram 160 bg HD

currently running 10.9.3. will i be able to upgrade to yosemite just as any os upgrade online? just acquired a Mac Pro 2.4 ghz core duo 2 gb ra 667mhz ddr2 scram 160 bg HD

No one knows for certain what the requirements for OS X Yosemite will be unitil it's released.

Mac pro 2006 won't recognize ram

Hey Everyone.....I'm not a giant techie, but now my way around a computer more than most I guess...here's my question...
I have a Mac Pro 2006 running 2ghz dual core xeon processors and with 2gbs Ram (2GB x 4).....I just finally upgraded my ram and purchased 8gb's (4GB x 2)!
I installed the new ram in Riser A in slots 1 & 2, and moved the old ram all to Riser B in slots 1-4 but I think I screwed something up. I booted up my machine and it recognizes the 8gb modules (whew!) but doesn't recognize the old 2gb's. I don't know what configuration I should use.
Should I have Riser A full with slots 1-4 occupied by my new 8gb's and a pair of the 512's, putting 9gb's on Riser A?? Then I would put the second 512's on Riser B?? 9 on Riser A and 1 on B??
8GB Ram is making such a great performance upgrade, but 10GB's of Ram would be pretty sweet too!! :)
Thanks for any and all help.

Assuming that the new RAM is for Mac Pro and "look the same"
Sometimes two brands or different sets from the same make don't get along.
Where you installed is fine.
I didn't understand what it was, and what it is now.
You have:
4 x 512MB for 2GB
4 x 2GB
2 x 4GB
Ideal would be
Riser A: 2 x 4GB
Riser B: 2 x 2GB
See if that works first.
Run Apple Hardware Test
The math and figures you posted don't add up for me.

Upgrading Mac Pro 3,1 for CS5

We have 2 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 need to update to use Adobe CS5, and I think we may need some hardware/software upgrade to boost the performance and would like to have some suggestion. Here is the list of hardware:
Model Name:          Mac Pro
Model Identifier:          MacPro3,1
Processor Name:          Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed:          2.8 GHz
Number Of Processors:          2
Total Number Of Cores:          8
L2 Cache (per processor):          12 MB
Memory:          10 GB
Bus Speed:          1.6 GHz
Boot ROM Version:          MP31.006C.B05
SMC Version (system):          1.25f4
OS:
It is currently running 10.5, so the OS should need to upgrade to 10.6 for better security and stability and also feature. I would like to know if running Snow Leopard in native 64-bit kernel will benefit CS5?
RAM:
Current the RAM is 1GBx6 + 2GBx2, so there is only 2 spare RAM slot left. Perhaps add to 2x4GB or 2x2GB depends on the budget.
HDD:
Perhaps we will request if WD VelociRaptor or Intel SSD. Since the HDD are loading into the slot so the connector need to be in place. I think the VelociRaptor should able to slide into the slot by mounting to the HDD mount comes with the Mac Pro chassis, but seems most SSD are in 2.5" form factor, and the mount doesn't fit, any suggestion? Thanks.
Graphic:
Will CS5 leverage the core image or core animation of OSX so a modern card with more memory will render thing faster? Which graphic card upgrade can this Mac Pro use?
Any hints will be appreciated, thank you!

Macintosh Performance Guide Articles & Reviews
ATI 5870 or 5770
8 DIMMs of course, and depends on budget and work files but 4 x 4GB and 4 x 2GB would get to sweet 24GB RAM.
Yes 64-bit mode has a slight improvement.
Go through the above site link, full of tips, as well as Adobe's own faq and performance tips.
Optimizing Photoshop CS5 Performance
64-bit kernels CS5 After Effects
PHOTOSHOP CS5 SHOOTOUT 2011 MacBook Pros
Optimize Photoshop Performance

Mac Pro 2006 worth it?

Someone local to me is selling his Mac Pro 2006. Its a 2 x 2.66 Dual Core with 6 Gigs RAM. No warranty.
I have been reading about this model and that it cannot boot 64 Bit Snow Leopard and Windows Vista/7 64 Bit because the EMI is only 32 bit.
I was planning on adding another 6 gigs to have a total of 12 Gigs and want the system to see all the RAM both in Mac OS and Windows.
The system is 4 years old at this point and don't want to send $1500 for something obsolete but I do love the Mac Pro form factor because of the expandability and don't have $2500+ to buy a new Mac Pro.
Your thoughts? Pro's ? Con's?
Thanks all...

