How do the specs on this Mac Pro look?

[ronni3]

I am still looking into purchasing a Mac Pro, but want to try and stay under $3K. This is what I have so far for under $3K. Let me know if certain things should be changed or if I should reconsider certain other options.

Software

• .Mac - Retail Box Promotion

Mac Pro

• One 16x SuperDrive
• Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse - U.S. English
• 1GB (2 x 512MB)
• Two 2.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
• 160GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
• Mac OS X - U.S. English
• ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI)

Speakers

• Bose Companion 3 Series II Multimedia Speaker System

Monitor

• 20" 2007FPW Dell LCD Monitor

 

[atari1356]

What are you going to be using the computer for?

You might be fine starting off with 1GB RAM... but you're probably going to eventually want to upgrade to at least 2GB.

 

[MovieCutter]

I wouldn't downgrade to the 2.0Ghz if you can avoid it. You'll get much more bang for your buck with the 2.66Ghz.

 

[Maxwell Smart]

Yeah, especially with the ability to get Dell 20" widescreens for so cheap on sale now-a-days. Also, unless you really think you're going to use all the features of .Mac, I would ditch it, as there are many better free services which replace most of it's features, and it's pretty much universally thought that it is not worth the $99.

 

[patseguin]

I wouldn't downgrade to the 2.0Ghz if you can avoid it. You'll get much more bang for your buck with the 2.66Ghz.

I 100% agree. Go with 2.66GHz and upgrade the RAM as soon as you can. I've had bad experience with 3rd party RAM on my Mac Pro and had to resort to using Apple RAM.

 

[Cromulent]

I went with the 2.66 and 2GB of RAM and have a pretty nice system. I'd be concerned with hard drive space though. Are you planning on getting a bigger second hard drive from somewhere else?

 

[ronni3]

I am basically only going to be using the system for e-mail, some light gaming, light photo editing, and for the interweb. I want to learn to use Aperture & Photoshop eventually. I will also be starting my Computer Science courses in school, so I may need more power for programming...?

I planned on using two PATA drives (320GB & 160GB) via an USB external enclosure for extra storage, so I don't think will be much of an issue. I will definitely get rid of .Mac, as I wasn't too sure of it in the first place.

What about the speakers? Is it overddoing it, or should I find them elsewhere?

 

[dkoralek]

I am basically only going to be using the system for e-mail, some light gaming, light photo editing, and for the interweb. I want to learn to use Aperture & Photoshop eventually. I will also be starting my Computer Science courses in school, so I may need more power for programming...?

I planned on using two PATA drives (320GB & 160GB) via an USB external enclosure for extra storage, so I don't think will be much of an issue. I will definitely get rid of .Mac, as I wasn't too sure of it in the first place.

What about the speakers? Is it overddoing it, or should I find them elsewhere?

I'll second the 2.66 vs. 2.0 suggestions above. You get 75% of the speed for 200 bucks less if you buy the 2.0 (iirc the price differential). The extra RAM will be a good investment, but you can always add it (whereas swapping the processors will be a more difficult prospect). Same with hard drives, you can always buy more SATA disks at a later time. Unless you need the extra graphics performance of the x1900, you can go for trhe 2.66 for the same price, i think, and then upgrade the video card at a later date.

cheers.

 

[ronni3]

Unless you need the extra graphics performance of the x1900, you can go for trhe 2.66 for the same price, i think, and then upgrade the video card at a later date.

Would I be able to play most games on the Mac with the 7300 card?

 

[ronni3]

Do you think, for all my needs, I could get away with getting a 24" iMac with 2GB ram and the upgraded 7600 graphics?

 

[atari1356]

Have you considered the 24" iMac? For your uses, this would be a great machine - for $500 less than your $3000 budget:

$2,498.00

* 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB
* 500GB Serial ATA Drive
* NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256MB SDRAM
* SuperDrive 8X (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
* Apple Keyboard & Mighty Mouse + Mac OS X (US English)
* 24-inch widescreen LCD
* AirPort Extreme
* Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

EDIT: heh, you beat me to the post, yes you should definitely consider the 24" iMac

 

[QCassidy352]

Do you think, for all my needs, I could get away with getting a 24" iMac with 2GB ram and the upgraded 7600 graphics?

Yes, I think that based on your stated uses, the 24" iMac with 7600 would be a far better choice. The configuration atari lays out will actually outperform your mac pro configuration in a lot of cases, will have a bigger monitor, and will be cheaper. You don't need a mac pro to do what you're going to be doing.

 

[ronni3]

How long could I expect the iMac to stay "up-to-date"? I don't care if it isn't the latest, just that it will be able to cope with all things Mac for quite some time.

 

[atari1356]

I am basically only going to be using the system for e-mail, some light gaming, light photo editing, and for the interweb. I want to learn to use Aperture & Photoshop eventually. I will also be starting my Computer Science courses in school, so I may need more power for programming...?

Also, keep in mind that if you're currently in school you qualify for the education discount - so you could actually get the same machine listed above from the Apple online store for $2349 (plus tax)

 

[ronni3]

Also, keep in mind that if you're currently in school you qualify for the education discount - so you could actually get the same machine listed above from the Apple online store for $2349 (plus tax)

I joined the Student ACD program, so I could actually get the above, minus the 500GB HDD, for $2071. By including a Bose Companion 3 speaker system, the final price is $2489.

What do you think?

 

[MovieCutter]

Given your needs, I'd say the 24" iMac is perfect. My girlfriend uses it for heavy photo editing and World of Warcraft and it performs beautifully for both. The 7600GT is a really hefty card and comes surprisingly close to the x1900XT in terms of performance.

http://barefeats.com/imcd4.html