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What is YOUR optimal Mac Pro Configuration.

I

iBunny

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 15, 2004
1,254
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What is YOUR Optimal Mac Pro Config.

In the Real World, Using Real Money... whatever your budget will allow? Sure, I know we all want the best and be able to MAX it out... But realistically, for what you need, and what you can afford... what is your Config?

For me...?

Quad 3GHz Xeons
4GB (4x1GB) RAM
2x 500GB Hard Drives
1x Radeon X1900XTX Video Card
One Super Drive
Bluetooth - No Airport
One 23 Inch Apple Monitor

You?
 
realistically? oh thats not fun, i cant afford anything! :(



But if I had the money this might be what I would do is just change the base configuration so that I would have 2gb of RAM, with a x1900xt


more than likely if I had the money too, I would also install boot camp and windows and use it to play games :D
 
Well, here's what I ordered

3Ghz
1GB RAM (will add more very soon)
1x500GB HDD (3x750GB drives waiting for it to arrive)
x1900 GPU
Airport
Bluetooth
30" ACD on my desk awaiting Mac Pro arrival.
 
What Im ordering tonight:

Quad 2.66
1GB RAM (will upgrade later when im not broke anymore)
500GB HD
X1900XT
BT and AP Extreme
 
MovieCutter said:
Well, here's what I ordered

3Ghz
1GB RAM (will add more very soon)
1x500GB HDD (3x750GB drives waiting for it to arrive)
x1900 GPU
Airport
Bluetooth
30" ACD on my desk awaiting Mac Pro arrival.
Click to expand...

I'm so not jealous... Ok, I am very jealous :eek: :D
 
You guys ought to take the smallest size possible for HDD, and replace it with a 16MB-cached drive when it arrived. And of course, add your own 750GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 series. Trust me, I've benchmarked the .9 and .10 series. The perpendicular writing tech screams for performance! :)
Keep the original HD and plug into an external case. Store in cool and dry place until Leopard comes around, and plug it in right after upgrade for Time Machine... hell yeah!

And if you're never gonna go beyond 4GB of RAM, stick with the default 2x512MB sticks, and get additional RAM sticks in 512MB densities and upgrade yourself. It's already made easy to upgrade, why not do it yourself?
 
I think at this point I would get the 3.0 ghz model with everything else baseline. That would allow me the maximum processing power from the get-go, and everything else I can upgrade as needed (on the cheap, too).

-Colin
 
I don't know if im crazy but im thinking of using the Xserve as my setup. It has slots for a sound card from m-audio and a graphic slot for me to put in an x1900 when it comes out.

MovieCutter said:
Well, here's what I ordered

3Ghz
1GB RAM (will add more very soon)
1x500GB HDD (3x750GB drives waiting for it to arrive)
x1900 GPU
Airport
Bluetooth
30" ACD on my desk awaiting Mac Pro arrival.
Click to expand...

If I do get a Mac Pro, it would be the basic system. 3.0Ghz, x1900, 250gb, 4gb ram. Too bad playstation 3 and wii is gonna drain my bank account. Im only $1,000 short, anyone want to help me?
 
In reality I won't be buying a Mac Pro, rather a MacBook Pro for portability being the key. No need for an external monitor either because I don't have one. Spending 2400 tops lets see...

Baseline Mac Pro lol. 2.0ghz model without a display.

If funds wasn't quite a problem I would love to have

2.66ghz
2GB Ram (Upgrade in the future whenever it becomes nessesary)
250HD (Fine for now can always add later)
ATI x1900
and that will run you about $3,149.00 with no display. Add the 23incher and its $4148.00 Unless I buy a refurb lcd which is cheaper.

A man can dream...
 
Quad 3GHz Xeons
2GB (2x1GB) RAM
1x 500GB Hard Drives
1x Radeon X1900XTX Video Card
One Super Drive
Bluetooth - Airport
One 23 Inch Apple Monitor

Thats what i ordred :)
 
I've a buyer for my iMac G5 (family member), so I'll be waiting for a next couple of weeks to see if there are any Rev.A issues, hopefully nothing major.

Looking to order the base 2.0 or having seen the Leopard sneak-peek etc, perhaps the 2.66Ghz. It's an extra ~CDN$400 for the 2.66Ghz, but a reasonable hike in performance. Also waiting to see how much 3rd party RAM is likely to cost.. probably 4Gb's worth.

I really like the fact you can get four drives in the MacPro... no more daisy chaining Firewire drives and extra cost of enclosures.
 
