$23,397 Mac Pro

[richard.mac]

He said he plans to use OS X for as much as possible. Windows via Boot Camp is needed for his naval architecture suite (FormSys Suite).

ok thanks. sorry i didnt read the whole thread and then read a poster saying he will only use Windows.

oh my! imagine Snow Leopard on this thing ~~~ :drool:

 

[TheMonarch]

Nearly 12K of that $23k Mac is on Apple RAM, and a Quadro card.

32GB of ECC RAM can be had for $6800 less than what apple sells it for. And a Quadro 5600 is basically an 8800 ultra with special drivers. The 8800 ultra is an overclocked 8800GTX - And the 8800GTX can be flashed into a Quadro 4600, which is benched at being 3% slower than a Quadro 5600.

I'm not judging you on whether you do or don't need a $23k Mac, I'm just saying you could get one for 11K or so less.

 

[iMav]

you could buy TEN maxed out 24" iMac's for that price and give them away like candy for Halloween.

Best Buy has a deal on a Dell quad core system right now for around $700 (2.4Ghz Core2Quad, 6GB ram, 320GB hdd). Buy one of those and add a nice graphics card and monitor for your windows needs...Set it next to a maxed out iMac and share your keyboard and mouse with either a KVM or Synergy.

With the money you saved, go buy a new car, motorcycle, boat, HD camcorder, tons of software, new clothes, or whatever.

 

[nanofrog]

Nearly 12K of that $23k Mac is on Apple RAM, and a Quadro card.

32GB of ECC RAM can be had for $6800 less than what apple sells it for. And a Quadro 5600 is basically an 8800 ultra with special drivers. The 8800 ultra is an overclocked 8800GTX - And the 8800GTX can be flashed into a Quadro 4600, which is benched at being 3% slower than a Quadro 5600.

IIRC, there are some architectural differences, but a program must be written to take advantage of it. CAD software (3D functions) tends to be such an example. Not to mention the high resolution needed for 30" monitors. Reduces zoom and pan. Windows based workstations even have more than one of these cards for multiple monitor set-ups.

I'm not judging you on whether you do or don't need a $23k Mac, I'm just saying you could get one for 11K or so less.

From what I generally see posted, most of us tend to try to direct people to 3rd party purchases for upgrades. Particularly memory and HDD's. Most of us don't have money to burn, and just seems senseless to do so.

Best Buy has a deal on a Dell quad core system right now for around $700 (2.4Ghz Core2Quad, 6GB ram, 320GB hdd)....[snip]...

With the money you saved, go buy a new car, motorcycle, boat, HD camcorder, tons of software, new clothes, or whatever.

Depends on what someone considers a car, motorcycle, or boat.

 

[Umbongo]

Nearly 12K of that $23k Mac is on Apple RAM, and a Quadro card.

32GB of ECC RAM can be had for $6800 less than what apple sells it for. And a Quadro 5600 is basically an 8800 ultra with special drivers. The 8800 ultra is an overclocked 8800GTX - And the 8800GTX can be flashed into a Quadro 4600, which is benched at being 3% slower than a Quadro 5600.

I'm not judging you on whether you do or don't need a $23k Mac, I'm just saying you could get one for 11K or so less.

You can't flash a Geforce to be identical to a proper FX 5600. However you can buy a Quadro FX 3700 for ~$800 which will perform as well as the 5600. You are right though, the hard drives and memory from Apple run almost $12,000 and can be had for under $4,000. Add in getting a Quadro card for $2000 less and thats over $10,000 saved right there.

 

[nanofrog]

You can't flash a Geforce to be identical to a proper FX 5600. However you can buy a Quadro FX 3700 for ~$800 which will perform as well as the 5600. You are right though, the hard drives and memory from Apple run almost $12,000 and can be had for under $4,000. Add in getting a Quadro card for $2000 less and thats over $10,000 saved right there.

The only downside is it can't run in OS X.

But that would only be a problem if there was a specific need for a single graphics card solution. The FX 3700 and say a HD3870 for the OS X side, is just over a $1000USD. Still much less expensive than the FX5600.

 

[edesignuk]

There's no special "up keep", it's still just a Mac Pro desktop.

If you want to blow $23k, go nuts, enjoy.

 

[Umbongo]

The only downside is it can't run in OS X.

But that would only be a problem if there was a specific need for a single graphics card solution. The FX 3700 and say a HD3870 for the OS X side, is just over a $1000USD. Still much less expensive than the FX5600.

Yep. This is definatly the best solution in my opinion.

