2009 Mac pro may be a kick-arse gaming machine

[Spanky Deluxe]

Thx for the advice!

I'll be waiting until june/july to buy one though.

I'm hoping that by that time there will be a new model for the iPod touch, snow leopard will be preinstalled and the new GTX 285 will be available... fingers crossed!

Let's just hope the GTX285 doesn't cost a whole lot more than the 4870.
Because it's pc counterpart costs about twice as much as the 4870... and no, it's not twice the performance

Btw: do you think the GTX285 will be listed as an option (next to the GT120 & 4870) if I order my MacPro from apple.com or will I have to buy it seperately?

I doubt the GTX285 will be a CTO option. If the current top end consumer graphics card offered was a 4850 then maybe but the GTX285 isn't significantly faster than the 4870.
Remember also that the 3870 was a manufacturer launched card but never ended up being a CTO option either.

For what it's worth, I've now got two flashed 4870 1GB cards set up in my Mac Pro giving me crossfire in Windows. Ended up costing me only about £50 more than getting the official 512MB card from Apple and my costs included the extra cables I had to purchase.

If you want to use Apple's 24" LED display then you could always get the 4870 512MB CTO'd and then add in a third party 4870 512MB. That would give you far superior framerates in Windows compared to the GTX285.

 

[Grimnick]

I doubt the GTX285 will be a CTO option. If the current top end consumer graphics card offered was a 4850 then maybe but the GTX285 isn't significantly faster than the 4870.
Remember also that the 3870 was a manufacturer launched card but never ended up being a CTO option either.

For what it's worth, I've now got two flashed 4870 1GB cards set up in my Mac Pro giving me crossfire in Windows. Ended up costing me only about £50 more than getting the official 512MB card from Apple and my costs included the extra cables I had to purchase.

If you want to use Apple's 24" LED display then you could always get the 4870 512MB CTO'd and then add in a third party 4870 512MB. That would give you far superior framerates in Windows compared to the GTX285.

I'm getting a 24" monitor but not from Apple though (€800 is nuts!).
Other than running games in native resolution... does the screen matter a whole lot?

Are you saying that the 4870 512MB isn't that good by itself? It sounds like
crossfire or sli is a must-have if you want to play games on a Mac Pro... I'm already paying a lot of money and I don't wanna spend an extra €400 for a second graphics card...

I hope the GTX285 is optional for CTO... i don't wanna buy the standard GT120 just to dumb it in the trashcan when I install my GTX285... or can i order a macpro without graphics card?

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

I'm getting a 24" monitor but not from Apple though (€800 is nuts!).
Other than running games in native resolution... does the screen matter a whole lot?

Are you saying that the 4870 512MB isn't that good by itself? It sounds like
crossfire or sli is a must-have if you want to play games on a Mac Pro... I'm already paying a lot of money and I don't wanna spend an extra €400 for a second graphics card...

I hope the GTX285 is optional for CTO... i don't wanna buy the standard GT120 just to dumb it in the trashcan when I install my GTX285... or can i order a macpro without graphics card?

Nono, the 4870 512MB is fine by itself. But it sounded like you were trying to get every bit of performance by wanting the GTX285 which will probably cost a hell of a lot more. After all, third party 4870 512MB cards cost ~£140 whereas third party GTX285 cards cost ~£260. I wouldn't expect the mac compatible GTX285 to go for anything under £300 though realistically.

I mention the 24" ACD because that only works with Apple's official 4870 512MB due to the display port. Crossfire is certainly no must have on the Mac Pro for gaming, I only mention it as an option for "kick-arse gaming". I'm driving a 30" ACD here so I can easily use two graphics cards in Crossfire mode. However, if you're already planning on spending £300 on a GTX285 then you'd be better off spending the same money and getting two 4870 1GB third party cards and flashing them. You'd get a hell of a lot more performance for your money.

If you want to keep it official then just get the 4870 512MB card CTO'd and see how it goes - you could always add a third party 4870 512MB card later on if you want more performance. You cannot SLI two GTX 285 cards on the Mac Pro so that's not an option.

Gaming on a Mac Pro order of graphics (in Windows):

2 x 4870 > GTX 285 > 4870 >> GT 120

Gaming on a Mac Pro order of graphics (in OS X):

GTX 285 > 4870 >> GT 120

Of course, quite how well the GTX 285 will perform in OS X is hard to gauge since in the past nVidia drivers haven't been nearly as efficient as ATI drivers in OS X.

 

[Pressure]

I'm getting a 24" monitor but not from Apple though (€800 is nuts!).
Other than running games in native resolution... does the screen matter a whole lot?

You should read up on panels used in different monitors.

What to remember about the Apple Cinema Display 24" is that it is LED backlight lit. LEDs drive the price up but you get much higher brightness and colour gammut. As such this particular monitor is one of the cheapest LED backlight units you can buy right now.

Are you saying that the 4870 512MB isn't that good by itself? It sounds like
crossfire or sli is a must-have if you want to play games on a Mac Pro... I'm already paying a lot of money and I don't wanna spend an extra €400 for a second graphics card...

The Radeon HD 4870 is fine for gaming and the Mac Pro can be ordered with one.

I hope the GTX285 is optional for CTO... i don't wanna buy the standard GT120 just to dumb it in the trashcan when I install my GTX285... or can i order a macpro without graphics card?

I doubt EVGA have a deal with Apple, enabling them to do this. Such an arrangement would definitely go through NVIDIA.

You cannot order the Mac Pro without a graphic card.

Personally I went with the Radeon HD 4890 and got around the same performance as the Geforce GTX 285. A much cheaper solution.

 

[iMpathetic]

Hackintosh's is for people with WAY too much time on their hands.(Time = Money IMHO) It is indeed a PITA compared to OSX and Bootcamp.

