Time to Upgrade?

[kepardue]

Running a MacPro1,1 with 2x 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon and 4GB of RAM. System seems to really lag behind these days. Frustratingly slow. Is there really that big of a difference in architecture in the new Nehalem-based Xeons to make a single processor, quad core 2.8GHz that much faster? I know clock speeds don't count for a whole lot these days, but wow.

As much as I'd love to jump to a 2x Westmere-based system, I don't think that's in the cards.

Or, is it worth waiting for Apple to bump the processor specs again?

Edit: I should add that this system is used for many tasks, amongst them including editing HD video in Final Cut. Oddly enough, MS Word of all things seems to bring this monster to a crawl. We have huge, several hundred page Word docs with many images spread throughout. Also lots of web development, but heck, that can be done on a Macbook Air with the same degree of speed.

 

[brentsg]

More RAM will make a big difference with the lagging apps you mentioned.

 

[Spyharpy]

I have a late 2005 G5 2.5 Quad PowerMac running the latest version of Leopard. I had 4GB of memory and bumped it to 8GB. It made a noticeable difference with the OS being more responsive. Since memory was cheap, I upped it to 12GB and that didn't make much of an improvement but allowed me to keep more memory hungry apps open.

I'm satisfied with the performance of my PowerMac but will get a MacPro as I'd like to run apps and use accessories that require Snow Leopard or an Intel based Mac.

 

[Doctor Doom]

Or, is it worth waiting for Apple to bump the processor specs again?

Wait for the Sandy Bridge. Early new year release

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Bridge_(microarchitecture)) Oops

 

[Dr McKay]

Wait for the Sandy Bridge. Early new year release

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Bridge_(microarchitecture)

Your link be borked.

 

[VanneDC]

It's not your Mac pro m$ word (office) 2008 is the crappiest buggy written software I have come across on osx. Even old ppc office 2004 is way, way better.
Give that a try.

 

[rtrt]

a

 

[Doctor Doom]

Your link be borked.

Damn you Richards!! My calculations are never wrong!!!!!!!! Reaches for green cloak. Activates contingency plan.

 

[kepardue]

Good advice, thanks all. I think I'll bump the RAM up in this fella from 6GB to something more and keep on running it until the Sandy Bridge's come out, whether that's soon after 2011 starts or 3/4 of the way through the year, seems like a significant enough upgrade that I can just keep dealing with the mild frustration of this box.