Going to order this unless...

Buyer's Guide just uses old updates to count the average that it has been between updates. It's by no means an accurate indicator of an update, especially as it takes PowerMac updates into the equation and PowerMac was updated much more frequently than Mac Pro has been. Also, it does not take e.g. Intel's product schedules into consideration.

There is nothing Apple can update the Mac Pro with in 2.5 months. CPUs meant for Mac Pro will be released late this year

Nice.

Noise is more apparent than say macbook or macbook pro but still really quiet, or at least mine is. The aluminium case does tend to amplify the disk search noise a bit, but it's fine to me. Most noise is coming from the Mechanical discs and the Graphics card. But it's minimal. The fans are so quiet, you're not sure if you're hearing them or not. There is some white noise there so to speak but it's only just there. Mine gives a slight resonant hum, I've read some people complain about but I have to say I actually like it. I find it quite soothing! It's certainly not discordant). You can't have all that power and not have some sort of noise. I once owned a dual 867 G4 which sounded like an Air Raid siren. It's amazing how quiet they've got these machines.

I wouldn't expect a new Mac Pro till late 11 or early 12.

Looks like a good amount of ram. Tripple channel and matched works best. 8, 12, 24. 16 GB (8x2) is 2% slower, for example

Enjoy it.

mrt209 said:

Cool, thanks I had a iMac i7 before and the noise was quite bothering but with the mac pro under the desk it should be better and I also don't mind a bit of noise. The i7 iMac was making a constant loud grumbling noise.

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If you google Mac Pro Hum you will read plenty about it. It seems some peoples are more noisy than others due to case manufacture though noise levels are also subjective from one person to the next. Maybe find if there are some comparisons to the i7 imac with a search. i can't imagine a Mac Pro would be more quiet than an iMac.

mrt209 said:

Thanks will search for it, although the issue I had with the iMac was the constant grumbling noise by the hard drive, which seemed to be a common issue.

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From my experience with the 2010 MP the general fan noise is next to un-noticeable though you do hear the HDD seeking quite a bit.

One thing to note is that mine is on a carpet and that helps quite a bit. I had it briefly on a hard floor and I found the fan noise could be heard more noticeably. SO depends on what surface you are on.

mrt209 said:

So after reading a lot of threads here and with my birthday coming up next week, I've decided to get the 2010 mac pro with:

3.2ghz quad core
1TB hard drive
ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB
12gb owc ram (4gb x 3)
120gb ssd (owc)
Monitor (can anyone recommend a good led backlit monitor? can't pay more than $400).

Does that sound good?

I'll be adding more hard drives later. Does anyone know how loud/quiet it will run? I mostly work at night (sadly) so need my comps to be fairly quiet to be able to concentrate. Also, should I get apple care now or after 3 months?

I will be ordering this next week, unless there's an upcoming update soon. I just checked the buyers guide and it says there should be an update in about 2.5 months, but from what I've read here most ppl are suggesting a late 2011/early 2012 update. So a bit confused... if there's an update in 2.5 months then I'd definitely wait.

Thanks for your help!

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There will absolutely NOT be a MP update anytime soon. Figure 2012 at the soonest.

The 3.2 is an excellent choice in terms of $/performance and I'm sure you will be quite pleased with it.

FWIW, my 3.2 MP (see sig) was occasionally noisy (modest growl/hum) for the first two-three months I used it. The annoying growl/hum noise was coming from the processor fan. Sounded like it was out of balance or vibrating. Anyway, that fan has since "broken-in" and no longer makes that funky growl.

You should also check out the mem threads. I purchased 1333 RAM for my MP from superbiiz. The 4 GB 1333 modules are around $50 now. They have worked great in my MP.

I'd recommend a 120GB SSD for boot/apps and wait 9+ months on the aaplecare.

I purchased a 24" Apple ACD and like it a lot. That said, there are less expensive 24" monitors that are as good. I just liked the design of the ACD.

cheers
JohnG

mrt209 said:

What type of HDD do you have? 1TB or 2TB?

