Having just bought a used 2009 2.66ghz quad core Mac Pro for $1825, I can't say I'm enjoying this thread! However, I'm trying to justify my purchase with my belief that a 2009 mac pro with the 3.33ghz quad core upgrade is still the fastest mac pro on a per-core basis. The fastest quad core option on the 2010 is 3.2Ghz which appears to be slower per geekbench results. The 3.33ghz hex core also doesn't put up the same numbers per-core as the 3.33Ghz quad.
For those of us who primarily use software that doesn't take full advantage of all cores, I think a 2009 3.33Ghz quad core could still be the best option.
For those of us who primarily use software that doesn't take full advantage of all cores, I think a 2009 3.33Ghz quad core could still be the best option.