Tough Decision, Would Love Some Advice

[3282868]

Ok, so I know no one here is Ms Cleo , buuuuut....

I have a 2008 8-core Mac Pro with 8GB RAM, two optical drives (one RW Blu-Ray, the other Superdrive with R Blu-Ray), an ATI 5770HD, and a 1 TB HDD (I have three other 1 TB HDD's but need them).

My AppleCare runs out in March, I had my friends in my old store where I used to work do a thorough check on it, and even though it didn't need it they installed a new logic board, so the machine is in perfect condition (aside from a scratch on the top from having moved from NYC to LA then back again - FedEX ).

My dilemma is, should I sell this beast before the AppleCare runs out and get a new 2010, or wait it out as the 2010 models aren't that much different to warrant the costs in hopes the 2011 models may adopt USB 3, lightpeak (yeah right lol), FireWire1600, etc?

Ok, sorry for the long post, and I know it's a matter of personal opinion, my fear is selling my Mac Pro without AppleCare and it losing a good deal of value. I would LOVE any feedback (well, NICE feedback lol).

Thanks guys, you're awesome!

 

[spinnerlys]

USB 3.0 and LightPeak integration into Intel's chips have been delayed until 2012 for now.
FW1600 or FW3200 would be nice, but since Apple is also interested in LightPeak (and pushing it), the chances are slim right now.

 

[3282868]

USB 3.0 and LightPeak integration into Intel's chips have been delayed until 2012 for now.

Boooo! lol I figured that may be the case. So next years models probably won't differ aside from the adoption of Sandybridge, right? Hmmmm, might make sense to bite the bullet, and in 2012 or 2013 (assuming the world doesn't end in December, 2012 ) trade up. The bright side, I can get 25% off a new Mac Pro, so hopefully the difference won't be severe, but I checked online to get an idea of what my model may sell for, doesn't seem promising . There are a few identical to mine that haven't even gotten bids.

Any ideas aside from eBay where I might unload this beast?

 

[pintsizemacman]

id keep what u have u got a monster there

 

[VirtualRain]

A couple of points to consider...

1. What is the resale value with and without AppleCare? My impression is that the difference is not that significant.

2. What does it cost you out of pocket to upgrade to a 2010? What benefit does that investment get you? I suspect the cost is not trivial and the benefit minimal.

Unless I'm way off base on the above two points, I think it would make most sense for you to keep that machine. When there are tangible benefits to be had by upgrading in the future, do it then. Right now, you would just be paying to have the latest and greatest and it would probably impact your actual productivity by little more than nil.

 

[eawmp1]

Applecare with 6 months on it adds HOW much value ? If your machine serves your needs, wait until next generation and buy on release day (all Macs have greatest value to the consumer on release day).

 

[pintsizemacman]

but if ur willing to sell try craigslist

 

[3282868]

id keep what u have u got a monster there

Totally agree, but I'd like to sell it while the value is still reasonable enough so that I won't have to pay a huge difference. With 25% off the current 8-core (~$3500), it would be ~$2600. If I can unload this guy for even $2k, $600 isn't a big difference.

Sorry, just bouncing off ideas so someone can either slap some sense into me if I need it lol.

Applecare with 6 months on it adds HOW much value ? If your machine serves your needs, wait until next generation and buy on release day (all Macs have greatest value to the consumer on release day).

True, but I have sold previous Pro's and buyers like to know that they have at least some coverage so that if something were to go wrong or if they want the option to take it in after buying they can get anything replaced should it need it.

So overall I'm crazy, I should wait it out...

 

[pintsizemacman]

i was going to sell my ibook on ebay got an offer for225 or somtheing. but i try craigslist got it sold for 325 CASH out the door lucky i guess lol.

 

[pintsizemacman]

i would

 

[3282868]

i was going to sell my ibook on ebay got an offer for225 or somtheing. but i try craigslist got it sold for 325 CASH out the door lucky i guess lol.

WOW. That's pretty impressive. I sold a pair of Focal Polyglass speakers on eBay (and being the blond that I am) forgot to set a reserve price. $400 speakers sold for ~$150. I. Got. Burned. lol

Craigslist, might be a good option.

 

[pintsizemacman]

wow lol. yeah ebay i little hard to get a deal because theres so many people veiwing things.
usally a nother person is gona get it befor u do

 

[bzollinger]

I sold my '05 G5 on craigslist, I ended up getting whittled down to $285. Not bad though for a 5 year old computer!

I love my new 2010 MP, and it's much much faster at intensive tasks in PS and LR. Also all the iLife products are faster, but not by an incredible amount because of the poor use of CPUs. But for everyday casual use I can't tell much difference in speed.

So you should ask yourself if you really need an incremental bump in speed for your most intensive tasks. If not then waiting would probably be your best bet.

 

[Garamond]

Stay with your current setup until the next generation arrives next fall (?)

 

[3282868]

I sold my '05 G5 on craigslist, I ended up getting whittled down to $285. Not bad though for a 5 year old computer!