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I have the std 1TB drive which makes a bit of noise. Just to put it into perspective I don't have a separate study so the MP is in the bedroom, it makes a little too much noise for me to be happy with letting it do something HDD intensive overnight but not enough for me to want to turn the whole thing off each night.

mrt209 said:

And anyone know a good 23,24 inch monitor? Was going to get a dell ultrasharp but been reading that it has a lot of pink/yellow tint issues so prob wont get it anymore.

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I have 2x the 23" ACD with a 27" ACD in the middle. I've had the 23" for a while now and I've always been happy with it. They're not too expensive on ebay etc. Although to note, they are known to have backlights that can fail.

The 27" is great but a little pricey!

mrt209 said:

I read something about installing the ram in threes, so should I take out the 3 x 1gb ram that comes with the mac pro and just use the 3x4gb ram, or will it be fine if I have the 3x4gb ram and the 3x1gb ram?

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As far as I'm aware the 2010 single processor units only have 4xDIMM slots. so you'll only be able to have 4 RAM chips, i.e. 3x4GB + 1x1GB.

I have also heard that there are advantages to RAM in 3s so for the extra 1GB I'd remove it completely.

ndraves said:

As far as I'm aware the 2010 single processor units only have 4xDIMM slots. so you'll only be able to have 4 RAM chips, i.e. 3x4GB + 1x1GB.

I have also heard that there are advantages to RAM in 3s so for the extra 1GB I'd remove it completely.

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There's little-NO real world advantage to a triple channel memory configuration. OTOH, more memory is always an advantage.

At ~$50/4G I'd recommend a 4x4GB setup.

Go with 8G modules if money is not an issue.

JohnG

johnnymg said:

There's little-NO real world advantage to a triple channel memory configuration. OTOH, more memory is always an advantage.

At ~$50/4G I'd recommend a 4x4GB setup.

Go with 8G modules if money is not an issue.

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I agree, unless the app you're using can utilise the slight advantage of the tiny speed difference then it's not worth it. I was just commenting on the addition on only 1GB would not make a difference either way and therefore you'd be better off with the slight advantage of triple channel memory, without the 1GB module.

If you were to add another 4GB then the advantage would be much greater.

mrt209 said:

Yeah the 3.2 will be the perfect machine for me, the 6-core would have just been overkill and a waste of money. I was planning on getting the 1333 Ram from OWC, but will check superbiiz out.

I read something about installing the ram in threes, so should I take out the 3 x 1gb ram that comes with the mac pro and just use the 3x4gb ram, or will it be fine if I have the 3x4gb ram and the 3x1gb ram?

And is this the ram you are talking about? http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php...333-12GB-3x-4GB-ECC-Triple-Channel-Memory-Kit

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that is the correct ram

I totally recommend refurb. I just bought a refurb Mac Pro and I would never buy a new one again, as it's undistinguishable from new.

I'm just about to buy a similar Mac Pro, but mine will be the base model with 12GB from OWC. No SSD for now.

I don't think you can get anything other than the stock configurations of the MacPro in the refurb store. the 3.2 is an upgrade for the 2.8. When waiting for my 2.8 to come up I never saw any PacPros with upgraded processors.

Phillie14586 said:

I don't think you can get anything other than the stock configurations of the MacPro in the refurb store. the 3.2 is an upgrade for the 2.8. When waiting for my 2.8 to come up I never saw any PacPros with upgraded processors.

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Just as an FYI, the 2010 3.2 HAS been in the refurb store. When I picked up my 2.8 refurb, the 3.2 was there.

The issue for the original poster is that he won't be able to get the 5870 from the refurb store.....as you can't customize refurbs.

-Kevin

wacomme said:

I'm just about to buy a similar Mac Pro, but mine will be the base model with 12GB from OWC. No SSD for now.

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Definitely get the 2.8 refurb. I did and it is perfect.

-Kevin