Mac Pro 08, needs upgrades!

[akabane]

Hey gang!
I'm a proud owner of a 8core base model Mac Pro Early 2008.

When I bought it, it was for some works at the time (I needed raw cpu powah.) but never had the money to upgrade it actually, so it's still with
2GB ram (lol)
the crappy ATi cards that shipped with it

I just added HDD since I needed space.

Now, I moved in the UK for work and was thinking about getting my MP baby here. Right now I work with a sept09 mbp unibody.

The macbook starts to clunk up since I'm doing really heavy tasks on it...so I think I start to need the beast back.

My work experience has matured since then, and so have my requests. 2GB of RAM are something to laugh at, since my workstation at work has 18 and still has problems with some scenes...so is the graphic card.

So, getting to the point (yes, I was feeling talkative today):

I need to start looking around for which are the best parts and places to buy upgrades to the machine.
I'd like AT LEAST 12GB of RAM, and a decent GPU.
Not the Quadro since the drivers suck and they cost too much ATM.
Maybe, if it's possible, also gather info about a possible CPU upgrade in the future (don't know which are compatible, if it's worth it, etc..)

You have the word now!
Oh, I forgot, this would be my day-to-day basis work on the macpro:
Heavy VFX simulations, within Maya and Houdini. And some compositing too, why not. But mainly sims and renders.

Thanks for reading and (I hope!) answering.

Cheers,
Emanuele

 

[Hellhammer]

I'd like AT LEAST 12GB of RAM

As you're in UK, I think your best bet is to buy from Crucial. You could buy two 8GB kits for 470£ to make it 18GB

and a decent GPU.

ATI 5770 is the best one that is currently out. Maybe you could wait for the ATI 5870 as it's better

Maybe, if it's possible, also gather info about a possible CPU upgrade in the future (don't know which are compatible, if it's worth it, etc..)

The fastest you can use is 3.2GHz X5482. Make sure it's SLANZ version as that has C0 stepping and works in Mac Pro

 

[akabane]

As you're in UK, I think your best bet is to buy from Crucial. You could buy two 8GB kits for 470£ to make it 18GB



ATI 5770 is the best one that is currently out. Maybe you could wait for the ATI 5870 as it's better



The fastest you can use is 3.2GHz X5482. Make sure it's SLANZ version as that has C0 stepping and works in Mac Pro

Hey, thanks for the answer!

The two 8GB things together seems to be quite a lot of money, but it's definitely worth it. So I can still use my current 2 banks of 1gb with those 4 of 2? I thought it wasnt that a good of idea, but I'm ignorant in that matter. the more the better!

For the GPU, I think I'll wait for the 5870, but if it'll be priced at standard 2x market place only because it's apple, I'll probably go and flash a normal PC version...

For the CPUs...well. It's something we'll see later. I'm seeing that even if they are 07 cpus they're still quoted £1000+ each...and If I have to spend 2k £ for new cpus, I'd better sell this one and add +1k to take the newest one, i think. Or am I wrong?

PS: I saw you're Finnish. Can you confirm that shouting "perkele" makes your "sisu" stronger?

 

[Hellhammer]

The two 8GB things together seems to be quite a lot of money, but it's definitely worth it. So I can still use my current 2 banks of 1gb with those 4 of 2? I thought it wasnt that a good of idea, but I'm ignorant in that matter. the more the better!

Of course you can use those 1GB modules as well. Another option is to get 2x4GB + 2x2GB to make it 14GB.

For the CPUs...well. It's something we'll see later. I'm seeing that even if they are 07 cpus they're still quoted £1000+ each...and If I have to spend 2k £ for new cpus, I'd better sell this one and add +1k to take the newest one, i think. Or am I wrong?

For CPUs, look at eBay. A pair of those CPUs go for 899$. Separately they go for as low as 300$ each

PS: I saw you're Finnish. Can you confirm that shouting "perkele" makes your "sisu" stronger?

Of course it does