Mac Pro Mid-2010

The Mac Pro "Eight Core" 2.4 (Mid-2010/Westmere) features dual 2.4 GHz Quad Core 45-nm Xeon E5620 (Westmere) processors with a dedicated 256k of L2 cache for each core and 12MB of "fully shared" L3 cache per processor. Through custom configuration it also could be configured with two 2.66 GHz Six Core Intel Xeon X5650 processors or two 2.93 GHz Six Core Intel Xeon X5670 processors for a total of twelve cores for either model. Due to further technical distinctions, EveryMac.com has cataloged these custom options as distinct models.

By default, this model was configured with 6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM, a 1TB (7200 RPM, 32 MB cache) 3Gb/s Serial ATA hard drive, an 18X dual-layer "SuperDrive" and an ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card with 1GB of GDDR5 memory.

Expansion includes two external 5.25" "optical" bays (one available by default), four internal 3.5" "cable-free, direct attach" hard drive bays (three available by default), and four PCIe 2.0 slots (one free PCIe 2.0 x16 slot and two free PCIe 2.0 x4 slots with the default single graphics card installed).

Port selection includes five USB 2.0 ports, four Firewire "800" ports, dual Gigabit Ethernet, a Mini DisplayPort and a dual-link DVI port, and more. AirPort Extreme (802.11a/b/g/n) and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR comes standard.

While the "Mid-2010" models share virtually identical external appearance as the "Early 2009" models, all "Mid-2010" models are equipped with faster graphics and notable technical enhancements exist for higher-end "Westmere" models too with faster processors and as many as twelve cores (two six core processors) via custom configuration.

The MacPro5,1 is often regarded as the pinnacle of the "cheese grater" design, and this 8-core model was a particularly esteemed unit. [12] Equipped with dual "Westmere" quad-core processors, it achieved a fantastic balance of performance and value. [33] Its robust build quality, easy internal access, and extensive expansion options were widely praised. [14, 33] This model became legendary in the professional community for its longevity, with many users upgrading the CPUs, GPUs, and storage to keep it relevant for over a decade. The included ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics provided ample performance for its time, supporting a wide range of creative workflows. [12, 22, 33]