Got a 2007 Mac Pro for $50!

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Whelp, here I am on the Intel forums for the first time... I do already own one Intel Mac, but I am a PowerPC guy.

Anyway, I went on my local Craigslist today and found an ad that had been posted only 5 min. prior. It was a 3Ghz Quad-core late 2007 Mac Pro for $50. My jaw dropped and I decided to get it that same night.

We drove over there and met the guy who was selling it---he is an IT manager at a graphic design (advertisement) company. He had some 2007/2008 iMacs, but I forgot to ask their prices. Anyhow, I gladly went and picked up the thing for only $50. He sold them off in bulk, so I am sure that's why this was so cheap.

This guy actually worked for Apple in the 80s and owns a Lisa and a 128k... pretty awesome. Anyway, It turns out that he had two of them and he selected the 3Ghz model for me! I got home expecting it to be 2.66Ghz, so that was a very nice surprise. It currently has 4GB RAM and three HDs, making up a total of 820GB.

I am purchasing a 256GB Samsung Evo for X-mas, and that will scream in this machine! This is my first time really sitting down at a freshly-installed-upon Mac Pro, and it's very nice and fast. I will NEVER ditch PPC, but I guess this is still gonna be my main desktop now. No matter, I still have plenty of PPC Macs that I typically use.

This is currently running SL snappily, although I wonder if Mountain Lion would run nicely on it...

I'll post pictures soon; I first have to clean it up tomorrow and install LED lighting like I did with my PowerMac G5.

 

[Mr. Zarniwoop]

This is currently running SL snappily, although I wonder if Mountain Lion would run nicely on it...

You can run Yosemite on it without much fuss.

 

[maflynn]

Wow, nice find, congrats on your new (to you) machine. I should start checking out CL for deals like that.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Wow, nice find, congrats on your new (to you) machine. I should start checking out CL for deals like that.

This was a rare deal; this guy was selling these things in bulk, so I am sure that's why the prices were low. (also, they were the company's computers, not his personal ones).

CL hunting is fun, and you can find cool stuff... I happened to find this deal 5 minutes after it was posted.

----------

You can run Yosemite on it without much fuss.

I'd rather run Mountain Lion or something, but hopefully even that runs okay.

 

[Spink10]

I love CL hunting. Was able to purchase two 24" 07 iMac and one 24" 08 iMac for $150 - two of them had a bad hard drive and other other one was perfect. Threw a couple SSD in them and good to go.

 

[NOTNlCE]

I'd rather run Mountain Lion or something, but hopefully even that runs okay.

The easiest things to run are Yosemite and Mavericks. There are threads here on the forums about upgrades/etc. ML will run, but it takes a bit more work. I'd recommend one of the other two.

Congratulations on the deal though, I think that steadily tops my "1,1 with dead video card for $70" I picked up about a year ago. I agree with you entirely, Craigslist can be a GREAT place to find deals, especially if you check daily.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

The easiest things to run are Yosemite and Mavericks. There are threads here on the forums about upgrades/etc. ML will run, but it takes a bit more work. I'd recommend one of the other two.

Congratulations on the deal though, I think that steadily tops my "1,1 with dead video card for $70" I picked up about a year ago. I agree with you entirely, Craigslist can be a GREAT place to find deals, especially if you check daily.

Interesting... how come Mavericks would be easier than Mountain Lion? But if that's really the case, I'll probably upgrade to it soon. SL is OKAY for me, but I guess I should make the most of it.

$50 is unheard of in most places, and $70 is still good, even if the video card is dead. These things still go for around $250 or so. I never find deals like this on CL, so this was just lucky. But yeah, you can find great things in CL. I found a Quad-G5 on CL for $60 and bought it, but it sadly had an issue which the seller was unaware of.

I thought $50 was almost TOO good, but luckily this guy personally works on these Mac Pros and knows how they run, etc.

 

[Ph.D.]

