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Using Dual Xeons from a Mac Pro to build a Hackintosh


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I have 2 x5570's that i pulled from my Mac Pro replaced them with x5680's

 

I was wondering if it would be possible to use those 2 processors to build a hackintosh?

 

I assume the compatibility and drivers should be there in some form as the Mac Pro already used and supported these processors.

 

Would anyone happen to know the motherboard I would need in order to make this work when I build a hackintosh. My friend is interested in building one so I will either use it to help him or if he decides to go another route I may try to just use it as a render box to work in conjunction with my existing Mac Pro while rendering.

 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I currently have 2 x5570's (Lidless From a Mac Pro) and a Apple Radeon HD 5870 1 GB

would anyone be able to suggest what additional components I would need and would be compatible so I could get a rough Idea on what I would be expecting to spend on this? Thanks!

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I was wondering if it would be possible to use those 2 processors to build a hackintosh?
It should work. However there could be some troubles with heatsinks, as the CPUs you own, are lidless, while most (if not all) heatsinks are designed to work with standard CPU with lid. Not a big deal though. Also worth noting, that CPU sockets in PC MBs has a latch/spring which fixes the CPU in place

http://www.pcstats.com/articleimages/200903/installLGA1366_2159.jpg

The above socket is also designed to work with lided CPUs. The question is would there be any issues with that (i.e. CPU not properly fixed).

 

I assume the compatibility and drivers should be there in some form as the Mac Pro already used and supported these processors.
Sure. Many Intel CPUs which Apple don't use (in any of their computers), are perfectly working in OS X. Supported CPUs, are even more so.

 

Would anyone happen to know the motherboard I would need in order to make this work when I build a hackintosh
I'd suggest an Intel made server MB with X58 chipset. Other brands should also work, but AFAIK Intel boards are less difficult to set up and are robust. Alternatively you'd need a MB with LGA 1366 socket.

 

...I may try to just use it as a render box to work in conjunction with my existing Mac Pro while rendering.
Good idea!

 

would anyone be able to suggest what additional components I would need and would be compatible so I could get a rough Idea on what I would be expecting to spend on this?
It depends on the MB selected. Most more or less modern MBs now have an on board sound and LAN. Intel board will most likely have some version of Intel LAN which should be supported. If there would be no on board sound and you'd need the sound anyway, then an USB/PCI sound car would also be needed.

 

Plus other usual peripherals like:

  • big PC case (to fit ATX/ Extended ATX motherboard) with as many HDD slots you'd need
  • powerful (700W or more) PSU with 2 CPU power sockets (dual CPU MBs have separate CPU power sockets for each CPU)
  • HDD/SSD depending on your needs/budget
  • RAM (lots of RAM); AFAIK used server type (ECC/Registered) is relativity cheap on Ebay

More or less so...

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The above socket is also designed to work with lided CPUs. The question is would there be any issues with that (i.e. CPU not properly fixed).

 

 

This is one particular sticking point I was worried about ... since it was a bit of a hassle to get the lidded CPUs into my Mac Pro without crushing the sockets. If anyone has any additional insight on this topic and the plausibility it would be great thanks!

 

and on the topic of motherboards are there any specific ones you would suggest, especially in conjunction with working with Hackintosh and with the class of processor I have on hand?

 

Thanks

 

Gonna see if my friend is interested when I can confidently get an idea of how much this would cost, if he's not if its worth my $$ I'll make a render box as noted before.

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K so a 450 dollar board

 

Would you happen to be able to give me some insight on whether or not I would be able to drop in the 2 x5570's I have. They're lidless and missing the heat spreader, pulled from my 2009 Mac pro when I upgraded to Dual x5680s

 

and if I would have to do some tweaks what they would entail? Thanks!

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Officially no but if you go on EVGA forums I was able to fine well over 20 users with this config so you would be good to go.

