Resolved Low power 5,1

[sanfrancisofont1984]

I built my dual X5690 5,1 last year but I ended up not using it much other than Web browsing (I like browsing on Macs the most ).

So I'm considering downsizing to the following:
5,1 Single CPU socket, original quad CPU or E5640
RX 560 as GPU
12G or 24G memory

The machine would be a bit slower but no feature is lost, right?

 

[sanfrancisofont1984]

To not lose single core performance we could use 4-core X5677 (TDP: 130W) as well.

 

[Macschrauber]

The X5677 is the best bang for the buck - and when it comes to single core performance the machine is in theory a little snappier than with those two X5690

(hence the dual processor overhead and the longer time the X5677 stays in turbo mode).

Plus you can get a sh**load of money selling your dual tray with X5690s

 

[sanfrancisofont1984]

Thanks for the answer. My RX 560 arrived and it appears to be working well (no boot screen of course).

I'm thinking just swapping the CPU board. I like the rest of my 5,1 system. I wonder is it easy to verify that what is being sold as 5,1 CPU board is actually 5,1 rather than 4,1?

 

[KeesMacPro]

I wonder is it easy to verify that what is being sold as 5,1 CPU board is actually 5,1 rather than 4,1?

The only difference between a single CPU 4,1 tray and a single 5,1 tray is the SMC number.
4,1(2009)= 1.39f05
5,1(2010/2012)= 1.39f11

CPU tray and Logicboard SMC numbers should be identical.

 

[tsialex]

I wonder is it easy to verify that what is being sold as 5,1 CPU board is actually 5,1 rather than 4,1?

Part numbers are different between early-2009 and mid-2010/mid-2012:

• early-2009:
  • Backplane Board: 661-4996, 661-5444
  • Single CPU tray (Processor Board, Single): 661-4999
  • Dual CPU tray (Processor Board, Dual): 661-4998
• mid-2010/mid-2012:
  • Backplane Board: 661-5706
  • Single CPU tray (Processor Board, Single): 661-5707
  • Dual CPU tray (Processor Board, Dual): 661-5708

You can learn more reading my post here:

MacPro 5.1 power issue

Serial number of the backplane, MLB: See my writeup for another user: Backplanes: From my spreadsheet, the MLB suffixes below show the model year of the backplane: 1LTB are 2009 backplanes made in 2009 for MP4,1, very early ones. 1LTC are 2009 backplanes made in 2009 for MP4,1. BH7A are...

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