Intel® Xeon®

It took me two hours as I went very slowly and encountered a problem removing one of the screws holding the processor bracket to the processor board, this required some gentle work with some pliers. I also cleaned out all the dust from the computer using canned air and a 1" dry paint brush. As others have noted it probably pays to use the best thermal paste you can buy and I used the Thermal Grizzly Kryonaught. I also used a single lightweight glove on my hand to get better torque while removing screws as the small screwdrivers we're hard to hold in my aging hand.

Everything went back together smoothly and the machine booted on the first try.

I really enjoyed the whole process and feel this upgrade will last me a few more years of use for the ol' trash can.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

I would recommend this item to a friend!

For starters, since installation involves significant disassembly of the computer, you need a fair amount of room to set down the pieces. I initially didn’t clear enough space. Another space prep hint, for those of you who drop screws, clearing space on the floor for that is a sensible precaution. The small T5 screws, in particular, are hard to handle.

I had the install video on my iPad, and I don’t think I would have made it through without running the video alongside the installation.

As other reviewers have observed, your computer will probably not be as clean on the interior as the one in the installation video. I did a fair amount of cleaning, I found canned air useful for this. On a similar note, the thermal paste on my processor had dried out a good bit over 7 years, so it was harder to clean off than on the video. I had extra alcohol and cotton swabs for that.

The big mistake that I made while doing the install involved the clamp that holds the processor to the assembly and to the heat sink. I wasn’t watching the video closely enough and got the clamp on backwards when reinstalling. Which lead to the computer not booting when reassembled. It took some time to figure out that problem.

The video notes that the power assembly may need to be adjusted to get the T10 screws that hold it to the top and bottom of the computer to fit correctly. I found this more difficult than described in the video. A second set of hands would have been helpful for this part, but I eventually got it.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

I would recommend this item to a friend!

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Several points to note. First, my 4 year old Mac Pro was caked with dust. You don’t get a sense of this from the video which features a pristine machine. Be prepared for this possibility with q-tips, compressed air and extra isopropyl alcohol.

Second, if like me you’ve not done this before, patience and deliberation is key. Some screws and connectors can be a little stiff - I saw evidence of loctite I think - but force them gently and there’s no problem.

Third, when I got to the second, inner set of 4 Torx 10 screws that secure the spring retainer that tensions the CPU I suddenly noticed they were perfectly flat, smooth round bolt heads. What?! It took some time but I discovered Apple had finished this inner set perfectly with color-matched tape! This was not hard to crack and remove, but held me up for a good half-hour.

Fourth, that spring retainer is *strong*. The thermal compound I selected - not the grease in the kit - emphasized absolute cleanliness of the heat sink and CPU cap, so at first I tried to reseat the first two screws without pressing on the CPU. This was a mistake. You really do need to support the assembly well from behind. Luckily I sourced extra (70%, medical grade) isopropyl wipes for the earlier stages of cleaning the heat sink and old CPU, keeping OWC’s supplied 99.9% wipe for a final clean-down prior to applying the grease.

It really is important to use the high purity isopropyl alcohol at this last stage as it dries much faster and reduces the chance of dust contaminating the final seal. The 70% wipes include water which means longer dry times.

Now not quite two days later I’m very happy with this upgrade. The 8-core Xeon does a lot of clever management, running around 2-3 cores under normal, unstressed operation. Single core speed (with Geekbench) has dropped only slightly from my original 4-core CPU. System load is about halved. Then when needed, such as compiling a lot of source with Xcode everything switches up and compile times are lightning fast. I anticipate similar gains when running large simulations: these can keep the Mac Pro running for hours and this is where its ability to dissipate heat and let the Xeon run without throttling keeps this Mac very viable even in 2020

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC 8-Core 3.0GHz Intel Xeon E5-1680v2 Processor Upgrade Kit for Mac Pro (Late 2013).

I would recommend this item to a friend!

This upgrade was worth a try! I have done upgrades in the past to iMac's and MacBook Pro's and had little trouble with those so this was something I was pretty comfortable trying. The OWC video on installing the upgrade was very easy to follow and all went well. I took my time and it took a bit more than an hour. I immediately noticed a significant speed increase and so far NO spinning beach balls! The computer started up normally on the first restart after installing the new processor. Oh, I took the opportunity to thoroughly clean the internal board and structure with a vacuum. The round MacPro is a work of art inside and out! Worth keeping and upgrading where possible!

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC 10-Core 3.0GHz Intel Xeon E5-2690 v2 Processor Upgrade Kit for Mac Pro (Late 2013).

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC 10-Core 3.0GHz Intel Xeon E5-2690 v2 Processor Upgrade Kit for Mac Pro (Late 2013).

I would recommend this item to a friend!