Help Me Build My Mac Pro

Hey dude,

I've just done quite a similar thing, personally I went for an original Mac Pro 2.66 and upgraded everything, from Processors to optical drives. My experience has been nothing but fantastic, If I were you I would definately go for a 2009ish version or later, that way you'll get EFI64bit (personally I've had no problem with EFI32bit, but hey) Faster DDR3 Ram, SATA optical drives, handy for blu-ray drive upgrades and the like.

As for Processor, 2.8ghz Quad core sounds great, if you arn't into hugely intensive processor stuff, I.e. video rendering etc. But if I were you I would go for one with dual CPU sockets, more upgradable if in the future you decide you need more.

With RAM the more the merrier but like you say I would upgrade it myself. 8GB+ is pretty much more than your'e going to need right now, again unless you use lots of large apps simultaneously, photoshop etc.

Graphics: There's nothing to say that you couldnt get by with a 5770 but if I were you I would (and did) go for a 5870, the upgrade cost isn't massive on a new one and with Starcraft2 you might like the extra power. No problem with three monitors on either, but again I'd go for the 5870 if I were you.

Hard drives: SSD as a boot drive all the way, such a massive speed increase that you will notice instantly definately don't go for an Apple one, buy it yourself, 3RD party are better, I went with OCZ Vertex 2's but there are allsorts out there that will meet your needs and save you cash by going third party.

Optical Drives: 1 Super drive meets your needs by the looks of it, and if needed you can always add another or a Blu-Ray Drive or something later.

All in all it looks like you've got the right idea for what you need, can't go wrong with buying from Apple, refurb or not, always good to have the warranty. Any more questions I can answer I'll do my best

edit: I should also have mentioned that some of the things I suggested are entirely dependant on how technically proficient you are, for example there is no reason to buy a Dual CPU set up for the upgradability if you have no idea how to upgrade processors. For 99% of things one CPU will do you just fine, it's just if you fancy doing something that will push them or if you fancy a project in a few years, for me it's always nice to have the option to spice things up in the future if needed (that's not to say you couldn't upgrade a single CPU system with a later CPU) for me it's always about the potential a machine has rather than the capabilities it currently has.

Hope my answer wasn't confusing.

 

a 2.8 will do fine, or even last year's 2.66. I think 8-12 GB will be plenty.

if you'll be gaming in OSX, you're better off having multiple cards, since the VRAM will be split between monitors in a multiple-monitor setup. you can grab a used GT120 for $80 or less if you need to...not a powerful card, but you won't need one anyway. if you think you'll want a 5870 for your primary video card, you better get it with your MP, because you won't be buying it separately anytime soon... the 5770 is slightly weaker than last year's 4870 (the high-end video option), and the 5870 is twice as powerful (I think) as the 4870.

for hard drives, you can buy an SSD, you'll just have to buy a 3.5" SSD, or a 2.5" plus a sled to fit it in either a 3.5" bay or in the 5.25" optical drive bay. I don't think they're something you absolutely should get, though...just have two or more hard drives, one for OS and applications, the other(s) for data. make sure you have much more space than you actually need and that setup should be fast enough. you can even do a striped RAID if you really want...but I don't think your purposes are speed-critical, so that's not really necessary, either.

 

Everything sounds good from what you and others have said.

I would recommend waiting on the SSD, and maybe upgrade to that in the future. The nature of your work with browser's and games is that you're basically working out of RAM, not really reading/writing back in forth to disk often. So while and SSD would make all your apps launch instantly, it wouldn't really help with anything else for you. I'd just stick with a large internal HDD or two and upgrade to an SSD later when you have more money to spend, or want to give that tower some freshness.

Also, I'll add that I just upgraded mine from 3GB of RAM to 12GB and the difference is absolutely stunning. I don't believe you need 12, but I think Id go with that anyway if I were you, or at least get 8 but with 2x4GB sticks...not 3 or 4 2GB sticks. That way if you choose to add more later all you need to do is buy an extra stick or two, not replace all of them with larger ones (like you'd need to if you got 4x2GB sticks).

 

CPU - Yes, it's fine.

RAM - Your plan is fine.

One ATI Radeon HD 5770 - Nope, you can use any two connectors at once, but not all three. If you connect to all three, the DVI port is disabled.

Hard Drive - Get an SSD if you want vastly decreased boot times and application load times, and if you feel the price is worth it. Otherwise it sounds like the stock drive will be fine.

Refurb - Sounds like a plan to me. I got the 2010 refurb myself, 2.8GHz/3GB/1TB/5770.

 

I would go with buying 2x4Gb Ram and use your orignial 1Gb ram for a total of 10Gb. It's much cheaper than getting 12Gb by buying 3x4Gb from OWC for $320. I bought mine for $165.99 USD from newegg.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1020241#22

If you do get some other ram than those talked about in that post, make sure it's ECC, 1333Mhz, with Thermal sensor, and unbuffered if you want to use the stock Apple ram.

 

HD - Get a 3.5" Momentus XT - most of the performance of an SSD but without the heavy price tag of one. Use it for boot at least.

CPU - fine.

RAM - fine.

Refurb - excellent plan.

GPU - Get more than one, especially with a large amount of monitors.

 

There is absolutely no reason for a dual CPU system for his requirements. It's not even worth considering for an eventual upgrade in one or more years.
Both high clocked 4-core, and 6-core processors that would be needed for such an upgrade are $1000 to $1700 each.
It makes more sense to buy a new machine, instead of upgrading it in one or two years and losing the warranty.
There is no question that buying the cheapest 8-core today and upgrade it immediately to a 12-core in case that you need the performance, but given the OP's requirements, it doesn't make any sense.

You can use ALL three connectors at once, absolutely no problem.

The Momentus is a nice drive, but doesn't even come close to an SSD. Better than a standard mechanical drive, though, so yes, might be worth buying if over an SSD if the budget is tight.

 

I am also considering the use of 2 or 3 off 27" Cinema Displays.
As I believe you need a "quite" expensive Dual-link to minidisplayport adapter, to run the third display from either the HD 5770 or the HD 5870, I decided it was only slightly more expensive to simply opt for 2 off HD 5770 cards, giving more graphics processing power and avoiding the cost of the adapter.

 

First off you want this machine

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC560LL/A?mco=MTkyMTM2MDM
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1026389

It is out of stock but it is the way to go. The thread below it has a lot of info on how to get it.

I have ram from superbiiz works fine

someone says get the second graphics card for extra screens I would agree.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC742ZM/A

don't buy apple ram or apple hdds or apple ssds. they are overpriced and you are allowed to use after market without voiding warranty.

that is all I got. oh and down the road nanofrog a poster on this site is really good for info on raid setups./backups etc

 

Tempted

You could hop into the quad 2.66 2009 here for $1899
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/608729-REG/Apple_MB871LL_A_Mac_Pro_Desktop_Computer.html

The difference is enough to let you save to upgrade the video card later, but add SSD and Ram now while being under the entry price.

I am tempted myself as the price here is great - anyone here opt for that one?