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htg

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 2, 2009
125
0
Which of these options would you choose? This is a hardware only debate, the OS you can run on it doesn't matter. Two are custom builds, one is a low-end Mac Pro.

Option 1
CPU: Intel Core i7-3960X, 3.3Ghz, Sandy Bridge
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth X79
Graphics Card: PNY nVidia Geforce GTX 570
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16 GB Kit
SSD/HD: OCZ Agility 3 120GB SSD + Western Digital 1TB HD
Optical Drive: LG BH10LS38 Blu Ray RW
Case/Power Supply: Haven't decided, but shouldn't affect performance.

Option 2:

Everything same as the above a part from the following:

CPU: AMD Opteron 6272, 16 core
Motherboard: Supermicro H8SGL-F
SSD/HD: OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD + Seagate 1TB HD Sata II

Option 3:

The base Mac Pro model (Quad Core, 2.8Ghz Intel Xeon, 3GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5770)

I will be using it for daily video editing/processing, gaming and bragging rights!

For the first two, it would also be helpful if you could confirm that all the parts work together.

Thanks!!
 
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Which of these options would you choose? This is a hardware only debate, the OS you can run on it doesn't matter. Two are custom builds, one is a low-end Mac Pro.

Option 1
CPU: Intel Core i7-3960X, 3.3Ghz, Sandy Bridge
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth X79
Graphics Card: PNY nVidia Geforce GTX 570
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16 GB Kit
SSD/HD: OCZ Agility 3 120GB SSD + Western Digital 1TB HD
Optical Drive: LG BH10LS38 Blu Ray RW
Case/Power Supply: Haven't decided, but shouldn't affect performance.

Option 2:

Everything same as the above a part from the following:

CPU: AMD Opteron 6272, 16 core
Motherboard: Supermicro H8SGL-F
SSD/HD: OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD + Seagate 1TB HD Sata II

Option 3:

The base Mac Pro model (Quad Core, 2.8Ghz Intel Xeon, 3GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5770)

I will be using it for daily video editing/processing, gaming and bragging rights!

For the first two, it would also be helpful if you could confirm that all the parts work together.

Thanks!!

The Mac Pro base wasn't even worth its price when it was released, and considering it's still the same price even though it's like two years old and the hardware cost has decreased quite a lot, it's even less so today.

If you haven't already, check this site out: http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/search/label/CustoMac
 
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The Mac Pro base wasn't even worth its price when it was released, and considering it's still the same price even though it's like two years old and the hardware cost has decreased quite a lot, it's even less so today.

If you haven't already, check this site out: http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/search/label/CustoMac

Yeah, I already have checked out Tony Mac's site. Even though it is pretty cool, the parts that are Hackintosh compatible are too limited for me and I want something with way more flexibility, where I can pick exactly the parts I want. And installing OSX seems pretty complicated, especially when you discover that one of the parts you chose doesn't work.

I plan to install Ubuntu and then run Windows applications on it via Wine.
 
Yeah, I already have checked out Tony Mac's site. Even though it is pretty cool, the parts that are Hackintosh compatible are too limited for me and I want something with way more flexibility, where I can pick exactly the parts I want. And installing OSX seems pretty complicated, especially when you discover that one of the parts you chose doesn't work.

I plan to install Ubuntu and then run Windows applications on it via Wine.

Oh, okay. Your mention of "this is not an OS debate" and making sure the parts fit together with comparing to a Mac Pro, I figured you'd want to build a Mac Pro hackintosh :)

Well, in that case I would at least discourage you from buying the Mac Pro, for the reasons I have already stated...
 
I think Option 1 is the best one . I choose option 1

Agreed.

The Intels have a performance edge. The only reason to look at the AMDs is if you're doing a LOT of parallel processing. I'm working with a company doing that, and we're using AMDs. The price point / core is such that is makes more sense for us. We also need more cores as opposed to faster cores.

I'd buy your kit on newegg. Better prices, and a good support community (OSS style)
 
I'm also tempted to go with the first one, but do you think that the new Ivy Bridge processors will feature an improved i7 3960x? Is it worth waiting?
 
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