[ivox3]

Will ....... explore your options Now!

__________

By far the biggest problem with upgrading the CPUs in the Mac Pro is gaining access to them. While Apple made it very easy to upgrade memory, storage and PCIe cards in the Mac Pro, getting access to the CPUs is considerably more difficult. The entire process would be made much easier if we were able to remove the memory cage, but as we mentioned in our last article the standoffs that the cage is screwed into would not remain in place while we unscrewed the cage. To make a long story short, we weren't able to remove the memory cage without stripping the screws that held it in place, so we had to come up with an alternative solution; luckily we were able to do just that.

This is what I meant, ..... only that's it's difficult, ....now if every Mac upgrader reads this (anandtech page)......... then, ....no problem.

[w i l l]

I just phoned them - they didn't even know!

I think its ok really - my Mac is staying the same price and you pay approx £1000 more for 8 core. Can't really afford that now anyway.

[ivox3]

When your ready, .... just do-it-yourself. ...your price will probably be better too.

[w i l l]

ME - change things inside a Mac!... i would destroy it.

Last week i tried to install Windows and the CD got stuck in the drive and it wouldn't boot to either Windows or OS - i was told to take it apart - i picked up an axe, but then Apple told me to hold down alt and the mouse button whilst pressing the power button - it worked and saved the Mac's life.

[ivox3]

...yeah, ...skip that.

[w i l l]

Just kidding - i'm quite practical really, just wouldn't know how to upgrade a Mac.

[Thomas An.]

Does anyone know which boards these Macs are using ? ... is it Tyan ? ... Supericro ? ...

[aitraaz]

Pretty sure the motherboards (logic boards in macspeak lol) were/are designed by intel. Officially it's an 'Apple motherboard'. As concerns OEM and the actual manufacturing company, not quite sure...The macpro board has some uniquely designed stuff on it (ram riser boards etc), and obviously the shape is custom requested by apple. Some similiar boards: Tyan Tempest i5000XT, Supermicro X7DAE, Intel S5000XVN

[Thomas An.]

True, they have some custom designs.
I thought it would be Supermicro since Jobs used to be a board member in that company (?)

[rivoli]

I guess the design pre-intel was made in house, but I think I read somewhere they started outsourcing to intel when they were ready to make the big move. after all they need to put more resources into the iphone now, sure don't have the time to design motherboards anymore.

[aitraaz]

I guess the design pre-intel was made in house, but I think I read somewhere they started outsourcing to intel when they were ready to make the big move.

Also, i think i remember reading that the in house pre-intel design was immediately trashed by intel as being totally unrealistic (way to small - i think initially they wanted to reduce the size of the macpros as compared to the ppc G5's). But who knows...

after all they need to put more resources into the iphone now, sure don't have the time to design motherboards anymore.

lol yep, on to greener meadows...

[Thomas An.]

I see. Thanks for the info guys

[rivoli]

Also, i think i remember reading that the in house pre-intel design was immediately trashed by intel as being totally unrealistic

those intel engineers, why can't they see that smaller is better?

[aitraaz]

yep those furkin' intel engineers again...

So i guess the official design was by the 'Intel Apple Group' - outsourced probably for scheduling & low cost manufacturing reasons (not to mention the drm ones eh)

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1431
http://www.macrumors.com/2005/12/27/int ... for-apple/