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Building a MacPro


nagal
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Yo yo yo... just stepped in after a wonderful night of band practice... well anyway... FRICKIN Awesome Nagal, you are fast. I'm also really spoofed at the fact that your board is showing up with a FSB frequency of 1.06Ghz. Logic Board Version 2. should have a FSB of 1.33Ghz; the former, probably due to your xeon's FSB forcing the logicboard down to 1.06Ghz? Your engineering sample has a FSB of 1.06Ghz right? Does system profiler register the Xeons specs from encoding on CPU or from actual computer calculations? My board is on it's way and once I get it all running I'll print my stats.

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Yo yo yo... just stepped in after a wonderful night of band practice... well anyway... FRICKIN Awesome Nagal, you are fast. I'm also really spoofed at the fact that your board is showing up with a FSB frequency of 1.06Ghz. Logic Board Version 2. should have a FSB of 1.33Ghz; the former, probably due to your xeon's FSB forcing the logicboard down to 1.06Ghz? Your engineering sample has a FSB of 1.06Ghz right? Does system profiler register the Xeons specs from encoding on CPU or from actual computer calculations? My board is on it's way and once I get it all running I'll print my stats.

 

System profiler and other utilities read CPU_ID strings to show processor type and bus speed. To see actual speed after a BSEL mod a utility that calculates speed is required, such as MacCPUID.

 

GeekBench 2 is no more accurate than xBench 1.3 ( surprised ) my GB scores are all over the map ( low 7698, high 10122 )

xxy.tiff

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Nagal has the installation of the new logic board fixed the firmware update problem? Can you now get updates from Apple?

 

Also I might be in contact with you soon via PM to see if the components I have in mind will all be compatible (the right board, processors, etc) :lol:

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newtech,

 

Thanks for the link to MacCPUID. According to it, the BSEL mod is working as it reported a FSB of 1333. I am still curious as to what clock multiplier my CPUs are at. I think I will install Windows tonight and use CPU-Z to find out. I briefly looked into that sensor you listed but what I need to find out is what kind of sensor plugs into the jacks by the cpus. Its does not appear to be the typical temp sensor used in PCs as I have tried those and got nothing. As for Geekbench, someone asked for the scores only reason I posted them. I do not take much stock in Geekbench or Xbench either.

 

Kimosabe,

 

I still have no idea if I can get updates as the board came with the latest update it seems :rolleyes:

 

digitalperformer,

 

cool your board is on the way! I did not have time to do any pinouts on the PSU wiring and looks like Saturday might be the soonest I get to that.

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Nagal, here is an application note that may be the CPU sensor arrangement you are looking for. The two pin header(s) is the heatsink/CPU ambient sensor. The SMC sets fan speed based on output from sensors in each core and the heatsink/CPU ambient sensor or defaults to minimum speed stored in the SMC Firmware if below threshold temp. In the absence of a valid heatsink/CPU ambient input fans go to max.

 

http://www.smsc.com/main/anpdf/an1214.pdf

 

 

Fam 6 Mod 15 stp 4 is an very early stepping for Clovertown that is like A2 or A3. B3 and C0 are the retail/producton steppings ( SL9xx=B3, SLAxx=C0 ).

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Awesome info on the sensors! I am going to hunt down some 2N3904 diodes and hook them up and see what happens.

 

The cpus are ES so that explains the stepping :)

 

Yes I recall that you had ES processors, I was saying that is even a very early stepping for ES, scarcely beyond prototype.

 

Probably want MMB3904 or SMB3904 transistor if you are looking for reasonable thermal accuracy. T0-92 case 2N3904 likely has to much bulk to read accurately, base tab on surface mount component should be in direct contact with heatsink.

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Yes I recall that you had ES processors, I was saying that is even a very early stepping for ES, scarcely beyond prototype.

 

Probably want MMB3904 or SMB3904 transistor if you are looking for reasonable thermal accuracy. T0-92 case 2N3904 likely has to much bulk to read accurately, base tab on surface mount component should be in direct contact with heat sink.

 

I agree about the T0-92 being too bulky. Mouser has MMB3904 at 3.2 cents each when you buy 10 or more but of course its going to be like $7 shipping :rolleyes: and I have to wait till tomorrow to order them because I am so broke right now :D

 

http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail...xKjS4uBJQ%3d%3d

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Halted Specialties ( 3500 Ryder Ave Sunnyvale ) may have MMB3904 in stock. could be more like $0.50ea but no shipping if you buy in-store.

 

That would be awesome if it was local to me :rolleyes: I'm in SoCal and where I live the only choice for electronic components is Radio Shack and that really isn't a choice. Even if I was to drive somewhere that had them, I'd spend more in fuel than what Mouser is going to charge to ship.

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My bad, I forget I am at the center of the ( semiconductor ) Universe here in silicon valley.

 

BTW and OT

 

Boo to Intel for scheduling closesure of their last chip fab in the USA ( Santa Clara ) ( I ran fire alarm in the DI water plant and HQ 4 years ago and Ethernet adds in the fab 2 years ago )

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My bad, I forget I am at the center of the ( semiconductor ) Universe here in silicon valley.

 

BTW and OT

 

Boo to Intel for scheduling closesure of their last chip fab in the USA ( Santa Clara ) ( I ran fire alarm in the DI water plant and HQ 4 years ago and Ethernet adds in the fab 2 years ago )

 

Don't apologize for being in Silicon Valley must be nice! and yes boo to Intel!

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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. Anyway, good news, talked to the guys at applepalace... package to arrive monday. Logic board, PS, and card risers. The rest from newegg... two quad xeon 2.5 Ghz, 4 gigs of ram, coolers, and some other miscellaneous {censored}... So far... still undercuts apple's near equivalent by 1000+ bucks. Im going thermoelectric water hybrid to cool system.. plans in development; going to implement custom temp controllers that monitor, compare, and takes action to preset and actual values... interesting part will be condensation control... first home computer encased within inert gas or vaccuum? Nitrogen? Got tons of cylinders at work. Let's do this shhhiiiiittttttttttteeeeeeeee

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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. Anyway, good news, talked to the guys at applepalace... package to arrive monday. Logic board, PS, and card risers. The rest from newegg... two quad xeon 2.5 Ghz, 4 gigs of ram, coolers, and some other miscellaneous {censored}... So far... still undercuts apple's near equivalent by 1000+ bucks. Im going thermoelectric water hybrid to cool system.. plans in development; going to implement custom temp controllers that monitor, compare, and takes action to preset and actual values... interesting part will be condensation control... first home computer encased within inert gas or vaccuum? Nitrogen? Got tons of cylinders at work. Let's do this shhhiiiiittttttttttteeeeeeeee

 

What model Xeons and ram did you get? I did not know Newegg sold FB-DIMMs with the super beefy heatsinks.

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Hey dude... here's what you were asking about from newegg. Might not be apple-certified but who gives a {censored}... 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

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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 ;)

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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

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