If you think you will be happy with SL and have a copy of it, I'd recommend staying with that for a while. You will maintain almost complete backward compatibility with your PPC applications plus considerable forward compatibility.

 

[NOTNlCE]

Interesting... how come Mavericks would be easier than Mountain Lion? But if that's really the case, I'll probably upgrade to it soon. SL is OKAY for me, but I guess I should make the most of it.

$50 is unheard of in most places, and $70 is still good, even if the video card is dead. These things still go for around $250 or so. I never find deals like this on CL, so this was just lucky. But yeah, you can find great things in CL. I found a Quad-G5 on CL for $60 and bought it, but it sadly had an issue which the seller was unaware of.

I thought $50 was almost TOO good, but luckily this guy personally works on these Mac Pros and knows how they run, etc.

Mavericks and Yosemite are easy because there is a modified bootloader that allows the computer to boot the 64 bit kernel on 32 bit EFI. As far as I know, Mountain Lion requires you to use the Chameleon or Clover bootloaders which require significantly more tinkering (creating partitions, more drives, configuring bootloader plists, etc. vs replacing two easy files.)

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Mavericks and Yosemite are easy because there is a modified bootloader that allows the computer to boot the 64 bit kernel on 32 bit EFI. As far as I know, Mountain Lion requires you to use the Chameleon or Clover bootloaders which require significantly more tinkering (creating partitions, more drives, configuring bootloader plists, etc. vs replacing two easy files.)

Ah, I see. Well, I guess I'll go for Mavericks if I feel the need. Thanks for the info.

 

[666sheep]

Mavericks and Yosemite are easy because there is a modified bootloader that allows the computer to boot the 64 bit kernel on 32 bit EFI. As far as I know, Mountain Lion requires you to use the Chameleon or Clover bootloaders which require significantly more tinkering (creating partitions, more drives, configuring bootloader plists, etc. vs replacing two easy files.)

Nope. It works with tiamo's boot efi. No hackintosh stuff needed.

 

[Macsonic]

Whelp, here I am on the Intel forums for the first time... I do already own one Intel Mac, but I am a PowerPC guy.

Anyway, I went on my local Craigslist today and found an ad that had been posted only 5 min. prior. It was a 3Ghz Quad-core late 2007 Mac Pro for $50. My jaw dropped and I decided to get it that same night.

We drove over there and met the guy who was selling it---he is an IT manager at a graphic design (advertisement) company. He had some 2007/2008 iMacs, but I forgot to ask their prices. Anyhow, I gladly went and picked up the thing for only $50. He sold them off in bulk, so I am sure that's why this was so cheap.

This guy actually worked for Apple in the 80s and owns a Lisa and a 128k... pretty awesome. Anyway, It turns out that he had two of them and he selected the 3Ghz model for me! I got home expecting it to be 2.66Ghz, so that was a very nice surprise. It currently has 4GB RAM and three HDs, making up a total of 820GB.

I am purchasing a 256GB Samsung Evo for X-mas, and that will scream in this machine! This is my first time really sitting down at a freshly-installed-upon Mac Pro, and it's very nice and fast. I will NEVER ditch PPC, but I guess this is still gonna be my main desktop now. No matter, I still have plenty of PPC Macs that I typically use.

This is currently running SL snappily, although I wonder if Mountain Lion would run nicely on it...

I'll post pictures soon; I first have to clean it up tomorrow and install LED lighting like I did with my PowerMac G5.

Congrats on a sweet deal! You'll have a different and exciting experience with your Intel based Mac Pro. Also something to take note, with PPC you can only boot thru Firewire using a bootable external HD. With Intel Mac Pro you can boot with either Firewire or USB 2. Enjoy your machine.

 

[NOTNlCE]

Nope. It works with tiamo's boot efi. No hackintosh stuff needed.

Oh, wow. Learn something new every day. Thanks, Sheep!

 

[iamMacPerson]

CL is awesome for deals like this. I actually bought my 2009 from a CL recycler for $40 but it was stripped pretty well. Nowhere near as complete as yours. Very nice find!

