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Older gen Mac Pro still worth getting?

sparkie7

sparkie7

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 17, 2008
2,612
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The price hikes for the new Mac Pros are much than probably most of us anticipated. So looking at perhaps getting an old stock Harpertown octo 2.8Ghz or 3.2GHz machine.

1. are they still worth getting?
2. will they still be upgradeable for the next 2/3 yrs
3. is there any limitations, end of road technologies with these machines

or

4. is better to just get a baseline Quad-core 1 x 2.66Ghz machine. (although the 8GB RAM limitation feels like a weak proposition, and surely a 2.8GHz harpertown octo is faster than a single quad 2.66? I know about the new motherboard layout, but seems like a lesser spec machine)

Any advice, suggestions appreciated as always
 
Just because they are an older model doesn't mean they aren't powerful. A Harpertown Mac Pro is still more powerful than for what most people need. Also it might be smart to check the refurbished section of Apple to see if you can get a nice deal on it.
 
Yeah, after seeing the prices I'm getting the old one two. And for almost half the price I'm happy :D
 
I'm in the same boat -- looking to replace my home dual G5. I can get 2008 octo 2.8 for $2600 at our edu tech store. I'm thinking about it -- it would need more ram (~$200 for 8GB) and then I would have to contemplate upgrading the video card (e.g., $275 for a GeForce 8800T?). That brings it to about $3k. That's fairly close to what a octo 2.26 will cost, but it might be almost as fast or faster(?). (the other new octos are way too expensive.) Without benchmarks it's hard to make a decision. Earlier today I was leaning towards the new octo 2.26, but tonight I'm leaning towards the 2008 octo 2.8. (I use the latter at work, and it's just great.). Gotta sleep on it.

sparkie7 said:
The price hikes for the new Mac Pros are much than probably most of us anticipated. So looking at perhaps getting an old stock Harpertown octo 2.8Ghz or 3.2GHz machine.

1. are they still worth getting?
2. will they still be upgradeable for the next 2/3 yrs
3. is there any limitations, end of road technologies with these machines

or

4. is better to just get a baseline Quad-core 1 x 2.66Ghz machine. (although the 8GB RAM limitation feels like a weak proposition, and surely a 2.8GHz harpertown octo is faster than a single quad 2.66? I know about the new motherboard layout, but seems like a lesser spec machine)

Any advice, suggestions appreciated as always
Click to expand...
 
I just got one of the old 2.8 ghz one as well, a refurb model. (very good price)
The ddr2 ram even for the mac pro is quite cheap as well, so i have now 6gb ram and 1.5 TB hardrive space.

I think for some apps this model might be a bit slower than the new 4 core, but in normal operation you won't see any differences. (as both processors are fast enough, and limitation is not processor or the ram, but the harddrives)

And for any app, that has a proper multithreaded design, i bet u, that the old 8 core model is quite a bit faster than the new one (4 core model).

I use logic pro, with lots of plugins (also 4rd party ones, mainly waves), which are very processor instensive (exspecially in the lot). Most of them do not even need much ram, which brings it down to the plain precessor power(not completly but quite). So I think i got the best deal with what I got.

If I would want to buy a new one, I'd like to get a 8 core model again, which is so much more expensive, that I don't think it is worth it.
Which is also due to the fact that the old 2.8ghz 8core model is even a bit more than i really need, (but my iMac and Macbook pro, were wuite abit to slow)
So if you can't drive a Mac pro to it's limit, the new one is just wasted money, as it does not have any features the old one does not have.!!

i might upgrade the graphics, somewhen in the next 6 month if I feel like more serious gaming, of if snow leopard can really use the gaphics processor to increase it's performance.

cheers
 
leechlife said:
I just got one of the old 2.8 ghz one as well, a refurb model. (very good price)
The ddr2 ram even for the mac pro is quite cheap as well, so i have now 6gb ram and 1.5 TB hardrive space.

I think for some apps this model might be a bit slower than the new 4 core, but in normal operation you won't see any differences. (as both processors are fast enough, and limitation is not processor or the ram, but the harddrives)

And for any app, that has a proper multithreaded design, i bet u, that the old 8 core model is quite a bit faster than the new one (4 core model).

I use logic pro, with lots of plugins (also 4rd party ones, mainly waves), which are very processor instensive (exspecially in the lot). Most of them do not even need much ram, which brings it down to the plain precessor power(not completly but quite). So I think i got the best deal with what I got.

If I would want to buy a new one, I'd like to get a 8 core model again, which is so much more expensive, that I don't think it is worth it.
Which is also due to the fact that the old 2.8ghz 8core model is even a bit more than i really need, (but my iMac and Macbook pro, were wuite abit to slow)
So if you can't drive a Mac pro to it's limit, the new one is just wasted money, as it does not have any features the old one does not have.!!

i might upgrade the graphics, somewhen in the next 6 month if I feel like more serious gaming, of if snow leopard can really use the gaphics processor to increase it's performance.

cheers
Click to expand...

how much did you pay. and was that in the US?
 
leechlife said:
i payed us$ 1800, but in australia. (things are a bit more expensive here, so for australia this is pretty ok)
Click to expand...


was that a 2.8GNHz Octo? so with exchange rates at 1.00 USD = 1.55282 AUD, thats about $2790 aussie bucks (is that inclusive of GST?). Thats way cheap, considering a 2.8 Octo was on the Aussie refurb for $3139 !
 
sparkie7 said:
was that a 2.8GNHz Octo? so with exchange rates at 1.00 USD = 1.55282 AUD, thats about $2790 aussie bucks (is that inclusive of GST?). Thats way cheap, considering a 2.8 Octo was on the Aussie refurb for $3139 !
Click to expand...

I too would like to know as well! If it was an octo ... gasp :eek: ... that would be a steal. And I would be very interested as to where you got it from. :)
 
Early 2008 Octo 3.2 Mac Pro

I just got a refurb Mac Pro from Apple for AU$3399. It's my 1st Mac & I will be using it for multimedia production.

For that price, I got:

Harpertown 3.2GHz Octo
2GB RAM
8800GT
2 Superdrives

I'm quite happy with the purchase. I've a question: How do I check if I've got the Airport Extreme installed?
 

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Thanks Cynicalone. I have checked there & it's blank. I guess that means I need to buy that part & install it myself. I'm loving the Mac Pro so far. I think the early 2008 Mac Pro is worth getting. I plan to upgrade the RAM to 16GB & add some extra HDDs in there.
 
Nice machine!

For most things (95%?) you have the fastest machine Apple has made to date!

Feed it lots of memory and RAID0 drives and you're be a happy Mac'er. :)
 
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