As for the Lian Lis, $300+Ugly+Worse Design

HAHAHAHAHAHA

1. Turning your computer into a Hackintosh is way the hell easier than you might think. It took me about three hours to install and get everything working, and if you're not up to spending three hours getting it running, you either don't know your way around a computer (and shouldn't be buying a nice one anyway) or are just lazy. It is not a PITA, in fact, you can run Bootcamp on a Hackintosh just fine.

2. Lian Li cases are basically the nicest, most functional, best looking cases made. You're flat out wrong. Sorry.

 

[Tesselator]

Yeah, even if you're doing it from scratch it should take less than a day. A few hours of reading, an hour of assembly, 2 or 3 hours of testing and installing. That's like $2,000 a day! Sounds like great compensation to me.

 

[seisend]

@iMpathetic

If u love LIAN LI cases more than a Mac Pro case and you're happy with your hackintosh, that's nice and I am lucky for you. I am lucky with my Mac Pro, I payed a lot more than u did I guess =), but I just love how it's build. Harlinator had some good points about that, too.

The Mac Pro is going through hard times right now and the prices are really high. People are buying an iMac or a hackintosh instead of the Mac Pro.

I do music.

 

[Eidorian]

Lian Li makes quite a few good aluminium cases.

I have a special fondness for the Cooler Master ATCS 840 now though.

 

[Cindori]

during christmas I will replace my Mac Pro with a hackintosh.

I think it's going to be interesting since I have run a real Mac Pro for 3 years and so my ability to compare the stability and performance is quite unique

I have not seen even 1 Hackintosh using a good looking case. So IMO I will be the first

 

[J the Ninja]

I have a special fondness for the Cooler Master ATCS 840 now though.

:O

DO WANT



Kind of still want a Cosmos 1000 more....not that I have money to spend on a new case for my tower anyway...

 

[Eidorian]

:O

DO WANT



Kind of still want a Cosmos 1000 more....not that I have money to spend on a new case for my tower anyway...

I wanted a Cosmos 1000 as well until I saw the awesome video review I linked to.

 

[nanofrog]

I have a Lian Li PC-V2010 in silver.

 

[VirtualRain]

Lian-Li makes the best PC cases IMO. In fact, the last PC I built went into a Lian-Li (Microplex of Norway is the acutal source) 343B... It's a monster case... great for water cooling!

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20821

 

[CQd44]

Lian Li makes quite a few good aluminium cases.

I have a special fondness for the Cooler Master ATCS 840 now though.

I'll be getting one of those soon enough :]

 

[lannister80]

Those games run like they were from 2001. Max settings and I can't tell if the FPS ever drops.

Confirmed. 08 2.8 Octo + flashed 4870 (1GB) and there's not a single game I've run across that I can't turn all the way up and have it play smooth as silk. ALL the way up (all textures on max, FSAA at 4x or 8x depending on game, 1680x1050 res).

Crysis, Crysis 2, CoD4, CoD:World at War, Modern Warfare 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Batman Arkham Asylum, Red Faction: Guerrilla, Borderlands, GTA IV, etc.

Using WinXP32 via bootcamp

 

[lannister80]

HAHAHAHAHAHA

1. Turning your computer into a Hackintosh is way the hell easier than you might think. It took me about three hours to install and get everything working.

Wait until some update comes down the pipe and breaks everything.

No thanks.

 

[Mycatisbigfoot]

Yeah because I love playing FPS and MMOs and Strategy games.

Oh wait I hate all those genres.


Give me Zelda, Mario, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, Sonic, and I might think about a computer gaming rig.

True computers might have better graphics but the games suck.

Hey Chaos I am 100% with you,

The is one good plat former for the pc that I know of its called Jazz Jackrabbit, its old, I have a copy its a bit glitchy in 10.4+ but runs fine, and its a blast, like and older mario game,

but pc games suck like wow cod4.2 who cares

 

[Topper]

.
I have a Mac Pro case. And it's got stuff inside it too.

 

[nanofrog]

Wait until some update comes down the pipe and breaks everything.

No thanks.

If you stick with the cards available to Macs normally (i.e HD4870), it's not that much of an issue, if at all. There's multiple ways of making a hack, but the EFI + Vanilla Kernel seems to have fewer issues for most boards. It's with specific add-ons that can be an issue, and many do have kext files available.

But to each his/her own.

If OS X is desired in a professional setting (company), a hackintosh makes little sense, due to support issues IMO. But for personal use, and SOHO (individuals their own businesses in graphics/video work, or photography), it could make some sense. But not for a large production house for example. They want and need a single point of contact for support issues, including warranty (though Apple isn't the best in this regard compared to PC versions using the same CPU's).

 

[emt377]

Lian Li makes quite a few good aluminium cases.

The last PC I built (before I got the Mac Pro and started running Linux under VMware) went in a Lian Li aluminum tower. I wasn't too thrilled with it. Despite being a full tower it could only fit a tiny PSU - I had to lobotomize one of the drive trays to fit the PSU. It also didn't have any SATA backplane of any sort to reduce cabling. Despite being HUGE everything that counted was crammed into a narrow space around the front and bottom edges - resulting in poor space utilization and crappy airflow. (I.e. only a marginal step up from your run of the mill cheapo PC case.) Oh, and it's like an accoustic chamber - loud. The side panels were very prone to rattle, too.

 

[Transporteur]

It depends on what tower you get.
I've got the PC73-SL+ which fits my server and it can definitely catch up with the MacPro case.

My Pros door makes a loud buzzing noise, which comes from the hard discs, whereas I never heard a single buzz from the Lian Li.
Pretty embarrassing for a 4000$ machine. They could at least attach some rubber to the drive sleds to reduce vibrations.