From what I have heard those machines will run 10.9/10.10 pretty speedy with an SSD but it is up to you what you want to do with it.

Congrats on the find!

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

CL is awesome for deals like this. I actually bought my 2009 from a CL recycler for $40 but it was stripped pretty well. Nowhere near as complete as yours. Very nice find!

From what I have heard those machines will run 10.9/10.10 pretty speedy with an SSD but it is up to you what you want to do with it.

Congrats on the find!

That's pretty good for a 2009 model, but what was left standing on it? I think I may run Mt. Lion or Mavericks on mine once I get the SSD. I asked for an SSD this year, so I am actually gonna put one in... It will be sweet. Thanks for the congratulations!

 

[iamMacPerson]

That's pretty good for a 2009 model, but what was left standing on it? I think I may run Mt. Lion or Mavericks on mine once I get the SSD. I asked for an SSD this year, so I am actually gonna put one in... It will be sweet. Thanks for the congratulations!

All that was left was the backplane board, processor tray (with proc and heat sink) fans, and the power supply inside the case. I had to get new RAM, a new video card, PCI slot covers, hard drive caddies and hard drives, optical drive and the optical drive carrier and a side panel (although I hve not been able to find an original 4,1/5,1 side panel so I'm still using a G5 side panel). I also replaced the original Quad Core processor with a Hex-Core so on Geekbench it actaully beats my 15" Haswell rMBP.

An SSD will make a huge difference. I recently picked up a new Crucial 512GB SSD and put that in there. It replaced my Intel SSD and just about doubled the write speed over the SATA II bus. I hope to get another SSD (256-512) soon and RAID them together in RAID0 for some super fast data transfers. What amazing is how low the SSD prices are getting! B&H has 250/256s for $100 and 500/512 for $200. I remember when they were $1 a GB!

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

All that was left was the backplane board, processor tray (with proc and heat sink) fans, and the power supply inside the case. I had to get new RAM, a new video card, PCI slot covers, hard drive caddies and hard drives, optical drive and the optical drive carrier and a side panel (although I hve not been able to find an original 4,1/5,1 side panel so I'm still using a G5 side panel). I also replaced the original Quad Core processor with a Hex-Core so on Geekbench it actaully beats my 15" Haswell rMBP.

An SSD will make a huge difference. I recently picked up a new Crucial 512GB SSD and put that in there. It replaced my Intel SSD and just about doubled the write speed over the SATA II bus. I hope to get another SSD (256-512) soon and RAID them together in RAID0 for some super fast data transfers. What amazing is how low the SSD prices are getting! B&H has 250/256s for $100 and 500/512 for $200. I remember when they were $1 a GB!

Wow, I imagine that much have been a good amount of money. And hex-core too... And it beats your rMBP in benchmarks! That's pretty awesome.

Since I am outta town, I haven't been able to order my SSD yet, but hopefully soon. The prices ARE steadily decreasing, which is nice. Still, it's a little bit of a drag to pay like $120 for an HD, but I was asked what I wanted for X-mas! There is some video on YouTube where these people set up stacks of SSDs in RAID, and it was so amazingly fast...and this was in like 2011, so those SSDs must have been a fortune.

 

[iamMacPerson]

Wow, I imagine that much have been a good amount of money. And hex-core too... And it beats your rMBP in benchmarks! That's pretty awesome.

Since I am outta town, I haven't been able to order my SSD yet, but hopefully soon. The prices ARE steadily decreasing, which is nice. Still, it's a little bit of a drag to pay like $120 for an HD, but I was asked what I wanted for X-mas! There is some video on YouTube where these people set up stacks of SSDs in RAID, and it was so amazingly fast...and this was in like 2011, so those SSDs must have been a fortune.

Honestly, to date I have spent less on my Mac Pro then I would have buying one from eBay. Of course it was a bigger risk but IMO is was worth it. Thanks!

