Building a MacPro, Yes, a MacPro not a Hackintosh Options

[digitalperformer]

Hey dude... here's what you were asking about from newegg. Might not be apple-certified but who gives a crap... People pay for apple's stamp of approval even though memory comes from the same place... China sweatshop... when are we going to manufacture in the United States? What ever happened to being the greatest country on the planet? Well anyway hope this helps with your build... Keep it coming... I'm so excited about my build... HELLL YEAHHHHZZZZZ

Processors:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819117147

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....+Mac+Pro+System

4 Gigs of iRam for a $160.. for DDR2 667 FB-DIMM

Replacement Memory HeatSink... I'm going with this one instead of apple's stock:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835106098

[nagal]

Which logicboard did you get? I have not heard of anyone using the Harpertowns in the older Mac Pros yet. They *should* work but you never know. Thanks for being the test subject on this one

OWC is the place to get memory... http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20Wor...g/53FB2MPK04GB/

EDIT: Just saw the OTHER set of iRam same prices as OWC doh... but going to leave the link to OWC for others

Plus you really want 4 sticks of memory to get Quad-Channel support.

Those heat sinks look sexy!

[maclust]

ok, i have taken the standoff's out of the case and can no longer find them so do i epoxy the mobo tray to the side of the case or putty epoxy it raised about 1/8-1/4 inch. i also detached the mobo tray from the backing it came. i am going to epoxy the tray and rivet the backing to the mac case.

[nagal]

ok, i have taken the standoff's out of the case and can no longer find them so do i epoxy the mobo tray to the side of the case or putty epoxy it raised about 1/8-1/4 inch. i also detached the mobo tray from the backing it came. i am going to epoxy the tray and rivet the backing to the mac case.

Umm I am really confused. You took ALL the standoffs out? You only need to take the 8 standoff out for the heat sinks IF you are using after market heat sinks.

Maybe this was meant to be in a G5 case mod thread which this is not.

[Bill Best]

It would have been nice if IBM and Motorola kept it together for Apple and really crafted their PowerPC Chips to greater heights. Ohh well... I would love to see Gate's face when Jobs unveils the official Mac OS X - lock free. I predict Microsoft will lose 50 percent of their market share within 8 to 12 months.

..and the end of Apple producing computer hardware about 24 months after that

[maclust]

Maybe this was meant to be in a G5 case mod thread which this is not.

yes it was i apologize

[newtech]

Really would be great to see if digitalperformer's E5420's work or not. Much rumor and one actual attempt ( E5410 by Listed1st.com ) says they don't.

[nagal]

Really would be great to see if digitalperformer's E5420's work or not. Much rumor and one actual attempt ( E5410 by Listed1st.com ) says they don't.

I wonder which logic board revision Listed1st.com was using. I saw his comments on http://www.o0o.it/pro/ but there really was not much else other than it did not work.

[newtech]

Presumably a MacPro1,1 as there is little reason to change processors ( for speed ) on a MacPro2,1 unless doing a DIY build.

[digitalperformer]

Interesting question about the Harpertown... Instruction sets of Harpertown vs Cloverfield equate with the exception of an added set... SSE4.1 ... socket type same... voltage range same... FSB higher with Harpertown, ver 2 logic board should have FSB of 1.33Ghz which acommodates Harpertown... Now how the NorthBridge handles it is another story... The computer industry, to some degree, has always designed components to be somewhat future proof... meaning upgradibility and compatibility... I doubt that Apple will have scumbagged owners from upgrading processors... otherwise, why not soilder the CPU to the motherboard? In anycase... I read the comment left by "Listed1st"... He didn't leave much detail... only that the cpus didn't work... was he referring to an Engineering Sample With or Without BSEL mod or was he only running one processor; he refers to the E5410 as plural and then singular in one sentence... I really get frustrated with people who perform experiments without disclosing some sort of documentation or procedure blah blah blah... Whatever, I have the balls and I'm going for it unless someone can prove me wrong. Can we possibly create some sort of "all about mac hardware" collective... I'm willing to start a website myself... Sick of not having accurate, detailed, information... always a codename or "ver 2" if you know what I mean Thanks Guys

[nagal]

newtech's comment about being a MacPro1,1 logic board makes perfect sense. You might have some success with the MacPro2,1 (ie V2) logic board. I am very interested in how it turns out because the Harpertowns offer lower heat = less fan speed = less noise AND 12MB of cache

As for Mac hardware knowledge, we are chartering some unexplored waters. There is some knowledge out there but not a lot as Mac's in general have not been very upgradable and we are stumbling along blindly.

[digitalperformer]

..and the end of Apple producing computer hardware about 24 months after that

A reputation goes a long way... if they continue to design solid hot-rod hardware they won't be disappearing anytime soon. Competition is good for the consumer and for technology. They can dominate both hardware and software if they go in for the Microsoft Kill!!!

[newtech]

Apple is a lot less forthcoming with system descriptions and hardware documentation than they were in years past. Detective work turns up a lot of theory and background information, but theory only gets you so far. Sometimes it is about experimenting, and sometimes that comes hard or at a cost.

Oddly some experimenters jealously guard their results, or do not report them at all. Nagal has done the community a great service with his documentation here. I am happy to throw in my $0.02 wherever possible.

[Bearcat]

I may be totally wrong here, as I am not a Mac Pro builder, only a Mac Pro owner.

My assumption has always been that the first generation Mac Pros used an Intel 5000x chip set which supports the 51xx and 53xx series of Xeons.

The second generation (Jan 2008) uses an Intel 5400x chip set which supports the 54xx Xeons, being the Harpertown 45nm fab series.

So depending on which chipset is on the logic board purchased, that will dictate which of the Xeons it will support.

Intel also switched chipsets on the desktop boards to support the new 45nm Penryn chips as well.

[digitalperformer]

same here... I value knowledge and human evolution... intellectual property should be protected but not hidden ; it's not like we're sharing nuclear secrets with North Korea... My pics and detailed information coming soon... I plan on dissecting Apples Power supply and offer illustrations along with measurements and possible non-apple PS replacements. Will do same for logic board and everything else I can get my hands on...


http://www.intel.com/products/server/chips...chips_body+servIntel

Server Chipsets


No mention of 53XX support by 5000X... am I blind?...Anyway, nagal can you read a chipset on your ver 2 logic board?

[Bearcat]

As usual, I probably need my assumptions adjusted.

According to this Intel processor comparison, picking similar processors from the 54xx (45nm) and 53xx (65nm) family, both say they are supported by the 5000 chip set.

http://compare.intel.com/pcc/showchart.asp...p;culture=en-US

Only time will tell. Now I'm very interested in this outcome.

[nagal]

I found this and posted it a few pages back

http://compare.intel.com/pcc/showchart.asp...p;culture=en-US

It seems to imply that ANY of the 54xx processors should work with the 5000X Chipset.

[Bearcat]

I found this and posted it a few pages back

http://compare.intel.com/pcc/showchart.asp...p;culture=en-US

It seems to imply that ANY of the 54xx processors should work with the 5000X Chipset.

Cool, so the only thing that might be questionable will be the firmware on the logic board.

[nagal]

That is my thinking that it is a firmware issue. But if it is a firmware issue we are screwed as I see no way around that.

[newtech]

Yes, Intel advertises 54xx work with the 5000X chipset, at a maximum FSB of 1333 MHz. No good reason why 54xx would not work in MP 1,1/2,1 other than SMC firmware not handling them properly.