Remove the side panel then unlatch and remove the processor tray and you’ve got this: Getting inside the new Mac Pro is much easier than the old one. They built sockets for a reason after all. Regardless of when or why you want to do it, I figured we should give it a try.
Apple mac pro 2.1 upgrade#
The even more sensible option would be to wait a while and upgrade the Xeons once these ones fall in price. If you don’t mind voiding your warranty, you are better off buying the base Mac Pro (4 or 8 core) configuration, upgrading the CPUs yourself and ebaying the originals. I get that Apple wants to commoditize everything that they don’t make, but that’s just ridiculous.
I should also point out the sheer ridiculousness of Apple putting a pair of $373 CPUs in a $3300 machine.
The only CPU upgrade offered there is the Xeon W3450 retail cost is $562, Apple’s benevolent self will only charge you $500. The same applies to the single-chip Mac Pro. Here is Intel’s pricing: CPUĪ single Xeon X5570 costs $1386, Apple is charging you $2600 for two - but that’s on top of the base cost of the 8-core Mac Pro you’re effectively paying for the two Xeon E5520 chips and the two X5570s, but only getting the latter. To Apple’s credit, these CPUs are expensive. The 2.66GHz upgrade will set you back $1400, while the 2.93GHz upgrade will basically cost you another Mac Pro at $2600.
Apple offers two upgrades: a pair of 2.66GHz or 2.93GHz Nehalems, how nice of them. Let’s say you get over the $3299 price tag of the 8-core Mac Pro but aren’t really happy with the paltry 2.26GHz clock speed of the quad-core Nehalems in the box. Upgrading the CPUs in the Nehalem Mac Pro