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Buy a used 8-core 2.8 (plus upgrades) or new 2.26 (little upgrades)?

D

dannymarr

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 23, 2008
42
0
Sydney, Australia
I'd just like your input as to the dilemma I have. I live in Australia and have to options availabe to me.

Which one would you choose to run Final Cut Studio 2 and After Effects?

Mac Pro 2008 (Used)

Price: $AU5,500
CPU: 2.8 Ghz
RAM: 14GB DDR2
HDD: 1.5TB 7200rpm
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 8800GT with 512mb
Superdrive: Two
Airport Extreme: Yes (IEEE 802.11n)
Applecare: 2 years left

OR

Mac Pro 2009 (New)

Price: $AU5,749.01 (Edu discount)
CPU: 2.26 Ghz
RAM: 8GB DDR3
HDD: 640GB 7200rpm
GPU: Nvidia Geforce GT 120 with 512mb
Superdrive: Two
Airport Extreme: Yes (IEEE 802.11n)
Applecare: None

Keeping in mind I'll be using Final Cut Studio 2 and After Effects?

Thanks for the feedback!
 
The newer processor is MUCH faster! A higher number of gigahertz does not always mean more speed. The processors in the 2008 Mac Pro were top of the line 2 years ago, obviously things have somewhat changed. The newer mac pro will be much faster in every aspect of computing. :D
 
Hmmm... I had a feeling that the CPU is more important. The 2.26ghz "Gainstown" from what I have been reading whilst cruising the forums should be the same or faster in most applications compared to the 2.8 "Hapertown."

The fact remains...we don't know for certain until the benchmarks flow in. Have to wait a bit longer to make an informed descision.

Let's think of a hyportetical
Say in 1-2 years would it be possible to acquire a 2.66ghz or 2.93ghz "Gainstown" and install it into the Mac Pro?
 
i guess it comes down to how much of a performance bump you expect from snow leopard...

it might make more sense to get the 2008 so that when you get Snow Leopard you'll have eight physical cores instead of four physical and four logical, even though they have l2. consider that on the 64-bit system, what will slow you down the most will be your hard drives if you sell the 14 you have and put 32GB of ram in that machine. the hdd's here are essentially the same (SATA 72k RPM, no raid) in each of these two machines.

i might put my money on the 2.8 just so that i could fill it with cheap RAM some time soon. the 8gb limit of the quad really bothers me.
 
Chaos123x said:
So a 2.26ghz is faster than a 2.8ghz chip? :confused:
Click to expand...
Wait for benchmarks to be sure of which way things go.

Personally, the Nehalem architecture is nice, and technically capable of outperforming the Harpertowns, there's limits on how much of a gap in clock speed can occur before that advantage is lost. I'm not convinced 2.26GHz Xeon E5520 can consistently outperform the 2.8Ghz Harpertown (E5462). Equivalent is more likely IMO.
dannymarr said:
Hmmm... I had a feeling that the CPU is more important. The 2.26ghz "Gainstown" from what I have been reading whilst cruising the forums should be the same or faster in most applications compared to the 2.8 "Hapertown."

The fact remains...we don't know for certain until the benchmarks flow in. Have to wait a bit longer to make an informed descision.

Let's think of a hyportetical
Say in 1-2 years would it be possible to acquire a 2.66ghz or 2.93ghz "Gainstown" and install it into the Mac Pro?
Click to expand...
If you get an Octo version, yes. It's looking like the Quad core variants are Single Processor boards, and use W35xx parts.
Fomaphone said:
i guess it comes down to how much of a performance bump you expect from snow leopard...
Click to expand...

Say you put Snow Leopard on both an '09 MP and an '08 MP. All other testing criteria being equal.

SL would be nice, and offer a performance boost, it still comes down to hardware making the differences between the two machines. ;)

You can't escape the hardware... it will get you ... //Imagine movie announcer voice. :p
 
nanofrog said:
Wait for benchmarks to be sure of which way things go.
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree. From past experiences would this take 2-3weeks?

nanofrog said:
I'm not convinced 2.26GHz Xeon E5520 can consistently outperform the 2.8Ghz Harpertown (E5462). Equivalent is more likely IMO.
Click to expand...

So at this point in time it's safe to say that the 2.26ghz gainstown is at least the same as a 2.8ghz hapertown?

nanofrog said:
If you get an Octo version, yes. It's looking like the Quad core variants are Single Processor boards, and use W35xx parts.
Click to expand...

That's helpful to know. I might consider getting the 2.26ghz and upgrade later if, and only if it's cheaper after a few years. Could even slightly overclock the 2.26ghz whilst waiting?

nanofrog said:
You can't escape the hardware... it will get you ... //Imagine movie announcer voice. :p
Click to expand...

Yes...scary.:eek:
 
nanofrog said:
Imagine movie announcer voice. :p
Click to expand...

In the city, you fight to survive. HE sold tortillas on the corner...

And the Mob wanted in... (Cut to Italian mobster)

"I dunno who dis guy is but I want him and his tortillas, I want 'em DEAD (BOOM!)

He had one chance.. And his chance was to fight back - Arnold Schwarzenegger (Cut to Arnold)

"Listen to me these are my tortillas and I'm not going to give them up here"

"you have to get out of here they're trying to kill you! Get out! Get out!"

Double the action... Triple the excitement ("Get down!") More excitement ("Get down again!")

They didn't know who he was. (Frantic woman speaking in spanish, then english)

"What do they want?" "Cornia, you have to get out of here! They're trying to TAKE MY TORTI-"

(Automatic weapons) (Heartbeats)

One man... One solution (BOOM)... Arnold Schwarzenegger is ("RAAAAAHH!!" Automatic weapons) Little Tortilla Boy...
 
nanofrog said:
Say you put Snow Leopard on both an '09 MP and an '08 MP. All other testing criteria being equal.

SL would be nice, and offer a performance boost, it still comes down to hardware making the differences between the two machines. ;)

You can't escape the hardware... it will get you ... //Imagine movie announcer voice. :p
Click to expand...


my point is that with 32gb of RAM in the octo and 8gb in the quad, you'll have a more capable machine with the octo with a 64 bit OS... beyond the 4gb barrier
 
dannymarr said:
Yeah I agree. From past experiences would this take 2-3weeks?
Click to expand...
I'm hoping it will be a little quicker than that, but it will depend on how long it takes for reviewers to get their hands on them.

dannymarr said:
So at this point in time it's safe to say that the 2.26ghz gainstown is at least the same as a 2.8ghz hapertown?
Click to expand...
I think so, and hopefully it will.

I still want to see the benchmarks, as that much of a difference in clock speed concerns me a little.

dannymarr said:
That's helpful to know. I might consider getting the 2.26ghz and upgrade later if, and only if it's cheaper after a few years. Could even slightly overclock the 2.26ghz whilst waiting?

Yes...scary.:eek:
Click to expand...
I doubt Apple's given the ability to OC in the firmware. You'd have to rely on a 3rd party developer, or figure out a way to do it on the chip itself.

I plan to download what I can to see if this is possible. At this point, I assume it is.
 
m1stake said:
...Arnold Schwarzenegger is ("RAAAAAHH!!" Automatic weapons) Little Tortilla Boy...
Click to expand...

LOL! :D That was entertaining.

nanofrog said:
I doubt Apple's given the ability to OC in the firmware. You'd have to rely on a 3rd party developer, or figure out a way to do it on the chip itself.

I plan to download what I can to see if this is possible. At this point, I assume it is.
Click to expand...

Cool. We'll just wait and see.

Hopefully benchmarks will be out soon.:rolleyes:
 
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