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Building a MacPro

nagal

By nagal,
in Mods and Overclocking

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DJ Loe Kee
DJ Loe Kee
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I got a few reasons for you to get an octo-core... with Digital Performer (the king of audio recording, editing, and Midi) on my quad core G5 I was able to play back over 100 tracks with an average of three to four plug-ins on each track. Taxed my quad to 90%. With my newest mac pro build... ohhh man... what's processor taxation? No beads of sweat off this beast; it's here to chew bubble gum and kick ass... unfortunately it's all out of bubblegum. Show me a windows audio recording app that can hold a candle to Digital Performer. Pro-Fools, Cubase, Nuendo? I think not. As far as your video production is concerned Final Cut Studio is the only way, Adobe tries but fails in their attempt. Don't forget Shake4.1, show me a more elegant non-mac compositing program. Mac OS X is so robust, solid, functional, just amazing. I'm waiting for the day when Apple will bury the nail into Microsoft's coffin by freeing Mac OS X from jail.

 

Honestly stick with your PC, from what your saying you do not require our kind of computer power.

dang, that's some serious encodin'. my friend uses either digital performer or logic pro with his g4. i can't remember which daw he uses (i'd have to ask him again), i just remember that he doesn't know how to use protools and he wanted to stick with what he knew, digital performer/logic pro.

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deleted_account
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I suggest you getting a used Mac Pro (that is either duo or quad) for a decent price, or possibly build one from older parts at a discounted price. Like the 5100 chipset instead of the 5400 revision. If it can be had at a more affordable cost that is. (heck, even a Powermac G5, can suffice) Try to spend the minimum in $$$ and time in the PC build and maximize your investment in midis, synths, keys, the tools you'll need, and allow + dedicate more time towards music production/making music. Since you're a DJ, have you considered a MacBook Pro or Powerbook for portability-wise? They make excellent live performers with the right programs if you ever go that direction. As for the gaming, keep the PC parts for that very purpose. It's interesting to learn that only the 975 chipset is supported for such programs? What about the 5400 chipset? I really didn't know it breaks down to such specifics in hardware. (eh, you can PM me the answers instead, I'll try not to get off-topic anymore.)

 

To Nagal: Thanks for the response, hopefully it's not too much to ask, how much smaller by comparison, are the Apple heatsink stocks to the thermalrights? I'm trying to plan out my next build.

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nagal
nagal
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To Nagal: Thanks for the response, hopefully it's not too much to ask, how much smaller by comparison, are the Apple heatsink stocks to the thermalrights? I'm trying to plan out my next build.

 

I have never seen the Apple HS in person just pictures but from what I can see, they are a lot smaller. The Apple HS will be very tall but as far as the length and width, they appear to be the same as a standard Xeon 771 HS.

 

 

 

Okay, I need to tap the collective brain power here. I tried the SMC reset and still no dice on my top front fan running full speed. Here are the speeds my fans run at according to hardware monitor

 

Exhaust 1800 rpm

Top Front 2800 rpm

Bottom Front 500 rpm

 

Logic board has the latest SMC and EFI, running 10.4.11 (too many issues with Leopard and Logic so when back to Tiger).

 

At this point, I am thinking of inlining a resistor on the voltage wire of each fan so that they top out at 1500 RPMs just to keep the noise down as the temps in the computer never get bad.

 

Any other ideas? I could just replace the fans but 3 resistors are a lot cheaper than 3 fans :(

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nagal
nagal
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I'd just go with the resistors. Get some variable speed and if you ever needed to you could easily turn them up. That's really strange your fan is spinning so fast. Really strange!

 

Yeah it is strange and all my searching online suggests two fixes: reset the SMC or take it to an Apple store where more than likely the logic board will get replaced. We all know the later is not going to happen <_<

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nagal
nagal
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Where did you guys buy the Apple Stock Heatsinks from? No where to be found on Mac-Pro and ApplePalace.

 

I dont know of anyone that has used them in their build. Here they are at Apple Palace. I am pretty sure this is just for one but you might want to call and ask them. The Apple part number is 076-1233

 

http://www.applepalace.com/scripts/prodVie...?idproduct=7835

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Coda
Coda
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I dont know of anyone that has used them in their build. Here they are at Apple Palace. I am pretty sure this is just for one but you might want to call and ask them. The Apple part number is 076-1233

 

http://www.applepalace.com/scripts/prodVie...?idproduct=7835

100 bucks each! I would just get two arctic freezer 7 pro's, at for $30 total. That is assuming they will physically mount to the board.

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deleted_account
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That is a bit pricey, I'm hoping its for 2, but eh wishful thinking. I guess the thermalrights are the way to go. Any of you guys plan on selling your old Apple stock Heatsinks? :D

 

Someone just got theirs for $24.99+shipping, doesn't help to have only 1 though...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mac-Pro-Heatsink-Kit-0...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

90dd1uy9.jpg89831ns8.jpg Is that a CPU wire to Power dangling like in PCs? 0761233hg4.jpg

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digitalperformer
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I have never seen the Apple HS in person just pictures but from what I can see, they are a lot smaller. The Apple HS will be very tall but as far as the length and width, they appear to be the same as a standard Xeon 771 HS.

