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Mac Pro or Dell 720 H2C

K

Kaiser Phoenix

Cancelled
Original poster
May 12, 2005
359
0
Hi if anyone can help me, it would be great...

Basically I want to get a desktop for personal use at home and was wondering which one I should get.

I currently have just the MBP and I have been an OSX user for 5 years now.

I have no intention to return to Windows but the reason why I wanted the Dell 720C is because I also want to game.

I could just keep my MBP and get the 720C purely for gaming or I could sell my MBP and then my a MP with 8800GT and then I could work and play on it but the performance of the games wont be as good ofcourse as the 8800GTX SLI of the Dell...

What do u guys think i should do>?
 
Kaiser Phoenix said:
Hi if anyone can help me, it would be great...

Basically I want to get a desktop for personal use at home and was wondering which one I should get.

I currently have just the MBP and I have been an OSX user for 5 years now.

I have no intention to return to Windows but the reason why I wanted the Dell 720C is because I also want to game.

I could just keep my MBP and get the 720C purely for gaming or I could sell my MBP and then my a MP with 8800GT and then I could work and play on it but the performance of the games wont be as good ofcourse as the 8800GTX SLI of the Dell...

What do u guys think i should do>?
Click to expand...

I think you'd be happier with the 720. Also, I think that keeping your MBP is a good idea; don't sell it.

OOC, what are the specs on the 720?
 
Hi thanks for the reply:

The specs of the 720 is as follows:

Q6850 Quad OC @3.47ghz Liquid cooled
8800GTX SLI
4GB RAM
500GB Raid 0

I am planning to game in 1920 x 1080 and therefore the 8800GTX in SLI should help as opposed to the 8800GT of the mac pro.

On the other hand, I could get the macpro which would increase my work speed and make my life easier with a faster and more reliable machine to run OSX on and i have the option to install WIN on bootcamp and play games occasionally....

dunno what to do..
 
Kaiser Phoenix said:
Hi thanks for the reply:

The specs of the 720 is as follows:

Q6850 Quad OC @3.47ghz Liquid cooled
8800GTX SLI
4GB RAM
500GB Raid 0

I am planning to game in 1920 x 1080 and therefore the 8800GTX in SLI should help as opposed to the 8800GT of the mac pro.

On the other hand, I could get the macpro which would increase my work speed and make my life easier with a faster and more reliable machine to run OSX on and i have the option to install WIN on bootcamp and play games occasionally....

dunno what to do..
Click to expand...

"Get da Dell!" That way you won't be coming on the Mac forums saying how crappy your Mac Pro is at gaming. Get the Dell.
 
Hi everyone thanks for your replies...

While it seemes like a 'no-brainer' the only reason why it makes me think is because since i am an OSX guy if i get the MacPro, i can replace my MPB and have a far better work-flow and a great performing system for non-game stuff i.e. Logic Pro, iPhoto, itunes etc and then i have the additional option of getting bootcamp and installing the odd games.

Thats why its not as easy a decision to make, also the fact that i can configure the macpro to be alot cheaper too with my HE discount and all....
 
Two 8800GTs in SLI will be almost as fast as two GTX's and consume a lot less power/create less heat. Do you really need that extra 5fps?
 
Well i havnt decided thats why i posted...and i was hoping maybe there was some macpro owners who occasionally game could give me their thoughts?
 
You should get the Mac Pro, I have one and it is an amazing machine. Incredibly fast, especially if you encode video. You sound like you want to occasionally game and reap the benefits to your workflow, so get the Mac Pro.

Besides, windows is painful.
 
I've recently had both of my 710H2C's upgraded to 720H2C standard. I've a slight issue with the way the rebuild went (rattling, which has yet to be fixed - in 710H2C trim it was excellent for noise) but I'm generally happy with both - and I definitely wouldn't trade them with any Pro for what I do on them. For general entertainment purposes the 720H2C will blast past the Pro by a large margin for all sorts of reasons.

