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jypfoto

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2014
42
29
So I just spent a fair amount of time upgrading my cMP, and looking on Craigslist I found a nMP 6 core with dual D700's and Applecare only 4 months old for a reasonable price of $2500. Pretty hard to pass that deal up, it's amazing how much quieter these new machines are.

[url=https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8719/17218088048_b922f6618f_z.jpg]Image[/url]

Fantastic deal. Just picked up a 6 core myself, but picked up while I was driving through Delaware, stock 6 score for $3699. Don't think you'll find a cheaper, better specced one than the one that you bought.
 

tomscott1988

macrumors 6502a
Apr 14, 2009
707
674
UK
5,1 Mac Pro

Just decided to upgrade my 2008 Mac pro 2x2.8ghz 14gb ram 285gtx 256 pci SSD 12TB

I wanted the expandability and think the new machines are outdated for the price and difficulty in upgradability especially seen as tho the graphics cards will likely never be upgradable. Also converting my current storage to a thunderbolt raid would cost another £400. So I have just picked up a 5,1 with a 6 core W3690 3.46ghz, 48gbs ram, 256 PCI SSD and 128 SSD 4tb and 5770 to tie me over until the nmp specs are announced.

Although yes its older it cost me £2100 less than a new 6 core, performance is 2900 single and 16000 multi which is 70% faster single and 30% faster multi than my 2008 and isn't far behind a 2013 6 core nmp at 3600 single and 20000 multi. Not worth 2000 more anyway.

Cant wait for it to arrive! Think I'm going to make my old mac pro a server. Upgrades for it will be a GTX 970 and a USB 3 hub and raid my two apricorn solo with 256gbs to a 512 with some impressive read and writes hopefully!

Love the cMP!
 
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ggoerl

macrumors regular
Dec 18, 2007
211
2
Just received my mid 2010 12 core 2 x 2.93GHZ with 3 3tb drives, 1 1tb drive, 32gb ram, a dual 4gb fibre channel card and aja kona 3 capture card for about $1900 hopefully that was a good deal?
 
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ggoerl

macrumors regular
Dec 18, 2007
211
2
nice .. where did you get it from? eBay?

yup, unfortunately after I had won the auction I noticed an auction for a 3.33 12 core system that sold for about 3-400 more. And just looked and saw another 12 core 3.33 sell for $1700 :( wish I could've gotten that one and save d $200 haha oh well that's life.

It seems the the going price for a 2010 12 core is from $1700-2500
 

bagofbeef

macrumors newbie
Jan 12, 2006
14
1
Very excited for our facility's two new Mac Pros, which are scheduled to arrive next week:

3.0GHz 8-Core Xeon E5 / 32GB 1866MHz DDR3
Dual AMD FirePro D700 / 6GB GDDR5 VRAM each
Upgraded storage from 512MB to 1TB
 

DustQuill7

macrumors newbie
May 19, 2015
2
0
Just pulled the trigger today myself! I'd been tentatively waiting until WWDC, but with the release of the new MacBooks and iMacs today I gambled they probably wouldn't be updating at WWDC... but who knows!

Anyone else been playing the waiting game...?
 

HeatWaveNL

macrumors newbie
Jul 23, 2015
3
2
I own 2 fairly identical Mac Pro 5,1 (mid 2010)'s that I have been meddeling with, replaced videocard with a GTX 770, SSD etc. Now waiting for M2-PCIe card and USB 3,1-C card to arrive. Been reading through a lot of topics already, intend to keep doing so ;).
 
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m4v3r1ck

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2011
2,581
526
The Netherlands
I own 2 fairly identical Mac Pro 5,1 (mid 2010)'s that I have been meddeling with, replaced videocard with a GTX 770, SSD etc. Now waiting for M2-PCIe card and USB 3,1-C card to arrive. Been reading through a lot of topics already, intend to keep doing so ;).

Welcome to the show!

Cheers
 

HeatWaveNL

macrumors newbie
Jul 23, 2015
3
2
Welcome to the show!

Cheers

Tnx :).

Good to see there are plenty of fellow Pro users out there to keep these beasts alive. I'm still trying to figure out if I find a CPU upgrade worth the money and hassle. Currently own a 5,1 with dual quad core Xeons 2,4Ghz. Not really noticing any slowness with the 32GB of RAM and a SSD.

But just knowing it's possible makes it hard to resist sometimes....
 

m4v3r1ck

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2011
2,581
526
The Netherlands
Tnx :).

Good to see there are plenty of fellow Pro users out there to keep these beasts alive. I'm still trying to figure out if I find a CPU upgrade worth the money and hassle. Currently own a 5,1 with dual quad core Xeons 2,4Ghz. Not really noticing any slowness with the 32GB of RAM and a SSD.

But just knowing it's possible makes it hard to resist sometimes....

