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Mac Pro (Early 2008)

A1186 · MacPro3,1 · 2008–2009 · tower

Specifications

Cpu: Two quad-core Intel Xeon (Harpertown, 45nm) 2.8/3.0/3.2 GHz, up to 8 cores; single quad-core 2.8 GHz base option
Gpu: ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256 MB base; NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB or Quadro FX 5600 1.5 GB options
Ram: max: 64 GB (8×8 GB FB-DIMM real-world; Apple listed 32 GB) · base: 2 GB DDR2-800 FB-DIMM ECC
Ports: USB 2.0 ×5 · FireWire 400 ×2 · FireWire 800 ×2 · Gigabit Ethernet ×2 · Optical audio in/out · Analog audio in/out · Two PCIe 2.0 x16 slots + two PCIe x4 slots
Display: No integrated display
Storage: base: 320 GB SATA HDD · options: Four tool-free 3.5" SATA bays · Two optical bays · SSDs and PCIe cards common
Os Support: latest: OS X 10.11 El Capitan (officially); later via OpenCore · shipped: Mac OS X 10.5.1 Leopard
Release Price: $2,299

Variants

Revisions

One 2.8 GHz Quad-Coresingle-socket base configuration, 4 cores

Two 2.8 GHz Quad-Coredual-socket, 8 cores

Two 3.0 GHz Quad-Coredual-socket BTO, 8 cores

Two 3.2 GHz Quad-Coretop dual-socket BTO, 8 cores

Upgrade paths

RAM

64 GB DDR2-800 FB-DIMM ECC (8 slots across two riser cards) · Two pull-out memory riser cards; FB-DIMMs run hot and need matched pairs.

EASY

storage

Four tool-free SATA bays plus PCIe SSD/adapter cards · Cable-free sleds slide straight into the drive bays.

EASY

GPU

PCIe 2.0 cards; flashed GTX 680 / Radeon HD 7950 class with EFI, driver-limited by El Capitan · GPU choice gates the maximum bootable macOS; capped at 10.11 without OpenCore.

MODERATE

CPU

Two quad-core Xeon X5482 3.2 GHz (8 cores) · LGA 771 Harpertown swap; requires reseating heatsinks and thermal paste.

MODERATE