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Teardown of new Mac Pro reveals upgradeable CPU

Following the launch of Apple’s new Mac Pro earlier this month and some early deliveries arriving for customers, Other World Computing today posted a quick teardown of the machine (via MacRumors). We’ll have to wait for a full, in-depth teardown to find out specifics, but several images posted by OWC do reveal what appears to be socketed CPUs. In theory that means owners should be able to perform a DIY upgrade of the Intel Xeon E5 processors shipping with the new base configurations. 

Apple already offers a number of CPU upgrades as built-to-order options at the time of purchasing the new Mac Pro. Upgrades from the base quad-core CPU to 6-core, 8-core, or 12-core configurations range from $500 to $3500 through Apple, but it’s likely third-parties like OWC will offer more affordable upgrade options for existing owners. OWC’s teardown appears to still be in progress, but we’ll update here if anything else notable is discovered.

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Comments

  1. sonnymattera - 11 years ago

    Hopefully we can see other companies following in their footsteps to create truly powerful SFF computers that don’t have a huge footprint.

  2. drtyrell969 - 11 years ago

    Oh that just hurts to see. Quick! Put it back together!

  3. scumbolt2014 - 11 years ago

    Hear that sound? It’s the sound of another of the haters excuses getting sucked out of the window. When more plentiful and lower priced Thunderbolt 2, 4K display and PCI-E options proliferate the market due to Apple showing their support for these technologies.

    Then when people realize they really can route 4-8+ cables (or 2 ethernet and video) into a machine that may or may not be on their desktop I predict heads exploding.

    Mine will be on a shelf 1/3 from ground inside my desk where it and peripherals are close to power. Peripherals on desktop behind monitors. Need to pull it out of location to add a new peripheral? Still not any harder than crawling under my desk to pull a bunch of cables plugged into back of the previous Mac Pro that doesn’t have the cables centrally located (and no automatic lights to help see either) then pull out the behemoth then be sure to ground myself so I don’t ruin the thing.

    Seems like progress too me personally but can understand that people have major bucks into their current set-ups. Just wait until you need the upgrade like any time. I think for some users and with an aggressive set-up a new Mac Pro could last 7 years without needing many internal upgrades.

    • drtyrell969 - 11 years ago

      I’m running an 8-core 2008 model that still kicks butt. I’ve burned out two video cards, but each replacement makes it a new machine. Mac Pro is the way to fly always. Can’t wait for these turbines to be more readably available. Developers have to defend the Pros exists IMO. Less we develop on consumer products.

  4. kjlowe - 11 years ago

    http://9to5mac.com/products/mac-pro/

    This page needs updating to recommend

  5. ronie678 - 11 years ago

    Reblogged this on Ronak's Apple iNews.

  6. New Mac Pro CPU Upgradable (RAM and SSD are DIY also as seen on videos) Sounds like a sweet deal buying the base model and work our way from there. (keep an eye in case any Logic board differences between the 4 – 6 – 8 – 12 core models)

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.


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