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Mac Pro upgraded with 2 Intel Xeon x5355 processors
After months and months of searching on Ebay and Gumtree I finally bagged the two x5355 processors at a reasonable price! But even when I received them it wasn’t just a case of inserting it in.
I didn’t have thermal paste, acetone and a very long screwdriver to reach down the heatsinks to unscrew the CPU.
I also had a massive issue trying to get the memory cage off; the screws that hold them in place strip very very easily. In a matter of minutes I manged to completely render them useless. In the end, I read an article where they had a similar problem so they just used a bit of brute force to remove the heatsink cover, the front fan assembly and a memory cage slot holder.
I am very happy with the results. I have put new life into a 4 year old Mac Pro. I didn’t have the finance to upgrade to a 2009 Mac Pro but I have no regrets, it is far more rewarding knowing that I upgraded it myself.
My one advise is to don’t bother trying to unscrew the front screws on the memory cage, just unsrew the back ones so you can lever it out to pull out the plastic heatsink cover. From there on it’s easy peesy, so long as you have the right tools.
Mac Pro opened. Memory module, front fan assembly and heatsink covers removed.
Side view of heatsinks with lots of dust collected over the years. Easily removed with compressed air.
As you can see, I could not remove the memory cage assembly so I had to use brute force to remove everything except the memory cage.
So much dust!!
The pair of Intel Xeon x5355 processors in place.
Heatsink with all the old thermal paste still on.
With a bit of Nail Polish remover, I cleaned the heatsink plating.
2 Quad core X5355 processors in place
Intel Xeon x5355 Quad Core 2.66GHZ Processor
GEEKBENCH RESULTS: 52% speed increase
MAC PRO 1,1 QUAD CORE – 4952
MAC PRO 1,1 EIGHT CORE – 9436
Please leave comments below. I’d like to hear your experiences in your upgrade.
** UPDATE 28TH SEPT 2010 **
It has been some while now using my upgrade Mac Pro and I can honestly say it was the best decision I made regarding this superb desktop. I’ve since the upgraded the hard drives so that I have three 1TB hard drives running as a striped RAID 0 for increased speed. I have a forth 1TB drive just acting as a booter.
There was one thing I noticed during a few hot weeks of summer here in the UK, the processors did get quite hot which resulted in a few minor graphic glitches on my Dell 30″ monitor. This was easily solved by increasing the fan speed using the excellent utility called smcFanControl. Other than that it has run smoothly. I’ve recently been editing full HD resolution video from a Canon 5D MK2 . Using Apple’s Final Cut Pro 7 the Mac Pro has had no problems chewing out the renders using all 8 cores. Processing and manipulating full HD video can really strain a computer but I’m pleased to say my x5355 upgrade has made all that scary installation worth it!
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#2 written by Terry 2 years ago
Hi Jonathan. The CPU’s cost me £300 for both from eBay. I stalked Ebay for months waiting for those babies to come up. It took a while, but well worth it. My Mac Pro has been flying since. It will be outclassed by the new Mac Pros but my 1,1 is still a workhorse that can handle everything I throw at it.
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Thanks for the useful informations! I already upgraded my 1.1 Mac Pro (2x 2 Ghz Core 2 duo) with 2 x 5355 (form eBay) and it works fine. I have only one difference, because my GeekBench score 86xx (aprox). But I can confirm, I measured 60% performance increase with HandBrake (convert video from HD1080p to HD720p).
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Thanks for detailed info on this upgrade.
I ordered two used Intel Xeon x5355 processors so will get to work soon as it arrives.
I even have (unofficial) support from local Apple service as they are curious about this upgrade too so I will perform it in their shop with help from experienced engineers. -
#7 written by Terry 2 years ago
Just did this upgrade all is working fine. Have noticed slight temperature rise. Especially at Northbridge Heat Sink. Did you noticed any higher temperatures since upgrade ?
I have noticed a small temperature rise, but nothing that has concerned me. Right now, at idle, my 2 cpus are running at 29c and 31c.
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#8 written by Terry 2 years ago
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CPU temperature is looking alright from 38 to 41C but Northbridge heatsink is going up to 85C. So I had to use smcFan Control to higher fan speed and keep it under 65C.
And at Apple they are preparing to upgrade their old testing MacPro machine from dual to quad using this method.
