After some thought I retired my trusty 3.1. My best computer, ever! I have had 10 PCs, 6 Mac and one SGI and no one is close.
It was in the last moment, the 3.1 lived on borrowed time. During the transfer from my old 24TB raid6 to my new 16TB raid1, two raid6 disks gave up. I tried to do another transfer to a new backup disk, but then the third disk went out, but nevermind. The old Dell 30" display went out just afterwards.
So now I have Mac mini 2018, maxed out + EGPU 5700XT, 2x16TB raid1, 2TB Samsung 970 nvme m2, 43" LG HDR 4k.
Better?
Well, some tasks are faster due to faster boot disk and 2TB work disk, otherwise I am a bit disappointed. I hoped for something "a bit faster" but I often think this one feels slower. The big storage disk is slower (2 disk 16 TB raid 1 vs 8 disk 24 TB raid6). Not all programs can make use of external EGPU. CPU tasks should be faster, but get thermal throttled under heavy load and if you are taxing it heavy (95%+ load) then it is way less responsive than my old 2 CPU 3.1.
The total cost, extras and display included, was about the same I would have paid for a 16 core MacPro 2019. I still have some funds, so I might go for a Macpro in a year or two. Pretty frustrating to buy a new computer after 12 years and not get a wow feeling. My first one was a 12 MHz 286+287, 12 years later I had a home built 2 CPU slot1 800 MHz Pentium 3 (all SCSI), 8 years later my 3.1 ...and now my mini. Diminishing returns.
It was in the last moment, the 3.1 lived on borrowed time. During the transfer from my old 24TB raid6 to my new 16TB raid1, two raid6 disks gave up. I tried to do another transfer to a new backup disk, but then the third disk went out, but nevermind. The old Dell 30" display went out just afterwards.
So now I have Mac mini 2018, maxed out + EGPU 5700XT, 2x16TB raid1, 2TB Samsung 970 nvme m2, 43" LG HDR 4k.
Better?
Well, some tasks are faster due to faster boot disk and 2TB work disk, otherwise I am a bit disappointed. I hoped for something "a bit faster" but I often think this one feels slower. The big storage disk is slower (2 disk 16 TB raid 1 vs 8 disk 24 TB raid6). Not all programs can make use of external EGPU. CPU tasks should be faster, but get thermal throttled under heavy load and if you are taxing it heavy (95%+ load) then it is way less responsive than my old 2 CPU 3.1.
The total cost, extras and display included, was about the same I would have paid for a 16 core MacPro 2019. I still have some funds, so I might go for a Macpro in a year or two. Pretty frustrating to buy a new computer after 12 years and not get a wow feeling. My first one was a 12 MHz 286+287, 12 years later I had a home built 2 CPU slot1 800 MHz Pentium 3 (all SCSI), 8 years later my 3.1 ...and now my mini. Diminishing returns.
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