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mathemabeat

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 1, 2009
92
52
Cincinnati, OH
Hola folks!

I have a couple question regarding picking up a 2009 Mac Pro.

1. Besides just taking your chances with eBay (or craigslist), does anyone have a recommendation for any of the used Mac dealers? Like PowerMax, Mac of All Trades and etc?

2. Source for cheap, but quality ram for these machines? I think I would like to buy 6 sticks of 8GB 1333 mhz ram since I intend to buy a dual processor machine and upgrade to dual 6 cores.

3. Recommendation for a video card for use with Final Cut Pro X? Does it take advantage of any of the gpu functions of new cards? I don't really care about gaming performance per say. If I can play a game, that's cool. But not a sticking point.



I plan to buy delidded X5680 or X5690 cpus for the upgrade as I know that's the best route to go with the 2009 dual cpu machine. Reason I am buying this is because I recently got pretty heavy into FCPX editing and my late 2012 i7 iMac just doesn't have enough ooomph for me. I figure a 12 core box with a decent video card should do wonders. Plus lots of local storage.


Thanks!
 

Zorn

macrumors 65816
Feb 14, 2006
1,133
796
Ohio
1. I've heard good things about Mac of All Trades, but I used eBay for mine. Usually cheaper and they have all kinds of policies that favor the buyer if something goes wrong.

2. OWC is great for Apple RAM

3. Video card is probably one of the biggest sticking points with a 2009 MP. Are you wanting a Mac card with boot screen support? If that doesn't matter, a GTX 980 or Ti will be your best performance bets outside of a crazy priced Titan. You can also get an EFI version from macvidcards.com if you want boot screen support, although it does cost extra.
 

Inutopia

macrumors 6502
Apr 8, 2009
299
84
South of Heaven
You might want to look at my recent thread for some info, I went through pretty much the same process recently including the de-lidded upgrade:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/should-i-buy-this-4-1-mac-pro.1889327/

Some general things I would recommend too:

1. Go for used server ram. Much cheaper to acquire and usually a good brand like Hynix or Micron. There is heaps available on eBay for good prices.

2. Stick to ATI cards for FCP X. it's optimised for them and as far as I can tell the process of getting something working with your MP is easier.
 
Last edited:

mathemabeat

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 1, 2009
92
52
Cincinnati, OH
You might want to look at my recent thread for some info, I went through pretty much the same process recently including the de-lidded upgrade:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/should-i-buy-this-4-1-mac-pro.1889327/

Some general things I would recommend too:

1. Go for used server ram. Much cheaper to acquire and usually a good brand like Hynix or Micron.vThere is heaps available on eBay for good prices.

2. Stick to ATI cards for FCP X. it's optimised for them and as far as I can tell the process of getting something working with your MP is easier.



Excellent info in that thread.



I think I have decided to order the 8 core 2009 from MacofAllTrades.


I do have another question:


What is the best PCI-E SSD option for the Mac Pro using SATA 3 drives? I have a brand new 500 gig Samsung 850 Evo SATA3 SSD that I would like to use and I know if I use it in one of the drive bays it will be held back by the SATA 2 bus.

I have researched this some and found the OWC Accelsior S and the Apricorn Velocity Solo x1. I know both products have their own sets of Pros and cons. Whilst I don't really care about bootcamp support (would be nice, but not a deal breaker), I would like access to the early boot menu for selecting drives (my understanding is this doesn't work with the Apricorn).

Any thoughts on that? Are there others worth looking into? Or should I just sell the Samsung and go a different route?
 
Last edited:

DEMinSoCAL

macrumors 603
Sep 27, 2005
5,054
7,263
Excellent info in that thread.



I think I have decided to order the 8 core 2009 from MacofAllTrades.


I do have another question:


What is the best PCI-E SSD option for the Mac Pro using SATA 3 drives? I have a brand new 500 gig Samsung 850 Evo SATA3 SSD that I would like to use and I know if I use it in one of the drive bays it will be held back by the SATA 2 bus.

I have researched this some and found the OWC Accelsior S and the Apricorn Velocity Solo x1. I know both products have their own sets of Pros and cons. Whilst I don't really care about bootcamp support (would be nice, but not a deal breaker), I would like access to the early boot menu for selecting drives (my understanding is this doesn't work with the Apricorn).

Any thoughts on that? Are there others worth looking into? Or should I just sell the Samsung and go a different route?

You're definitely not doing yourself any favors using that EVO in one of the drive bays or on a Solo x1.
I did use two Solo x2's in my 2009 (in a software RAID 0) for many months with no problems. The Accelsior S seems a bit cheaper, but I've not used that card so I can't talk about any issues. Solo x2 is faster than Solo x1...no reason to get x1.

BUT, the best option is a PCI-e card with a SAMSUNG SM951. 3 times faster (more or less) than the EVO, and with 10.10.4 or later, you get TRIM now (with a simple terminal command to enable it). You'll lose a few bucks selling your EVO, but in the long run, it's worth it. One slot, rocket speed!

