new 09 2.26, which HDD setup?

[thegame46]

I just ordered a Dual 2.26
everything is base except I upgraded to the 8gb RAM (adding 4 to = 12)
+airport

I am going to use it mostly for editing movies, and encoding, imovie, quicktime, and multi-tasking the ilife applications.

My question is how I should set-up my HDDs.
Its coming with the 1 640gb
I am going to buy 1tb drives to fill the bays.

Would you guys suggest using the 640 as a boot and run raid 0 on 2 or 3 of the others? I want to run some form of time machine whther it be an extrenal 1t drive or internal. i just don't know with apples software raid0 how much benefit I will get 2 vs 3 stripped drives and with the MP cpu power how many drives its worth running software raid on.

 

[jjahshik32]

I just ordered a Dual 2.26
everything is base except I upgraded to the 8gb RAM (adding 4 to = 12)
+airport

I am going to use it mostly for editing movies, and encoding, imovie, quicktime, and multi-tasking the ilife applications.

My question is how I should set-up my HDDs.
Its coming with the 1 640gb
I am going to buy 1tb drives to fill the bays.

Would you guys suggest using the 640 as a boot and run raid 0 on 2 or 3 of the others? I want to run some form of time machine whther it be an extrenal 1t drive or internal. i just don't know with apples software raid0 how much benefit I will get 2 vs 3 stripped drives and with the MP cpu power how many drives its worth running software raid on.

You should have kept everything at base model (especially the RAM). You can go to transintl.com and get a 16GB (8x2GB) RAM kit for $282 or a 12GB (6x2GB) $208!!

12GB RAM kit is probably your best bet as it utilizes the tripple channel. Basically $208-$80(apple ram)= You could have paid $128 difference for 12GB of RAM + you get to keep your 6GB (6x1GB) modules from your stock configuration.

 

[Horst]

Depending on your needs, a HDD setup as it's been discussed for years should work just fine.
The '09 models change nothing in that respect.

 

[thegame46]

You should have kept everything at base model (especially the RAM). You can go to transintl.com and get a 16GB (8x2GB) RAM kit for $282 or a 12GB (6x2GB) $208!!

12GB RAM kit is probably your best bet as it utilizes the tripple channel. Basically $208-$80(apple ram)= You could have paid $128 difference for 12GB of RAM + you get to keep your 6GB (6x1GB) modules from your stock configuration.

I calculated it and I saved a few bucks buy getting the 8gb and buying the 4 to get to the 12. There was like a $20 edu discount on the ram, so it was $90 to upgrade and cost me $another 90 for the other 4gb I'm ordering from crucial.

 

[jjahshik32]

I calculated it and I saved a few bucks buy getting the 8gb and buying the 4 to get to the 12. There was like a $20 edu discount on the ram, so it was $90 to upgrade and cost me $another 90 for the other 4gb I'm ordering from crucial.

I guess my thing is that I dont like to mix different vendor RAM together. I know people will argue that it doesnt matter but I've read otherwise.

I like to keep the stock config because if something goes wrong and you need to ship your mac pro back to Apple, you can stick the original 6x1GB RAM back into the Mac Pro while keeping your 8x2GB RAM from transintl for safe keeping.

Also if you REALLY think about it (I guess the whole picture), Apple keeps the 6x1GB of RAM that your initially paying for in the included price ($3299) on top of the extra $80 for the 4x2GB RAM that they replace it with, so its not really saving IMO.

But congrats on the new mac pro, I wish I could make a decision but I dont know!! 2.66GHz Octad or 2.26GHZ Octad...