Hosted by site sponsor WebMate.
Silver Tower Mac Pro (Dual Optical) Q&A - Published August 30, 2010
All Mac Q&As >> Silver Tower Mac Pro Dual Optical Q&A (Home)
To be notified of new Q&As, sign up for EveryMac.com's bimonthly email list.
What are the differences between the "Mid-2010" Mac Pro models and the "Early 2009" Mac Pro models that they replaced?
Although they look essentially identical from the outside, there are substantial differences between the "Mid-2010" Mac Pro line -- the Mac Pro "Quad Core" 2.8 (2010/Nehalem), "Six Core" 3.33 (2010/Westmere), "Eight Core" 2.4 (2010/Westmere) and "Twelve Core" 2.66 (2010/Westmere) -- and the "Early 2009" Mac Pro models replaced -- the Mac Pro "Quad Core" 2.66 (2009/Nehalem) and Mac Pro "Eight Core" 2.26 (2009/Nehalem).
Photo Credit: Apple, Inc.
Different ports on the default video cards are the only external difference. The default video card for the "Early 2009" models has one Mini DisplayPort and one dual-link DVI port whereas the "Mid-2010" models have two Mini DisplayPorts -- capable of passing an audio signal as well as video -- and one dual-link DVI port.
All of these models have 5 USB 2.0 ports (two on the front and three on the back), 4 Firewire "800" ports (two on the front and two on the back), dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, a front-mounted headphone jack, optical digital audio Toslink in/out and analog stereo in/out minijacks, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and 80211a/b/g/n AirPort (although AirPort is standard on the "Mid-2010" models and an optional upgrade on the "Early 2009" line).
Internally, all of these models support "Hyper-Threading" -- which "allows two threads to run simultaneously on each core" -- and "Turbo Boost" -- which "automatically boosts the processor speed based on workload" (so if an application is only using one core it will automatically increase the speed of the core in use and turn off the unused cores). All models have a "QuickPath Interconnect" (QPI) system described as a "bidirectional, point-to-point connection" that provides "quick access to the disk, I/O, and other Mac Pro subsystems" in lieu of a "traditional" system bus as well, but the speed varies on different models.
Processor types also vary -- all models in the "Early 2009" line have 45-nm Xeon "Nehalem" processors and some models in the "Mid-2010" line have 32-nm "Westmere" processors and others have 45-nm Xeon "Nehalem" processors like their predecessors. Memory varies as well -- all models in the "Early 2009" line and some models in the "Mid-2010" line support 1066 MHz PC3-8500 DDR3 ECC SDRAM whereas others in the "Mid-2010" line support 1333 MHz PC3-10600 DDR3 ECC SDRAM.
Internal expansion for all of the "Early 2009" and "Mid-2010" models includes four drive bays that support Serial ATA 3Gb/s drives (one occupied by a hard drive by default), have two 5.25" optical drive bays (one occupied by an 18X DL "SuperDrive" by default), and have four PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots (two x16 slots and two x4 slots with one x16 slot occupied by a default video card). All of these models have the processor(s) and memory mounted on "slide out" trays for easy upgrading.
The differences between the stock entry-level model from the "Early 2009" line -- the Mac Pro "Quad Core" 2.66 (2009/Nehalem) -- and the stock entry-level model from the "Mid-2010" line -- the Mac Pro "Quad Core" 2.8 (2010/Nehalem) are summarized below:
Mac Pro |
"Early 2009" |
"Mid-2010" |
Default Speed: |
2.66 GHz |
2.8 GHz |
Processor Type: |
W3520 |
W3530 |
Processor Cores: |
Quad Core |
Quad Core |
QPI Speed: |
4.8 GT/s |
4.8 GT/s |
L2/L3 Cache: |
256k, 8 MB* |
256k, 8 MB* |
Memory Type: |
PC3-8500 |
PC3-8500 |
Std. RAM: |
3 GB |
3 GB |
Max. RAM: |
32 GB† |
32 GB† |
Video Card: |
GeForce GT 120 |
Radeon HD 5770 |
Video RAM: |
512 MB |
1 GB |
Standard HD: |
640 GB |
1 TB |
HD Interface: |
Serial ATA (3Gb/s) |
Serial ATA (3Gb/s) |
SuperDrive: |
18X DL |
18X DL |
Display Ports: |
Mini DisplayPort |
2 Mini DisplayPorts |
Firewire: |
4 (800) |
4 (800) |
Bluetooth: |
2.1+EDR |
2.1+EDR |
AP Extreme: |
Optional |
Standard |
Expansion: |
4 PCIe 2.0 |
4 PCIe 2.0 |
Apple Order No: |
MB871LL/A |
MC250LL/A†† |
Original Price: |
US$2499 |
US$2499 |
* Both of these models have a dedicated 256k level 2 cache for each core and 8 MB of "fully shared" level 3 cache for the processor.
