MP 6,1 Running a 6.1 Mac Pro while owning a 2023 M2 Ultra Mac Pro

[rondocap]

I am currently running a 2023 M2 Ultra Mac Pro, PCIe slots, etc.

I previously had a specced out 2019 Mac Pro, I enjoy them.

I, like many of you, have a really strong nostalgia for the older Mac Pros.

I decided to run as my main Mac the 2013 Mac Pro. I used to have a 12 core, D700 one, but this time I'm trying out a 6 core, D500 machine with 32GB of RAM to see how it kicks. Got it for under $200, mint condition.

I have it running to an XDR display and an Apple 5K display, on "default for display". Sure, I know it can't reach the full resolution of these monitors, but it looks great and basically at the same scale as I run my M2 Ultra.

So how is it? First, it is such a beautifully designed machine aesthetically, such high build quality.

How about performance? For every day use - browsing the web, word, YouTube, it is surprisingly snappy still. It does not have the instant response that the M2 Ultra or M3 Max has, but it opens tasks quickly enough that it does not feel like an "old" machine.

Photoshop seems to work very well for my use case, which is basically just making some thumbnails and pictures like that - despite the compatibility warnings it shows, it performed well. Yes, M2 Ultra still feels faster.

My main use is Final Cut Pro and R3D RAW footage - usually 4K. Video playback is smooth, but export times are about 20 minutes for a 10 minute video vs the M2 Ultra which is usually under 3-4 minutes.

It also will occasionally start to "lock up" a bit, not exactly the spinning ball, but it slows down once in a while.

I've picked up a few Thunderbolt 2 cables and Apple adapters, and have a Sandisk Pro Blade SSD array connected to it without any issue. It runs off of its own power, so the drives get decent speeds around 1,300MB/s, which is close to what the internal Apple SSD gets too. (512GB)

I also have it running on Monterrey, the newest that it can handle.

Just wanted to share, it's kind of fun watching the limits at work and seeing how far we've come since then. In my case, the difference is not that big - at least in what you notice day-to-day. The performance potential is obviously Huge on the M2 Ultra vs the 6.1 Mac Pro, of course, when fully utilized.

I almost wanted to run even older macOS versions on it, just for fun, and do my day-to-day stuff. It's enjoyable and nostalgic for sure!

 

[ariearia]

Good to hear you didn't trash the trashcan! It is always possible to keep 64-bits MP's - especially trashcans - up and running, not for nostalgic reasons alone, but because they are indeed well-designed and not yet obsolete machines. I must add: at the moment I am not involved in professional media anymore, but I did not want my HW/SW experience to come to a crashing halt, so I found an alternative.

In my case I am running Linux Mint 22 on a 6,1 (4 core, OWC Aura ssd, 64GB) with Natron & Gimp, Digikam, Blender, Krita, Inkscape en KDEnlive. 3 27" HP-displays & Thunderbold mini 4-bay attached.

Monterey started to slow down the 6,1 more and more so I had to either adapt to the Apple ecosystem (i.e. buy new hardware) or combine the best of both worlds. Within a few days I will replace the 4 cores with a 12-core CPU. Spare parts are still available for these machines.

Different ecosystem now, but I am still running a fast machine! Benchmarks do not always tell the truth, I noticed.

And under my desk there is still a 3,1 with Lion for running things from a remote past (FCP 6 or 7 - forgot the exact version - for a few addons I once bought). The last OSX-stronghold here is a macmini 2012 with Monterey. For just in case. For my children I upgraded a few macmini's (2011/12) I still had to 16GB and 2TB-ssd's. Linux Mint made them also fast enough for trustworthy daily drivers.

Me no complaining.

 

[avro707]

I have a 6,1 as well, mine is also the maximum spec and it is swift enough but the Adobe Creative Suite apps start to take longer to open, though once they are running they are still fine. General usage it still runs quickly and it has one advantage over the bigger desktops, it is portable. You can put it in a special padded bag/case for large camera lenses and transport it around.

I do find it a lot slower than my two 2019 Mac Pros which is to be expected as those two are much newer and also either the maximum spec or very close to it.

 

[avro707]

I tried running the local development environment of a big enterprise CMS on the 6,1 today.

Actually it ran fine and quite quickly, even when doing all the installations and upgrades to the latest versions. I didn’t expect that because the 6,1 is normally much slower than the 7,1.

 

[johnoconnor]

@rondocap I have a similar setup, MacPro 6,1 and MacBook M1 Max but I'm ending up working more with the Intel lately (because of Windows): what kind of Thunderbolt 2 cables and Apple adapters and Sandisk Pro Blade SSD do you have? I would like to have a fast external ssd drive too but not sure what I need to buy.

 

[JamesMay82]

I am currently running a 2023 M2 Ultra Mac Pro, PCIe slots, etc.

I previously had a specced out 2019 Mac Pro, I enjoy them.

I, like many of you, have a really strong nostalgia for the older Mac Pros.

I decided to run as my main Mac the 2013 Mac Pro. I used to have a 12 core, D700 one, but this time I'm trying out a 6 core, D500 machine with 32GB of RAM to see how it kicks. Got it for under $200, mint condition.

I have it running to an XDR display and an Apple 5K display, on "default for display". Sure, I know it can't reach the full resolution of these monitors, but it looks great and basically at the same scale as I run my M2 Ultra.

So how is it? First, it is such a beautifully designed machine aesthetically, such high build quality.

How about performance? For every day use - browsing the web, word, YouTube, it is surprisingly snappy still. It does not have the instant response that the M2 Ultra or M3 Max has, but it opens tasks quickly enough that it does not feel like an "old" machine.

Photoshop seems to work very well for my use case, which is basically just making some thumbnails and pictures like that - despite the compatibility warnings it shows, it performed well. Yes, M2 Ultra still feels faster.

My main use is Final Cut Pro and R3D RAW footage - usually 4K. Video playback is smooth, but export times are about 20 minutes for a 10 minute video vs the M2 Ultra which is usually under 3-4 minutes.

It also will occasionally start to "lock up" a bit, not exactly the spinning ball, but it slows down once in a while.

I've picked up a few Thunderbolt 2 cables and Apple adapters, and have a Sandisk Pro Blade SSD array connected to it without any issue. It runs off of its own power, so the drives get decent speeds around 1,300MB/s, which is close to what the internal Apple SSD gets too. (512GB)

I also have it running on Monterrey, the newest that it can handle.

Just wanted to share, it's kind of fun watching the limits at work and seeing how far we've come since then. In my case, the difference is not that big - at least in what you notice day-to-day. The performance potential is obviously Huge on the M2 Ultra vs the 6.1 Mac Pro, of course, when fully utilized.

I almost wanted to run even older macOS versions on it, just for fun, and do my day-to-day stuff. It's enjoyable and nostalgic for sure!

When you say an apple 5k display do you mean the current studio display?

a local store is selling a 6.1 for similar and I’m tempted for the nostalgia but would need it to work on my studio display.

will it work?

 

[th0masp]

It's still my day-to-day desktop 'PC'. Not seen any reason to replace it for office, mail, web quite yet.

No new Mac purchases planned here (started to replace them with Linux-based machines) so it'll be the end of the line for me. But for now it's still a comfy machine with a very familiar OS and software selection that doesn't seem 'slow' for my use case.