Mac Pro (Early 2009, Dual CPU)

Essentials

Family: Mac Pro

Codename: ?

Gestalt ID: 406

Minimum OS: 10.5.6

Maximum OS: 10.10.4

Introduced: March 2009

Terminated: July 2010

Processor

CPU: Intel Xeon 5500 Series ("Gainestown")

CPU Speed: 2x2.26 GHz

CPU Cores: 4

FPU: integrated

Bus Speed: 6.4 GT/s (see notes)

Data Bus Width: 64-bit

Address Bus Width: 64-bit

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

ROM: EFI

RAM Type: PC-8500 DDR3 ECC SDRAM

Minimum RAM Speed: 1066 MHz

Onboard RAM: 0 MB

RAM slots: 8

Maximum RAM: 32 GB

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

Wi-Fi: optional 802.11n

Bluetooth: 2.1+EDR

Miscellaneous

Power: 1440 Watts

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

Weight: 41.2 lbs.

Notes

The Mac Pro (Early 2009, Dual CPU) 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. With QPI, bus speed is measured in gigatransfers per second (abbreviated GT/s).

Introduced in March 2009, the Mac Pro (Early 2009, Dual CPU) introduced Intel's Nehalem architecture to Apple's professional desktop line, alongside the lower-end Mac Pro (Early 2009 Single CPU). Though the Intel Xeon 5500-series 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, Dual CPU) came in a single, highly-customizable configurations, which included two quad-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. Built-to-order options included 2.66 and 2.93 GHz processors, up to 32 GB of RAM, 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. The Mac Pro (Early 2009, Dual CPU) was replaced in July 2010 by the Mac Pro (Mid 2010, Dual CPU).

Picture Credits:
Apple, Inc.