Do a good search on the forums and look for threads and/or posts about the "Westmere X5690 upgrade" making it a 12C 3.46GHz beast:

http://ark.intel.com/nl/products/52...r-X5690-12M-Cache-3_46-GHz-6_40-GTs-Intel-QPI

Perhaps you could read this one on MR first:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...re-x5690-3-46ghz.1231582/page-9#post-21552239

Many forum members have successfully performed this upgrade. You may find some cheaper alternatives here on MR also. I'm still happy with my 12C 2.66Ghz MP 5.1, but hey perhaps someday..... ;)

Cheers
 

HeatWaveNL

macrumors newbie
Jul 23, 2015
3
2
Do a good search on the forums and look for threads and/or posts about the "Westmere X5690 upgrade" making it a 12C 3.46GHz beast:

http://ark.intel.com/nl/products/52...r-X5690-12M-Cache-3_46-GHz-6_40-GTs-Intel-QPI

Perhaps you could read this one on MR first:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...re-x5690-3-46ghz.1231582/page-9#post-21552239

Many forum members have successfully performed this upgrade. You may find some cheaper alternatives here on MR also. I'm still happy with my 12C 2.66Ghz MP 5.1, but hey perhaps someday..... ;)

Cheers

Yes, I have been drooling over several package deals on Ebay/Amazon selling these specifically for Mac Pro users. Unfortunately not all deals ship to my country (Netherlands) and local deals are a lot more expensive.

But I also have to keep telling myself I probably don't need the extra CPU power, but I'm losing this battle ;).

Well, to avoid cluttering up this thread I'll quit my ranting, thanks for the welcome :).
 
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hidea

macrumors regular
May 10, 2006
173
3
Hey everyone, I got a Mac Pro 6,1, but it's the most basic one!

My question is: how upgradable is this thing? If I were to upgrade the CPU and GPU in the far… far future, would I have to upgrade the power supply as well?

1) As far as I know, there's been several E5-2697 (12-core) CPU revisions, the one inside the MacPro being v2; and I see the most recent one is v3. Can I chuck a v3 into this, or am I limited to just v2?
2) If I were to upgrade the GPU (from D300 to D700) would that mean I would have to get a different powersupply for the Mac Pro?

I guess the better question for Q's 1/2, how many different PSU models are there for this Mac Pro? Would I need a different PSU if I swapped CPU/GPUs (new parts might increase the power requirement, etc.)
 

filmak

macrumors 65816
Jun 21, 2012
1,418
777
between earth and heaven
Hey everyone, I got a Mac Pro 6,1, but it's the most basic one!

My question is: how upgradable is this thing? If I were to upgrade the CPU and GPU in the far… far future, would I have to upgrade the power supply as well?

1) As far as I know, there's been several E5-2697 (12-core) CPU revisions, the one inside the MacPro being v2; and I see the most recent one is v3. Can I chuck a v3 into this, or am I limited to just v2?
2) If I were to upgrade the GPU (from D300 to D700) would that mean I would have to get a different powersupply for the Mac Pro?

I guess the better question for Q's 1/2, how many different PSU models are there for this Mac Pro? Would I need a different PSU if I swapped CPU/GPUs (new parts might increase the power requirement, etc.)

The same PSU is used in all current models.
In theory you can replace/upgrade a D300 with a D500/700 the real problem is to find one (they 're not selling them commercially) and do the needed work, carefully of course, you will need and thermal paste.
you can use only v2 E5 Cpus.
 
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hidea

macrumors regular
May 10, 2006
173
3
The same PSU is used in all current models.
In theory you can replace/upgrade a D300 with a D500/700 the real problem is to find one (they 're not selling them commercially) and do the needed work, carefully of course, you will need and thermal paste.
you can use only v2 E5 Cpus.


I found one on eBay (the D700, and boy they're expensive as hell!)
Gotcha on the v2 E5 CPUs.
 

filmak

macrumors 65816
Jun 21, 2012
1,418
777
between earth and heaven
I've just realized, buying it from a third party reseller means AppleCare wouldn't cover any repairs… am I right?

I guess so, but you can't buy it from anywhere else... Apple is not offering an upgrade method.
One option is to wait till the end of Applecare to buy, but the availability is, as you understand, unpredicted.
 

hidea

macrumors regular
May 10, 2006
173
3
I guess so, but you can't buy it from anywhere else... Apple is not offering an upgrade method.
One option is to wait till the end of Applecare to buy, but the availability is, as you understand, unpredicted.


You're spot on. To be perfectly honest, this is me being impulsive and upgraditis. The quad core is good enough for me (never noticed any slowdown). But I am looking to get dual 5k displays; and I might really benefit from the D700. Sigh…

(obviously I'd be keeping the D300 for warranty reasons).
 

lowendlinux

macrumors 603
Sep 24, 2014
5,439
6,735
Germany
So my new to me absolutely bone stock quad 4,1 was just delivered to my box so I'll pick it up tomorrow. I'll flash it pull the card, RAM, hard drives, and one of the processors out of the hack and put them in. So I'll see if I can live with a Mac day to day for less than 400 shipped.
 
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m4v3r1ck

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2011
2,581
526
The Netherlands
So my new to me absolutely bone stock quad 4,1 was just delivered to my box so I'll pick it up tomorrow. I'll flash it pull the card, RAM, hard drives, and one of the processors out of the hack and put them in. So I'll see if I can live with a Mac day to day for less than 400 shipped.

Good luck with the upgrades and enjoy it! :cool:

Cheers
 

calgecko

macrumors newbie
Aug 13, 2006
10
0
I picked up a Mid 2010 Mac Pro 2.8 about a week and a half ago... I just added the 980 GTX gpu, and today got the W3690 6-core processor for it. Hoping it'll make a significant improvement in speed. I need this machine for photo and video editing, and would like it to be faster than my 2013 macbook pro.
 

lowendlinux

macrumors 603
Sep 24, 2014
5,439
6,735
Germany
The Mac.png

It's here and upgrades are done. The stupid computer has fought me every step of the way.
 
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