Mac Pro (2006/2008) Upgrades

Externally this machine looks very similar to the PowerMac G5 and the PowerMac G5 Dual Core. Internally the machine is much more spacious with room for 2 optical drives and 4 hard drives, as opposed to 1 optical drive and 2 hard drives on the G5s.

An easy identification between PowerMac G5 and Mac Pro can be made by opening the System Profiler utility (Apple Menu > About This Mac, then click the "More Info" button) and checking the CPU type since this machine uses an Intel Xeon and the older machines use a PowerPC G5.

These Mac Pros are also very similar to the later Mac Pro "Nehalem", released in March 2009. System Profiler is the best way to tell the difference - in the memory section of System Profiler, check the speed of the installed RAM modules. The Nehalem Mac Pros use DDR3 1066MHz RAM (PC3-8500), where as the earlier machines dealt with on this page use DDR2 667MHz (PC2-5300) or DDR2 800MHz (PC2-6400) memory.

There are two main revisions of Mac Pro dealt with on this page, the earlier ones use Xeon 5100 series processors, have a 1.33GHz bus speed and can take up to 32GB of 667MHz FB-DIMM RAM (see Apple specs). The later ones use Xeon 5400 series processors and can take up to 32GB of 800MHz FB-DIMM RAM (see Apple specs) - to distinguish between them use System Profiler to check the bus speed or RAM speed. For Mac Pros using a Xeon 3500 or 5500, see the Mac Pro "Nehalem" page.

If you are still unsure you can contact us on 01223 833 412 or by email for confirmation.

This page lists memory for Mac Pro computers made between August 2006 and March 2009 only, RAM upgrades for the Mac Pro "Nehalem" released in March 2009 are listed here.

These earlier Intel Xeon based Mac Pro requires FB-DIMM (fully buffered DIMM) memory. FB-DIMM RAM has excellent performance and reliability compared to normal DDR2 memory - it is however more expensive.

There are 8 RAM slots in the Mac Pro, the earlier models take 667MHz FB-DIMM RAM and can take up to 32GB in 8 x 4GB modules.

Later Mac Pros (from January 2008) use 800MHZ FB-DIMM RAM and can take up to 32GB in 8 x 4GB modules.

The Mac Pro has slots for two optical drives, these are controlled by standard IDE interfaces so any normal IDE 5.25" unit will fit. You can also fit a Blu-ray drive, but since these are SATA devices you need to attach it to one of the spare SATA connectors on the logic board. We sell a kit to do this and have an installation guide here.

In a major improvement over the PowerMac G5, the Mac Pro has mountings for up to 4 internal SATA 3.5" hard drives. Fitting is easy since all the bays are readily accessible.

If you don't want to fit a new hard drive yourself, you can take advantage of the MacUpgrades Installation Service. Add the installation service from the list below to your cart along with your chosen hard drive. We can also clone your existing hard drive onto the new one, simply add the Clone Original Hard Drive service below to your cart.

Once you have booked the service, send your machine to us, we will carry out the work and return it to you. Alternatively, we do offer a Collection Service with our courier, please see here for details.

This Mac can have an eSATA controller card added into an expansion socket - allowing it to control an array of eSATA drives.

For an explanation of what eSATA is, please see our eSATA FAQ. To see our full listing of eSATA products, please see the eSATA category.

eSATA products compatible with this Mac can be found on this page - eSATA controllers can be found on in the expansion cards section, eSATA enclosures are with the external hard drives, and SATA hard drives are listed with the internal hard drives.

These Mac Pros use PCI-Express for their graphics cards. Listed below are the compatible products that we sell.

Like the dual-core PowerMac G5, the Mac Pro uses high-bandwidth PCI-Express for its expansion cards. PCI-Express slots are not backwards compatible with PCI/PCI-X cards, so the only expansion cards for the Mac Pro are those listed here. The Mac Pro also has a slot for an Airport Extreme Card.

The following keyboards and mice are compatible with this Mac.

Listed below are power supplies, batteries and related products we supply for this Mac.

Listed below are power cables, tools and related products we supply for this Mac.

With USB, USB 2.0, FireWire and FireWire 800 connectivity, the Mac Pro can use a wide range of external hard drives.

Additionally its PCI-Express slots allow additional connectivities such as eSATA and SCSI to be added, allowing yet more external storage options.