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monkeybagel

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 24, 2011
1,139
61
United States
I have wanted one of these machines for quite some time, and it finally arrived last week. I was able to connect it a few days ago and all I can say is WOW. It is an incredible machine.

Very impressed with the build quality, the easy of expansion, the performance, and the quietness of the machine. It is the 12-Core 3.06 with a 512SSD and a 3x2TB RAID0 array and 2 SuperDrives. I have used many machines over time but this one takes the cake!

I also ordered two 27" ACD monitors to connect to the onboard 5870. I primarily do network administration consisting of labs and virtual networks and this machine does not break a sweat. I really wanted to run OS X as the host OS and so far Mountain Lion has been extremely stable. I am very happy with the purchase!
 

Dr. Stealth

macrumors 6502a
Sep 14, 2004
813
739
SoCal-Surf City USA
Congrats !!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's an awesome machine isn't it ? I'm an engineer by trade and I love the build quality and case design.

The ones building Hackintoshes thinking they have a real Mac are delusional. :cool:

I'm going to be upgrading my processors in a few days to the hex core 3.33's and I can't wait to just slide the processor tray out for the upgrade. So cool.
 

monkeybagel

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 24, 2011
1,139
61
United States
It's an awesome machine isn't it ? I'm an engineer by trade and I love the build quality and case design.

The ones building Hackintoshes thinking they have a real Mac are delusional. :cool:

I'm going to be upgrading my processors in a few days to the hex core 3.33's and I can't wait to just slide the processor tray out for the upgrade. So cool.

I had pondered the CPU upgrade on this one, but thought it out and wanted to get something supported for a while so AppleCare has it for three years. But the CPU upgrade is very tempting! I am doing so many things on it right now - wiping free space on the disk array, converting an MKV to MP4, running about four VMs, and it's not even slowing down whatsoever, and the fans sound like they are on idle. Not to mention the ACD will rapidly charge my iPad 2 and iPhone. Just had a FaceTime session with my wife on it earlier,and that worked great. I just love the computer!

I just need to upgrade the RAM from the standard 12 that came in it. I guess I will take it to 64 for now and maybe add a USB3/eSATA card.
 

JesterJJZ

macrumors 68020
Jul 21, 2004
2,443
808
Nice. I'm still on my MP1.1 upgraded to 8 cores and it's still an amazing machine. I've been itching to pull the trigger on a new one but I need a bigger reason to make the jump. Last few updates were a bit underwhelming. Hopefully the 2013 will be the one to get!
 

DJenkins

macrumors 6502
Apr 22, 2012
274
9
Sydney, Australia
Yep they are mighty impressive machines as a maxed out package... especially if it's your first mac pro. It will undoubtedly give you years of reliable performance.

It's an awesome machine isn't it ? I'm an engineer by trade and I love the build quality and case design.

The ones building Hackintoshes thinking they have a real Mac are delusional. :cool:

I'm going to be upgrading my processors in a few days to the hex core 3.33's and I can't wait to just slide the processor tray out for the upgrade. So cool.

100% agree with you on the case, I have never seen anything that comes close as far as a clean and solid design.
However, I must disagree on 'thinking they have a real mac'... the goal is not to emulate - I think it's more like 'going where no mac has gone before' :)
 

spacedesign911

macrumors regular
Jul 22, 2010
186
17
Dublin, Ireland
Similar set up to you for me, 2 Apple 512 SSD's in Raid 0, giving about 400 read write, I started off using 2 27" Cinemas via the 5870 card, but I didn't like sitting centred on 2 screens with the black bezel to the middle, so I picked up a 5770 card, put it in with a Y power splitter, and bought another 27" Cinems.

I power the middle screen from the 5870 alone, and the L and R 27"s from the 5770. Both L and R screens bezels are slightly behind the middle screen so I only see one bezel, I run Mail, Illustrator and Cad simultaneously one each screen and my workflow is epically streamlined.

I upgraded from a 1.1 Mac Pro 4 Core with 2 Matt cinema Displays that I used without missing a beat for 6 years, and this works so much better. Performance increases are there in rendering but in everyday activities they run the same as the older machine, however FaceTime and speakers integrated are great, I got used to the gloss in about a week.

Enjoy the setup.
 

Dr. Stealth

macrumors 6502a
Sep 14, 2004
813
739
SoCal-Surf City USA
Had To Go Faster......

I am doing so many things on it right now - wiping free space on the disk array, converting an MKV to MP4, running about four VMs, and it's not even slowing down whatsoever, and the fans sound like they are on idle. Just had a FaceTime session with my wife on it earlier,and that worked great.

Ha... I facetime with my wife and kids all the time and I love it. iPhone, iPads & Macs....

I do a lot of heavy image rendering with Bunkspeed Shot in Bootcamp. Couple days ago I started a render before going to bed and when I got up in the morning it said I still had 5.5 hours to go! :eek: That's when I decided to go with the hex-core 3.33 upgrade.

At least most of my renders will complete overnight.... :D
 

tony3d

macrumors 6502
Apr 6, 2006
377
2
I have virtually the same machine and really really like it. I gave my son my old 2.8 quad core machine when I upgraded to 3.0 6 12 core. He uses it primarily for gaming on windows and we put a 5770 in it. It does pretty well. I use my machine for 3-D modeling and animation using lightwave and it really rocks. More you use it the more you're going alike it.
 

gdeusthewhizkid

macrumors 6502a
Nov 14, 2008
752
41
NY|NJ
Nice. I'm still on my MP1.1 upgraded to 8 cores and it's still an amazing machine. I've been itching to pull the trigger on a new one but I need a bigger reason to make the jump. Last few updates were a bit underwhelming. Hopefully the 2013 will be the one to get!

can yours run mountain lion ive been thinking of pulling the trigger on one for a minute now. or maybe a mac mini but i need power..
 

Lesser Evets

macrumors 68040
Jan 7, 2006
3,527
1,294
Nice. I'm still on my MP1.1 upgraded to 8 cores and it's still an amazing machine. I've been itching to pull the trigger on a new one but I need a bigger reason to make the jump. Last few updates were a bit underwhelming. Hopefully the 2013 will be the one to get!

I'm still happy with my 1,1 as well. I imagine a new 3.06 is quite a step up from this oldie.

If the next version in 2013 has 33%+ cpu speed and performance than the current models, and if it comes with TB and USB 3, it will be the upgrade to have after 7 years.
 
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