 

[design-is]

Whether or not he has just received inheritance, is a multimillionaire evil genius, or is a very successful business man who has already helped millions with his money... I say if that's what he wants to buy, why the hell not?! lol

I think if I had just won the Euromillions jackpot (this Friday estimated @ £12,000,000) I would probably never worry about money again. I would love to buy this machine, just for the sake of it. I would still have a load of money left over for helping myself and others as and how I wished.

However, if you think you may regret it in any way, you most definitely shouldn't buy it

 

[Schtumple]

There's less carnage than I expected...

Now I'm much more awake than last night, it does strike me as rather odd that the OP fully detailed the price, down to the dollar, I once argued with my friend about macs being expensive, and he went on the Mac Pro page and maxed all the specs and just said "ok, so that's cheap then huh?" this sounds pretty much along the same lines, only slightly more boring...

 

[sammich]

Check out this massive order I pulled up when I was bored.

Clearly a version I do today would give me a slightly larger final amount. But I ain't that bored now

 

[Joko]

To the OP, I recommend buying 7 of the aforementioned Mac Pro's. Having 6 back-up machines is a MUST! You could alternatively daisy chain all 7 of them for an all powerful, all mighty Mac Pro setup for relatively cheap. Enjoy!

 

[saltyzoo]

"I don't know what I need, I don't know what I want, I just clicked every button on the apple website and it came out to $23k. "

This is either a troll or he's got a government grant he has to spend.

 

[Schtumple]

Check out this massive order I pulled up when I was bored.

Clearly a version I do today would give me a slightly larger final amount. But I ain't that bored now

That's alot of mighty mice...

 

[saltyzoo]

Whether or not he has just received inheritance, is a multimillionaire evil genius, or is a very successful business man who has already helped millions with his money... I say if that's what he wants to buy, why the hell not?! lol

I think if I had just won the Euromillions jackpot (this Friday estimated @ £12,000,000) I would probably never worry about money again. I would love to buy this machine, just for the sake of it. I would still have a load of money left over for helping myself and others as and how I wished.

However, if you think you may regret it in any way, you most definitely shouldn't buy it

If you had $23k to "throw away" would you give a crap about the "extra maintenance"? Nah, you'd hire a 20 year old geek to do it for you. It wouldn't slow you down for a second. Unless you were a troll. Then you would be concerned.

 

[Schtumple]

If you had $23k to "throw away" would you give a crap about the "extra maintenance"? Nah, you'd hire a 20 year old geek to do it for you. It wouldn't slow you down for a second. Unless you were a troll. Then you would be concerned.

A troll who wanted to show off that if you select everything on the Mac Pro specs list it comes to a lot of money?

This has to be one of the mildest trollings I've seen

 

[Sesshi]

I'm a private individual interested in buying a custom top-of-the-line Mac Pro, mostly as a toy since I'm blessed enough to be able to afford it. The machine I'm interested in would be 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 32GB, four 300GB SAS drives, NVIDIAQuadro FX 5600, and a couple Cinema HD Displays. With accessories, it runs about $23,397.

I recently talked with an apple representative who actually tried to convince me to acquire a somewhat lower-end "suggested configuration" Mac Pro. He told me that the technical upkeep for such a high-end mac is more demanding than I could handle. Is this accurate? He also told me that he wasn't aware of any use a private individual could have for that amount of processing power, but I enjoy knowing the power is available, so this doesn't concern me.

The only high-end software I run is some naval architecture CAD programs (Maxsurf, ShipConstructor and Navisworks) -- I'm a ship-building hobbyist. These programs would run in Windows under bootcamp. I would also use the machine for mostly mundane tasks -- internet, email, record-keeping, and my large music library.

Any thoughts about the upkeep of this machine would be greatly appreciated. Is it possible for me to maintain this machine myself, with good computer proficiency, but no special skills?

The first part of the big question is if the applications which will stress the machine most run under an alien OS with reduced compatibility over a genuine ISV-certified workstation (which the Mac Pro isn't by far, both in terms of it's engineering quality and ISV support),would you risk it?

The second part of the big question isn't whether you can look after an OS X machine properly - it's whether you can look after / deal with a Mac running dual-boot with Windows properly. Personally, I think it's a non-optimal solution any way you look at it, and that Apple junkies - especially the 'born-again Switchers' - are so brainwashed that they actually put themselves through completely unnecessary hoops in the interest of keeping their Apple experience intact, but most laughably with much of the actual convenience of OS X removed by having to constantly flip-flop between OS X and Windows.

If you want a maxed-out machine for CAD purposes but also want something to entertain yourself with, buy something like a Dell Precision - it'll be more stable, more reliable and more flexible in it's primary role. If you buy the additional support services, they will be able to take care of issues better than any unqualified 20-year-old geek can, remotely.

If you also want to be able to do the more limited but friendlier, more simple-minded noodling that the OS X platform is better suited to, buy an iMac as well - or if you want to, another Pro(s) and treat them separately. That's what I did.

