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Mac Pro buy up-grade 2XDC to 2XQuad

B

blessed48

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 15, 2011
11
0
Florida
I am a PC user and finally moving to Mac Pro for Final Cut. Budget is tight. Trying to ID model is difficult at best. Great link:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_pro/index-macpro.html

Found Mac Pro 1.1 2 X 2.66 Dual Core. I read that the system can be up-graded to 2 X Xeon Quads, X5355. I am told by the person selling, 64GB max RAM. I believe 16GB RAM to start should be fine but want the option to increase to 32GB of RAM later

First. is this a good idea. I want to get very heavy into Final Cut (from Vegas on my PC) and turn my hobby into a profession over the next 2 years.

Second, what price range does a 5 or 6 year old Mac Pro bring? Is $500 or $600 a deal? $700, $800, $1000+? Is there a link that can provides approx values?

Thank for the advice

What does an experianced Mac Pro / Final Cut user advise
 
Seems like a decent route to start out with for an upgradeable Mac. A quick eBay search shows that model of Mac Pro with stock parts goes for about $650 for a buy it now price. So it would be less at an auction price. I'd say $500 to $550 would be a good price. I don't know what guarantees this seller is giving but eBay provides a 45 day buyer protection.

RAM is a bit pricey given that it is DDR2 ECC memory not standard DDR2. Which is still expensive compared to DDR3. I think the Mac Pro will support non-ECC memory if you remove all the stock RAM. Although I am not certain of this and it is not listed as officially supported. I'm fairly certain I have read this before. Perhaps someone could chime in on this point.

There are also some PC video cards you can flash for that model to save some money if you were considering upgrading that as well. People also sell ones already flashed on eBay. Which costs more than doing it yourself but less than the official Apple ones. Plus you can get higher end models for that Mac Pro than what Apple ever provided.
 
I wouldn't pay more than $600.

5 years old, expensive replacement parts, while you can upgrade it that soon mounts up in price and it is soon to be 3 major processor architectures behind - I'd hang on for the new Mac Pros and then look at the market on used 09 and 10 models if you can't afford new.
 
I'd be curious to see how those old Core based xeon's hold up against today's Sandy Bridge processors. I would almost bet that 2 quad x5355's would hardly beat out a single quad core 2.7ghz sandy bridge found in the base model iMac. Further, the iMac can also be upgraded to 32GB of RAM.

By the time you buy the old Mac Pro, upgrade both processors, add in expensive ECC DDR2 ram, and throw in a nice monitor, you would still have a machine with an inferior GPU compared to the brand new iMac with no warranty that probably cost you more (especially if you bought a 27" Apple Cinema Display). And god forbid you screw up on the processor upgrade and completely hose the whole thing.

It's like wanting a V8, but you can only afford a V6. Sure you can soup up the engine, but by the time you spend the money on the V6 to get it to V8 power, you probably spent more than just buying the V8 to begin with.
 
I wouldn't buy any 2006/7 Mac Pro. the Mini Server (2GHz quad) beats it handily in Geekbench, which is a benchmark for memory and CPU performance.

if you want a Mac Pro, save for a 2008 model.
 
practice mac pro

Although not sold with the system, some software is left on the machine I can learn with, only learn... not enterprise!

The Video card is upgrade 1, RAM to 16GB upgrade 2, 2 X xeon quads upgrade 3.
CPUs 2 X X5355 = $160, GeForce GTX 570 = $300, 16GB RAM = $150 (let me know if I'm on the correct RAM version, for ECC quad cores, link below)

Total upgrades, $610.00

http://www.ebay.com/itm/8GB-2x4GB-M...ltDomain_0&hash=item23155149f8#ht_1606wt_1270

Any words of wisdom here? By the way, thank for your post... very helpful
 
video card

I just bought a new Quadro 2000 for my PC. Any way to flash this video card for a Mac Pro? Or sell it, $300, and buy one that may fit the Mac system and Final Cut better?

What are the 3 or 4 best video cards knowing Final Cut will be the main use?
 
You need this memory

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4GB-2X-2GB-...012?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2560583b34

I selected the vendor at random.

As another poster said, Mac Pro 1,1 memory is expensive. 4 gb (2 x 2) for $70 means $280 for 16 gigs, and since these are 2 gb sticks, you'll fill all available slots. Are there 4 gig sticks for this model? I don't know, but if there are, they are going to be expensive.

I'm writing this from a 1,1 quad. It's fine for what I use it for. I've done some light-duty FCP on it and it's been OK -- but more than that, I don't know.

I'd say if you can get it cheap, go ahead. Put in a little more memory, maybe upgrade the drive or drives, and just use it to get the feel of it. But don't throw a lot of money at it. Really, I wouldn't.
 
