Thoughts on my new 3.2GHz Mac Pro

[ghostchild]

So I got and setup my new Mac Pro two days ago with the following specs:

• Processor: One 3.20GHz Quad-Core Intel Xe
• Memory: 3GB (3x1GB)
• Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB
• Hard Drive Bay1: 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s

I mainly do photography, web design, graphic design, videography, some gaming on Steam. My last "workstation" was a 2009 Unibody MBP 15" so this is considered a huge upgrade.

Running the programs I need for my work at the same time I will get the beach ball such as importing clips to FCP while working on PS C5 and importing my 35GB of mp3s back to itunes. While gaming DOD Source is as smooth as a baby's bottom running the recommended settings at 1080p res. TF2 I haven't had the chance to try yet.

Everything runs smooth, but would be even better with more ram and SSD HD boot drive. I have already bought 24GB of ram and will be installing that soon. As for an SSD I will be getting the 120GB OCW SSD to boot from. The stock 1tb is enough for me right now as I store most of my files externally other than the most recent files which I store on the Mac Pro and back up on another external.

Missing esata kinda sucks but I bought one to remedy that.

Hope this helps those who are considering this machine.

[Hellhammer]

Missing esata kinda sucks but I bought one to remedy that.

You can buy PCIe eSATA card

[ghostchild]

You can buy PCIe eSATA card

Yep, did that.

[chaosbunny]

Nice machine - I'm sure it's gonna perform very well and last a long time! :)

I hope I'll get my 2,8 ghz, 5870 with 10 gb 3rd party ram and another 1 tb 3rd party hd for win7 next week.

[Woodgrove@macla]

You can buy PCIe eSATA card

Does Mac OS X have any built in support for eSATA even though Macs don't use it?

[sboerup]

You just need drivers, or the new MAX6G or whatever it's called states it doesn't need drivers. I have a $50 port multiplier eSATA card I use for backups.

[milbournosphere]

I just got mine as well, glad you're liking it thus far. I laughed when you noted that you've already been testing your software; the first thing I did after migrating my data over (Time Machine is awesome, BTW) was play a game of Starcraft 2 at the Ultra settings :)

[AdeFowler]

Thanks John.

I've got the same machine on order. Is it noisy?

[Hellhammer]

Does Mac OS X have any built in support for eSATA even though Macs don't use it?

Just like any PCIe card, it needs drivers but there are several cards that have drivers for OS X and some kinda EFI support. eSATA is basically just normal SATA with different connector and few extra features. SATA to eSATA adapter does the trick as well

[englishman]

Apart from some specialised applications you should get great performance on that especially with all the upgrades.

I think I'll be going even lower for the base Quad as my 2009 Octo is wasted for my devt/web needs.

[ghostchild]

This is the one I got yesterday in the mail...

http://eshop.macsales.com/Images/Items/nwtmxpcie6gs2/nwtheropciecard.jpg

Shouldn't need any drivers.


As for noise levels on this machine, I can sleep with it on. When it's running I don't mind cause I always have some sort of music on anyway. My room is a little warmer of course, can't wait until winter :D.

[milo]

You can buy PCIe eSATA card

Yep. And it sucks that on a machine like this you have to buy more stuff and fill a PCI slot to get it. Same goes for SATA III.

[macz1]

does this card allow hot-swap?

The Mac Pro internal SATA only allows "cold unplug" :)

[thagomizer]

This is the one I got yesterday in the mail...

http://eshop.macsales.com/Images/Items/nwtmxpcie6gs2/nwtheropciecard.jpg

Shouldn't need any drivers.


As for noise levels on this machine, I can sleep with it on. When it's running I don't mind cause I always have some sort of music on anyway. My room is a little warmer of course, can't wait until winter :D.

Do you know if it supports target disk mode (like you can do with firewire)? Didn't see any Q&A on the Newertech site.

[ghostchild]

i believe it can.

[reel2reel]

Yep. And it sucks that on a machine like this you have to buy more stuff and fill a PCI slot to get it. Same goes for SATA III.

You could get one of these for $19 and keep your PCI slot free:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/MPQXES2/

I don't think the newest Mac Pro's have two slots available. There's one available and you have to pull the optical drive cable if you want two. Not hot-swappable.

[lazy4u]

I have the same mac pro on the way.Does the 5970 fit/work im the 2010 mac pro?.

[alphaod]

I have the same mac pro on the way.Does the 5970 fit/work im the 2010 mac pro?.

It fits, but only works in Windows.