3.00 GHz Quad Xeon
1GB RAM (will upgrade when I can afford it)
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB
250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s drive
2x16x SuperDrive DL
Airport Extreme & BlueTooth 2.0+EDR

Just ordered earlier today... won't ship until September 13th though :( oh well I can't wait!
 
Right now I'm struggling to afford a macbook pro with student discount!

If I had a moderate supply of money and the balls to spend it I would get:

2.66 quad
2 gigs ram
1 terrabyte HD (for all my movies)
x1900 video card

Luckily, I can't stand being at a desk and not being able to move, but for some reason I still want a Mac Pro. Good marketing Apple.
 
On other peoples advice (here), I decided to go for the 2.66 rather than the 3.0. The price change doesn't seem to match the speed jump. I think the standard config 2.66's are very cheap (perhaps to better compare with the Dells). Having said this, I can't blame anyone for going for the 3.0 version - enjoy!
 
3Ghz Xeons
2GB RAM
Bluetooth/Airport
ATI graphics card
Two superdrives

Grand total £2799.01. I would want this thing to last as long as my current PC (four years), hence the high specification. I would add a couple of extra hard drives to it myself.

I am considering ordering one tonight.
 
I've been waiting for these since the beginning of the year. I ordered the following:

2.66GHz Xeons (good price/performance ratio)
2GB Ram (4x 512MBs) - don't know when we'll see 3rd Party FB-DIMMS?
Bluetooth / Airport (again good value IMO)
ATI x1900 Graphics Card (£100 cheaper then getting the std. card and then this later)
500GB Hard drive (I have a couple of spare SATA drives to add later)
1x Superdive
AppleCare (got a good deal on this as part of the bundle).

Trouble is the expected Delivery date is 16th September:(
 
ricgnzlzcr said:
If I had a moderate supply of money and the balls to spend it I would get:

2.66 quad
2 gigs ram
1 terrabyte HD (for all my movies)
x1900 video card
Click to expand...

You dont need balls to spend money. They get in the way of valuable pocket space! :D
 
I'm not actually getting this, but if I did get a Mac Pro, it would be...

Two 3GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
4GB (4 x 1GB)
500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB, Stereo 3D (2 x dual-link DVI)
Apple Cinema HD Display (23" flat panel)
1 x SuperDrive
Both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme
Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple wireless Mighty Mouse - U.S. English

$7,387.00
 
xparaparafreakx said:
I don't know if im crazy but im thinking of using the Xserve as my setup. It has slots for a sound card from m-audio and a graphic slot for me to put in an x1900 when it comes out.
Click to expand...

I could be wrong but I highly doubt the X1900 will fit in an Xserve. The card requires a double slot which I don't think the server will have. Best you could do would be the 7300GT or maybe a 7800GT as used int he previous generation (assuming they will work and you can get one).
 
For some reason I'm inclined to get a MacPro, sit it next to my recliner and attach a 23" display to it :). But I always have to tell myself... what does an accountant need this raw power for?

But if I could build one it'll be the MIN specs one, then I'd give it a healthy aftermarket HDD (1.5TB) and RAM (4gig) bump :). The 7300GT would be good enough for me!
 
* Two 3GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
* 4GB (4 x 1GB)
* 500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
* 500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
* NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB, Stereo 3D (2 x dual-link DVI)
* Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel)
* 2 x SuperDrives
* Both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme
* Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse - U.S. English
* Mac OS X - U.S. English
* Final Cut Express HD preinstalled

$9,126.00
 
I ordered the following:
  • 3GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
  • 4GB (4 x 1GB)
  • 500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
  • ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB SDRAM
  • Both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme
  • 1 x SuperDrive
  • Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple wireless Mighty Mouse
  • Mac OS X - U.S. English
  • Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel)

Not expected to ship before September 13th. though! :(
 
here's what i ordered yesterday :)

2.66Ghz Xeons
1 GB Ram (selling the free nano to buy a second 3rd party stick later)
160GB harddrive (for windows, have 2x 250gb hdd's sitting next to me for OSX)
Bluetooth
Wireless keyboard and mighty mouse
nvidia 7300 gt :)(... ran out of money)

expected ship date is aug. 15th!! would have added the airport but couldn't bare the wait!

edit: also, since i ran out of money, i had to go with a 20.1" LG monitor... shame on me. Hopefully i'll pick up a 23" acd in a few months and sell the LG.
 
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