MP 3,1 replacement.

I just sold my MP 3,1, and was planning on replacing it with the current Mac Mini (i7 2,6GHz).
But... I´ve a GTX 570 (-edition), and a Sonnet Tempo Pro 6G laying here, which is almost impossible to sell. Got a few bids, but the price were ridiculous low, so I decided to keep the items. I also kept my two HP 23xi screen

So, right now a used MP seems to be a good choice. Thinking 4,1 8-core 2,26GHz, or single 2,66.
With the 2,66 I could do the 5,1 hack, and replace the CPU with a W3680... The price is nearly the same.

Which one to choose?

To be honest, I really don´t need a MP, but I love the design. Right now my MBP, is powerful enough for what I do with it.

Internet, mail, PhotoShop, Lightroom and Aperure is what I use the most. Editing pictures from my Nikon D300.

I´m no hurry. Might be around christmas before I make the buy. And, btw, the new MP is out of the question due to price - plus I don´t like the design.

applegeek897 said:

Get the 4,1 and chuck a Hex in it, and you won't be sorry

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Yeah, along with the GTX 570, and SSD RAID 0 on the Tempo Pro, it might be a awesome rig

Well, two for the base 4,1...
Just surfed the net, and it seems like the 4,1 with firmware-hack and the hex CPU is faster than it´s DP brother...
Only downside on the SP unit is, that there only is 4 RAM slots of which only three is supposed to be used.
On the other side, a 3*8GB kit from OWC should be enough.

Keep it coming.
And please keep in mind, I live in Denmark, were these machines is very expensive compared to the US!!

Studio K said:

The Dual-Processor 4,1 can be tricky to upgrade because the CPUs are not lidded. Tightening the heatsinks just the right way is critical and seems like a lot of problems to go through.

The single-processor is simple to work with when swapping CPU. I recommend the single CPU 4,1.

If you don't really need a Mac Pro to start with, then you certainly don't need 2 processors and the headaches that go with the 4,1 dp CPU swap.

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I´m aware of the possible frustrations regarding CPU swap in the DP 4,1...

Hex in the hacked 4,1 seems stronger than the DP 2,26GHz, so it might be a better choice.

Wether I need a MP or not, is not important, as I´ve already decided, that the Mini wil be ... Well, too much mini. Even though I don´t game, I want a decent graphic card, in case I start to play WoW again.

Thanks. Unless someone come up with a very good reason for the DP, I´ll "settle" with SP, do the hack and replace the stock CPU with the hex.

Hopefully the prices will go down when the new MP hit the marked.

DPUser said:

I did the EFI Flash and single hex CPU upgrade. Love my 2009 "5,1".

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I´m sure you do. I´ve tried the i7 brother (i7 980X) in a Windows workstation. I can imagine it´s very fast in OS X