 

5520 Series Motherboards (Dual-QPI LGA 1366)

  • Gainestown
    • Xeon W5590 - 3.33 GHz
    • Xeon W5580 - 3.20 GHz
    • Xeon L5530 - 2.40 GHz
    • Xeon E5507 - 2.27 GHz
    • Xeon E5503 - 2.00 GHz

    [*]Nehalem

    • Xeon X5550 - 2.66 GHz
    • Xeon L5520 - 2.26 GHz
    • Xeon L5506 - 2.13 GHz
    • Xeon E5540 - 2.53 GHz
    • Xeon E5530 - 2.40 GHz
    • Xeon E5520 - 2.26 GHz
    • Xeon E5506 - 2.13 GHz
    • Xeon E5504 - 2.00 GHz

    [*]Westmere

    • Xeon X5690 - 3.46 GHz
    • Xeon X5680 - 3.33 GHz
    • Xeon X5677 - 3.46 GHz
    • Xeon X5670 - 2.93 GHz
    • Xeon X5667 - 3.06 GHz
    • Xeon X5660 - 2.80 GHz
    • Xeon X5650 - 2.66 GHz
    • Xeon L5640 - 2.27 GHz
    • Xeon L5638 - 2.00 GHz
    • Xeon L5630 - 2.13 GHz
    • Xeon E5649 - 2.53 GHz
    • Xeon E5645 - 2.40 GHz
    • Xeon E5640 - 2.67 GHz
    • Xeon E5630 - 2.53 GHz
    • Xeon E5620 - 2.40 GHz
    • Xeon E5607 - 2.27 GHz
    • Xeon E5606 - 2.13 GHz
    • Xeon E5603 - 1.60 GHz

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Officially no but if you go on EVGA forums I was able to fine well over 20 users with this config so you would be good to go.

 

5520 Series Motherboards (Dual-QPI LGA 1366)

  • Gainestown
    • Xeon W5590 - 3.33 GHz
    • Xeon W5580 - 3.20 GHz
    • Xeon L5530 - 2.40 GHz
    • Xeon E5507 - 2.27 GHz
    • Xeon E5503 - 2.00 GHz

    [*]Nehalem

    • Xeon X5550 - 2.66 GHz
    • Xeon L5520 - 2.26 GHz
    • Xeon L5506 - 2.13 GHz
    • Xeon E5540 - 2.53 GHz
    • Xeon E5530 - 2.40 GHz
    • Xeon E5520 - 2.26 GHz
    • Xeon E5506 - 2.13 GHz
    • Xeon E5504 - 2.00 GHz

    [*]Westmere

    • Xeon X5690 - 3.46 GHz
    • Xeon X5680 - 3.33 GHz
    • Xeon X5677 - 3.46 GHz
    • Xeon X5670 - 2.93 GHz
    • Xeon X5667 - 3.06 GHz
    • Xeon X5660 - 2.80 GHz
    • Xeon X5650 - 2.66 GHz
    • Xeon L5640 - 2.27 GHz
    • Xeon L5638 - 2.00 GHz
    • Xeon L5630 - 2.13 GHz
    • Xeon E5649 - 2.53 GHz
    • Xeon E5645 - 2.40 GHz
    • Xeon E5640 - 2.67 GHz
    • Xeon E5630 - 2.53 GHz
    • Xeon E5620 - 2.40 GHz
    • Xeon E5607 - 2.27 GHz
    • Xeon E5606 - 2.13 GHz
    • Xeon E5603 - 1.60 GHz

 

 

Thanks, might try that then.

 

Question still remains in terms of the fact they are lidless processors, does this result in an issue when actually installing them and creating the build? would a heatsink still be able to make contact with the processors clamped down if they do not have a heat spreader on top? or would some sort of tweaking be required?

 

Also Is overclocking possible / somewhat easy on a hackintosh?

 

Thanks again for all the help very much appreciated

 

About the SR-2 and your x5570, read this http://hardforum.com...d.php?t=1612380 (where they discuss the SR-2 with older CPUs) and this http://forums.macrum...=781908&page=13 (where they discussed about lidless Xeons).

 

Good reading!

