2013 Mac Pro CPU UPGRADE (& fresh thermal paste)

Complete teardown of a 2013 Mac Pro with a CPU upgrade and re-application of thermal paste to the CPU and GPUs. Keep your old Mac Pro running for a few years more!

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[ConstantGeekery]

Just noticed an error... the GB5 test that is labelled as "6-core" is actually my old 12-core. Sorry, picked the wrong test from the list. The actual scores for the 6-core were 851 single and 4820 multi. So our upgrade gives us 5% more single-threaded performance, and 35% more multi-threaded performance in this test.

[Bucking_Fastard]

I have no expertise in this whatsoever, but as a Youtube commenter, it is my duty to inform you that you have used an incorrect amount of the thermal paste on your CPU!

[fmarinosfromafar]

Great job! I was quite nervous as well when upgrading a 4-core to a 12-core back in c.2017 when these macs were worth quite a bit more. I placed all the components and screws into numbered zip lock bags, and religiously followed a print-out of the iFixit guide. You made it look simple this time! Looking forward to more instalments of Trashcan Tales!

[whophd]

I’ve done this — but with the help of a very techy friend who changed CPUs on much bigger computers, and thanked me for the unique experience of trying this one. I couldn’t have bought the parts without his help.

[IndyIsVital]

I hold you responsible for what's become an addiction to Mac Pro 2013s. I have bought two so far. The first at 280 quid, I upgraded to an 8 core but it only had D300s. The second was too good a bargain to miss on ebay, Though without SSD or memory at 120 quid. It turned out to be slightly sqaushed somehow (so bad the fan can't spin), but did contain two D700s which I swapped out. Then listed the remaining bits on ebay, untill I couldnt resist and am currenly waiting for bits to use to repair. I'm trying to justify this as a huge saving to my employer to claim the expense. But explaining why I want to replace a 2015 4 core 27inch iMac with an 8 core 2013 Mac Pro is a bit hard. Makes perfect sense to me! I lusted after these when they came out but could never justify thousands for one. But 300

[namakudamono]

Excellent video Dave! Very well shot and edited, with clear, concise narrative.

[anach]

Thanks for the video. Bought the 12-core, D700, 64GB model on eBay. It was working fine from the start, but I could see the dust inside. Tore it all down as per your video, removed as much dust as possible and reapplied the thermal paste. I looking forward to many more years of use from this Mac Pro 6, 1.

[BrunodeSouzaLino]

Let's champion anti-static ankle straps as the new trend of PC building.

[sfperalta]

Makes my 2012 Mac mini upgrades seem like a walk in the park. Fascinating!

[MeinDeutschkurs]

Never in doubt! 😅 Excellent! Great video, I love the fiddling and diddeling videos. Worth every second! Love from Austria!

[TheAppleLab]

just have upgraded another 2013 yesterday, it was the third time for me...works like a charm and have done it in about 1h including cleaning all the dried thermal paste.
which i really recommend to every 6, 1 regardless of the manufacturing date. pretty happy with that machine which now have the 2690v2 with 10c/20t at 3.0 - 3.4ghz.

[Technocrat.]

Excellent Video Dave. I'm Still looking at buying one.

[bruhperson]

currently watching this on my Mac Pro 2013!

[Fred_Raimer]

Hi - yet another great video! Thanks to you I purchased one of these for a song ($200 shipped for 6 core w/D500 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD), upgraded the RAM to 64GB for all of $20 and with Open Core running Sonoma perfectly as my "daily driver" driving 2 27" Cinema Displays. Got $75 for my 2013 mini and I am totally delighted! However now I am having to resist spending less than $25 for that awesome 8 core Xeon that I really don't need. I can't resist a bargain and have a tinkering compulsion (as do you, I suspect LOL). A funny aside - even though these heavy-duty upgrades are insanely cheap, buying the flippin' Apple power cable with the fitted curve costs *way more* than any of these upgrades! I mean like around $35!!! Sheesh! Oh well, I guess I will set the cash aside for a 2TB SSD in future and stick with my generic cable. Anyway, thanks for all your efforts and entertaining, informative videos! You have a new fan and subscriber, hungry for more!!

[giorgio]

Rip to that one person ever who fried pc parts for not wearing the anti static strap. Never happened to me in 20 years.

[augustinandre-fouet]

For your question at the end of the video, I connected my Mac Pro 2013 to a LG ultrafine 5K 27 inch thunderbolt 3 with apple adapter TB 2 to TB 3. It works really well on Mac OS but on windows they are some limitations. I have to restart the Mac sometimes because the Mac does not detect the thunderbolt 3 connection. And after rebooting multiple times, windows won't boot anymore... and I have to restore.

[chrisdunderdale]

Really great! Question is, do I have the nerves to do this to mine?

[RobKMusic]

I just did this upgrade yesterday. It is rather involved, but if one can follow directions it's not that bad. It took me about 90 minutes going slow and double checking my work. I also had to clean 11yrs of dust and crud out of it.

I didn't have a proper mat so I used a daily pill case to hold the screws as I disassembled the unit. Turns out there are exactly 7 different types/sets of screws so that worked out perfectly. I filled it up Sunday to Saturday. So when it was time to reassemble I went Saturday backwards to Sunday and it was dead simple.

OWC has a great step by step video that's only 11 minutes long. It also shows what the thermal paste should look like on the CPU after applied!

[LoganLayneOffical]

I just bought one with the 6 core and d500s I will definitely use this guide when I upgrade to a 12 core and redo the thermal paste

[bryans]

I did this on my 2013 Mac Pro after watching your video on the process a few years ago. It was daunting for me too because, like you said, the price of these things was very high at the time.