Mac Pro 2010 with 3rd party components in the UK

[Charlie Croker]

I am buying a Mac Pro 12-core 2.93ghz, around 16GB RAM, 4TB internal storage shortly for the office, but want maximum value for money on components whilst avoiding dubious grey import websites and non-UK retailers. The components and accessories have to reflect a professional media environment, so for example, only quality displays like Apple or Dell will do.

As far as I know, the main areas for saving money are, monitor, hard drive and RAM. So this is what I have so far:

£158 each
Seagate Barracuda XT Desktop Hard Disk Drive 2000GB 7200RPM SATA 64MB (Internal)

£846
Crucial 16GB kit (8GBx2) / Part #: CT142179

£400
Dell UltraSharp 24" (61 cm) U2410 Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor with PremierColor - Black

From Apple, I have education discount, so here are their prices:

16 GB (8 x 2 GB) [+ £504.08]
24 GB (6 x 4 GB) [+ £1,713.15]
1st drive: 2TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive [+ £101.05]
2nd drive: 2TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive [+ £202.10]
Apple LED Cinema Display (24" flat panel) [+ £538.15]

I put both sets of RAM as an Apple purchase would get you 16GB RAM but a Crucial purchase would get you a further 16GB of RAM, taking you up to 22GB with the existing RAM.

Hard drives - the first Apple drive is cheaper, as it is offset by its replacement, but is the drive significantly inferior to a Barracuda? If not, then first drive Apple, second drive Barracuda?

Monitors - £138 saving on the monitors each.
Hard drives - £44 saving on subsequent HDs.
RAM - let's be generous and base it on 24GB RAM from Apple, as it is only 2GB short. £867 saving.

Are there any other UK people out there who have got some better deals and combinations without resorting to Value RAM components or less reputable or overseas websites? Thanks.

 

[Hellhammer]

You could have saved more if you bought:

- Cheaper drives instead because Barracuda XT is high-end drive and you don't need its speed for storage. E.g. this or this. About 60£ cheaper per HD

- 4GB modules instead of 8GB. 2x4GB is only 279£ so two of those are 560£, nearly 300£ less. 4x4GB + 4x1GB would make it 20GB. Yes, it's 2GB less than with 2x8GB but you can buy a third set of 4GB modules to make it 26GB.

Just an idea, not to mean that your current setup is somehow bad

 

[Charlie Croker]

Thanks for your time Hellhammer. I haven't bought the machine yet. What set up do you recommend instead of the stats I have indicated? I will look at your cost saving ideas too.

 

[Charlie Croker]

The higher spec Barracudas would be for HD video editing and 3D, so perhaps worthwhile?

 

[Hellhammer]

The higher spec Barracudas would be for HD video editing and 3D, so perhaps worthwhile?

One of those should be worth it but if you're going to get 4 drives, then get some cheaper ones too. I doubt you need 6TB for the videos you're editing, you can move them back and forth between the faster and slower drives.

What I would get:

- 1x Barracuda XT 2TB for video editing
- 2x Caviar Green 2TB as non-active storage (finished projects, other crap etc), total of 7TB
- 2x4GB RAM, making it 14GB (6x1GB + 2x4GB = 14GB)

With the savings, you can get e.g. a second 24" monitor

 

[Charlie Croker]

Savings are good, I have plenty of hardware I need to get, such as the Aja Ki Pro to record HD-SDI to ProRes422 and the Sony PDW-U1 for ingesting XDCAM disks. I am also trying to decide between a Sony camera or Panasonic. Perhaps I will get less problems with the Sony because it is creating XDCAM-type video for the timeline, which would sit more comfortably (in terms of rendering) with the XDCAM disks from elsewhere. However there is the improved GOP structure of the Panasonic cameras.

I also need to come up with a some kind of server hub system that will work on a budget, but haven't quite got my head around it yet.