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Fun things to do with a Mac Pro

A

Ack

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 15, 2009
61
0
I've just made the plunge and ordered a refurbished Mac Pro (8-core 3.0 GHz, will have 16 GB RAM). As I'm sitting here drooling and waiting, I'm thinking of fun things to do to test the raw power of this thing once it arrives. Here's what I've come up with so far. Any more suggestions on fun things to do to stress test a Mac Pro? :D

--Encode DVD's and compare the elapsed time to the same DVD on my old PC.

--Encode multiple DVD's at once and see if there's any slowdown from encoding just one.

--Open multiple VMware or Parallels Virtual Windows machines. See how many copies of Windows OS I can have running at once without slowing down OS X's response time.

--Run and watch 'top' or some other Mac-specific system monitor while doing all of the above.

More suggestions?
 
Rip two HD DVD or Blu-ray movies to your hard drive, encode them so that they'll work in OS X, and then get two 1920x1200 monitors, open one movie on each, and play them both at once.

That's what I'm going to do on my Gainestown Mac Pro.
 
Tallest Skil said:
Because everything that he said is equally pointless.

Nothing posted so far is of any use on a Mac Pro. I just figure that he should have a little fun with it before he returns it for something he actually needs.
Click to expand...

Good point. I pretty much glossed over his task list.
 
Well give him the benefit of the doubt.
Maybe he forgot to mention all the crazy work he's gonna be doing i final cut and the Adobe cs4 suite.
He needs that power for the 1 week renders.
 
Some of us buy Mac Pro's not for the 8Core Power but for the internal storage and RAM possibilities...

The toughest thing I've put mine through processor wise is just Handbraking DVD's and Images. However, I do enjoy the much much faster hard drive and RAM speeds compared to my Macbook. I love how it flies through Aperture and PS CS3 without a hitch. The OCD side of me loves having two matching 20" monitors (as opposed to small MB + 20" or iMac + 20"). I would have been fine with a single Quad but the refurb was too good a deal to pass up.

I fell in that 'mid-level tower' group that doesn't have a product, but I'll never complain about having to cough up more $$ for a MacPro.
 
i heard rumors that the new mac pro's will allow you to do things like access the internet if you wanted to.

to think that you can simply log onto a virtual database and leisurely browse through limitless information.
 
Change your desktop image from a still (JPEG) to a movie. Might be interesting to set up so as to watch it for awhile, but you'll have desires for those clock-cycles someplace else after awhile.

Here's one tool to do it with: DVDesktop 1.1.2; there's probably others.


-hh
 
Most people in this thread don't get it.
He wants to push the machine to its limits to see what it's really capable off.

That's it.
What he'll do with it on normal days is an entirely different thing.

Let the guy have some fun with his new machine -- I know I would.

Now back on track:
Create a 100GB file and open it with nano; see how many minutes it takes for it to crash (I've actually had to edit 8GB textfiles.. Boy am I glad I had plenty of memory and fast network storage)
 
rylin said:
Most people in this thread don't get it.
He wants to push the machine to its limits to see what it's really capable off.

That's it.
What he'll do with it on normal days is an entirely different thing.

Let the guy have some fun with his new machine -- I know I would.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Thank you! I didn't buy such a powerful machine just to play with and benchmark. Those are just fun things to do in my spare time. When it's time for real work I'll be using it for software development, graphics work, and running multiple Virtual Machines to test software under different operating systems and configurations.

I just wanted to start up a lighthearted conversation about fun ways to test the limits of a Mac Pro. Anyone else have ideas?
 
I read the first couple of things and immediately thought, "He has no clue what that machine is for and doesn't need it."
Click to expand...

Unreal. Some people must be so unhappy the only thing that makes them smile is raining on someones parade.

OP- enjoy that machine and ignore rude comments from the snobs like the one I quoted...
 
This is exactly the thread I was hoping to find... I just got my Mac Pro last weekend and was wondering what in the hell I was gonna do with it... :p

Hope: Eclipse would finally be a usable IDE
Truth: Nope. It still sucks - but not quite a slow as it use to be on my G5.

Hope: It would lead the way to becoming a rock-star music producer
Truth: Meh... I think I'll stick to programming...

Hope: I would now be able to do all those "Intel Only" things that are popping up everywhere now
Truth: Yup. And it feels good.

Hope: I would now be able to play Bioshock on my Mac
Truth: Nope... Using Windows 7 x64 and the Bootcamp 2.1 drivers it crashes pretty much immediately. Bummer...
 
charlesbronsen said:
Unreal. Some people must be so unhappy the only thing that makes them smile is raining on someones parade.

OP- enjoy that machine and ignore rude comments from the snobs like the one I quoted...
Click to expand...

But this is Tallest Skil you're talking about, all his posts are angrily sarcastic.
 
-hh said:
Change your desktop image from a still (JPEG) to a movie. Might be interesting to set up so as to watch it for awhile, but you'll have desires for those clock-cycles someplace else after awhile.

Here's one tool to do it with: DVDesktop 1.1.2; there's probably others.


-hh
Click to expand...

that link doesnt let me download it!!!!

and it only lets you play DVD's, all it does is make the DVD player lighter or send it to the back or something. hmph i want it!
 
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