Mac Pro :: Dropping A Westmere Into A 2009 Mac Pro Using 2010 EFI?
Jul 27, 2010
Before everyone says "IT DOESNT HAVE B1 STEPPING!!!" hear me out.The new 2010 Mac Pro's that were just released have options for both the 4-8 core and 6-12 core option. This coupled with the fact that nothing has changed other than graphics cards etc. makes me think if someone could extract the EFI code, they could just drop it into an 09 and it would include B1 stepping, so people like me could just drop in a 3.33 Westmere and call it a day.Again, I have no idea about anything EFI, it just seems like much more a possbility now that both the 4-8 core and 6-12 core versions are running on basically the same machine.
I have an opportunity to get a Late 2009 27" i7 (2.8 Ghz) for $1699. I've been looking at the $1999 i5 (also 2.8 Ghz). I know it has a 1Gb Video Card, compared to the 512 MB one on the 2009 i7.
My basic question is, is the i7 worth the lesser video card and cheaper price, compared to the i5 with a stronger video card?
I do a lot of work in Photoshop and iMovie, as well as Illustrator and inDesign. I also will be playing TF2 heavily, and heard that the i7 was great for video and gaming. I'm in the market for an iMac since my Late 2006 Macbook Pro is on the verge of death.
I'm thinking about buying a new workstation for Maya 2011. I'm looking at either a 2010 Mac Pro 6-core 3.33GHz/ATI Radeon 5870, or a 2010 Mac Pro 12-core 2.93GHz/ATI Radeon 5870. I've been told by Autodesk tech support that although Maya will see all the cores, that its not guaranteed that it will use them, and use them efficiently for rendering. They said that Maya 2011 isn't optimized for processors more than 4-cores.
I just started using Maya last year on OS X, and I find it absurd how slow Autodesk qualifies new hardware and operating systems, not allowing professionals to take advantage of the latest technology that can save a ton of precious rendering time. Has anyone pulled the trigger and purchased a new 2010 Mac Pro for use with Maya 2009-2011? If so, which Mac Pro, and what configuration did you get and Why? What version of Maya are you running? Are you having any problems running Maya, bugs?..................
I have a question about the iMac core i7 between both year (2009 and 2010) for 2009 is 2.80GHz Core i7 with 1066 Ram. for 2010 is 2.93GHz Core i7 with 1333 Ram. Is the 2010 faster than 2009 a lot?
According to Apple's Synthetic Performance Tests, Mac Pro 12-core beats the previous generation Mac Pro 8-core by 1,3 (1,2). Which seems pretty normal.
But by doing quite a simple equation, comparing the power of the new MP 8-cores to the previous generation MP 8-core (based on these ∆ 1,3 / 1,2), the new 8-core system seems to be about 0,87 / 0,8 of the previous one, which is considerably less powerful.
My GF bought her MacBook Pro earlier this year (February 2010) and I believe her model is the "mid-2009" model. I just bought my MacBook Pro 2 days ago (woohoo!) Both are 13 inch. Question is if I was to upgrade my RAM to 8GB, could I use my old 4gb RAM to replace her 2GB RAM?
So my question is -- do you know if this would be an issue swapping drives from a 2009 Mac Pro to a 2010 running 10.6.5 on the drive? Is there an OS performance hit running the 10.6.5 from the 2009's drive on the 2010 Mac Pro?
The reason I ask is because I am upgrading to a 3.33GHz 6-core, it's ordered and on the way. When it comes, I would just like to swap my SSD from my 2009 to the 2010 (running 10.6.5) and hope that everything runs OK. I don't want to have to re-install the new OS X build from the system disks and then update it, I would like it just to work correctly on the new Mac Pro.
I'm just curious, though, as to whether there are any actual differences at all between the aluminum enclosure for the 2010 model and the mid-2009 one. For example, I'm positive the lid on my new MBP feels much heavier when I close it / open it than my previous one did, but I can't wondering if that's just my imagination ("it's new, therefore it must be different somehow").
Having gotten this one as a free replacement for my previous faulty machine (and had AppleCare thrown in too, talk about customer service!), I obviously no longer have my old one, so I can't compare the two side-by-side... so my question is, has anyone who has both models noticed those sorts of little differences, or am I convincing myself there are changes that don't exist?
I have an I-Mac that is from either 2009 or 2010. latly it has been freezing and laging. what hard drive would be good to increase speed and add more space, that is compatible with my model Mac?
