Finger on the trigger for personal use Mac Pro...

[RemarkabLee]

I knew I shouldn't have downloaded the Mac Pro users guide PDF...



page 1:
Congratulations, you and your Mac Pro
were made for each other.


Damn it........ Resistance.... is....failing.....

 

[ozontheroad]

:d

 

[Alith]

DO IT!

I got a 2008 Mac Pro for what is essentially home media management, communications and gaming (via bootcamp) and couldn't be happier.

Yes it was expensive. Yes I didn't *need* the processing muscle. Yes I could have stuck with a big, ugly, noisy gaming PC and made do with a Mac mini and endless external storage clutter for the media collection but why not spend the extra and have it all in that gorgeous, quiet, silver box.

I have my music , photos & video collection all beautifully catalogued via MetaX and synced to my Apple TV and backed up by a 1TB Time Machine, my mobileme integration with my iPhone and work PC, Left4Dead is screeeeaming along in bootcamp at 60fps at 1920x1200. I have a 4870 on order to secure another 1-2 years of high quality gaming.

I started with just the iPhone and drank the koolaid. I say, bring on more koolaid imo.

 

[RemarkabLee]

My sig has been updated....

Yes, trigger has been officially pulled...

...I should have something to play with next weekend

Thanks for your 'prods'

 

[sn00pie]

Congrats! I'm in the midst of upgrading myself...don't really need a Mac Pro though

 

[Alith]

Awesome! ENJOY!!!

 

[Aegelward]

Ah, i keep looking between building a PC, and a Mac Pro as i figure about.. 80% of it's use would be gaming, even though i'm getting more and more interested in fooling around with multi-media the PC seems like the more 'sensible' option.

But the Mac Pro keeps calling to me, I'm even willing to get an older generation MP if the costs are the same as a PC would be.

 

[vaderhater245]

I'm on the verge of selling my pc and 1G MBP for a Mac Pro. It's very tempting to finally have a desktop mac with real power. Everyday now i wish i had one.

 

[petermcphee]

Congratulations! What a great machine you're getting.

 

[Dr.Pants]

To the OP, do you intend to do any video editing? I was thinking about the same setup (spooky)....

And besides, after you made all this hype, you know you have to reveiw it

 

[DeepCobalt]

Congrats, RemarkabLee!!!! Now don't forget to vote in the poll!!!

 

[RemarkabLee]

@Dr.Pants: Yes I do intend to do video editing, albeit not overly complex, at least not yet. I have boxes of VHS tapes I want to convert to h.264 files and run them through FCE to correct issues with chroma shift that VHS is famed for... Should be nice to use a dual monitor set up for this. Coming from a Mac mini my review is going to be interesting...

The heavy apps I'll be using are: VMware Fusion, Lightroom, Photoshop, iMovie, Final Cut Express, Ableton Live, Reason, Bryce, Cinema 4D, HandBrake (lots), console and Amiga emulation. Plus will no doubt install a Windows 7 partition purely for gaming - the less time I spend in that OS the better.

@DeepCobalt: Done! One of the first things I did after I read my credit card details to the Apple Store salesperson

 

[Bentov]

I'm cocked and ready to pull the trigger as well. Actually, the apple store is open in my other firefox tab. 2.66Q, 1TB, ATI, 8GB. But for some reason I'm sitting here thinking:


1) What if I can never add more than 8GB?

2)If I buy a quad, is there another socket to add another one.

I'm pretty sure that the answer to both is no, but I guess I have to convince myself it doesn't really matter. Surfing this forum makes me think that the above machine is underpowered Damn all of you with limitless wallets...

*Edit* I do digital photography and I've got some financial modeling ideas that I need to explore,but neither is my day job.

 

[RemarkabLee]

1) What if I can never add more than 8GB?

I'll bother me a bit, but it won't be a disaster by a long shot. 8Gb will be more than enough I'm sure.

2)If I buy a quad, is there another socket to add another one.

No, it's a different board.

The way I figure it, SN will help with the quad, plus with a decent GPU, SN will also leverage this to squeeze out even more power thanks to OpenCL. For me that's more than enough for the next 5 years+. I'm not a pro user, so my requirements may be different to yours.

 

[Dr.Pants]

1) Up in the air. 4 GB sticks are $%(& expensive, so nobody really wants to test. Furthermore, there is speculation that the addressable memory is written into the EFI, so there is an 8 GB limit. However, when I see a 12 GB of 4 GB sticks in a MacPro and the thing says only 8 GB, then I will believe.

2) Nope, not like the last MacPro. No socket for a second processor *sigh*.

EDIT: RemarkableLee beat me to it. Still, limitless wallets? My wallet is not limitless. I'm getting the quad because I'm a student and want to run Final Cut in addition to other scientific and engineering programs (CAD, Mathmatica, etc.). Would I be better off getting the Octo? Maybe, but the money doesn't justify it. And considering how my main machine is a dual-core AMD machine, the Nehamlem MP would be an upgrade.

 

[nanofrog]

I'm cocked and ready to pull the trigger as well. Actually, the apple store is open in my other firefox tab. 2.66Q, 1TB, ATI, 8GB. But for some reason I'm sitting here thinking:


1) What if I can never add more than 8GB?

2)If I buy a quad, is there another socket to add another one.

I'm pretty sure that the answer to both is no, but I guess I have to convince myself it doesn't really matter. Surfing this forum makes me think that the above machine is underpowered Damn all of you with limitless wallets...

*Edit* I do digital photography and I've got some financial modeling ideas that I need to explore,but neither is my day job.

1. You will likely be able to use larger capacity DIMM's when they surface. But it would require swapping out the stock memory. I say likely, as some may have issues with the fact it isn't yet tested and confirmed. The architecture itself, as designed by Intel, will support it. Apple is the "unknown quantity", as it's technically possible to disable/limit it in the firmware.

2. NO.

 

[RemarkabLee]

Furthermore, there is speculation that the addressable memory is written into the EFI, so there is an 8 GB limit.

I will be extremely annoyed if Apple did this purely as a measure to force people to buy the DP

 

[Bentov]

When I said limitless wallets, I was referring more to those who get the 2.93 octo with max ram and, oh just throw in a few 24" ACD for ***** and giggles. You are right, the octo core is overkill for me for now. I need to make that my present to myself when I finish my stock program..

......Ordered

 

[nanofrog]

I will be extremely annoyed if Apple did this purely as a measure to force people to buy the DP

I certainly hope Apple didn't do this.

But this type of reasoning and execution is possible. Such a direction could backfire in the overall sales though, particularly with those who can't afford the Octo models. (Quad won't suit them, and the Octo's are out of reach scenario).

The pricing might make more users rethink their needs vs. desires, and enough of them to make a difference. They'd look to "jump ship" as it were, and go with a Hack (DIY or another vendor) if OS X is absolutely necessary.

 

[trancepriest]

I'm tempted to buy a second 2.93.

 

[nanofrog]

I'm tempted to buy a second 2.93.

Starting you're own render farm?

 

[diotav]

@trancepriest .. judging the screenshots I think you have a excuse to buy a 2nd Mac Pro 8-core 2.93GHz.

 

[Pika]

...big initial outlay.... uncertain global financial situation... could probably find better use for the money if I were sensible... don't need the power but certainly could find many uses for it...

...argh!!!

Bite that apple!

 

[Pika]