Swapping a 3.33 6-core into a 2009 2.66 4-core Mac Pro
So I just finished the W3680 swap. Really easy, and no troubles with the software side of things. I have the base 2009 Mac Pro, with the W3520, and it's okay. But because the Pro is a sensible computer, you can put a newer processor in. And I got a great deal on the 3.33 six-core, which is what has come in the top single-processor Mac Pro since 2010. All this also applies to putting a W3670 in the 2009 Pro. That's the six-core 3.2, which is pretty much as fast and about $100 cheaper.
The only things you need are the W3680, some Arctic Silver thermal compound and thermal compound remover (Amazon or NewEgg has the ArctiClean kit that comes with remover and "purifier"), a long 3mm Allen key, and the Mac Pro Firmware Upgrade Utility (you have to register to download).
The first thing to do is to use the firmware upgrade utility to make your Mac Pro think it's a 2010. That's one click. It'll still identify itself as a 2009 in the System Information panel, but I believe that pulls its information from the serial number; the computer itself behaves as a 2010, and you're clear to install the newer processor with B1 stepping. It's worth pointing out that the W3680 is the same chip used in the 2010+ Mac Pro, as is the firmware, so this is all OEM -- no weirdness.
Once the software is done, it's just like swapping the processor on any other computer. Actually, it's easier, since the processor lives on a daughterboard. Pull that out:
Use the long Allen key to remove the heat sink. It's also a great time to blow all the dust out of it. When that's done, you can pull it off and get this:
Note that the standard application of thermal compound is actually pretty bad. At least, it was bad on mine. The processor side will be like so:
Again, not great; there's bubbles in the compound, and goop falling off the side of the heat spreader. Use the thermal compound remover (ArctiClean in my case) to get this crap off the heat sink and processor, and the surface purifier (where applicable — that's the "ArctiClean 2") on the heat sink. Then, you can undo the latch and carefully take the processor out, being careful not to touch the contacts on the processor or the daughterboard. The new processor drops straight in, like so; make sure to get the alignment right:
And latch it up.
Then, after you've made sure the surface is clean, it's time for new thermal poop. On these Xeons, Intel recommends that you don't cover the whole thing in thermal paste. Instead, taking the alignment arrow to be pointing south-west, do a bead running north-south (this one's thinner than it looks; you don't wanna cake it on there):
Once that's done, you can bolt the heat sink back on. Put it over the alignment pins to get it on straight, and then screw it down evenly. You'll have to push down a bit on the Allen key to get it to engage. They will have a firm stop once they're tight; obviously, you don't wanna exceed that.
Pow! Put the processor tray back in and go!
It's faster than the 3520 to a fairly nutty degree. My system already has a SSD and 5870, so it was already pretty speedy as far as Macs go, but the W3680 was like getting a new computer all over again. As a side note, you can now use 1333MHz RAM. You don't have to, though, as the W3680 is fine with 1066 (I've got four sticks of mis-matched 1066 in here; I ordered 16GB of 1333, but it hasn't come yet and I was eager to try the new processor).
As a side-bonus, the stock thermal compound was so junky that my system actually runs 10°F cooler at the CPU now.
Here are benchmarks.
Before:
After:
Before on the left, after on the right. Full results are linked. These are 32-bit scores; 64 seem to be about 1000 higher for each.
I didn't do any serious testing with games, but improvements (at 2560x1440/full details) seem to be anywhere from 0 to 30 FPS, depending on the game, with X-Plane being the high end. Most are around 10 FPS faster. The big improvements are in multithreaded apps, of course, since games don't really use those two extra cores.
A ton faster and a bit cooler. Neat!
Catsopelagic
Ebblbrt
This was a fun project...
As a result of the shitsville Mac Pro "update", I got a 2009 Mac Pro, which is pretty easy to upgrade to the current spec. You just need a newer Xeon and one of Apple's insanely overpriced and outdated GPUs. A quick firmware bebop, and yer done.
First these showed up, which is fun: a 480GB SSD for OS X, and a 240GB SSD for Windows. These will join an ATI 5870 and a Xeon W3680 (3.33 six-core) in making the thing newer. It came with a 2.66 quad-core Xeon and a GT120. The 5870 is pretty old, and Nvidia releases Mac drivers for all their cards now, but the 5870 seems to keep up with Nvidia's 570 in the real world, at least under Mac OS, so I decided to go OEM.
I'll go into detail on the upgrade later, though, after I have time to install everything and stop weeping after having to pay $450 for a 5870. The fun project was tearing apart enclosures to harvest the delicious meaty platters within.
It was a straightforward job of butchering Seagate, Iomega, and Western Digital enclosures. The WD one was sensible — the disk was more or less suspended in a lightweight housing — but the Seagate one was a nightmare. The drive was more or less mummified in metal and plastic. I don't know how the failure rate on these was as low as it was.
Worked out fine, though. 1TB for backing up the Mac SSD, 1TB for backing up the Windows SSD, and 3TB as a local copy of my media server.
My elementary school's after-school program had "take-apart day", where they encouraged clouds of pre-teens to demolish electronics, without providing any hope of reassembly. This may have been before people knew how much crazy toxins that would release. Actually, that might be why I don't have a memory. At any rate, it was fun to re-live, and also to carve open drive enclosures with a Ka-Bar.
In other news that doesn't matter at all, how 'bouts that purple. I used to think one didn't see many bright yellow websites around, but then I saw some, so now we're doing bright purple. Wait, I looked at Flickr. Okay now we're doing orange. Now I looked at Ars Technica. Um, weird green, we're going weird green.