But I doubt they would officially support this idea either… -
I just bought a first-gen Mac Pro for $770! It is mint condition and the guy never used it! Not sure why because it is a beauty! Too bad the memory is only 1gb and there is no wifi/bluetooth, but that can be fixed!
I plan on doing this 8-core upgrade as well, and I was curious, should I wait until I get both quad core processors to do the install, or can I install one (6-core), and install the second one later when I get it? Is that possible? Anyway I’m loving my new Mac Pro…it is a thousand times better than the power Mac G5 I replaced it with! Great post! Thanks!
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#15 written by Terry 2 years ago
I plan on doing this 8-core upgrade as well, and I was curious, should I wait until I get both quad core processors to do the install, or can I install one (6-core), and install the second one later when I get it? Is that possible?
During my extensive research I had read on a few occasions that it was possible just to fit one processor in first then add another one in later. If I can give you a bit of advice, I would wait until you can get both. It’s a fiddly job (for me at least). During the upgrade I was weary not to scratch or rush anything. I have built 100s of PCs in my lifetime, but that was my first open Mac Pro. Good luck.
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Hi, Great info, might try the same,
Are these new processors exactly same speed as replaced ones, its just you gone from quad core to 8 core??
So only programs that use 8 cores will benefit?
I am photog, using PS CS3, Lightroom 3 & Phocus for my Hasselblad back. If i upgraped will i see significant speed boost??
Also are these correct ones:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/INTEL-XEON-QUAD-CORE-PROCESSOR-X5355-2-66GHZ-SLAC4-/190497965426?pt=CPUs&hash=item2c5a904572Thanks for info
regards
jon -
me again, sorry are these ok:
http://www.codemicro.com/store/product/BP/sl9ym/Refurbished
jon -
#18 written by Terry 2 years ago
me again, sorry are these ok:
http://www.codemicro.com/store/product/BP/sl9ym/Refurbished
jonYup, those should work fine. Buy them in a pair so you don’t have to open up the Mac Pro twice. It’s a real hassle fitting in the CPU.
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This is going to sound like I know nothing about what I am talking about in this arena, and that is because that statement would be completely accurate! In light of that, here is my question. Does upgrading my 2006 MacBook Pro with these processors enable me to install Mac OS X Snow Leopoard and enable a dual operating system?
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If it is a MacBook Pro (laptop) than none of the CPU upgrades are possible (to my knowledge), if it’s a Mac Pro (Desktop), then the upgrade is possible. However, you can dual-boot a Mac Pro (or even triple-boot it) with or without the CPU upgrades. The stock Mac Pro 1,1 will run Snow Leopard perfectly.
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#21 written by Terry 1 year ago
Fieryhail is correct. It’s not possible to upgrade any laptop’s CPU let alone Apple’s Macbooks.
And you can dual boot into any Windows OS, but I think the earliest you can go is Windows XP Service Pack 2.
I have noticed a significant performance increase since upgrading the CPUs. I’ve also flashed an Nvidia card so now my Mac Pro is a proper gaming rig!! Crysis 2 flies on that.
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you do realize that what you experienced by upgrading your own computer is what pc users experience all the time right? and that as a pc user, it doesnt cost more than most college tuition to just buy a new computer right? and that with a mac you cant actually do anything worthwhile without a converter right?. jesus get a freaking pc.
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#23 written by Terry 1 year ago
Thank you for pointing out the obvious. I find it funny and pointless that PC users find it necessary to justify their own choices by trashing other Computers. I’ve been using PCs for most of my life. I’ve built literally hundreds of PCs. I like what they can do. My personal choice is to use a more powerful operating system called OSX. In amongst my various computers I do own a Windows 7 machine which I build in the last 6 months. I like it. It’s a media machine. It’s awesome as media player and server.
So I thank you for pointing out the obvious PCdude. Yes upgrading PCs are easier. Apple don’t want people upgrading their machines but I did it anyway and I’m all the more happier for it.
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Hi,
Have you upgraded to Lion or even even upgraded Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 yet since upgrading your CPU to the X5355?I upgraded to E5345 in my MacPro 1,1 and they’ve been running well for months until I upgraded to 10.6.8 and started getting lots of kernel panic reboots. I used TC to roll back to 10.6.7 and it’s stable again. I even installed Lion on a fresh RAID array and that kernel panics too.