Here is a link to a great deal on 1333 ECC RAM for your 2009. Don't forget to flash your firmware to a 2010 model!

Good luck. This site is a great resource for making the most of your 2009 cMP. Here is a thread all about PCI-e cards and options and issues. The first post has most of the info you need.
 

Inutopia

macrumors 6502
Apr 8, 2009
299
84
South of Heaven
Excellent info in that thread.



I think I have decided to order the 8 core 2009 from MacofAllTrades.


I do have another question:


What is the best PCI-E SSD option for the Mac Pro using SATA 3 drives? I have a brand new 500 gig Samsung 850 Evo SATA3 SSD that I would like to use and I know if I use it in one of the drive bays it will be held back by the SATA 2 bus.

I have researched this some and found the OWC Accelsior S and the Apricorn Velocity Solo x1. I know both products have their own sets of Pros and cons. Whilst I don't really care about bootcamp support (would be nice, but not a deal breaker), I would like access to the early boot menu for selecting drives (my understanding is this doesn't work with the Apricorn).

Any thoughts on that? Are there others worth looking into? Or should I just sell the Samsung and go a different route?

If I were in the US I would probably get a SOLO X2 and load the Samsung SSD into that, but here in the UK they are expensive enough to make me question it, so I've not bothered.

It depends what you want the SSD for. If it's just for speeding up apps launching and booting etc. I doubt you'll notice much difference with any of the options, including just attaching it to the SATA 2 bus. AFAIK the speed up in those situations comes from the instant access times of SSDs, not so much from sustained transfer speeds.
 

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,587
Hong Kong
For SSD, agree that it really depends on what you want from it.

I do have a Tempo SSD PCIe card, it server me well with a 840 Evo. However, recently I decided to install my 2nd 7950 for Crossfire in Windows 10, and remove that Tempo card for better GPU cooling.

The 840 EVO now just connected via the SATA 2 port in the optical bay. TBO, for normal OS operation. I can't feel any difference. However, for something like large files copies, or use as a scratch disk, of course SATA 2 is a significant bottleneck.
 
Last edited:

mathemabeat

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 1, 2009
92
52
Cincinnati, OH
You're definitely not doing yourself any favors using that EVO in one of the drive bays or on a Solo x1.
I did use two Solo x2's in my 2009 (in a software RAID 0) for many months with no problems. The Accelsior S seems a bit cheaper, but I've not used that card so I can't talk about any issues. Solo x2 is faster than Solo x1...no reason to get x1.

BUT, the best option is a PCI-e card with a SAMSUNG SM951. 3 times faster (more or less) than the EVO, and with 10.10.4 or later, you get TRIM now (with a simple terminal command to enable it). You'll lose a few bucks selling your EVO, but in the long run, it's worth it. One slot, rocket speed!

Here is a link to a great deal on 1333 ECC RAM for your 2009. Don't forget to flash your firmware to a 2010 model!

Good luck. This site is a great resource for making the most of your 2009 cMP. Here is a thread all about PCI-e cards and options and issues. The first post has most of the info you need.



ahhhhh. Didn't realize there was a Velocity x2 card.

I suppose I could sell the Evo and go with the SM951. That needs a PCI-E adapter board, right?
 

rickvanr

macrumors 68040
Apr 10, 2002
3,259
13
Brockville
You're definitely not doing yourself any favors using that EVO in one of the drive bays or on a Solo x1.
I did use two Solo x2's in my 2009 (in a software RAID 0) for many months with no problems. The Accelsior S seems a bit cheaper, but I've not used that card so I can't talk about any issues. Solo x2 is faster than Solo x1...no reason to get x1.

BUT, the best option is a PCI-e card with a SAMSUNG SM951. 3 times faster (more or less) than the EVO, and with 10.10.4 or later, you get TRIM now (with a simple terminal command to enable it). You'll lose a few bucks selling your EVO, but in the long run, it's worth it. One slot, rocket speed!

Here is a link to a great deal on 1333 ECC RAM for your 2009. Don't forget to flash your firmware to a 2010 model!

Good luck. This site is a great resource for making the most of your 2009 cMP. Here is a thread all about PCI-e cards and options and issues. The first post has most of the info you need.

Is that RAM for real? That's a killer deal. Will it work if you don't flash your 2009?
 

mathemabeat

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 1, 2009
92
52
Cincinnati, OH
Ok, just ordered a baseline 2.26GHz 8 core machine from Mac of All Trades. Probably have it Monday.


New question regarding ram:

I would like to eventually install 6 x 8GB dimms for a total of 48 gigs of ram. If I only purchase 3 right now will the machine boot? Or do I need to install equal amounts in both sets of dimm sockets? I did a quick search on this and the answer wasn't clear.
 
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