I love my new 2010 MP, and it's much much faster at intensive tasks in PS and LR. Also all the iLife products are faster, but not by an incredible amount because of the poor use of CPUs. But for everyday casual use I can't tell much difference in speed.

So you should ask yourself if you really need an incremental bump in speed for your most intensive tasks. If not then waiting would probably be your best bet.

I work in communications and IT, mostly with streamlining small business communications and infrastructures, as well as web/graphic design. I've been getting into video work, using Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro and SoundBooth. I have CS5 running, no problems on this beast.

Running Final Cut and Premiere Pro was ok, but having iStat 3 checking out my core usage I was impressed to see 90-100% of each core. Getting into high-def editing is also a cumbersome task. I know the Westmere processors with the memory controllers make a big difference even though the processor speeds are slightly slower.

Stay with your current setup until the next generation arrives next fall (?)

Yeah, I'm so conflicted! lol

MacPro5,1: 12 x 2.93GHz / 64 GB / ATI 5870 / 4 x 2TB / ACD 30" + 20"

NICE SETUP btw! I want it! My GOD what did that beast cost you?! TRADE?

So here's my listing on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-Mac-Pro-2...e_Desktops&hash=item43a20457fb#ht_2396wt_1139

 

[WardC]

Wait until the X5690 processors are released, buy the base model 2.4GHz Octo (This model supports B1 stepping and Westmere), and then upgrade the processors to the dual 6-core 3.46GHz X5690 processors, and add 24GB of RAM to your system and a couple OWC Mercury Extreme PRO RRE SSDs in RAID 0, and a couple 2 TB Hard Drives in RAID 0. This would make one killer setup.

 

[3282868]

Wait until the X5690 processors are released, buy the base model 2.4GHz Octo (This model supports B1 stepping and Westmere), and then upgrade the processors to the dual 6-core 3.46GHz X5690 processors, and add 24GB of RAM to your system and a couple OWC Mercury Extreme PRO RRE SSDs in RAID 0, and a couple 2 TB Hard Drives in RAID 0. This would make one killer setup.

Hmmm. So this chipset will sit into the current Westmere socket. Clocking at 3.46GHz and can turbo to 3.60 is pretty impressive. This just came out in August? Looks like Intel will wait until the x5680 is displaced, and Apple being Apple, this won't happen until next year. Boo!

If I were to get a current Octo, swapping out the chips would void the warranty, but it would mean a bit of future proofing so that I could always do so in 2 or so years (assuming it's worth it).

Question on Lightpeak. Is this something that can be put into a system a la RAID? It needs a bridge but in theory a hardware capable Mac Pro could be upgraded to Lightpeak?

 

[VirtualRain]

If you have some money burning a hole in your pocket, get an SSD. That will make way more difference to daily use than buying a whole new Mac Pro or upgrading your CPUs.

 

[WardC]

Hmmm. So this chipset will sit into the current Westmere socket. Clocking at 3.46GHz and can turbo to 3.60 is pretty impressive. This just came out in August? Looks like Intel will wait until the x5680 is displaced, and Apple being Apple, this won't happen until next year. Boo!

If I were to get a current Octo, swapping out the chips would void the warranty, but it would mean a bit of future proofing so that I could always do so in 2 or so years (assuming it's worth it).

Question on Lightpeak. Is this something that can be put into a system a la RAID? It needs a bridge but in theory a hardware capable Mac Pro could be upgraded to Lightpeak?

I can't answer your Lightpeak question, I don't know anything about Lightpeak nor am I that interested. But the RAID 0 will be very speedy, and you can RAID hard drives as well as SSD drives.

All of the Xeon chips in current Mac Pros use LGA 1366 Sockets, but not all of the chips are B1 stepping, the Nehalems and the 2009s are D0 stepping. You cannot just install a Westmere 6-core chip in a 2009 model Mac Pro even though the socket is the same, the stepping that the board supports is D0 and it will not work with the B1 stepping of Westmere chips. The 2010 2.8GHz and 3.2GHz single processor models are Nehalem chips and they are D0 stepping also, but the 2010 boards contain updated firmware that supports B1 stepping, so you can upgrade them to a 6-core Westmere chip with just a chip drop-in upgrade.

The 2.4GHz Octo 2010 Mac Pro is Westmere, and the chips are B1 stepping. All of the hardware of the 2.4GHz Octo is the same as as the 2.66GHz and 2.93GHz 12-core machines except for the chips. All you have to do is upgrade the chips on that machine and BOOM, 12-cores. But, those chips are very pricey, the X5680s are $1600 a pop and so will the X5690s be when they are introduced at the end of this year, perhaps more. Those are slated for release in November or December, and there is a chance that the X5680 will be discontinued when the X5690 is introduced. It's only a 133MHz speedbump, and the turbo boost speed is the same as the 3.33GHz X5680. The 6-core clock is faster though, and these machines are going over 27,000 on Geekbench tests running the dual X5690s. Still, not as fast as the PC overclocked X5680 systems....but it will be the fastest upgrade you can put in a Mac Pro. If I had the money, I would do it. X5690 will be the fastest chip available along with the Core i7 990x extreme on the consumer side, which is essentially the same chip (3.46GHz 6-core). Not sure if they are going to release a single-processor W3690 variant running at 3.46GHz, I've heard nothing about it.