However - although as a Dell corporate customer the H2C made financial sense to get, what I'd buy now as a gaming machine, and the reason I haven't done so is because it isn't available here yet - is the HP Blackbird 002.

The 720H2C is a BTX design. This has a number of practical advantages but support for it is limited - and the motherboard also introduces certain limitations which prevents you from extracting the last n% from the machine. The Blackbird doesn't have these limitations and also seems to be better built. The metal parts of the Dell case look mighty impressive and makes the Pro standing beside it look positively effete, but the cheap plastic frontage feels out of place on a machine of this class.

I have zero problems with the performance 'as is' though, it's a very solid machine. Stable - more so than the Pro under extremely high load I feel - and faster in many common non-multicore-aware situations, despite the lack of 4 cores. And if you're willing to trade some stability, you can take the factory overclock further.

Quite apart from the OS choice, I would just prod you to take a look at the HP as well. However I'd say the Pro with the 8800 will 'more or less work' for many leading games today - although not much beyond today, and if the '06 Pro is any example the upgrade path will be fairly basic. You can of course insert a PC card into the Pro and run it in BC, but it's a kludge - and not an elegant one for a machine that is supposed to be about elegance in operation.
 
If you want to game; keep the MBP and buy the XPS. You won't be disappointed. A MP wouldn't come close to the gaming performance of this particular XPS.

And the 720 isn't exactly a "slouch" when it comes to other uses, pending you have the Windows or Linux software equivalent of whatever you're using on MacOS.

Cheers
 
Kaiser Phoenix said:
Hi everyone thanks for your replies...

While it seemes like a 'no-brainer' the only reason why it makes me think is because since i am an OSX guy if i get the MacPro, i can replace my MPB and have a far better work-flow and a great performing system for non-game stuff i.e. Logic Pro, iPhoto, itunes etc and then i have the additional option of getting bootcamp and installing the odd games.

Thats why its not as easy a decision to make, also the fact that i can configure the macpro to be alot cheaper too with my HE discount and all....
Click to expand...

There you go, that reasoning makes sense to me.
If you only game now and then get the MP but if you are a serious gamer then get the hm ahh, shoot I can't say it.
 
Get the Mac Pro. It opens Photoshop so freaking fast, just don't expect to play games on this thing.
 
My personal opinion would be to go with the Dell box. Probably because, as you mentioned, games are important for you. While games certainly look good on a 2008 macpro, they can't compete with a SLI setup (as well as a faster processor instead of two Xeons, which is good for gaming).
 
GET THE MAC PRO WITH THE 8800GT. I have the 8 core one with the 8800 and its great with games on XP. I am a heavy gamer and the Mac Pro has satisfied all my needs. On 1600 by 1200, I get 75 FPS on COD4 with everything MAXED out including 16AA and 16AF. Runs Crysis great. Get it and you'll be happy!:):apple::)
 
You couldn't use any smaller text, eh? :p

Even though I have a Mac Pro and love it, I'd say go for the Dell.
 
I hope you know that the performance gain from SLI is very little and in some games there is a performance decrease. Personally I would get the Mac Pro. There are no games that the Mac Pro cannot handle.
The ideal solution is to just get a console, so you never need to worry about upgrades to play the next Crysis. New gaming graphics cards are the price of a Xbox 360.
 
That's your best answer!


Frozonecold said:
I hope you know that the performance gain from SLI is very little and in some games there is a performance decrease. Personally I would get the Mac Pro. There are no games that the Mac Pro cannot handle.
The ideal solution is to just get a console, so you never need to worry about upgrades to play the next Crysis. New gaming graphics cards are the price of a Xbox 360.
Click to expand...
 
720 H2C!?!?! Go with a HP Blackbird for a gaming computer if you want to buy from a major company. Building a computer is not as hard as it may sound. That would my first choice because there are plenty of guides that would help you out there.

Why would he get a console. The experiences are completely different from that of a pc.
 
Just remember that 8800 is the best card your new Mac pro will ever see.As for the Dell Your head will spin with the choices of graphic card future upgrades.I have a pro and love it.but lets get real here and call it how it is.
 
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