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Mac Pro increase the power.

swuroshi

swuroshi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 11, 2014
7
0
Hi everyone I joined yesterday, and I wanted some advice from you.
I have an old Mac Pro 3,1 -8 core - 28.8 GHz- 8 gb RAM- 2008 - bought from a friend for about 4 months and it works well with FCPX 10.1.3. working in AVCHD but sometimes the color wheel turns too !!!!

What do you advise me to do to give it more power?
What are the first things to replace?
I would like to replace the parts with calm because I do not have a lot of money available immediately, but only a little at a time.
So the first expense to do what would it be?
Thanks.
 
Morning,

Bumping after only about 2 hours seems to be poor form. Give people a chance to see it before bumping.

To improve things I would increase memory. My own 3,1 has 18GB of RAM which I like. If it were me I would at least double the current ram to 16GB.

Consider getting a SSD and making it at least the OS and application drive. Depending on your needs it could even work as your only drive but I figure FCX files tend to get big, especially working files.

Then I would get a good USB3 card for new USB3 external drives.

This is what I've done on my own system and I am very happy with it, even 6 years out.
 
There isn't much you can do with a 3,1. Put a new vid card in, SSD, more RAM (if maxing out). Processors are what they are and there really aren't any faster ones to add. 3,1's are stuck with slow RAM and old Core2duo based Xeons...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Upgrade your boot volume to an SSD first, then RAM, then video cards. Since you're on a budget a Samsung Evo 840 is probably the most bang for your buck.
 
fuchsdh said:
Upgrade your boot volume to an SSD first, then RAM, then video cards. Since you're on a budget a Samsung Evo 840 is probably the most bang for your buck.
Click to expand...



Increase the ram 32 gb and sure I will.
An SSD drive 240 gb definitely will install.
And for card video what do you recommend ??
Maybe used on ebay?
Thanks.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
:confused:
However I do not understand on this forum, reading the various topics, I see that according to some a MacPro 2008 and to throw !!!!!!!!!
* obsolete !!!!!!!! useless!
*
While a MacPro 2009, is perfect for changing the maximum power !!

I know some people with a MacPro 2006 (a scrap to throw) paid $ 150 have replaced various things and became a monster of a power greater than an Intel i7 4860.

I am convinced that a 2008 will cost more than a retrofitted 2009, but **** you can do even on a 2008 or am I wrong?
 
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swuroshi said:
: O
I apologize for not having waited calmly.
But really this MacPro and so outdated ???
What you can not do much ?

----------




Increase the ram 32 gb and sure I will.
An SSD drive 240 gb definitely will install.
And for scgede video what do you recommend ??
Maybe used on ebay?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Hi I have one of these I Maxed out a while ago

Crucial 256gb SSD - is good value

Get one as your main drive and one for disk cache for FCP if tha's what you are using.
Possibly get a hybrid drive for Works

680GTX is about the best card you can put in it without adding a second power supply... so no titan in the 2008. I have that evga one and it's great. I've had hacked firmware PC ones and they have been fine too. Just make sure it's 3,1 compatible in the listing.
http://stores.ebay.com/macvidcards

Ram from Crucial.

The most important thing in Order to speed things up..

SSDs for main and Cache - hybrid or spinning for work drives.
RAM - as much as you can afford.
Graphics Card equally important really.
ThunderBolt PCIE Card for external storage.
 
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prowlmedia said:
Hi I have one of these I Maxed out a while ago

Crucial 256gb SSD - is good value

Get one as your main drive and one for disk cache for FCP if tha's what you are using.
Possibly get a hybrid drive for Works

680GTX is about the best card you can put in it without adding a second power supply... so no titan in the 2008. I have that evga one and it's great. I've had hacked firmware PC ones and they have been fine too. Just make sure it's 3,1 compatible in the listing.
http://stores.ebay.com/macvidcards

Ram from Crucial.

The most important thing in Order to speed things up..

SSDs for main and Cache - hybrid or spinning for work drives.
RAM - as much as you can afford.
Graphics Card equally important really.
ThunderBolt PCIE Card for external storage.
Click to expand...