The Specials section is nearly empty, but yes, and I'd expect to see a lot more models, espcially if/when 2010 model is rolled out.
That said, I use my Mac Pro for Windows 7 Pro 64-bit, and while it feels a little more sluggish than what 2009 model would be (I'm using my own custom built PC with "best of class" parts and oc'd processor) it is quiet, decent system still after 3 yrs.
The cost of, and lack of parts, like graphics, RAM etc was one reason I went and built my first PC.
The plus side of that olde Mac Pro is you don't need to jump into Snow Leopard which is still rough around the 64-bit edges of drivers, still runs Tiger if need be as well - latest can be bleeding edge and it can cut both ways.
If you can get a 60 day guarantee and cut the price to $1200 it might be fine. Otherwise, check out used/ref'd iMac line.

Upgrading Mac Pro 1,1 graphic card

Hi there,
I'm a photographer and I use my Mac Pro 1,1 most of all with Lightroom 3. I'd love to upgrade to a new Mac Pro, but no budget at the moment, so I'm looking for solutions that would allow Lightroom to work faster. Would upgrading the graphic card make a great difference? If yes, wich one should I buy?
Thanks!
Model Name:          Mac Pro
Model Identifier:          MacPro1,1
Processor Name:          Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed:          2 GHz
Number Of Processors:          2
Total Number Of Cores:          4
L2 Cache (per processor):          4 MB
Memory:          11 GB
Bus Speed:          1.33 GHz
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT:
Chipset Model:          NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
Type:          Display
Bus:          PCIe
Slot:          Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width:          x16
VRAM (Total):          256 MB

I ALSO HAVE A 1ST GEN 1,1 MAC PRO.
ABOUT THE TIME OPENCL (NOT OPENGL) CAME OUT I UPGRADED TO
ATI Radeon HD 4870 WITH
VRAM (Total):          512 MB.
AT TIME APPLE DIDN'T OFFICIALLY SAY THIS WOULD WORK. BUT IT WORKS FINE.
BEST,
JEFF

Mac Pro 2006 or Mac Mini 2014?

Hello everyone,
I want to buy a Mac. I have the choice between a used Mac Pro 2006 (8 cores with 2 quad core 2.66ghz, 32gigs of ram, wifi, bluetooth, superdrive, radeon hd4890 for mac, hdd 250gigs. Yosemite installed.) or a brand new Mac Mini (2.6GHz 4th Gen dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with 8GB of RAM and Intel Iris Graphics).
The price for each is 750$.
What would you do?
Thank you!
neuhaus3000

The new Mac Mini is a Joke.
Dual Cores, what is this early 2000's
Geekbench of 6000+
I don't see that paticulary MacPro, but even the original had a Geekbench score of around 6000.
You can check at everymac.com
As for video the ATI Radion hd4890 Seems to be much better
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=42&cmp[]=2692
The only real advantages are USB3,Thunder Bolt2 and size.

ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB for Mac Pro 2.66 Quad Core Xenon

I have the option of picking up an ATI Radeon HD 4870 1 GB graphics card to go with my soon-to-be-new MAc Pro 2.66 Quad core. I see know that Apple can upgrade to ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB, but that card is not available to me at the moment. Will the 1GB do the job without overheating the system? Am new to the Mac Pros. Need it for the Windows gaming portion of the system. Am using the rest for graphics and photography.

If the MAc Pro 2.66 comes with Snow Leopard, why would I have to upgrade my OS?
OK. So, if got the MAc version, it would work A-OK without overheating?
Thanks for your input!

Mac Pro 2.66 Quad-Core 1GBRAM, how much more RAM and HOW?

I just got my Mac Pro 2.66 Quad-Core, and I had a budget so I left the RAM down @ only 1GB because I knew I could upgrade it later. Well later is here & I want to put more in it, but I hear it is a little more complicated than the sensless shoving of big ram chips into empty slots...
I am a heavy user of Logic 7, soon to be of Logic Studio, and hopefully I will be using AutoCAD at home soon (for school). How much RAM would be optimal for me to eventually have? Right now I think I can afford to purchase 2GB more, but I dont know how exactly to put it into my machine. Right now it has a 512MB per xeon.
Can anyone help me out?

