Would you buy a Mac Pro 5,1?

[hurleyint1386]

Looking to possibly pick up a 2010 2.8 QC Nehalem Mac Pro with 16gb RAM, 160gb SSD+320gb HDD for $600. Would you? It'll be replacing a 2010 Mac Mini Server which will likely be a media server (I'd plan to upgrade the hard drives in it of course). Does this seem like a good price? Or should I splurge and get a 6/12 core?

 

[rawweb]

Looking to possibly pick up a 2010 2.8 QC Nehalem Mac Pro with 16gb RAM, 160gb SSD+320gb HDD for $600. Would you? It'll be replacing a 2010 Mac Mini Server which will likely be a media server (I'd plan to upgrade the hard drives in it of course). Does this seem like a good price? Or should I splurge and get a 6/12 core?

Why not? If you're invested in the Mac eco system it only makes sense. Way more powerful than the mini. Tower can be customized and upgraded to fit most any need. 600 bucks seems fair, the prices are starting to slip a bit under that for me locally, but I generally see them around that price. Might get you through the next few years of uncertainty and see if the great  is even going to stay committed to any Mac product line. 4-core can easily be upgraded to 6-core without much sweat. I just did it yesterday in under 10 minutes.

For what it's worth, my old 2009 (upgraded hex 3.46) plays pretty well on the bench with some modern macs that cost way way more. Look at it's score relative to my top of the line fully loaded late 2015 iMac (6 years newer). https://browser.primatelabs.com/user/82140

 

[flowrider]

They will have to pry mine from my cold dead hands!

Lou

 

[orph]

for a media server why not pick up a newer macmin ?
the macpro is big/noisy and uses a lot more power than a newer macmin + it will be slower.

rawweb mentions his macpro v imac but the macpro scores 2970 sc and the imac scores 5076 almost double the speed..

the macmin is small quiet uses not much power and will fit on a shelf, pick up a used one and there even cheaper. (you can mount them behind a display with ease)

ps why look at the dual cpu macpros ? are the apps you will be using on it going to actually be able to use all the cores ? most apps will at most use 4 threads at most (relay most apps use 1-2 threads but im being optimistic) so having 24 will not make things faster, most the time less faster cores will beat more slower cores.

 

[ITguy2016]

for a media server why not pick up a newer macmin ?
the macpro is big/noisy and uses a lot more power than a newer macmin + it will be slower.

rawweb mentions his macpro v imac but the macpro scores 2970 sc and the imac scores 5076 almost double the speed..

the macmin is small quiet uses not much power and will fit on a shelf, pick up a used one and there even cheaper. (you can mount them behind a display with ease)

ps why look at the dual cpu macpros ? are the apps you will be using on it going to actually be able to use all the cores ? most apps will at most use 4 threads at most (relay most apps use 1-2 threads but im being optimistic) so having 24 will not make things faster, most the time less faster cores will beat more slower cores.

I think you misunderstood the OP's current setup. He currently has a 2010 Mac Mini which, if he purchases the Mac Pro, he will turn into a media server.

 

[hurleyint1386]

for a media server why not pick up a newer macmin ?
the macpro is big/noisy and uses a lot more power than a newer macmin + it will be slower.

rawweb mentions his macpro v imac but the macpro scores 2970 sc and the imac scores 5076 almost double the speed..

the macmin is small quiet uses not much power and will fit on a shelf, pick up a used one and there even cheaper. (you can mount them behind a display with ease)

ps why look at the dual cpu macpros ? are the apps you will be using on it going to actually be able to use all the cores ? most apps will at most use 4 threads at most (relay most apps use 1-2 threads but im being optimistic) so having 24 will not make things faster, most the time less faster cores will beat more slower cores.

The Mac Pro is quad core, which the new Mini isn't. Also, this has capacity for more internal drives and more ram. I'm not worried about power because where I live, it's included and unmetered. It's also not really noisy. Bigger, sure. But that doesn't really bother me.

I plan on running Plex, which will utilize the quad core CPU for transcoding.

 

[mcnallym]

Looking to possibly pick up a 2010 2.8 QC Nehalem Mac Pro with 16gb RAM, 160gb SSD+320gb HDD for $600. Would you? It'll be replacing a 2010 Mac Mini Server which will likely be a media server (I'd plan to upgrade the hard drives in it of course). Does this seem like a good price? Or should I splurge and get a 6/12 core?

What are you doing with a Media Server that requires a Mac Pro period?

I am running a mac mini 2009 2Ghz Core 2 Duo with an external drobo pro via w800. That steams out to iPad, ATVmk3 no problems. Also runs Elagato, and have had

Stream HD iTunes to ATV
Record two programs with Elgato TV
Exporting Record Elgato to QuickTime Movie Apple Intermediate Codec for FCP X import

All at the same time no problem.