Hello, and thanks for the valuable advice you give me.
But install on my MacPro 2008, these Hex Core Xeon W3690 I've read are recommended and powerful, it would be as easy DIY installation or you have to be an expert ??
Thanks.
 
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swuroshi said:
Hello, and thanks for the valuable advice you give me.
But install on my MacPro 2008, these Hex Core Xeon W3690 I've read are recommended and powerful, it would be as easy DIY installation or you have to be an expert ??
Thanks.
Click to expand...

You CANNOT install a W3690 in a Mac Pro 2008, the socket doesn't match.
 
Ok then okay let's forget this change, but with those mentioned in previous posts should, however, increase the power and get more strength to FCPX.
After all we are talking about an eight-core Xeon !!!!!!!!
tell me I'm right.
 
One question, I saw that there are 2 types of MacPro, one of these and the 2009 version of Nehalem and wonder if this version is better, more powerful than the other versions ever of 2009.
 
swuroshi said:
Ok then okay let's forget this change, but with those mentioned in previous posts should, however, increase the power and get more strength to FCPX.
After all we are talking about an eight-core Xeon !!!!!!!!
tell me I'm right.
Click to expand...

You aren't listening.... The xeons in your 3,1 are old core2duo based xeons. They aren't core I series based ones like te 2009 or better. The processors are pretty much maxed out at this point! Yes you can add an SSD to it to boot faster and load files faster and yes you can add a new GPU. Both will definitely help, but overall there isn't any way to increase your CPU power (okay if you have the 2.8ghz models you could swap for 3.0 ghz but that's a lot of work and money for only 7% faster).

----------
swuroshi said:
One question, I saw that there are 2 types of MacPro, one of these and the 2009 version of Nehalem and wonder if this version is better, more powerful than the other versions ever of 2009.
Click to expand...

2009-2012 came in two varieties: single CPU and dual. The duals can rival even the fastest 2013.
 
paulrbeers said:
2 hours. Really? WTF? Where did you learn forum etiquette.....

There isn't much you can do with a 3,1. Put a new vid card in, SSD, more RAM (if maxing out). Processors are what they are and there really aren't any faster ones to add. 3,1's are stuck with slow RAM and old Core2duo based Xeons...
Click to expand...

My 3,1 has:

Processor 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon

Memory 18 GB 800 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM​

swuroshi said:
: O
I apologize for not having waited calmly.
But really this MacPro and so outdated ???
What you can not do much ?

----------





Increase the ram 32 gb and sure I will.
An SSD drive 240 gb definitely will install.
And for card video what do you recommend ??
Maybe used on ebay?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Morning,

I would double the SSD unit to 480. My MacPro has Crucial M500 @ 480GB. Here is a link to Amazon showing a pretty good price:

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-2-5-Inch-adapter-Internal-CT960M500SSD1/dp/B00BQ8RGL6

Looking at Amazon I found a MX100 @ 512GB for less money. It it I think a slower drive but you can look at the specs and decide for yourself.

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX100..._sim_pc_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=0SBZNXD98M7P7JW8KKKW

An adapter kit will be needed to install this into one of the 4 drive slots. I used an IcyDock

http://www.amazon.com/Icy-Dock-EZCo...=UTF8&qid=1410611551&sr=1-1&keywords=icy+dock

There are a lot of threads on here about upgrading video and the 3,1 video can be upgraded. In a lot of cases you lose the boot screen. But they still work. for using with graphics I would really suggest a good video card upgrade.

Take care,
 
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TonyK said:
My 3,1 has:

Processor 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon

Memory 18 GB 800 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM​



Morning,

I would double the SSD unit to 480. My MacPro has Crucial M500 @ 480GB. Here is a link to Amazon showing a pretty good price:

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-2-5-Inch-adapter-Internal-CT960M500SSD1/dp/B00BQ8RGL6

Looking at Amazon I found a MX100 @ 512GB for less money. It it I think a slower drive but you can look at the specs and decide for yourself.