2011 I got my first SSD actually. It was in a CTO 15" 2011 MBP (which later died thanks to Radeon-gate and was replaced for minimal cost by Apple with a 2012 15" Retina) and boy was it fast. It was not cheap either. 128GB from Apple was like $350 with my student discount.

A year later I plunked down $90 for Samsung 840 128GB to experiment with in my iMac G4 which later found its way into my Power Mac G5, then Mac Pro before being handed down to my 1,1 MacBook which is dual booted with 10.6 and Win8.1.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Honestly, to date I have spent less on my Mac Pro then I would have buying one from eBay. Of course it was a bigger risk but IMO is was worth it. Thanks!

2011 I got my first SSD actually. It was in a CTO 15" 2011 MBP (which later died thanks to Radeon-gate and was replaced for minimal cost by Apple with a 2012 15" Retina) and boy was it fast. It was not cheap either. 128GB from Apple was like $350 with my student discount.

A year later I plunked down $90 for Samsung 840 128GB to experiment with in my iMac G4 which later found its way into my Power Mac G5, then Mac Pro before being handed down to my 1,1 MacBook which is dual booted with 10.6 and Win8.1.

Actually, yeah, a whole Mac Pro would have been a good deal on its own. My brother's 8-core 2008 Mac Pro was like $900 when he got it (and it was 5 years old then). But that early SSD story? Exxxpensive.

How was your SSD experience with PPC Macs? I know they cannot support TRIM, but there are some recommended SSDs to use in a PMG5, along with making around a 5GB unallocated portion as extra garbage collection. I'd want to put an SSD in a PPC Mac, but I'll just wait until SSDs are as cheap as any other HD. However, IDE ones will probably not get cheaper.

Come to think of it, MY laptop needs an SSD too... I am on my first Intel Mac (2009 MBP), and it takes forever to sleep because the mechanical HD is a little too wild.

And speaking of Windows partitions, I used to have one on this laptop just to play one game . I am going to put a separate HD in my Mac Pro and put a nice Windows partition on that. I'd definitely be interested in playing GTA IV or something on this thing. In fact, I have a Mac Wine wrapper for GTA IV (a horribly-made one), yet GTA still isn't so bad on the MP, given that I am using the stock card from my brother's 2008 Mac Pro. It was a top-of-the-line card in '08. I am sure the performance will be nice in Windows since it will be native.

 

[iamMacPerson]

Actually, yeah, a whole Mac Pro would have been a good deal on its own. My brother's 8-core 2008 Mac Pro was like $900 when he got it (and it was 5 years old then). But that early SSD story? Exxxpensive.

How was your SSD experience with PPC Macs? I know they cannot support TRIM, but there are some recommended SSDs to use in a PMG5, along with making around a 5GB unallocated portion as extra garbage collection. I'd want to put an SSD in a PPC Mac, but I'll just wait until SSDs are as cheap as any other HD. However, IDE ones will probably not get cheaper.

Come to think of it, MY laptop needs an SSD too... I am on my first Intel Mac (2009 MBP), and it takes forever to sleep because the mechanical HD is a little too wild.

And speaking of Windows partitions, I used to have one on this laptop just to play one game . I am going to put a separate HD in my Mac Pro and put a nice Windows partition on that. I'd definitely be interested in playing GTA IV or something on this thing. In fact, I have a Mac Wine wrapper for GTA IV (a horribly-made one), yet GTA still isn't so bad on the MP, given that I am using the stock card from my brother's 2008 Mac Pro. It was a top-of-the-line card in '08. I am sure the performance will be nice in Windows since it will be native.

I have to calculate exactly where I am cost wise but I know it's right around $1000 which is about the cost of a base '09 on eBay. But in my case, I got an SSD, 3 HDDs, 16GB of RAM and 6-cores.

