How far can you upgrade a MacPro's CPU?

nwlloyd13

January 10, 2013 12:21:19 AM

hi there,
i'm a little bit of a noob guys so if i say something stupid you will have to forgive me.

i was recently offered a 2009 mac pro at an attractive price however i rather not get it for the sake of just getting it.
after doing a bit of research i notice how apple's mac pros internal design change after the 2009 model. the CPU and ram for the Mac pros seem to be located on another board rather then what i would refer to as a traditionally motherboard on a PC (i think the term is logic board).
These logic boards after 2009 up till 2012 seem to detach in much the same way from the main board and (to my untrained eye) the connecting points look the same.

So my questions is, is it possible to change/upgrade these logic boards such as the 2009's (quad/6 core) to a 2012's logic board that allows you to have 2x6cores?
if not could you also explain way as i like educating myself

More about : upgrade macpro cpu

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k1114

CPUs Master

January 10, 2013 3:02:21 AM

The picture you have is the 2009 processor board. They had an option for a single cpu or dual cpu configuration and you can switch out your single socket board for a dual socket. You would need to upgrade the firmware to 5.1 if you are 4.1 to accept the 6 core cpus. But it is cheaper to get the 2009 parts and any 6 core cpus.

I'd be wondering where you can get it reasonably priced. OWC offers it for $2k; certainly not worth it for last gen hardware. I can get a whole 2x6 core tower with 64gb ram for that price with the current cpu generation. Looking for the parts separately got it down to $1400 (board, 2x cpu, 2x heatsinks) but that still isn't worth it. But you are uk right? How much can you get it for?

If a mod sees this, they can merge the threads. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/360596-28-upgrade-cpu...

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amuffin

CPUs Master

January 10, 2013 5:43:45 AM

I hope you don't have to go through the long journey I had to take in order to disassemble a Power Mac G5.

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nwlloyd13

January 10, 2013 2:30:17 PM

k1114 said:

The picture you have is the 2009 processor board. They had an option for a single cpu or dual cpu configuration and you can switch out your single socket board for a dual socket. You would need to upgrade the firmware to 5.1 if you are 4.1 to accept the 6 core cpus. But it is cheaper to get the 2009 parts and any 6 core cpus.

I'd be wondering where you can get it reasonably priced. OWC offers it for $2k; certainly not worth it for last gen hardware. I can get a whole 2x6 core tower with 64gb ram for that price with the current cpu generation. Looking for the parts separately got it down to $1400 (board, 2x cpu, 2x heatsinks) but that still isn't worth it. But you are uk right? How much can you get it for?

If a mod sees this, they can merge the threads. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/360596-28-upgrade-cpu...

Thanks so much for the information, i'm debating whether i should mod a G5 case or save myself the hassel and just go with the Mac Pro and keep life simple (but not necessarily cheap).

I have notice that the 2012 MacPro also runs on the 5,1 firmware, i have no idea where you would find one of them so soon, but is it possible to buy the board which would allow you to use the new dual E5 xeons like you find in the new Mac Pro? Or does the 2009 dual CPU board already support the E5s?

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montosaurous

January 10, 2013 3:13:42 PM

I'd just go for a Windows machine or build a Hackintosh. Much better.

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k1114

CPUs Master

January 10, 2013 6:35:03 PM

2009-2012 including the current mac pros on sale are still using lga1366 even though lga2011 came out in... 2011. The e5 are lga 2011. There is no concrete info about mac pro 2013 but they seem to be finally updating to lga 2011. It would also be 6.1 and no idea if they are changing the design. They probably will since it's a new socket like from 08 to 09. All of their other products are becoming less and less upgradable so I assume the pro will follow suit.

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nwlloyd13

January 11, 2013 2:51:15 PM

k1114 said:

2009-2012 including the current mac pros on sale are still using lga1366 even though lga2011 came out in... 2011. The e5 are lga 2011. There is no concrete info about mac pro 2013 but they seem to be finally updating to lga 2011. It would also be 6.1 and no idea if they are changing the design. They probably will since it's a new socket like from 08 to 09. All of their other products are becoming less and less upgradable so I assume the pro will follow suit.

Very true and thanks again for the information.
To be honest i'm just a fan of the mac pro case and couldn't decide weather i go the mac route or mod a G5 and get a hackpro.
although i'm not not a big fan of the idea of me modding a case.
might go with the hackpro again and see if i can a pc case that as strikingly good like as the mac pro case.
thanks again.

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