ZDNet offers Mac Pro Overclocking software
updated 04:10 pm EDT, Sat June 28, 2008
Mac Pro overclockable
ZDNet has announced what it says is the first tool for overclocking the Mac Pro. Windows options for overclocking are prevalent, but none have been available for the Mac Pro, according to ZDNet. It claims that the new software, called ZDNet Clock, is capable of speed increases of 15 to 20 percent, and most computers with 2.8GHz chips should be able to meet or exceed 3.2 GHz. The version 1.0 software supports Intel processors on a Mac Pro or Xserve and requires Max OS X 10.5; it is available for download now, free of charge.
The downloadable software self-detects the chips on launch and, using a slider tool, can increase clockspeed and frontside bus speed. ZDNet recommends jumps of 10MHz at a time in order to find highest stable speed, as each CPU will have have its own tolerances.
RAM chip quality can affect the overclocking process, according to the software developer: Hynix (the brand currently shipping in 2008 models), Kinsington and Transcend modules have worked well in testing.
ZDNet Clock comes with an error-tracking module to aid the user in checking stability, and gradually increasing speed until optimum stable speed for the chip is found.
Speeeeed
06/28, 06:39pm (1 reply) reply
How do i overclock my first gen 2ghz Intel iMac?
I want to get it over 3.06ghz.
coldfusion1970
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2004
Hmmm
06/28, 06:50pm reply
Can anyone try this and confirm if it really works? Im not rich enough to afford blowing a $3K machine in case it doesnt.
jarod
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2005
It works...
06/28, 07:17pm reply
Overclocked my 2ghz mac pro to 2.340 without FSB errors. Tried higher but received alot of errors. Encoded video while making changes. My test was a 1.99gb mpeg file encoding to dv. 2.0 took 16:50, overclocked to 2.340 and completed in 15:00. Go for it folks. BTW, the temps do rise so crank up the fans.
bearcatrp
Senior User
Joined: Dec 2005
Error downloading
06/28, 08:19pm reply
I can't get this file to download properly. I get a .tar file that won't decompress without errors. Can anyone help?
aczeisler
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Feb 2007
hey macnn
06/30, 07:41am reply
Did anyone else notice the page doesn't display correctly in Safari.
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Works here too!
06/30, 09:04am reply
Overclocked Mac Pro original 3.0 to 3.2 - no errors so far!
Much speedier!
I noticed as I slowly upped the MHz that the console log entries refresh increased from every 8-9 secs to eventually 2 seconds!
ocfra
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2008
Works great
06/30, 11:07am reply
2008 MacPro Dual-Quad Xeon 3.2...was able to nudge it up to 3.46 gHz!
Just watched the logs and took it up to where it could run for hours with no errors.
I remember the old days with my Quadra 800 doing this with jumpers and clock crystals.....this is MUCH nicer!
MindBlade
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2008
question
06/30, 11:12am (1 reply) reply
what happens if you lock the machine up, how do you reset it so you can boot?
Athens
Addicted to MacNN
Joined: Jan 2003
Crashes straight away
10/21, 01:45pm reply
I have a 2.8 Xeon with 10GB ram and an Apple Raid card.
I suspect that either my Raid0 set-up or the iRam DDR2 modules is what is causing the system to crash immediately after my 4th up-clocking.
My procedure is to go 1% each time. But at the fourth the OS (X 10.5.4) crashes horribly. I then get message from my raid utility that "Raid set has been mounted with indeterminable data loss." Although no date has been lost.
Ideas anyone??
solidmac
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2008