I just pulled out 1GB (2 x 512MB) simms in replaced them with 4GB (2 x 2GB) simms.
I had added more memory as 2 GB (1x2GB) and ran out of space. Now I have a total of 11GB RAM:
1GB = 2 x 512MB
2GB = 2 x 1GB
8GB = 4 x 2GB
Leaving me with 2x512MB simms sitting in the box on the self. Sure wish I knew someone local I could give these things to for a reasonable price. Anyway, I wouldn't go any higher than 2GB simms (4GB) as that seems to currently have the best price/space ratio. Crucial is good enough and order it from NewEgg.com or MacConnection.com and you'll get a good price (I got mine at MacConnection.com).

How I connect a 27 " Mini DisplayPort Display to a Mac Pro 2006?

Dear All,
I need to know if I can connect a 27" Mini DisplayPort Display to Mac Pro 2006
Thanks a lot in advance
Subalv

You can certainly do that, the Apple Online store sells it for US$150.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/H3938LL/A?fnode=MTY1NDA5OQ&s=topSellers
I have not tested it. It is certainly good to know it exists. I hate paying the premium for "leading edge" equipment, so I am writing from my 2009 Mac Pro with used Apple 30 inch Cimena display.
If I were to pay what that new display costs, I would buy a new display card to drive it directly. My recommendation is to upgrade your diplay card for US$100 more (than the cost of the adapter) and get a card capable of Dual-Link DVI AND two Mini Displayports.

How can I connect older Mac Pro (2006) to my network wirelessly?

I just got a new (2012) MacPro that I can connect wirelessly to my network. I'm moving the old Mac Pro (2006) running OS 10.7.5 that had been connect via ethernet cable to the other end of the house. What do I need to get to connect it wirelessly?
Thanks,
Carmen

Carmen,
Since the Wireless card was optional back then, you may not have gotten it in your original config?
You can verify if the hardware is installed several places, as Bob mentioned, do you have the option to enable wireless under your System Prefs \ Network (I would imagine not, since your asking). However, while very unlikely, it may be installed but your not able to see/select it for some reason?
So, just to make sure, you can also verify via looking under "System Information" (you'll want some info from there anyway).
"Apple Menu : About This Mac : More Info : System Report : Network : (look for Wi-Fi etc.)" if it exist you'll see the card and info about it.
If you don't have the option nor see a card was installed you can go about this a few ways.
1. The absolute easiest route (to NOT have to deal with 3rd party drivers or possible 3rd party issues when you upgrade your OS etc) is check out places like Macsales and see if they have any of the original Air Port extreme cards available and install yourself. - http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/BCM94322MC/
2. You could talk with Macsales and ask which external USB wireless card works best with your rig (least fussy) and go that route. While several brands work just fine, you just never know when something changes in an update and then your faced with the old pointing fingers thing. Rare, but still....
Also, while your in the System Information area you'll want to note your model, if it's 2006, I think that's Mac Pro 1,1 ?
Hope that helps.

Mac Pro 2006 Kernel Panic

My stock Mac Pro 2006 just started showing the Kernel Panic screen at start-up. First saw the Kernel Panic this afternoon after leaving the system for less than an hour with a game running (EV Nova in a Pause screen). A reboot brought the system back up for a while, I was running Safari for maybe 10-15 minutes when the Kernel Panic screen showed up again.
Tried the three stock Apple-recommended reboot options, reboot with X key down, reboot with Opt key down and PRAM reset and reboot. No luck; the Panic Kernel screen came on after each one. Also tried the original OS X 10.4 install disk during and Opt key reboot; same Kernel Panic.
And 10.5 and 10.6 universal upgrade disks; the 10.6 disk got to the grey screen with the Apple logo and the spinning activity symbol which stopped after a while, the Apple logo went away and no further screen activity; the 10.5 disk actually got to a light blue screen with a cursor, but no other icons, the cursor did change to a text I-bar at certain areas in the center of the screen and the disk drive would spin up after some mouse or keyboard activity, no screen activity and no further progress.
The boot drive appears to be accessible as the OS on it shows up during the Opt key start-up. I also reset the PRAM several times, so do not think that is the problem. Could the battery need replacing or possibly I have a RAM module just go bad on me?
Suggestions? Thanks in advance.
Dave

Update: I have switched out every RAM module (4 X 512 MB) in turn and switched the two riser cards in every combination of one pair of RAM in the top riser card. After each reboot, the kernel panic screen comes back. Could one bad riser card, even if unpopulated and on the bottom cause the kernel panic? Any way to test my system more without swapping parts other than the RAM in and out?

Upgrading Mac Pro (2006) to 8-core Processor?

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