To be honest I would be looking for an iMac 27, unless you are using FCPX it FCP will not use more then 3GB of memory and will be more then fast enough on an iMac. Mac Pro 1,1 is a bit sluggish and eats a lot of power. Your electric bill is going to go up, use the difference and get an iMac because you won't use the power for the first year anyway.

If you are using FCPX then an iMac is also good because FCPX is a lot faster anyway. You can always upgrade to a big system wen you are making money from this. Sure a nice 8 core Mac Pro is nice but to be honest if you do normal video editing you can do it on a Mac Book Pro with a core2duo without a problem. Old expensive machines are just that: old

(got a Mac Pro 1,1 here and I only use it for downloading in the background these days)
 
The 1.1 Mac Pro might be slower than a 2011 i7 quad, but it will be a hell of a lot cooler.

My 2011 2.2ghz MBP runs Handbrake at aproximately double the speed of my 1.1 2.00Ghz MP and about 2 thirds of the MBPs temp. (60 C vs 90 C)

Geekbench suggests that the speed of the MP will double when I finally get around to installing the 2 X5355 i bought a while back.

I'd avoid the 2008 MP. It seems to have issues with the power supply.
 
Thank you

Thanks for the advice.

Not sure if was worth the $, but I got me into a Mac Pro.
2 X Dual core @ 2.66Ghz. I have bought one Xeon5355 Quad @ 2.66Ghz.

The '06 machine bought has no keyboard, 5GB RAM, 1T HDD, and wifi. Not sure if the wifi or blue-tooth is for web or keyboard... Please enlighten me!

Is the X5355 the only upgrade choice? In my PCs, I go with 12 to 16GB RAM. I saw a reply saying FCP and FCP X will only use 2 or 3GB of RAM. Is 5GB ok for FCP? How do you get dual channel with 5GB?
 
blessed48 said:
Thanks for the advice.

Not sure if was worth the $, but I got me into a Mac Pro.
2 X Dual core @ 2.66Ghz. I have bought one Xeon5355 Quad @ 2.66Ghz.

The '06 machine bought has no keyboard, 5GB RAM, 1T HDD, and wifi. Not sure if the wifi or blue-tooth is for web or keyboard... Please enlighten me!

Is the X5355 the only upgrade choice? In my PCs, I go with 12 to 16GB RAM. I saw a reply saying FCP and FCP X will only use 2 or 3GB of RAM. Is 5GB ok for FCP? How do you get dual channel with 5GB?
Click to expand...

I think the X5355 is the fastest choice. You said you already bought one. You can not mix and match they must be the same model. Start with 4GB or 8GB and if that is not enough add more.

Understanding Intel Mac RAM
 
matched CPU

I have built many 4 processor machines using the Opteron 8000 (use up to 8 CPUs in a single computer) and matched product and stepping. Never matched batch runs or dates and all worked well.

Is there anything to watch out for in this upgrade?

Also, what type of memory should be used? Is it the same as the original dual core or does it change due to swapping quads for dual cores?

Thank you
 
does s-spec # mater

Looking at two processors, X5355 SLAC4 and another X5355 SL9YM. The second group of numbers, I now know are the S-Spec numbers.

Both processors are Stepping B3. Up-grading my recently purchased Mac Pro 1.1 from 2 X Dual core to 2 X x5355. Both are X5355 and both stepping B3, but the S-spec numbers differ. Must the S-spec number match as well?

Thank you
 
this should do it

This is critical information for anybody upgrading a Mac Pro 1.1 from 2 X dual core to a 2 X quad. The upgraded CPU is a Xeon 5355 2.66Ghz quad core. There are a couple of stepping and three S-spec series. There may be more than one s-spec series for a stepping. Why? Not really sure! As long as the stepping is the same for both processors, they should work in together in a single system. I would still recommend matching the S-spec series if possible.

However, I did find an important improvement in the stepping GO. The GO reduces power consumption and heat. Remember you are nearly doubling the power (it scales well but not perfect) and will produce more heat. You may need to change some settings in the BIOS related to fan speed and tempter.

For the upgrade, use X5355, stepping GO, and S-spec=SLAEG. There is only one S-spec with stepping GO.

Last, note the Clovertown Family of processors include the Xeon 5365 running at 3.0Ghz. Still a bit pricey at this time, 11/25/2011, and early models have a greater power demand and create more heat but maybe an option. Later Xeon 5365 had stepping that did reduce power and heat Anybody with answers on the 5365, please jump in.

Hope this helps you get there faster and with the better processors.

Thank all who added to the thread. As an old PC guy, new to the Mac world, I look forward to leaning more daily.

Thanks
 
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