The SSD in the iMac and PMG5 were fine from my experience. Never gave me any problems. I knew there wouldn't be TRIM under Leopard, but that didn't stop me. The only thing to keep in mind is that most SSDs won't work. They need to have SATAI compatibility which most aren't. For instance, I am using a Samsung 840 in my MacBook which is what was in the iMac G4 and PMG5 and it works great. However, someone else in the PPC forums said their 840 wouldn't work in their PMG5. I think it was firmware on the SSD, since mine was bought before his.

Ah, 2009 MBP. My first Mac was the 13" version. It was my Christmas present in 2009. Man I thought that was an amazing laptop. Then Apple couldn't find what was wrong with mine and replaced it with a 2010 (which is still chugging along in use by my grandma). SSDs really pep those models up. The only drawback is the SATAII controller. I wish they were SATAIII but even the cheese graters are stuck on SATAII (unless you get a SATAIII card).

I'd get Windows 7 if you plan on using a spinning drive. My experience with Win8.1/10 on spinning drives is not good. I have a 2.5" spinner in my Mac Pros spare optical bay and Windows was SLOW. It could also be that the Mac Pros have shared SATA ports in the optical bay now that I think about it so its link speed is only 1.5Gbps instead of 3Gbps

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

I have to calculate exactly where I am cost wise but I know it's right around $1000 which is about the cost of a base '09 on eBay. But in my case, I got an SSD, 3 HDDs, 16GB of RAM and 6-cores.

The SSD in the iMac and PMG5 were fine from my experience. Never gave me any problems. I knew there wouldn't be TRIM under Leopard, but that didn't stop me. The only thing to keep in mind is that most SSDs won't work. They need to have SATAI compatibility which most aren't. For instance, I am using a Samsung 840 in my MacBook which is what was in the iMac G4 and PMG5 and it works great. However, someone else in the PPC forums said their 840 wouldn't work in their PMG5. I think it was firmware on the SSD, since mine was bought before his.

Ah, 2009 MBP. My first Mac was the 13" version. It was my Christmas present in 2009. Man I thought that was an amazing laptop. Then Apple couldn't find what was wrong with mine and replaced it with a 2010 (which is still chugging along in use by my grandma). SSDs really pep those models up. The only drawback is the SATAII controller. I wish they were SATAIII but even the cheese graters are stuck on SATAII (unless you get a SATAIII card).

I'd get Windows 7 if you plan on using a spinning drive. My experience with Win8.1/10 on spinning drives is not good. I have a 2.5" spinner in my Mac Pros spare optical bay and Windows was SLOW. It could also be that the Mac Pros have shared SATA ports in the optical bay now that I think about it so its link speed is only 1.5Gbps instead of 3Gbps

Nice---that's good that it ended up still being less than a stock 2009 model. There is this website just for PMG5s, and they show recommended SSDs for PMG5s. One of the ones I have seen on the site is a PNY drive; they also tell you which ones NOT to get.

I really like my 2009 MBP; I got mine when it was already three years old---I told my dad I needed something to bring to school for notes and he passed it down to me. It was good to get since it was 2012 and my MAIN computer had been a 2005 iMac G5 iSight w/1GB RAM. If I didn't have the Mac Pro, I'd totally put an SSD in this. The weird thing about this is that all the newer models seem to feel a bit different. The track pad button on my MBP is pretty firm, but all the newer models have such a light-feeling click to them; the aluminum on mine feels sort of rugged, while newer ones feel really smooth. My dad took great care of this and I do as well, so luckily it looks brand new compared to many newer models I see. It's weird that yours died but it's fortunate that you got a replacement from Apple (free?).

Yeah, I'm gonna go with Windows 7, as I have done on my MBP in the past, as I don't need Windows 8 and will be using a spinner rather than my SSD. I'll just have a separate HD for it and not have to look at an ugly "WINDOWS7-no-you-cannot-put-a-color-label-on-this-drive-for-some-stupid-reason" icon on my desktop xD

 

[AlecZ]

It's worth mentioning the model. You've got a MacPro1,1, not the 2,1 that came out in 2007.