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Advice for a Mac Pro purchase

bloogersnigen

bloogersnigen

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 15, 2005
146
0
Wherever the water flows
So I'm planning to buy a mac pro to replace my current powermac (dual 1.8 3 GB RAM) and have two questions:

1. Is there any evidence for a Mac Pro update in the next two-ish months?

2. This is the system I'm eyeing. Do you folks have any recommendations:
This machine will be used for professional photography, hobby video, and a general home computer.

Octo 2.8
10 GB RAM (2GB Apple + 8 GB OWC)
NVIDIA GeForce 8800
2 TB Internal (4x1TB from OWC in a 0+1 Raid)
Possibly the RocketRAID 2640X4 but probably will stick with a software RAID
A 750GB Time Machine drive (backing up only non-media) and a 400GB HD for some photo backup, both installed internally in the second optical port connected to the two extra sata ports
20" apple screen (would you recommend another screen that gives me more space for less money, quality of the screen is an important factor here so I'm willing to splurge, but am conscious about the money)
 
Thats why I'm asking you guys.
Is there any other evidence then these particular models have been out for a while?
Is there any other technologies that have come out recently that Apple could implement soon into a new revision?
 
I agree. The buzz is on the portables. But I would add to that that it's unlikely for them to stack a Mac Pro re-do right on the heals of the portable revisions. The Pros are really pretty aimed at the pro marketplace and I don't think they'll squeeze in a revision for the holiday buying season. But, that's all just speculation :p.
 
Plan your purchase based on the idea that there will be no update to the Mac Pro before mid January. Mid January isn't a guess, there a lot of posts on why.

Do RAID 10 not 0+1.

As far as a display is concerned, just how important is quality and what quality are you looking for? If it is colour accuracy then it isn't too bad of a choice. There aren't many new 1680x1080 displays using quality s-IPS panels for much less form what I have seen. But $600 will also get you a Dell 24" which is a decent display and can be suitable for colour accurate work, but seems a gamble whether you get one with colour issues or not (which can't be resolved through calibration).
 
Don't use that 750 for TM. The reality is, is that TM is really only for the consumer market, it's a real storage hog, although it is useful, just backup your important files on there..

Also 4 x 1TB?

Doesn't equal 2TB :p.
 
So I think I'll get the 24" Dell screen after your suggestion, Umbongo, Thank you

For graphics cards I was looking around a little more and the ATI Radeon 3870 looked great. For another $50 it looked like quite an improvement from the 8800
What could I do with the stock ATI Radeon 2600? How much could I sell it for? If I just left it in the 2nd slot, would it increase performance, or just sit there?
 
Umbongo said:
RAID 10 can take two disks failing and still continue, RAID 0+1 can not. Having 4 disks sourced from the same batch increases the odds you will see multiple drives fail if they do.
Click to expand...

Not entirely accurate...

With RAID 0+1 (as supported by Apple's card) a second drive failure is 66% likely to bring the entire array down, whereas in RAID 1+0 (Calldigit etc) a second drive failure is only 33% likely to destroy the array.

Both cases a two drive failure has at least 33% chance of buggering the entire array. (RAID 1+0 (10) is preferrable if you have the choice) but neither will survive 100% in the event of two drives failing.

:) Just being a helpful Bunny :)
 
costabunny said:
Not entirely accurate...

With RAID 0+1 (as supported by Apple's card) a second drive failure is 66% likely to bring the entire array down, whereas in RAID 1+0 (Calldigit etc) a second drive failure is only 33% likely to destroy the array.

Both cases a two drive failure has at least 33% chance of buggering the entire array. (RAID 1+0 (10) is preferrable if you have the choice) but neither will survive 100% in the event of two drives failing.

:) Just being a helpful Bunny :)
Click to expand...

Good info.
 
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