I am reading stories of folks upgrading their Mac Pro (2102 and earlier) processor.
Is it pssible to actually do this? Where is a source for processers and what is the approximate cost of so doing?
I have a new 4 core 3.3 Ghz unit and am curious about the pros and cons of such an upgrade.
Love to hear from anyone that has gone this route!
Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9), New Mac Pro 3,2 Ghz,6 GB of RAM.
None of this is Apple supported or approved, so you will have to do some Google searching for help. Be sure you have the correct model in your search. A "new" Mac Pro is a Late 2013 model. If you have a 2012 model, then it is not "new" anymore.
I have done an upgrade to a 2006 MP to go from 4-cores to 8-cores.
True, but is was new to me about 2 or 3 weeks ago when I bought it. So, with 3 iMacs and the "New" Pro in the house, I still think if it as new. Where did you get the 8 core CPU. Which one?
Many thanks !!
I bought them on eBay. They would not work in your model. Yours uses different processors. Only doing a bunch of Google searches will you find links to articles from people who have done the mod to a model like yours. Good articles have photos for disassembly and installation, tools needed, and CPU data. Then you go hunting for parts after you feel comfortable with what you will have to do.
If you do a lot of looking you may even find one or two video tutorials.
This is not something we can continue chatting about here. Apple highly disapproves of topics like this one. In fact it may soon be removed.
Sorry if I brought up a questionable topic. Meant no harm at all.
Lets do close this topic and I will try to forget I ever brought it up ! <grin>
I will go with the Tempo Pro 6Gb/s SATA PCI Express 2.5" on order, and Samsung Pro SSD on hand, for an immediate performance gain, and will fill-her-up with RAM spoon
Thanks for the quick reply.
Before you even think about such an Upgrade, you need to use Activity Monitor to make certain your Mac actually is compute-bound.
Most Mac Pros are NOT! They are I/O bound around the single Boot drive, which creates a "traffic jam" since everything depends on the Boot drive. Some are also RAM-bound.
Users have been very pleased by moving User files and editing files off to other Volumes, and keeping a lean, mean Boot Drive with only System, Library, Applications, and the hidden unix files including Paging/Swap.
In the 2009 and later models, there are one-socket and two-socket Drive shelves. If yours is now a 4-core, the most you can chip-swap up to is a 6-core. OWC runs a Drive shelf swap program, but it starts above about US$1000.
Thanks, Grant !
I have looked at the OWC site and their upgrade option. The price versus gain is not something I will attempt.
However, I am very interested in usint Activity Monitor to see where bottle-necks if any, might be, but am not sure just how to do this?
Any details or instructions to share?
Many thanks !!
Thanks, Grany. A great start !
Actually....you for the single cpu tray, you can go from quad to hex. I did my experiment today...from the W3530 and move up to my x5650 hexcore. I have the picture for the proof.
I upgraded my 2010 Pro from 2.8 Quad to 3.33 Hex. I want to say the processor was around $400 for a used one. For a single processor machine you want a W36xx processor, the X56xx is for dual processor machines.
Mac Pro Processor upgrade ?
