Mac Pro (2006/2008) Upgrades

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

With the release of the Mac Pro, Apple finished its move from PowerPC to Intel processors. The Mac Pro replaced the PowerMac G5 Dual Core as Apple's high-end workstation.

Although the case was virtually unchanged, the change from the PowerPC G5 to the Intel Xeon dropped the thermal output of the machine considerably, allowing some of the cooling equipment of the previous machine to be removed to make way for more hard drive bays - addressing one of the major complaints with the PowerMac G5. Apple's specifications of the original Mac Pro can be found here.

In January 2008 Apple released an improved model using Xeon 5400 series processors as opposed to the 5100 series, the bus speed improved from 1.33GHz to 1.6GHz. Apple's specifications for this revision of the Mac Pro can be found here.

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.

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.

Any complete machines of this type or similar that we have for sale are listed here. Please note that these are refurbished models with a 3 month warranty, and that delivery is likely to take 3 - 5 working days. These can be purchased online with the standard website courier delivery charge for the mainland UK only. Please contact us for a quote on shipping to other areas.

Here are the various repair services we offer for this Mac. You can have us take the machine in for evaluation, or book a fixed-price repair if you already know what the fault is and the service is listed below (for services without parts, please see the relevant tab on this page for compatible parts that we sell). If you know what the fault is, but we don't have a fixed-price repair listed below, please contact us for a quote.