In terms of keeping any Mac running, if you're unsure about this perhaps a Macbook Pro is a better idea as a noodling machine - then you can take it in to the Apple Store to be tuned up instead of having a barely capable Mac guy come to you. But really, it shouldn't be a problem.

No, I read it and I appreciate the advice. I'll consider investing in multiple new machines over the next few years instead of on one system immediately.

By the way, is there anyone out there who actually owns or has experience with a machine with these specs?

I do. On both sides - and many of our Dells have two 5600's. And my advice is the above.

 

[neiltc13]

The funny thing is that even if you give Apple $23,000 they still send you that pile of junk Mighty Mouse. Good luck!

 

[joehearty]

$23,000 on a computer, woah. Couldn't you have one of your boat designs constructed for that? It's your money, so whatever. It doesn't seem very healthy though, brand-based consumerism on a new level? Why not get a robotic limb attached to your chest instead? or for another 10 grand > http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MONTEREY-245-...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

[Wotan31]

Wow, I can't believe how childish most of the replies are in this thread. Grow up people! Did your parents not raise you properly or something?? How disappointing.

If you consider the Mac Pro a true Workstation, there are plenty of machines in this price range (and much higher even). My SGI Octane2 with dual 600 Mhz R14k's, 8 GB of ram, and a V12 graphics board was more than $40,000. That was a few years ago though when RAM was more expensive. Priced a new SGI Tezro lately? It's quite a bit more even.

Anyhow, if this is the machine you want, there's no reason not to buy it. There's no additional maintenance or upkeep vs. any other Mac Pro configuration. Go for it! As to the power consumption, well of course 8 CPU cores and 32 GB of ram are going to consume a bit more juice than lesser configurations will, but quite frankly I don't think it's anything to be concerned about. OS X has many power saving features built in, and you can set the machine to "go to sleep" after, say, 1 hour of idle. In sleep mode, it uses less power than a laptop.

8 CPU cores will serve you well, particularly if you upgrade to 10.6 when it's released next year - that OS version has many new optimizations for using multiple CPU cores.

Based on your intended usage, 32 GB of RAM is probably a bit much. I would opt for 16 GB or even 8 GB will be more than enough. As others have mentioned, Apple memory is priced well above "market price" and you can save literally $thousands by purchasing your RAM direct from the manufacturer (Crucial.com for example) vs. through Apple. The Mac Pro is very serviceable and you'll have no trouble installing the RAM yourself.

Best of luck with the purchase, the Mac Pro is a beast of a machine for sure, you'll be pleased no matter which configuration you go with!!

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Here's the thing. By the time that you find any application (or even any 10 applications) that use all 32 gigs of RAM, you're going to have out of date CPU's. Which means a CPU upgrade to make best use of the computer, which probably means a whole new computer with new ram anyway.. so it's not worth it to get all that RAM when you'll never be able to make efficient use of it.

Get a top end iMac, and every revision get a new top end one. You'll be getting a MUCH better deal, and save a lot of money.

 

[whooleytoo]

send me money

Ignore this guy! He's just after your money!

Send it to me instead..

 

[timimbo85]

Im calling out Bull *****, post some photos and you can have me feed into this.
I stopped reading after page 1.

edesignuk your picture is F'n hilarious, you motor boating sonofabitch you

 

[Wotan31]

Get a top end iMac, and every revision get a new top end one. You'll be getting a MUCH better deal, and save a lot of money.

Wow did you even read the opening post? He wants a machine to do CAD work.

 

[Digital Skunk]

Personally, I'd advise any Memory, HDD's, or even RAID to be bought 3rd party. Apple's RAID Pro card will not work in Boot Camp, and it doesn't appear they will ever. More options, and less money, even if it doesn't matter to you. It could actually send Apple a message to lower the prices for such upgrades, though I seriously doubt it.

The price is because of Apple Care. Once you buy your machine and get Apple Care with it, any parts you add to it are automatically covered by the protection.

So if your Mac Pro RAID card craps out on you, it's covered and you can go right to an Apple store to get it serviced, as opposed to mailing it in or dealing with some call center in Asia.

If one of your $400 1TB HDDs crashes, then Apple will give you a new one point blank. When you are doing this stuff professionally, or freelance, or semi-pro, or economically, it's a pretty good deal, and with the Mac Pro specked the way he does, it's a must.

And Sesshi is right OP, most CAD apps do run in Windows, so you might as well grab a Dell or HP workstation for a lot less, and since their workstation support is the only good support they have. If you were doing multimedia work of any kind then the Mac would be suitable since Windows doesn't have the software integration or even any programs that could work effectively in any form of media.