2009 to 2012? Is it even an upgrade?

[sammyman]

I'm heading out to checkout a 2012 Mac Pro. My wife currently has a 2009 Mac Pro, that I upgraded to a 3.33 Ghz 6-Core chip. It's pretty fast. I upgraded the RAM to 24GB.

I found a 2012 on Craigslist that seems like an OK deal. My main needs are photoshop.

Is the 2012 even an upgrade or should I keep the 2009 and not even bother?

BTW, I don't even know the specs on this machine but will know in a couple hours. I'm hoping it is a higher end machine.

The only benefit I can think of for sure is that I would be able to have 2 monitors. Right now, my MP only can have 1 display...

 

[RoastingPig]

Woah buddy, just update ur graphics cards in the 09' for 3+ display support....gtx 660-980...if cpu is your deal than your pretty much at the top end for single cpu. If you need more horse power then get a 2010-2012 dual prosessor mac pro and put some x5690s in that mug

 

[CaptainChunk]

Agreed. You wouldn't be gaining much unless you're thinking of moving to dual processor.

 

[h9826790]

Both the 2009 and 2012 model can use the same CPU, GPU, RAM, etc. I can't see if there is any reason that you need this whole machine "upgrade".

If you just want more monitors, get a new graphic card is the cheapest and easiest way to meet your needs.

 

[matthewtoney]

The only benefit I can think of for sure is that I would be able to have 2 monitors. Right now, my MP only can have 1 display...

What video card is currently in your 2009 that can only drive 1 monitor? I didn't think that was true of any of the base options.

 

[IowaLynn]

Throw a 512GB Apple PCIe-SSD blade in if you want better performance. Great price, just needs an inexpensive adapter (not a controller) for $9-25 and off you go.

 

[cpnotebook80]

I'm thinking of upgrading my 2008 Mac pro to 3.2 2012 for $1200 (Kijiji). I have 10gb ram and old 512 mb graphics card n one ssd in 2008
I want something with more processing power and more so to power a few games and 4k in the future.
I known i can spend 600-700$ on just a graphics card but my cpu is bottled necked at 2.8. For extra 600$ I can get the 2012

Jump and take the deal? I was told that it's much better to get 2009 for upgrade purposes.

 

[Kniteman77]

Is the 2012 even an upgrade or should I keep the 2009 and not even bother?

IIRC the MacPro 3,1 4,1 and 5,1 are all identical hardware, just different firmware. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

EDIT: Just checked my own work, so I'm correcting myself. The 4,1 and 5,1 are identical, the 3,1 and 4,1 is the jump from DDR2 to DDR3. Via this link. I knew there was 3 models on the high end you could flash up to 5,1, just didn't realize there was 2 5,1 releases.

Still, your 4,1 MacPro is literally identical to the newest 5,1 MacPro in every capacity except for firmware and the options it came with (which you can swap out). The motherboard, CPU tray, all of that are the same.

I'm building up 2 4,1 MacPro's right now, and I'll be flashing the firmware later today. I'll let you know if I run into any issues. Probably going to write a blog post about this and start a thread here and on netkas.org. While there is a TON of very useful information on both forums, you really have to dig for it or pay someone else a lot of money to handle it for you.

Also, if you're interested man I'm going to have an extra pretty decked out MacPro lying around in about 2 weeks, sent you a friend request, lets talk more.