Buying Mac Pro. Refurb 2xDual vs 1xQuad

[spol]

I'm buying a Mac pro and logic 8 soon and I had some questions:

1) I only need 4 cores at this moment, so should I get a refurbished (2x Dual core) mac pro so for a later upgrade I have the two heatsinks to upgrade one or both CPUs?
2) Would any xeox 771 cpu work on the mac pros, could I pair a 65nm and a 45nm?
3) The difference between the ram speed of the current and older generation of mac pros (DDR2-800 vs DDR2-667) makes any "real" difference in the overall speed?
4) Does the mac pro have any technology of reducing Hard drive noise/vibration? (ie rubber suspension) I'll be using all 4 HDs and low noise is very important.


I would really appreciate any useful answers, google didn't have any straight answer to my questions.

 

[MacFanBoyIIe]

I'm buying a Mac pro and logic 8 soon and I had some questions:

1) I only need 4 cores at this moment, so should I get a refurbished (2x Dual core) mac pro so for a later upgrade I have the two heatsinks to upgrade one or both CPUs?
2) Would any xeox 771 cpu work on the mac pros, could I pair a 65nm and a 45nm?
3) The difference between the ram speed of the current and older generation of mac pros (DDR2-800 vs DDR2-667) makes any "real" difference in the overall speed?
4) Does the mac pro have any technology of reducing Hard drive noise/vibration? (ie rubber suspension) I'll be using all 4 HDs and low noise is very important.
I would really appreciate any useful answers, google didn't have any straight answer to my questions.

I can answer questions 1 & 2. The 2x Dual core (the one I have) is a Xeon Woodcrest. The only drop-in upgrades I am aware of, would be to drop in the 3.0 GHz processor (5160) of the Woodcrest. That answers question two as well.
So I guess the question is, do you want to spend money on a new single quad processor (that could be upgraded later), or get an old double duo processor that maxs out at 3.0GHz?

 

[cmturner2]

I'm buying a Mac pro and logic 8 soon and I had some questions:

1) I only need 4 cores at this moment, so should I get a refurbished (2x Dual core) mac pro so for a later upgrade I have the two heatsinks to upgrade one or both CPUs?

The new MPs use a lower power higher performance (clock for clock) CPU, so if it's apples to apples (to abuse a saying) I'd opt for the newer MP. Also, unless the $450 difference for the base 8-core will break the bank, I'd keep it, and sell your current MP intact.

See: http://www.barefeats.com/harper7.html

2) Would any xeox 771 cpu work on the mac pros, could I pair a 65nm and a 45nm?

Generally speaking, CPUs must be matched pairs.

3) The difference between the ram speed of the current and older generation of mac pros (DDR2-800 vs DDR2-667) makes any "real" difference in the overall speed?

It does make a measurable difference, but I can't say whether or not it makes a "real" difference in your use cases. Even with the new MP, the amount and configuration of RAM, all of the same speed, impacts overall performance in a measurable way.

See: http://www.barefeats.com/harper3.html

4) Does the mac pro have any technology of reducing Hard drive noise/vibration? (ie rubber suspension) I'll be using all 4 HDs and low noise is very important.

Mine hasn't arrived yet, however rubber washers are readily available, and extended length hard drive screws are available if Apple hasn't got this covered already.

Edit: Based on the images here, the drive trays don't appear to utilize any rubber grommets. http://macenstein.com/default/archives/678