 

 

 

Okay, I need to tap the collective brain power here. I tried the SMC reset and still no dice on my top front fan running full speed. Here are the speeds my fans run at according to hardware monitor

 

Exhaust 1800 rpm

Top Front 2800 rpm

Bottom Front 500 rpm

 

Logic board has the latest SMC and EFI, running 10.4.11 (too many issues with Leopard and Logic so when back to Tiger).

 

At this point, I am thinking of inlining a resistor on the voltage wire of each fan so that they top out at 1500 RPMs just to keep the noise down as the temps in the computer never get bad.

 

Any other ideas? I could just replace the fans but 3 resistors are a lot cheaper than 3 fans :help:

 

Try to manually override the fan with this.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23049

 

SMCfanControl is the name of the program.

 

That is what I'm using for my cooling control.

 

It's easier to maintain a low temp than lower the temp of something that is already hot.

 

with SMC fan control I set the lower and top fan to both 1300 RPM and exhaust to 1600.

 

core temps all average around 95 degrees F. You might have to go a little higher since you're using heatsinks while I'm using a radiator with CPU blocks.

 

If you can control your fans with the above program then we can troubleshoot from there.

 

Nagal... we for the most part have the same build... exception of cooler and CPU's. I have Leopard 10.5.2 without any problems. boots fast, no sleep issues or hardware problems. Could be your ES xeons causing some problems. As far as your fan, a two resistor voltage divider will work, your pickup threshold (minimum spin up) voltage should be around 8-9 VDC. Your minimum drop off voltage should be 5 - 8 VDC. If you have a bread board, set up the test with a 12VDC wall wart.

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nagal
nagal
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Try to manually override the fan with this.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23049

 

SMCfanControl is the name of the program.

 

That is what I'm using for my cooling control.

 

It's easier to maintain a low temp than lower the temp of something that is already hot.

 

with SMC fan control I set the lower and top fan to both 1300 RPM and exhaust to 1600.

 

core temps all average around 95 degrees F. You might have to go a little higher since you're using heatsinks while I'm using a radiator with CPU blocks.

 

If you can control your fans with the above program then we can troubleshoot from there.

 

Nagal... we for the most part have the same build... exception of cooler and CPU's. I have Leopard 10.5.2 without any problems. boots fast, no sleep issues or hardware problems. Could be your ES xeons causing some problems. As far as your fan, a two resistor voltage divider will work, your pickup threshold (minimum spin up) voltage should be around 8-9 VDC. Your minimum drop off voltage should be 5 - 8 VDC. If you have a bread board, set up the test with a 12VDC wall wart.

 

The problem with SMC fan control is it does not let me lower the fan speed, only set the minimum speed it will run. If it would let me set the max fan speed, my problem would be solved.

 

I find it hard to believe that the ES CPUs are an issue for the fan speed. I know weird things can happen in computers but seeing as how their is a separate SMC Firmware for Mac Pros (all Intel Mac is seems) that tells me fan control is separate from anything to deal with the CPUs. As for 10.5.2, I am glad it works for you. For me 10.5.2 has so many issue with my Apogee Duet and Logic, it was not a viable choice for me.

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nagal
nagal
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Nagal and Listed1 : what are your core temps on idle and max load? Want to get a ball park baseline for my system.

 

I will have to check my load temps as I can not recall but I get between 26c - 29c for Heatsink temp, cores are around 34c from what I remember. I will check it all tonight but those numbers should be pretty close.

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Listed1st.com
Listed1st.com
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For the people out there wanting to obtain a mac pro logic board. Here's one I found on ebay, the guy doesn't really know what it is... therefore it could be a cheap buy.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mac-Pro-prototype_W0QQ...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

 

 

 

He's the source of our red prototype boards, great board, plus it's an apple Mac Pro power supply. It takes him about 2 weeks to ship his stuff though... I actually had bought that one from him already (along iwth some others), but after 2 weeks, I just gave up and forced a refund. But the hardware is good stuff!

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Listed1st.com
Listed1st.com
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I'll give you one thing, the 8800GT is SWEET! But I wasn't able to get the drivers installed under bootcamp. I downloaded the video drivers from nvidia.com but they said "No supported device detected". This was in my prototype system, so I switched to a retail system, same thing. I ended up downloading the BETA drivers from NVidia, and Boom! Worked!

 

So If anyone runs into that problem, get the beta drivers from nvidia.com

 

Oh, and when I switched my hard drive and the 8800 GT to the other Mac Pro, Windows said "Oops, your system has changed, time to validate"...... again. Microsoft sure makes it difficult for people who purchase their software.

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Coda
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Oh, and when I switched my hard drive and the 8800 GT to the other Mac Pro, Windows said "Oops, your system has changed, time to validate"...... again. Microsoft sure makes it difficult for people who purchase their software.

This is one of the reasons I gave up buying anything Microsoft, and switched to mac. Validate schmalidate.

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Orea
Orea
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Do only apple hard drives work on the mac pro?? Do other hard drives fit into the bays?>

 

Apple don't use there own HD's anyways in the mac pro. I'm pretty sure the standard mac pro's have Hitachi drives in them. My mates did. Someone correct me if i'm wrong.

 

Yeah, stick any hd in.

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