Mac Pro (Early 2009)

Essentials

Family: Mac Pro

Codename: ?

Gestalt ID: 406

Minimum OS: 10.5.6

Maximum OS: 10.7.3

Introduced: March 2009

Terminated: July 2010

Processor

CPU: Intel Xeon 5500 Series ("Galnestown")

CPU Speed: 2.66 GHz (3500-series "Bloomfield") or 2x2.26 GHz

CPU Cores: 4

FPU: integrated

Bus Speed: see notes

Data Bus Width: 64-bit

Address Bus Width: 64-bit

ROM: EFI

RAM Type: PC-8500 DDR3 ECC SDRAM

Minimum RAM Speed: 1066 MHz

Onboard RAM: 0 MB

RAM slots: 4/8

Maximum RAM: 16/32 GB

Level 1 Cache: 32 kB data, 32 kB instruction

Level 2 Cache: 256 kB per-core (1 MB total)

Level 3 Cache: 8 MB on-processor

Expansion Slots: 1 PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot, 2 PCI Express 2.0 x4 slots

Video

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 (16-lane double-wide PCI Express 2.0 slot)

VRAM: 512 MB

Max Resolution: all resolutions supported

Video Out: Mini DisplayPort, DVI (dual link)

Storage

Hard Drive: 640 GB 7200 RPM

ATA Bus: Serial-ATA

Optical Drive: 32x/32x/32x/18x/18x/8x CD-RW/DVD±RW/DVD±R DL

Input/Output

USB: 5 (2.0)

Firewire800: 4

Audio Out: 2x stereo 24 bit mini, Optical S/PDIF

Audio In: stereo 24 bit mini, Optical S/PDIF

Speaker: mono

Networking

Modem: optional external 56 kbps

Ethernet: 2x 10/100/1000Base-T

Airport Extreme: optional 802.11n

Bluetooth: 2.1+EDR

Miscellaneous

Power: 1440 Watts

Dimensions: 20.1" H x 8.1" W x 18.7" D

Weight: 39.9/41.2 lbs.

Notes

The Mac Pro (Early 2009) has no frontside bus, and as such there is no published bus speed. In its place, the Mac Pro uses Intel's QuickPath Interconnect system, a bi-directional, point-to-point connection system, which is functionally equivalent to a frontside bus operating at roughly 1:1 with the processor clock speed.

Introduced in March 2009, The Mac Pro (Early 2009) introduced Intel's Nehalem architecture to Apple's professional desktop line. Though the Intel Xeon 3500-series and 5500-series processors operated at lower clock rates than the 5400-series processors used in the Mac Pro (Early 2008), the system architecture provided more efficient caching and faster, point-to-point connections between the CPU and other system components, which resulted in a generally faster system, particularly for highly multi-threaded applications.

The Mac Pro (Early 2009) came in two highly-customizable configurations. The Quad-Core model included a 4-core 2.66 GHz Intel Xeon 3500-series processor, 3 GB of RAM, a 640 GB 7200 RPM hard drive, and 512 MB of VRAM, for $2499 (a 2.93 processor and up to 16 GB of RAM were available as Built-to-order options). The 8-core model included two 4-core 2.26 GHz Intel Xeon 5500-series processors, 6 GB of RAM, a 640 GB 7200 RPM hard drive, and 512 MB of VRAM, for $3299 (2.66 and 2.93 GHz processors and up to 32 GB of RAM were available as built-to-order options). Built-to-order options for both models included up to 4 TB of storage (via four hard drive bays), up to three additional NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics cards, an ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics card, a second 18x SuperDrive, and RAID and Fibre Channel PCI Express cards.

Picture Credits:
Apple, Inc.