Campagnez
Robles and Dollers
Epibop
Torpuscule
Hocoa 6
Few road-trips to the the northern regions of our fine Imperium are complete without a trip to the crater where Gorlax may have landed on Earth. A ways up the road from warm and lusty Gillam, Manitoba, the hole now known as Hudson Bay is well-known for its water, and its Hudsons, but less known for its intergalactic unstoppable monsters with no sense of shame. For it is here, local Winnipao legend says, that Gorlax landed on Earth, streaking across the Nord-Skij in his scabrous, repulsive Honey-Baked Starleaper.
Wibbles Hugo and I are no fools, for we know that the official explanation provided by known royalist Michaelle Jean is that Hudson Bay was merely created in 1745, to shore up Canada's precious ice reserves and have something to gloat about to the more southerly colonies. Although the Bay was certainly used for this purpose, there are records which show that some kind of body of water may have existed in the region of Canada prior to 1745; a telegram from Kaqchikel Mayan King Tucohatatapetatl to a Cree merchant living in the Hudson Bay area, dated 1472, reads "YO STOP HANGIN APOSTROPHE WITH MA FRENZ IN IXIMCHE STOP HOW Y APOSTROPHE ALL APOSTROPHE S GIANT BODY OF WATER DOING QUESTION MARK". The reference to a pre-Michaelle Jean-era Hudson Bay is clear.
We decided to find out for ourselves. Although Hudson Bay was drastically and irreversibly irradiated in 1956, after a testing accident on the Bay crippled the Voss Nose Thrustopheles V sailboat prototype, impoverished fisherman still venture out onto the Bay to try their hand at catching a sea-snake or snapodile. Wibbles and I teamed up with Captain T. Fangs Richardmong for the day, and set out for the center of the Bay to see what we could see.
"I knows Gorlax was here," Richardmong says. "My daddy always said this here lake was special, wasn't made by no royalist, and he had schoolin' so I knows it's right." Since the locals don't really have much else going for them, the Gorlax Theory is very popular in the region. It also provides a genetic explanation for the horrifying mutant DNA that seems to be dominant among the inhabitants (although, that said, the much-vaunted "Son of Gorlax" promoted as an attraction in the province was later verified to be a whale carcass, which Gorlax had merely molested). There is no doubt among these noble northern weirdos that Gorlax has walked among them.
On the other hand, His Majesty the R. H. Mr. Harper noted, in his weekly visit to the home of every Canadian simultaneously, that theories for the creation of Hudson Bay that involved extraterrestrial intervention were counter-revolutionary, and that to say otherwise was counter-revolutionary. This "see no Gorlax, hear no Gorlax, speak no Gorlax" attitude persisted in government circles for about seventy years, until Gorlax ate the R. H. Minister from Kentish Okotoks, gained his legal powers, and was ascended to the House of Lords. In accordance with Gorlax's governmental position, it is now acceptable to acknowledge his role in Canadian history, but the origin of Hudson Bay remains a touchy subject nonetheless.
As we neared the center of the irradiated body of water, it dawned upon me that we had brought no means to verify either side of the story. What were we doing here? Does that mean that the Gorlax Theory is true? Probably. It is a pretty big Bay.
Wibbles Hugo and I are no fools, for we know that the official explanation provided by known royalist Michaelle Jean is that Hudson Bay was merely created in 1745, to shore up Canada's precious ice reserves and have something to gloat about to the more southerly colonies. Although the Bay was certainly used for this purpose, there are records which show that some kind of body of water may have existed in the region of Canada prior to 1745; a telegram from Kaqchikel Mayan King Tucohatatapetatl to a Cree merchant living in the Hudson Bay area, dated 1472, reads "YO STOP HANGIN APOSTROPHE WITH MA FRENZ IN IXIMCHE STOP HOW Y APOSTROPHE ALL APOSTROPHE S GIANT BODY OF WATER DOING QUESTION MARK". The reference to a pre-Michaelle Jean-era Hudson Bay is clear.
We decided to find out for ourselves. Although Hudson Bay was drastically and irreversibly irradiated in 1956, after a testing accident on the Bay crippled the Voss Nose Thrustopheles V sailboat prototype, impoverished fisherman still venture out onto the Bay to try their hand at catching a sea-snake or snapodile. Wibbles and I teamed up with Captain T. Fangs Richardmong for the day, and set out for the center of the Bay to see what we could see.
"I knows Gorlax was here," Richardmong says. "My daddy always said this here lake was special, wasn't made by no royalist, and he had schoolin' so I knows it's right." Since the locals don't really have much else going for them, the Gorlax Theory is very popular in the region. It also provides a genetic explanation for the horrifying mutant DNA that seems to be dominant among the inhabitants (although, that said, the much-vaunted "Son of Gorlax" promoted as an attraction in the province was later verified to be a whale carcass, which Gorlax had merely molested). There is no doubt among these noble northern weirdos that Gorlax has walked among them.
On the other hand, His Majesty the R. H. Mr. Harper noted, in his weekly visit to the home of every Canadian simultaneously, that theories for the creation of Hudson Bay that involved extraterrestrial intervention were counter-revolutionary, and that to say otherwise was counter-revolutionary. This "see no Gorlax, hear no Gorlax, speak no Gorlax" attitude persisted in government circles for about seventy years, until Gorlax ate the R. H. Minister from Kentish Okotoks, gained his legal powers, and was ascended to the House of Lords. In accordance with Gorlax's governmental position, it is now acceptable to acknowledge his role in Canadian history, but the origin of Hudson Bay remains a touchy subject nonetheless.
As we neared the center of the irradiated body of water, it dawned upon me that we had brought no means to verify either side of the story. What were we doing here? Does that mean that the Gorlax Theory is true? Probably. It is a pretty big Bay.