[alon99]

Hi everyone,

Can I buy the single quad-core Mac Pro today, and drop in a second quad-core processor in the future? Is there an empty socket, or does the single quad-core use a different motherboard?

Do processors need to be matched pairs? Or in the future would I be able to drop in a 3.2GHz processor alongside the existing 2.8?

Thanks!

[Leonard]

Find a Mac Pro with a single processor, take a picture of it and come back to us and ask this question.

We haven't even seen the motherboard in a single processor Mac Pro, yet!

[newtech]

The Service Source document for the Mac pro ( early 2008 ) only lists two logic board part numbers 2.8/3.0 GHz (661-4449) and 3.2 GHz (661-4676), so best guess is the single processor CAN be upgraded by adding a second processor and heat sink.

The new machines appear to use a board revision nearly identical to the 8 core with the exception of using the 5400X chip set and a revised northbridge heat sink/cooler in place of the 5000X chipset and heat sink.

[zaghahzag]

Originally Posted by newtech 

The Service Source document for the Mac pro ( early 2008 ) only lists two logic board part numbers 2.8/3.0 GHz (661-4449) and 3.2 GHz (661-4676), so best guess is the single processor CAN be upgraded by adding a second processor and heat sink.

The new machines appear to use a board revision nearly identical to the 8 core with the exception of using the 5400X chip set and a revised northbridge heat sink/cooler in place of the 5000X chipset and heat sink.

it could be crippled in firmware right? I seriously doubt apple is going to sell a single proc machine that you can upgrade to two processors. It's not their style.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by alon99 

Can I buy the single quad-core Mac Pro today, and drop in a second quad-core processor in the future? Is there an empty socket, or does the single quad-core use a different motherboard?

Yes, you should be able to add another CPU in the future.

Originally Posted by alon99 

Do processors need to be matched pairs? Or in the future would I be able to drop in a 3.2GHz processor alongside the existing 2.8?

Yes, they need to be matched.

Originally Posted by newtech

The Service Source document for the Mac pro ( early 2008 ) only lists two logic board part numbers 2.8/3.0 GHz (661-4449) and 3.2 GHz (661-4676), so best guess is the single processor CAN be upgraded by adding a second processor and heat sink.

Strange... I'd expect the 2.8 to be separate form the 3.0/3.2, since the latter two have a higher TDP than the former.

[newtech]

No, the 3.2 ( X5482 ) is the only part with the 130 Watt TDP. All others are 80 Watts or less TDP. The 3.2 in fact requires "liquid metal"/Krytox thermal compound and gasket like the previous 8 core 3.0 GHz ( X5365 ).

Firmware lock out of a second processor, while not easy to circumvent should it be employed, presents only a problem not an impossablity. In any case, from production standpoint simply removing a processor rather than altering firmware makes more sense cost wise ( ie fewer parts to stock, less rework to BTO/CTO )

[alon99]

Hi everyone,

Just checking back on this thread - now that a few people actually have these systems, are there any additional thoughts on wether this is a viable option? All the internal shots of the MacPro that I've seen don't show the actual processors - would I need to buy some sort of Apple-specific heatsync part if I was going to upgrade in the future?

Thanks,

Alon

[Waragainstsleep]

As stated, there is only one part number for the logic boards of units below 3.2GHz. If the firmware were any different, there would be a different part number. Apple has a system in place where they can offer variants of the same part under the same part number. 99% of these are compatible so you can swap them freely. I guess these variants are used to distinguish different batches of drives or changes of components or design revisions on Apple's custom boards. There are no variants of either Mac Pro board at the moment. At the very least, a board with different firmware would have one of these variant codes. Otherwise the warehouse would not be able to tell them apart.
Apple could introduce variants in the future. Its not unheard of for them to add equivalent parts with entirely different part numbers.

I would bet that all currently shipped units will take a second matching CPU, no questions asked.
The first gen Pros could be upgraded from quad to 8 core and presumeably you could just go for higher clock speeds as with Mac Minis or iMacs but it looks like a sub 3.2GHz unit will be impossible (or maybe just not sensible) to upgrade to 3.2 or beyond.

[dan_aka_jack]

Hi there,

This is a very interesting thread.

Where could I source a Mac Pro heatsink if I were to do a DIY-install of a second Xeon processor? Is eBay the only way to get hold of a Mac Pro heatsink?

Many thanks,
Jack

[Aegis]

I've heard speculation that the single CPU MacPro has a different logic board with only one processor slot. I haven't heard definitively from someone who owns one though. So all this talk may be moot if we don't find out for certain