 

Thx ... from the first thread I will have to flash the BIOS in order to get it to work with the CPUs I have ....

 

2nd one ... Macrumours talks about installing in a Mac Pro ... still remain unsure of installing a lidless cpu from a mac pro on a PC board

 

Just out of curiousity are there any cheaper boards that will work?

 

Thanks again everyone

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Just out of curiousity are there any cheaper boards that will work?
Check ebay for x58 chipset or LGA 1366 socket boards (there are many options).

 

Question still remains in terms of the fact they are lidless processors, does this result in an issue when actually installing them and creating the build?
I guess there could be an issue or two, but most likely these can easily be overcome. First thing that comes in mind (seeing the pic of the PC 1366 socket) that the latch doesn't touch the CPU lid all the way. As far as I can understand there are only two dents on the latch that presses the CPU towards the socket. So you could possible use two small pieces of thin mouspad (the version made of rubber) and fix them in the above two spots, those the latch would hold the CPU firmly.

 

The other thing you could do, is to finde two old P4 CPUs and cannibalise the lid from them, then fix the lids to your Xeons. These lids are pretty much standard for Intel CPUs. I bet, the lided version of that Xeons with the lid removed, looks the same as your (lidles) Xeons. Or buy/get a copper shims and place them on top of the CPU.

 

Also you could sell your Xeons and buy the version with lid. Most likely lidless version would cost more then the version with lid :)

 

and on the topic of motherboards are there any specific ones you would suggest, especially in conjunction with working with Hackintosh and with the class of processor I have on hand?
I have used an Intel server board SE7525GP2 with dual Xeons (the old type of Xeons made from P4). it was mostly trouble free (all the on-board components worked except of SATA disk controller which was to old to be supported natively, but still worked perfectly with an additional kext). Hence can only recommend Intel MBs.
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  • 1 month later...

Let me say that I have built many dual cpu socket 'Hack' Pro's and, for the money, Supermicro has never steered me in the wrong direction. I am typing this on one of my main HackPros which has two 5645 hex-core Xeons running on a Supermicro X8DAL mobo and I couldn't be happier. The performance for the price range (or bang for your buck) is unparalleled when it comes to these boards and somehow they seem to just agree with the Mac OS - at least with the socket 771 and 1366 mobos, i can't speak beyond that. 

 

On the topic of overclocking - try to avoid it with any dual Xeon rig for the very reason that the chips and mobos in this category are designed to run as stably and with as much power as possible - or in other words, they are not designed to be used in the everyday gaming rig. There are TONS of new boards with the LGA2011 sockets that allow the fastest i7 CPU's to crank to well beyond their means with as many as 8 cores per die that do not have to communicate with another CPU to load-balance. Case in point - if overclocking is the straw that breaks the camels back in this scenario, I would not use the Xeons even with an SR-2 board - there is a reason that these types of mobo's are few and far between. 

 

If you want my advice (if it matters at all), here are the parts that have served me well for many years in the dual Xeon HackPro arena:

 

supermicro x8dal-i

NOCTUA!!! CPU coolers - (these sinks/fans will destroy any other fan-based cooler; more CFM per dB than any other cooler outside of a custom liquid build)

Kingston ECC Buffered DDR3 RAM

and a very powerful PSU...1kW should more than suffice. 

 

These are just my two cents - the ramblings of someone who has been down this road many times since the early days of Tiger by upchuck. I hope it helps.

post-188520-0-26734800-1372140136_thumb.jpg

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  • 3 months later...

Hello.

 

Do these dual Xeon hack pros have functioning ECC and power saving, including speedstep and turbo frequencies?

 

Because if they do, I'll be on the market for one. My dream machine would have maybe two 4-core chips or one 6-core chip. If a dream includes a budget, it is more likely to come true. I am dead set on ECC, also because the original Mac Pro has it. My aim is to do developing and run virtual machines.

 

I plan to stay with ML for now, so cloning macpro5,1 is a safer bet than the upcoming macpro6,1.

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  • 1 month later...
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