MacPro 5,1 sweet spot?

[Audiosweeet]

Any links are appreciated! I'm looking into the 4,1s now...am interested in doing the upgrades. Found a few youtubes that seem helpful but i'd like to have all my ducks in order. If I go for a single core (quad) would I have to get the new tray with the two cores/heat sinks? OR if i bought an 8-core then i'd already have the tray and would just have to purchase the dual hex chips alone correct? Sorry for the noobness.

[Bob L]

Originally Posted by Audiosweeet

...if i bought an 8-core then i'd already have the tray and would just have to purchase the dual hex chips alone correct? Sorry for the noobness.

This.

Do the firmware update first, if you get a 4,1 machine.

[Audiosweeet]

Do all these upgrades talk well with 10.8.5? I'd only assume since they either shipped with lion or ml...

[nigelpry]

My 2009 8-core 4.1 shipped with Leopard!

I've upgraded it to 12-core 3.46ghz and 64gb ram. I have 5x 4tb drives inside, including one in the second optical drive bay. Chickened out and bought the upgrade already made up, just had to take out the old tray and put the new one in, after upgrading firmware to 5.1. Company sent it out to me, then credited me for the 8-core + ram when I sent that back to them. Paid more to do it that way, but downtime was less than five minutes!

Running partitions with 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, 10.8.5 Mountain Lion, 10.10.5 Yosemite and 10.12.4 Sierra, plus Windows 7 sp1 via Bootcamp. UAD Apollo Quad FireWire + Octo pci-e card + Satelite Quad FireWire, Digidesign 003 (only use it as a control surface, MOTU pci-e card with 2x 24i/o and 1x 2408mk3, 2x M-Audio Midisport 8x8, 2x M-Audio Midisport 4x4.

All running sweetly, just occasional Pro Tools crashes and the bugs we know about. Also occasional Wavelab crashes, not since most recent update though. Cubase and logic both much more stable. Run them with Aggregate Device to give me UAD Apollo + MOTU devices all available as i/o. VI all hosted in VEP.

[Matt Hepworth]

Yes, all is happy on 10.8.5, if you need that new of OS. ;-)

[Panacci]

Hey Nigel, who did you buy the kit form? Thanks

[Marcel Risberg]

Originally Posted by Barry Johns

Both the 4.1 and 5.1 are the same if you plan to upgrade CPU's.

I thought the 4,1 uses CPUs without heat spreaders and the 5,1 with. This makes for about a 2mm difference in the CPU cooler position relative to the CPU / mobo. Be careful not to crush your new CPUs when upgrading on a 4,1 - if you do not delid them first.

[nigelpry]

Originally Posted by Panacci

Hey Nigel, who did you buy the kit form? Thanks

Got it from here https://create.pro/upgrade

Chose the "Zero Downtime" option in the 'Service' drop down. They charge a £500 deposit for that, but send the complete processor tray out to you.

Once you are up and running, you contact them and they arrange no charge courier pickup of your old processor tray at a time to suit you. Once they receive your tray, they test it, and providing it is functional (i.e. you are not sending them a dud) they refund you the £500. I got the money back in my account within 24 hours of them receiving my old processor tray.

Upgrading was simplicity itself.

1) Upgrade the firmware. You can do that anytime you like, but must be BEFORE you insert the new tray. You can download the firmware yourself, and Create Pro provide a link.
2) Make sure the firmware upgrade has worked. About my mac will now show your Mac as a 2010 5.1 model.
3) When the new Tray arrives, power down the Mac, remove the side casing, slide out the old tray, slide in the new tray, put the side casing back on, power up.

As I said, it took me less than five minutes.

Sure, as others have said, you can do it yourself for less. But if you want a quick and easy solution, and can live with the extra cost, then it is a hassle free option.

[Panacci]

Thanks Nigel. did the 4.1 to 5.1 upgrade last week. All went well. I will compare prices here in Canada and the link you gave me. again, thanks, Anthony

[Barry Johns]

Originally Posted by Marcel Risberg

I thought the 4,1 uses CPUs without heat spreaders and the 5,1 with. This makes for about a 2mm difference in the CPU cooler position relative to the CPU / mobo. Be careful not to crush your new CPUs when upgrading on a 4,1 - if you do not delid them first.

Yes, if you do not delid the CPU's, which is so easy it's crazy, then yes, you have to use the spacers and the strips, which I own enough of them to do 50 upgrades, bought them before I learned how easy it is to Delid and still have them.