† These models officially support 16 GB, but third-parties have confirmed that they actually support 32 GB.
†† On Apple's marketing documentation for this model, the company lists the Order Number as MC250LL/A. However, in the Online Store, the company uses MC560LL/A. This may or may not need to be corrected.
The differences between the stock high-end model from the "Early 2009" line -- the Mac Pro "Eight Core" 2.26 (2009/Nehalem) -- and the stock high-end model from the "Mid-2010" line -- the Mac Pro "Eight Core" 2.4 (2010/Westmere) follow:
Mac Pro |
"Early 2009" |
"Mid-2010" |
Default Speed: |
2.26 GHz x2 |
2.4 GHz x2 |
Processor Type: |
Xeon E5520 |
Xeon E5620 |
Processor Cores: |
Quad Core (x2) |
Quad Core (x2) |
QPI Speed: |
6.4 GT/s |
5.86 GT/s |
L2/L3 Cache: |
256k, 8 MB (x2)* |
256k, 12 MB (x2)* |
Memory Type: |
PC3-8500 |
PC3-8500 |
Std. RAM: |
6 GB |
6 GB |
Max. RAM: |
64 GB† |
64 GB† |
Video Card: |
GeForce GT 120 |
Radeon HD 5770 |
Video RAM: |
512 MB |
1 GB |
Standard HD: |
640 GB |
1 TB |
HD Interface: |
Serial ATA (3Gb/s) |
Serial ATA (3Gb/s) |
SuperDrive: |
18X DL |
18X DL |
Display Ports: |
Mini DisplayPort |
2 Mini DisplayPorts |
Firewire: |
4 (800) |
4 (800) |
Bluetooth: |
2.1+EDR |
2.1+EDR |
AP Extreme: |
Optional |
Standard |
Expansion: |
4 PCIe 2.0 |
4 PCIe 2.0 |
Apple Order No: |
MB535LL/A |
MC561LL/A |
Original Price: |
US$3299 |
US$3499 |
* These models have a dedicated 256k level 2 cache for each core and 8 MB or 12 MB of "fully shared" level 3 cache for each processor, respectively.
† These models officially support 32 GB, but third-parties have confirmed that they actually support 64 GB.
In the US (and in many other countries), to purchase a used Mac Pro, high-quality storage or memory for the Mac Pro, visit site sponsor Other World Computing.
Please refer to EveryMac.com's Ultimate Mac Comparison feature to dynamically compare any Mac Pro model to any other G3 or later Mac.
Permalink | Report an Error/Typo | Sign Up for Site Update Notices
<< Mac Pro Dual Optical Drives Q&A (Main) | All Mac Q&As
Established in 1996, EveryMac.com has been created by experts with decades of experience with Apple hardware. EveryMac.com includes, and always has included, original research incorporating detailed, hands-on inspection of packaging, computers, and devices as well as extensive real-world use. All information is provided in good faith, but no website or person is perfect. Accordingly, EveryMac.com is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind whatsoever. EveryMac.com, and the authors thereof, shall not be held responsible or liable, under any circumstances, for any damages resulting from the use or inability to use the information within. For complete disclaimer and copyright information please read and understand the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy before using EveryMac.com. Copying, scraping, or use of any content without expressed permission is not allowed, although links to any page are welcomed and appreciated.