Yea I am still rocking a 2008 3.0 ghz 8 core recently upgraded with latest HD's and 12gbram. I am now set for another 2 years of joy.
I have used it to render Epically Heavy Duty 3D renders that sometimes took more than 4 months to render with a constant 100% processor load.
Even by todays standards it is more than fast enough.
Best computer I have ever bought. I doubt I will ever buy a MacPro again.
1x12 core is costing me just as much as 5x core i7 machines. If you want renderpower 5k for 1 machine is kind of a daft concept nowadays.
Well, if you renders really do take 4 months to complete, you should really invest in something faster, like yesterday.
If you can decrease the render time by a month, that is a lot of dough saved right there. Much more than it would cost to upgrade to the fastest and most expensive Mac Pro.