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX100..._sim_pc_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=0SBZNXD98M7P7JW8KKKW

An adapter kit will be needed to install this into one of the 4 drive slots. I used an IcyDock

http://www.amazon.com/Icy-Dock-EZCo...=UTF8&qid=1410611551&sr=1-1&keywords=icy+dock

There are a lot of threads on here about upgrading video and the 3,1 video can be upgraded. In a lot of cases you lose the boot screen. But they still work. for using with graphics I would really suggest a good video card upgrade.

Take care,
Click to expand...

None of that will "increase the power" though. Yes it will be more responsive, but based on the follow up comments from the OP about putting in W3690's and his original comments, he's looking to improve CPU power. That pretty much can't be done in a 2008. Outside of the single Quad core 2008, any other 2008 came with dual Quad cores of either 2.8 or 3.0ghz which is maxed out. There weren't any other processors released later that were significantly faster (i.e. there were 3.5ghz quad cores, or hex cores). So if looking to significantly improve CPU function, the only option is to sell and buy a 2009 or better.
 
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That depends on how one parses "more power."

For me more power is not so much a faster processor. It includes faster access though which can be a combination of processor, drives and memory. It would take looking at how much the system is straining under a given load to determine where improvements should be made.


paulrbeers said:
None of that will "increase the power" though. Yes it will be more responsive, but based on the follow up comments from the OP about putting in W3690's and his original comments, he's looking to improve CPU power. That pretty much can't be done in a 2008. Outside of the single Quad core 2008, any other 2008 came with dual Quad cores of either 2.8 or 3.0ghz which is maxed out. There weren't any other processors released later that were significantly faster (i.e. there were 3.5ghz quad cores, or hex cores). So if looking to significantly improve CPU function, the only option is to sell and buy a 2009 or better.
Click to expand...
 
swuroshi said:
but sometimes the color wheel turns too !!!!
Click to expand...
An 8-core Mac Pro of any generation is still plenty powerful. Even if you could change the processors I doubt it would make the type of difference you are looking for.

If you are getting spinning color wheels, I would ask, have you installed a clean OS since you bought it, or are you working on the same system the machine has been running since 2008? Install a fresh OS on an SSD and see what that does for you.

Or, you know, it may just be that sometimes rendering video takes awhile, regardless of what machine you have.
 
I believe the 3,1s actually went up to 3.2Ghz, so if he really wanted to squeeze as much out of it as possible, he could buy a pair of those.
 
peabo said:
I believe the 3,1s actually went up to 3.2Ghz, so if he really wanted to squeeze as much out of it as possible, he could buy a pair of those.
Click to expand...

Yes, the 3,1s did offer up to 3.2GHz processors. Most buyers (myself included) opted for dual 2.8GHz processors. The difference in raw CPU performance was only around 9% IIRC. The price difference (plus the much higher wattage requirements) did not make financial sense at the time.

Even today, I question the value of buying a pair of 3.2GHz CPUs. For most real world day-to-day use adding an SSD, memory, or possibly a video card upgrade would be better choices.

I seriously would advise against replacing the CPUs unless you really know your way around such upgrades. Too much chance of inducing a failure in a working system from an improper install IMHO.

Unless you can find the CPUs for next to nothing, and have the knowledge to properly install them, you could end up with a 50 pound paperweight.

In the end, there is only so much you can do to a system that is more than five years old. You have to ask yourself, is it really too slow for my needs? If so, if the above suggestions do not speed things up enough, you need a new system.
 
For video and picture editing, the hard drive itself can still be a very important link. Video especially is accessed from disk just because it would be impractical to load a several gigabyte video into memory. So access times can affect the responsiveness.

I would recommend an SSD. It makes ANY computer feel faster.

Also do you have something like Menu Meters installed? If so, then look at what's actually being used when you have a slow down. Is the CPU maxing out? Is the memory getting full?

I know when I used to edit 1080p video I had all kinds of issues trying to scan around a movie that was on a single platter harddrive. I ended up having to go to RAID0 just to get enough bandwidth to make it smooth jumping around the video timeline. That was back when 120GB SSD's were still in the $300-$400 range, but now even 512GB drives are down to $190-200.
 
1

swuroshi hello, I know how you solved it?
your MacPro 2008 still works fine with editing in HD?
Thanks.
 
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