upgrading CPUs in a 2009 plus firmware update to get a 2010

[Steve Steele]

So this is becoming quite popular. For about $2000 you can get the equivalent of a $9000 nMP (minus Thunderbolt - sort of) in terms of general performance. I'm sure everyone knows this by know. I did my own surgery. It's a piece of cake.

I've made a quick video that shows the process of swapping CPUs with photos. Folks, it's EASY. No more difficult than swapping RAM. Remember PC users do this ALL THE TIME.

And the increase in horsepower is ridiculous. My 2009 2x2.26 8-core went from a Geekbench score of 14000 to 32000. I plan on buy a 2nd machine and selling my trusty 2008. If you use an OWC, Sonnet Tempo, Anglefire, or RamCity (Australia), you get Thunderbolt SSD speeds (from 780MB reads for the OWC to 2000MB/s reads for the RamCity). Add Sonnet USB 3.0 crd for $129. And buy the x5690s that come delidded for about $500 (they're server pulls usually from retired Dell servers). Until the v4 or v5 Xeons come to the MacPros the 5690s or 5680s will remain competitive. The only slow down is the RAM and bus speed. But saving at least $7000 is quite worth it.

There are several videos out there but I've done this upgrade a few times for others and some of the video are just way too timid. Again, it's like pulling RAM.

Here's my video.

https://youtu.be/6KXoYAHrtWQ

Enjoy!

[HCMarkus]

Nicely done Steve. The de-lidded CPUs make the 2009 dual-CPU upgrade a piece of cake.

This guy will de-lid two CPU's for $130:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2009-Mac-Pro-Du ... 28034ffd9c

It should be emphasized that those upgrading single CPU 2009 4,1's or 2010/2012 single or dual 5,1's do not need de-lidded CPUs.

Lots of discussion, and more than a few MOTUNation success stories here:

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... =4&t=58848

[zuul-studios]

Nice job with the video. I'm enjoying my refurbished Early 2009 --> 2010 Mac Pro! (Although I did have the upgrade done for me.) After watching your video YouTube automatically played the next video. (I guess this is a new feature by YouTube. Ugh!) The next video showed a company upgrading a 2010 Mac Pro to a 2013 Mac Pro (using the "Classic Mac Pro). It's minus the Thunderbolt ports, of course. But it was interesting to see that it's being done.

[Steve Steele]

Thanks for the info guys.

I think traditional Mac users (myself included) should start looking to upgrade our MacPros when and however we can (within reason). Judging by what I'm seeing all over YouTube that seems to be a growing consensus.

Unlike PC users who have been doing this forever, Mac users, and rightfully so have always felt that our machines only needed some tweaking before the next purchasing cycle. But with Apple reducing the number of models that can be upgraded down to two (MacPro and iMac, and even then just slightly), I think it's time for us to become expert mechanics.

That's just my opinion.

[mikehalloran]

The problem for us iMac owners is that, while it is supposed to be possible, there is no reliable info on CPUs that have been tested for compatibility and aren't likely to cause heat issues.

If I could upgrade my wife's i5 with Thunderbolt to an i7 and know that it would just work, I'd do it when I install an SSD in the next few weeks. Once I did that, I'd swap iMacs with her.