I thought it might be the SSD RAID array I had connected to the 2 spare SATA ports on the motherboard but even with those disconnected and just my 4 normal drives in RAID arrays it still kernel panics.
I’ve not tried putting my original CPU back in yet but that’s the next step.
So for now I’m stuck with 10.6.7 until I find the cause. I’ve got a dialogue going with bugreport.apple.com and sent them logs but I’m not holding my breath.
Not many people around who upgrade the CPUs in the MacPro 1,1 so I’m struggling to find info.
Regards
Scoopz (Neil Cooper)
twitter.com/scoopz -
Terry:
Hi Scoopz,
Yes, I’ve upgraded to Lion without any issues or any noticable difference in performance.
What happens if you install Lion onto a fresh blank HDD? Might be worth doing just to eliminate the hardware factor.Terry,
I’ve now rolled back my main boot installation to 10.6.7 and all is well again. I have installed Lion on two wiped SATA drives in bay 3 and 4 but these drives were not new and in a RAID array and I’ve been reading about issues with Lion and Apples own software RAID (via Disk Utility) so next thing to try is breaking that RAID array up and just installing onto one of the drives and see how that goes. Even on a fresh Lion install on the RAID array if I went to Disk Utility and ran “repair disk” it did nothing at all then said complete so there’s something funky going on.
Out of curiosity, are the drives in your MacPro in any kind of RAID setup?
What graphics card are you using? Mine came with the stock 7300GT which has never been great especially connected to a 30″ Apple Cinema Display and 19″ Dell 1905FP.
Scoopz
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Hi Scoopz & Terry,
I’ve recently upgraded my Mac Pro 1,1 with X5365 and have had a similar run of kernel panics as mentioned by Scoopz. Am also on Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and wondering what the issue might be so very interesting to read your experience (first I could find of anyone having a similar problem). How did you roll back to 10.6.7? Use Time Machine?
I seem to have lessened the frequency of panics by upgrading Little Snitch. I had an older version installed that after a bit of reading I found had issues that could cause kernel panics. Still having issues on a daily basis at present though, so please share any additional info or solution you find! Guess my next step is to try find a 10.6.7 backup to play with…
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#28 written by Terry 1 year ago
Hi Scoopz and (erm) Poo,
My system has 3 x 2tb drives in software Striped RAID 0. My 4th drive is my primary drive which boots up the OS.
I have a flashed ATI RADEON HD 4870 installed which runs perfectly without a glitch.
I’ve recently upgraded to 12GB of ram.
Everything runs accordingly. No crashes to report that relates to my CPU upgrade.
My OS is NOT installed on the RAID array. Not sure if that makes a difference.
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poo:
Hi Scoopz & Terry,
I’ve recently upgraded my Mac Pro 1,1 with X5365 and have had a similar run of kernel panics as mentioned by Scoopz. Am also on Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and wondering what the issue might be so very interesting to read your experience (first I could find of anyone having a similar problem). How did you roll back to 10.6.7? Use Time Machine?
I seem to have lessened the frequency of panics by upgrading Little Snitch. I had an older version installed that after a bit of reading I found had issues that could cause kernel panics. Still having issues on a daily basis at present though, so please share any additional info or solution you find! Guess my next step is to try find a 10.6.7 backup to play with…
Terry:
To roll back to 10.6.7 simply insert your Snow Leopard DVD, reboot the computer holding down C when booting and when you get to the installer screen first run Disk Utility to check the hdd for errors. Then take a leap of faith and click on your main OS drive (the one with 10.6.8 currently installed) and hit install. DO NOT PANIC it does not wipe the drive or over-write any settings it will simply re-install Snow Leopard (probably 10.6.3 on DVD) over the 10.6.8. When you log in after installation you will notice things like the App store will show a question mark on the dock since App store wasn’t around then. All you need to do is download 10.6.7 combo updater from http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1361 and install that to bring you back to 10.6.7. I downgraded my spare OS X using TimeMachine and main OS X using the above mentioned method using DVD and Combo Updater.Hi Scoopz and (erm) Poo,
My system has 3 x 2tb drives in software Striped RAID 0. My 4th drive is my primary drive which boots up the OS.
I have a flashed ATI RADEON HD 4870 installed which runs perfectly without a glitch.