By the way, this is my 1000th post here, so I am a MacRumors 65816 now!

 

[pintsizemacman]

sweet mac got some fire power there dont ua

 

[3282868]

I can't answer your Lightpeak question, I don't know anything about Lightpeak nor am I that interested. But the RAID 0 will be very speedy, and you can RAID hard drives as well as SSD drives.

Supposedly it's a fiber optic based system. Don't know much about it either other than it was debuted on a Mac Pro in 2008 to astonishing results.

All of the Xeon chips in current Mac Pros use LGA 1366 Sockets, but not all of the chips are B1 stepping, the Nehalems and the 2009s are D0 stepping. You cannot just install a Westmere 6-core chip in a 2009 model Mac Pro even though the socket is the same, the stepping that the board supports is D0 and it will not work with the B1 stepping of Westmere chips. The 2010 2.8GHz and 3.2GHz single processor models are Nehalem chips and they are D0 stepping also, but the 2010 boards contain updated firmware that supports B1 stepping, so you can upgrade them to a 6-core Westmere chip with just a chip drop-in upgrade.

The 2.4GHz Octo 2010 Mac Pro is Westmere, and the chips are B1 stepping. All of the hardware of the 2.4GHz Octo is the same as as the 2.66GHz and 2.93GHz 12-core machines except for the chips. All you have to do is upgrade the chips on that machine and BOOM, 12-cores. But, those chips are very pricey, the X5680s are $1600 a pop and so will the X5690s be when they are introduced at the end of this year, perhaps more. Those are slated for release in November or December, and there is a chance that the X5680 will be discontinued when the X5690 is introduced. It's only a 133MHz speedbump, and the turbo boost speed is the same as the 3.33GHz X5680. The 6-core clock is faster though, and these machines are going over 27,000 on Geekbench tests running the dual X5690s.

As long as the 2010 Westmere Mac Pro's support B1, and assuming the prices drop in in two years time, getting an 8 core Mac Pro now while I still have the funds and discounts to make it an almost even swap might be a wise choice. Listed it on eBay, so we'll see.

By the way, this is my 1000th post here, so I am a MacRumors 65816 now!

Congrats man! It's always fun when you reach a posting milestone on MacRumors

 

[teeck2000]

You can totally sell that for a great price.

I recently sold my 2008 2.8 octo mac with GTX285 + 14GB ram stock HD 320gb for $2700 on ebay, and my cpu didn't have apple care. I didn't even try for craigslist as for that amount of money I think ebay is better. The amount of legitimate buyers on craigslist for that amount are slim IMO.

 

[3282868]

You can totally sell that for a great price.

I recently sold my 2008 2.8 octo mac with GTX285 + 14GB ram stock HD 320gb for $2700 on ebay, and my cpu didn't have apple care. I didn't even try for craigslist as for that amount of money I think ebay is better. The amount of legitimate buyers on craigslist for that amount are slim IMO.

Ok so tell me if I'm crazy.

My Pro specs are:
2.8GHz 8-Core
1TB HDD
2 Optical Drives connected via SATA
ATI Radeon HD5770 (just got it)
8 GB DDR2 RAM
My ex-Genius Bar co-workers took it for a week and overhauled it, nothing wrong but they put in a brand new logic board

So I listed it on eBay for $2500 as a buy it now, a reserve set at $2300 and bidding starting at $899. Asking too much?

 

[alphaod]

Ok so tell me if I'm crazy.

My Pro specs are:
2.8GHz 8-Core
1TB HDD
2 Optical Drives connected via SATA
ATI Radeon HD5770 (just got it)
8 GB DDR2 RAM
My ex-Genius Bar co-workers took it for a week and overhauled it, nothing wrong but they put in a brand new logic board

So I listed it on eBay for $2500 as a buy it now, a reserve set at $2300 and bidding starting at $899. Asking too much?

A lot of folks will not bid if you have a reserve. I for one wouldn't.

As for the amount… you ask for what you think is what you are willing to accept. It's an alright price, depending on how fast you want to sell it.

 

[3282868]

A lot of folks will not bid if you have a reserve. I for one wouldn't.

Really? I'm surprised. I've had two bids so far. My fear is that it'll sell for less than it's worth without a reserve, right?

I recently sold a pair of Focal Polyglass speakers that still retail for $400. I forgot to set a reserve and they sold for about $150. Kinda got screwed.

So what should I do? I contacted eBay (I spent FIVE HOURS online waiting for a chat rep until 4 am last night) about editing my listing (they won't let you delete anything in the description once it's listed which is ridiculous) and they said I could cancel the listing and they would waive the fee. Do you think it's best I relist it without a reserve? Thanks guys!