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Getting Mac Pro in 3 hrs, Post Questions Here

M

Mercuric Oxide

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 6, 2008
277
26
NYC
Hi guys,

So I am picking up the new Mac Pro from the Apple Store in NYC (just need the airport card now; will of course get 8800GT, ram, HDDs later) in a few hours.

So any questions you may have can be asked here. Don't expect me to take it apart though :p
 
Catch said:
Your opinion on how noisy the 8800 is would be much appreciated.

Regards,

C
Click to expand...

I'm ordering the 8800GT separately, which doesn't ship untill 5-7 weeks, so the BTO people will be able to answer that sooner than I can (unless the Apple Store stocks video cards and has the 8800GT?? :eek: )
 
Mercuric Oxide said:
I'm ordering the 8800GT separately, which doesn't ship untill 5-7 weeks, so the BTO people will be able to answer that sooner than I can (unless the Apple Store stocks video cards and has the 8800GT?? :eek: )
Click to expand...

Then please can you tell us if you can hear the fan on the standard radeon card when it is working hard? I'm also interested in how loud the stock hard disk is. Apple has used some noisey clicky ones in recent years...
Cheers
 
GregPacker said:
Then please can you tell us if you can hear the fan on the standard radeon card when it is working hard? I'm also interested in how loud the stock hard disk is. Apple has used some noisey clicky ones in recent years...
Cheers
Click to expand...

Yea no kidding. I have a seagate 250gb 7200.10 and it's soooo loud compared to my 7200.11 . Most of the time it's fine but when it starts reading it sounds like a geiger counter going off.
 
got mine last night, and though i haven't had a chance to really put it through the wringer yet, i haven't noticed any noise from the HDD. i can faintly hear a fan running in there somewhere, but i'm not sure if that's from the GPU or not. my guess would be that it is, but like i said, can't tell for sure....


mmmmmm..... new mac smell....
 
To all the the new Mac Pro owners, I'm many would love to know about Handbrake encoding times. But of course, first the files have to be ripped of the DVD otherwise, you're measuring optical disk speed. I know handbrake should take all 8 cores into effect and you can really see how fast your new Mac Pro really is.
 
I was also told they could retro fit the Airport card there. However when I picked my MP up (yesterday) they were quite busy. I decided to take the card and install it when I got home. Well this being my first Mac desktop I was somewhat confused about installing the Airport card.

After opening the case I couldnt find the antennae wire to plug in the card, also there were no mounting screws in the airport box. I decided to just forgo installing the airport card to g et the machine up and ready. (I was a bit excited to start playing :)) Ill probably figure it out once my 8800Gt arrives.

On sound, I was surprised how quiet the machine/fans are. HOWEVER I found the HDD fairly loud, louder than my old 10,000 Raptor. Now im not sure if it just seems loud because the rest is that quiet, or if it is actually that loud.

Dave
 
TyleRomeo said:
To all the the new Mac Pro owners, I'm many would love to know about Handbrake encoding times. But of course, first the files have to be ripped of the DVD otherwise, you're measuring optical disk speed. I know handbrake should take all 8 cores into effect and you can really see how fast your new Mac Pro really is.
Click to expand...

Post a screenshot of your desired settings and I'll run Handbrake for you (8x 2.8)
 
TKEik683 said:
On sound, I was surprised how quiet the machine/fans are. HOWEVER I found the HDD fairly loud, louder than my old 10,000 Raptor. Now im not sure if it just seems loud because the rest is that quiet, or if it is actually that loud.

Dave
Click to expand...

This is especially true if you let the harddrives "sleep" and you make them speed up again.

Harddrives are far more audible than the fans.
 
Hey guys,

So I'm not back yet. I'm waiting for them to install the Airport card, should be about 2 hours.

I first went to the 5th Ave store in NYC, they were sold out. SoHo as well. I was starting to get scared. Then one of the workers told me of a very non busy store on 14th street.

I went there, and tell them what I want. Give them the credit card, guy looks up with a frown, "declined.." :eek:

He tells me it happens with purchases this large all the time, so I call the credit company, and after 20 (22 to be exact) verification questions (including multiple choice and questions about prior purchases), it went through!

Going to the 3 stores and getting the credit issue resolved took about 2 hours.

The store rep said it should take about 2 hours to install the card, as the geniuses have other comps to update and repair.

So now I'm on a cinema display at the Apple Store reading macrumors waiting for my comp to be ready. :rolleyes:

I guess I can't post impressions until tonight, sorry.
 
Please ask about obtaining a second 8800GT card

Ask them when they're coming out with an extra 8800GT card as an accessory option. I want to be able to put 2 of these babies in my new machine.

Thanks.
 
hjones said:
Ask them when they're coming out with an extra 8800GT card as an accessory option. I want to be able to put 2 of these babies in my new machine.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

It's already out as an option. You can buy it on the Online Apple Store.
 
Wait.

Is it possible to "backorder" the BTO option to install an 8800GT, and then have hte MP until they get it in, and then, even though it's easy as pie, bring it back to Apple and swap cards?

Or is that taking it too far?

I want my MP! heh
 
Kosh66 said:
It's already out as an option. You can buy it on the Online Apple Store.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but is having two possible? I mean, yes, bandwith-wise AND power-wise it is, but, say, could you have an 8800 GT in each PCIe 2.0 slot with one monitor connected to each (YES, I KNOW THEY SUPPORT TWO) so as to have the full processing power of one card per monitor? As a sort of psuedo-SLI? Can that be done? It'd be beyond kick-awesome if it can.

hjones, when you do that, tell me. I want to rock dual 8800 GTs as well. :cool:
 
desenso said:
Post a screenshot of your desired settings and I'll run Handbrake for you (8x 2.8)
Click to expand...

Sweet, make sure you are running Handbrake .9.1. Use whatever DVD you have ripped on your machine. I will tell you the duration in the top right side. Then toggle the presets and use iPhone/iPod Touch and hit the start button. Your output size should be 480 by "something 320 or less, depending on the aspect ratio of the original source" Check out activity monitor in utilities to see how much CPU is being used up. Try and not use too many other CPU intensive apps at the same time as the encode is going. Oh and curious how many frames per second your mac can do.
 
hjones said:
Ask them when they're coming out with an extra 8800GT card as an accessory option. I want to be able to put 2 of these babies in my new machine.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Just out of curiousity but what would you need two Geforce 8800GTs for?
 
fs454 said:
Wait.

Is it possible to "backorder" the BTO option to install an 8800GT, and then have hte MP until they get it in, and then, even though it's easy as pie, bring it back to Apple and swap cards?

Or is that taking it too far?

I want my MP! heh
Click to expand...


I doubt it.

Still waiting. They didn't want to let me upgrade to the wireless keyboard and mouse at first. Since doing that is as simple as swapping out, I was confused. But the problem was that by upgrading my keyboard and mouse, they would have to throw away the wired ones. But the manager eventually gave in and upgraded me for student prices.

I ordered

2.8 Ghz octo-core processor
320 GB hard drive
2 GB Ram
Airport Card
ati hd2600xt
wireless keyboard
wireless mouse
apple care

total after student discount and tax: 2817.46
 
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