I’ve recently upgraded to 12GB of ram.
Everything runs accordingly. No crashes to report that relates to my CPU upgrade.
My OS is NOT installed on the RAID array. Not sure if that makes a difference.Thanks for the updated info on your setup, good to make note that your OS X isnt’t installed on your RAID array, that’s next for me to try. I’ve bought an Apple 5770 to try updating my 7300GT and see if that helps me.
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poo:
Hi Scoopz & Terry,
I’ve recently upgraded my Mac Pro 1,1 with X5365 and have had a similar run of kernel panics as mentioned by Scoopz. Am also on Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and wondering what the issue might be so very interesting to read your experience (first I could find of anyone having a similar problem). How did you roll back to 10.6.7? Use Time Machine?
I seem to have lessened the frequency of panics by upgrading Little Snitch. I had an older version installed that after a bit of reading I found had issues that could cause kernel panics. Still having issues on a daily basis at present though, so please share any additional info or solution you find! Guess my next step is to try find a 10.6.7 backup to play with…To roll back to 10.6.7 simply insert your Snow Leopard DVD, reboot the computer holding down C when booting and when you get to the installer screen first run Disk Utility to check the hdd for errors. Then take a leap of faith and click on your main OS drive (the one with 10.6.8 currently installed) and hit install. DO NOT PANIC it does not wipe the drive or over-write any settings it will simply re-install Snow Leopard (probably 10.6.3 on DVD) over the 10.6.8. When you log in after installation you will notice things like the App store will show a question mark on the dock since App store wasn’t around then. All you need to do is download 10.6.7 combo updater from http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1361 and install that to bring you back to 10.6.7. I downgraded my spare OS X using TimeMachine and main OS X using the above mentioned method using DVD and Combo Updater.
Terry:
Hi Scoopz and (erm) Poo,
My system has 3 x 2tb drives in software Striped RAID 0. My 4th drive is my primary drive which boots up the OS.
I have a flashed ATI RADEON HD 4870 installed which runs perfectly without a glitch.
I’ve recently upgraded to 12GB of ram.
Everything runs accordingly. No crashes to report that relates to my CPU upgrade.
My OS is NOT installed on the RAID array. Not sure if that makes a difference.Thanks for the updated info on your setup, good to make note that your OS X isnt’t installed on your RAID array, that’s next for me to try. I’ve bought an Apple 5770 to try updating my 7300GT and see if that helps me.
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Klaustechhelp, hard to be definite about it. Some are having issues with Lion, others having none. Read through these threads and keep an eye on them for updates: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2809634?start=45&tstart=0
http://blog.scoopz.com/2011/08/04/apple-update-10-6-8-and-lion-10-7-cause-kernel-panics-on-macpro-11/Personally I would hold off a while until at least the first Lion update and see what changes if anything. My system now seems more stable than it was, but still not 100% and I’m running much higher fan rpms to get the result. Something to bear in mind for a number of reasons, for me the noise is an annoying addition (it’s not too bad TBH but I really like a quiet system).
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any update on this? I just got a mac pro (1,1) 2.66 dual and want to upgrade to a 2-quad core system. Does the SLXXX of the processor need to be anything specific? there’s SLAC4, SLAEG, SL9YM, etc…will they all work? Also, any update on lion or snow leopard compatibility? I plan on running SSD and max ram/video card.
thanks folks, and I look forward to contributing in the future (I’m an Apple certified technician in Greenwich CT).
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#37 written by David Bardwell 7 months ago
I’ve done a similar upgrade to my Mac Pro 1.1 and had issues with kernel panics in 10.6.8 and I’ve solved this by upgrading the firmware to Mac Pro 2, this contains all the coding to support the newer processors. It’s available online if you search and its an easy install and allows you to switch back to 1.1 if you need to. I’ve had no kernel panics since I upgraded.
Cheers
Dave -
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Nice work! How much did you end up spending on the 2 new processors? Like you I have the MacPro 1.1 as well as a custom built dual E5520 machine.
The most recent 8 core mac pro is vastly overpriced at ~$3500. A similar config can be built for ~$1500.
The problem with the X5355 upgrade is that as far as I know, those cpus are still quite expensive. New E5520s which are 2x as fast are going for $370 each.
The MacPro case and internals are a beauty though. So the upgrade is tempting.