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Should I get a Mac Pro original for 475

T

Trowell121

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 28, 2013
10
0
Hey guys, I recently just found a Mac Pro 2006 original model that is selling for the price of 475. I'm not too sure if I should get this or not, as it's almost an 8 year old computer. I only intend on using this Mac Pro for a personal cloud/multimedia server on my wireless modem. Do you think I should go for this, or just look the other way? Thanks.

Two 2.66 GHZ Xeon dual cores. Quad in total
8 GB of 667 MHZ DDR2 ram
GPU ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT, 2 DVI ports
2 hard drives 500GB each @ 7200rpm
 
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Trowell121 said:
Hey guys, I recently just found a Mac Pro 2006 original model that is selling for the price of 475. I'm not too sure if I should get this or not, as it's almost an 8 year old computer. I only intend on using this Mac Pro for a personal cloud/multimedia server on my wireless modem. Do you think I should go for this, or just look the other way? Thanks.

2.66 5150 Xeon's quad core x2
8 GB of 667 MHZ ram
GPU ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT, 2 DVI ports
2 hard drives 500GB each @ 7200rpm
Click to expand...

Buy it for $300 and sell it on ebay as an antique.
 
I'd put the $475 into a Mac Mini.
How much stuff do you want to store on the server? 2010 Mac Mini Server with 2x 1TB drives internally.
If you want more space, stick an external drive array on it.

Will use much less power than the Mac Pro and it can run Mavericks.
 
Trowell121 said:
So you would avoid it at the asking price of 475?
Click to expand...

$475 is definitely high. I'm assuming this is a private seller. Even retailers charge less. In my opinion no more than $350 if that. You have no idea what the hardware condition is like, such as the age or condition of those drives or how many years that gpu has left. You mention its use as a server. Were you considering using the internal bays to hook up all storage?
 
thekev said:
$475 is definitely high. I'm assuming this is a private seller. Even retailers charge less. In my opinion no more than $350 if that. You have no idea what the hardware condition is like, such as the age or condition of those drives or how many years that gpu has left. You mention its use as a server. Were you considering using the internal bays to hook up all storage?
Click to expand...
Yep, I was suspecting that was a bit of a high asking price for an old machine like this. The seller is a guy on craigslist that is selling and it tickled my fancy. And yes, I intend using an old Mac Pro as a server with using the internal bays to hook up storage. If it helps, the Mac Pro is in overall nice condition according to the pictures. The reason of why I this interested me is because of the 8 gb of DDR2 ram, as DDR2 ram is pricey these days and I saw Mac Pros that were going for this same price with only1 GB of ram and one 250 gb HDD

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leon771 said:
I'd put the $475 into a Mac Mini.
How much stuff do you want to store on the server? 2010 Mac Mini Server with 2x 1TB drives internally.
If you want more space, stick an external drive array on it.

Will use much less power than the Mac Pro and it can run Mavericks.
Click to expand...
I heard it was possible to get Mavericks through it with some heavily modified kexts.
 
thekev said:
$475 is definitely high. I'm assuming this is a private seller. Even retailers charge less. In my opinion no more than $350 if that. You have no idea what the hardware condition is like, such as the age or condition of those drives or how many years that gpu has left. You mention its use as a server. Were you considering using the internal bays to hook up all storage?
Click to expand...

the 475 has twice the ram, 4x storage, better gpu than the $400 retail version..

if comparing only those two computers, 475 is a much better deal.
 
flat five said:
the 475 has twice the ram, 4x storage, better gpu than the $400 retail version..

if comparing only those two computers, 475 is a much better deal.
Click to expand...

I was debating this, but both gpus that came with that generation ran kind of hot. As I mentioned it's hard to know the age of those drives.
 
thekev said:
I was debating this, but both gpus that came with that generation ran kind of hot. As I mentioned it's hard to know the age of those drives.
Click to expand...

yeah, i don't know.. i wouldn't buy either of them anyway.. and i own/use one of those exact computers.

it's basically overwith purely for software related reasons otherwise it's a-ok.. especially for a sub500 computer.
 
thekev said:
I was debating this, but both gpus that came with that generation ran kind of hot. As I mentioned it's hard to know the age of those drives.
Click to expand...

I intend on replacing it with an old GTX 460 that I own if I do get it.

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flat five said:
yeah, i don't know.. i wouldn't buy either of them anyway.. and i own/use one of those exact computers.

it's basically overwith purely for software related reasons otherwise it's a-ok.. especially for a sub500 computer.
Click to expand...
So would you say that this is a decent deal for a 475 dollar Mac Pro?
 
Personally, I would go with the Mini for cloud/multimedia. Less power, faster, quieter, and of course smaller. I was in your shoes once with a 2008 macbook pro, even when i already have a MBPR. It was too tempting with a samsung 840 SSD for $340. Been using it as a toss around computer and really enjoying it. Don't have to worry about scratches, dents, or spills.
 
Trowell121 said:
Hey guys, I recently just found a Mac Pro 2006 original model that is selling for the price of 475. I'm not too sure if I should get this or not, as it's almost an 8 year old computer. I only intend on using this Mac Pro for a personal cloud/multimedia server on my wireless modem. Do you think I should go for this, or just look the other way? Thanks.

2.66 5150 Xeon's quad core x2
8 GB of 667 MHZ DDR2 ram
GPU ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT, 2 DVI ports
2 hard drives 500GB each @ 7200rpm
Click to expand...

That description is misleading. The 5150 is dual core ( http://ark.intel.com/Products/Spec/SL9RU )
so you are getting 4 total cores, not 8 (quad core x2)
Both this and the 2012 i5 Mac Mini get 5000 for multicore performance on Geek Bench but I am 100% sure that this 512MB GPU will perform better than the Mac Mini's GPU. This has 2 HDs both faster than the Mac Mini.
This lets you upgrade the RAM, HD, and GPU beyond anything the Mac Mini could imagine.

I would say this is a better deal than a Mac Mini if you get some kind of warranty with it. I would hate for somebody to buy a 5-7 year old machine and have it break down in a week with no warranty and very few salvageable parts.
 
Alright guys, it seems the majority of everyone is saying it's not a bad deal for 475. I'm going to go check it out this Saturday and see if there's any problems.

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Thanks again for the help guys.
 
Yikes, I would not consider spending more than $300 on an EOL Mac Pro 1,1 that is not supported by the latest Mac OS X a smart decision. At $300 is pushing it.
 
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