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Mac Pro (2009)

A1289 · MacPro4,1 · 2009–2010 · tower

Specifications

Cpu: Quad-core Xeon W3520 2.66 GHz (single) base; up to two 4-core Xeon E5540/X5570 (8 cores), Nehalem
Gpu: NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512 MB base; ATI Radeon HD 4870 512 MB option
Ram: max: 32 GB Apple-rated (64 GB real-world on 8-DIMM dual-processor) · base: 3 GB DDR3-1066 ECC (single-CPU)
Ports: USB 2.0 ×5 · FireWire 800 ×4 · Gigabit Ethernet ×2 · Optical audio in/out · Analog audio in/out · 4 PCI Express 2.0 slots
Storage: base: 640 GB SATA HDD · options: Four tool-free 3.5" SATA bays · Two optical bays usable for drives · PCIe SSD and NVMe cards common
Os Support: latest: macOS 10.14 Mojave (Metal GPU + 4,1 to 5,1 flash); officially macOS 10.11 El Capitan · shipped: Mac OS X 10.5.6 Leopard
Release Price: $2,499

Variants

Revisions

Quad-core 2.66 GHzsingle Xeon W3520, entry config

8-core 2.26 GHzdual Xeon E5520

8-core 2.93 GHzdual Xeon X5570, top BTO

Upgrade paths

RAM

64 GB DDR3 ECC real-world on dual-CPU trays (8 DIMM slots) · Slide-out processor tray with standard registered ECC DIMMs.

EASY

storage

Four tool-free SATA bays plus PCIe SSD/NVMe cards · Drives drop straight into caddies, no cables.

EASY

CPU

Dual 6-core Westmere Xeon (12 cores) after the 4,1 to 5,1 firmware flash · Delidded Westmere swap plus the famous 4,1 to 5,1 firmware flash unlocks the later CPUs and NVMe boot.

MODERATE

GPU

PCIe cards up to Radeon RX 580 class (Metal-capable for Mojave and OpenCore) · Metal GPU is what keeps these towers on modern macOS.

MODERATE