MacPro and Core 2 Quad

Assuming that the new processors are compatible with the Intel 5000X chipset used in the Mac Pro then yes. However, it will definitely be a DIY job and will also definitely void any warranty you have.

Finally, given the price of the new processors any DIY upgrade would be low value given the high price of two of them.

DIY - Do It Yourself.

yes you can drop in the 5300 series Xeons in fact someone has already done the testing and the Dual Quadcores handle quite nicely

http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2832

It even has a guide to doing the processor swap. Overall the prices arent that bad, given that Apple charges an arm/leg and part of your reproductive organs for the 2.66 - 3.0 Ghz upgrade $800 (the cost difference between the two are about 150-200 bucks on newegg but whatever)

Im waiting for Apple to offer the option of the Dual Quads and hopefully an 8800 GTX/s instead of that ratty ATI1900

but yes you can drop them in with not a shred of problems.

Overall the prices arent that bad

How do you figure that? Given a retail Intel Xeon X5355 processor is going to knock you back $US1200-1500 each you're looking at a potential price tag of near $US3,000 to do the upgrade. Remember, you need to replace two processors and not one.

Yes Apple makes a premium on the processor upgrade. However, it's still far cheaper than doing it yourself.

for what your getting the prices arent that bad, o and i know you replace both sockets (im an apple noob, not a hardware noob)

an 8 core workstation?

patently unheard of until now without shelling out HUGE cash. That and there's an actually upgrade path from dual duals to dual quads if you so choose, thats awesome that intel did that, they couldve moved a pin around and then youd have to buy a completely new system, but they managed to give US an upgrade albeit expensive, but next year sometime it will be cheaper to buy 2x quads than by a new system.

Hmmm… for that amount of money I would have thought it would be better, and probably cheaper, to buy a 4 core Mac Pro now and then when Apple releases an 8 core version buy one then at more or less the same price the Mac Pro is now. So for essentially the same money you get 2 computers, 12 cores of power and warranty all round.

Looking at it that way I think the price is bad. Sorry. 🙂

According to AppleInsider on Oct 26, 2006 the X5345 2.33 GHz quad sells for $851, the same price as the present 3.0 GHz duo.

Theoretically, Apple could charge the same for either configuration, 3.0 duals or 2.33 quads. I know which one I'd prefer.

So what price level are you quoting AppleInsider…

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2176

… at? You might like to note that the article price of $US851 you are quoting is when you buy in lots of 1000 of the 2.33GHz version. Additionaly, my quoted price is for the 2.66GHz version at the retail level. At the retail level the E5345 will be around the $US1000-1200 range which is still a very expensive upgrade.

now its expensive, but later it wont be, every 18 months or so a new generation is bore and the older generation is put out the pasture and they got shed loads cheaper.

any idea when the new 2core quad is comming out?

I'm just assuming that Apple buys by the 1000's. My point is simply that Apple could retail 2.33 dual quads at the same price as the 3.0 dual duos.

Be aware that the Q-series "Core2Quad" and the quad-core Xeons (with the X prefix) are different animals, in so far as their front bus speeds are different. The Xeon's is 1333 MHz, while the core 2 quad is 1066 MHz, so you won't be able to fit the latter into a Mac Pro.

Newegg has the QX6700 extreme (quad core extreme) for 1000, so im guessing the highest end xeon (quad core 2.66 GHz) should be around the same price