Since I use my machine a lot for photo work, this new feature on the refresh was nice. Question is does anyone know if it's easy to swap the card reader out of the 2009's for the new SDHC reader?
I have last year's MacBook Pro, that has 13" screen, 2.53 ghz, 4 gb ram, with the 9400 video. I'm wondering if there's compelling enough reason to upgrade it to the newly released 2010 model 13" 2.66 ghz, 4 gb ram, with the 310m video that would get 10 hours of battery rather than my present 7. The other thing I'm considering is when I bought mine I opted for the 5400 rpm hard drive, because I didn't want to lose an hour of my battery. If I do the above upgrade, I'd be apt to also go to 7200 rpm drive, as I think i'd see a noticeable performance boost, and still see a battery increase over my previous model.
I got a macbook pro base model last year (2009 model) and my girlfriend just got a macbook base model last weekend (2010 model)Seems as though her macbook has better specs than mine... I'm also considering upgrading to Snow Leopard but don't really see the point.That inertia scroll thing hers does is pretty cool... other than that everything is pretty much the same to the naked eye after a few hours of use.
I am trying to decide whether to get the 2010 model or the cheaper 2009 model. These are the differences that I've found so far for the base model. For arguments sake, let's say they both have 4gb ram (most people selling them have upgraded to 4gb)
Having a slightly slower cpu, less battery life (about 7 hours rather than 9) and a slightly weaker gpu don't bother me so much, as I will be mostly using the macbook pro for internet surfing and writing word documents
My question is, are there any other differences? (that would make me go for the 2010 rather than the 2009 model) - maybe differences in the display? shape? something else?
I know there isn't a great deal in the benchmarks for the two.
But for the price difference I don't know which to go with is the newer one worth the extra $$ ?
The main thing I am trying to get my head around is the Graphics and Memory difference. Basically the 2009 has the 9400M and 2GB of Ram vs. the 2010 which has the 320m and 4GB of Ram.
I read that the new 6 core Mac Pro's use 32nm technology.
I guess this means a different mobo to the one in the 2009 4 core models?
Apple are offering an upgrade from 4 core to 6 core on the new models, so I'm wondering if I could do the same to my 2009 model or would it not be as simple to swap out the mobo as I think?
Would it be better to get a brand new 13" base MBP (2.4gHz C2D, 4GB RAM, 320M GPU) or a 1 year old (used) 15" MBP (2.4gHz C2D, 4G RAM, 256MB 9600 GPU; has 2 years Applecare remaining), assuming they would cost the same?
My primary use would be video editing home movies/photos using iMovie, iPhoto, Aperture 3, and FCE4.
A large part of me says to get the new 13" MBP because, well, it's new; however the 15" still has 2 years Applecare, so I'm covered that way.
Is there a difference? Anything at all? I would expect Apple to make the 2010 standard res. screens worse in quality and earn more money since they have the higher res. available. I really like the 2009 glossy screen, but i have to be sure it is exactly the same this year. If they did something like that it's typical Apple.
m having trouble deciding between these two models. Might get the 3.33 Ghz 6c Westmere but leaning towards the 8c models. Why is the 2009 Nehalem faster? The guy at the Apple store was suprised by that also. Are there any changes in the 2010 2.4 8c Westmere from the 2009 Nehalem model?I will be using it for intensive music software (Prottools, Digital Performer, East West, Symphobia, Vienna Symp Inst. All web and graphics software (Photoshop, Flash, InDesign, etc and Astronomy programs)
I bought the the 2010 Mac Pro after much debating on whether to build a hackintosh or not.I bought the low end model from B&H Photo given it was the best price for the low end model and secondly knowing that I would be upgrading it.I bought the W3680 3.33 GHz westmere from an eBay seller for $899 plus shipping. This was cheaper than either the 980x non xeon version or the Newegg w3680 (or most other site prices for the w3680) which seems hard to find. Overall, even if I could not sell the 2.8GHz w3530 xeon which came with the machine I would be out $899 vs $1200 plus tax from Apple (about a $400 outright saving).
I've read many of the threads regarding RAM pricing and configurations for the 6-Core systems. I planned on ordering my Pro with 6Gb instead of the default 3GB, but my friend at Apple forgot when he placed the order. what I understand RAM module placement and type may significantly impact system performance for this platform. As I need to double the RAM, should I purchase 3x1GB modules to add or purchase 3x2GB models and sell the 3x1 that came with the system? Also, which is the best RAM retailer, OWC, Crucial, etc?