 

[orph]

opps my bad sorry i did miss understand the question, thanks for spotting it Itguy2016.

the 4core's 4.1/5.1 are best value.
I picked up a 5.1 with the 4c 2.8ghz cpu, upgraded it to the W3680 3.33ghz 6c witch i relay like when rendering video but more most tasks the X5677 3.46ghz 4c is slightly faster and about half the price (when i did my upgrade) the W3690 is stupidly priced.
(the W3670 3.2ghz is the best value 6c cpu so cheep and almost the same speed)

gpu upgrades are fairly cheep

grab a SSD for boot drive

buy some cheep ram on ebay (got 32gb for about £50 uk money) more than i need but at that price

id relay say it depends what you want from your macpro?

 

[ITguy2016]

For what it's worth, my old 2009 (upgraded hex 3.46) plays pretty well on the bench with some modern macs that cost way way more. Look at it's score relative to my top of the line fully loaded late 2015 iMac (6 years newer). https://browser.primatelabs.com/user/82140

I feel Geekbench scores are a little misleading when comparing the cMP with more recent systems. A cMP is competitive in situations when it is configured with more cores than the reference system and only when running software which can utilize those additional cores. Currently four cores is the upper limit for the majority of applications making the Mini and iMac a more suitable choice for the vast majority of people (all else being equal).

As to the purchase of this system I would recommend the OP consider it but for reasons other than raw CPU performance. It's a quad core, 2.8GHz system which means its multi-core benchmarks aren't going to overcome its aging architecture no matter what software the OP plans to use on it. The ability to upgrade it (including processor upgrades), and expand it are solid reasons to buy it. 24/7 operation and "cool" factors are other possible reasons. Raw CPU performance is not.

I say this as an owner of the exact same system (except mine has 32GB of RAM and acts as a VM host platform).

 

[orph]

when your looking at buying a computer it's relay important to be clear on what you want from the computer.
if you can tell us what you want to do & what apps you want to run we can give better advice.

the macpro even with upgraded cpu's is still using effectively first gen i7's so it is worth looking at imacs or macmins as there cpu's are much faster.

but im happy with my macpro for what i do and what i wanted it for when i got it (got it to replace my macpro 3.1 and keep all my drives and gpu etc..)

 

[rawweb]

I feel Geekbench scores are a little misleading when comparing the cMP with more recent systems. A cMP is competitive in situations when it is configured with more cores than the reference system and only when running software which can utilize those additional cores. Currently four cores is the upper limit for the majority of applications making the Mini and iMac a more suitable choice for the vast majority of people (all else being equal).

As to the purchase of this system I would recommend the OP consider it but for reasons other than raw CPU performance. It's a quad core, 2.8GHz system which means its multi-core benchmarks aren't going to overcome its aging architecture no matter what software the OP plans to use on it. The ability to upgrade it (including processor upgrades), and expand it are solid reasons to buy it. 24/7 operation and "cool" factors are other possible reasons. Raw CPU performance is not.

I say this as an owner of the exact same system (except mine has 32GB of RAM and acts as a VM host platform).

Great points. I think, for me, the advantage my cMPs have over our iMac is internal storage and the video cards. We've got some really great video cards in our Mac Pros that do circles around the mobile chip on iMac and intel chip in a Mac mini. Also no thermal throttle on long exports. OP your mini will make a great server. I use my 2012 mini 24/7 as a media server for Plex.

To some other folks that mentioned the iMac performs better on the bench, of course. That's a no brainer, sure. I simply intended to show my cMP still holds up to modern machines. Also wanted to point out $600 vs $3k. I say impressive for a machine of its age. A 4c 2009 upgraded to a 6c 3.46ghz is still a screaming machine in 2016. Unless of course one jumped platforms entirely. If OP is after pure power, Mac hasn't really offered that fresh since...well about 2009! As for the future of this eco system, it sure hasn't been taken care of very well...even though Timmy says he likes macs.

 

[redheeler]

Would you buy a Mac Pro 5,1?
I did buy a Mac Pro 5,1. Considering I actually use the drive bays, it should serve me well.

 

[Flint Ironstag]

I've used one of the last gen quad core mac minis as a Plex media server hosting ~6TB of external content (OWC Thunderbolt enclosure with SSDs). Even though it was maxed out with SSD & RAM, you could smell that thing cooking as Plex reencoded video. Not to mention the fan was loud as hell, and the enclosure was hot.

A maxed out cMP (12 core @ max GHz) is probably the ideal situation for you. Let the mac mini hosting Plex just point to the cMP's storage. Of course, a maxed out cMP is going to cost more than $600.

How much content do you have now, and how much do you plan to add in the immediate future? Is a warranty important?

 

[haralds]

Looking to possibly pick up a 2010 2.8 QC Nehalem Mac Pro with 16gb RAM, 160gb SSD+320gb HDD for $600. Would you? It'll be replacing a 2010 Mac Mini Server which will likely be a media server (I'd plan to upgrade the hard drives in it of course). Does this seem like a good price? Or should I splurge and get a 6/12 core?

I absolutely love using mine. Use it many hours a day. 12 Core 3.0GHz, 48GB of RAM, flashed Gigabyte GV-R7970C graphics, 18TB of spinning drives and 4.5TB of Crucial SSDs (4 drives) internally mounted with a custom bracket
I really hope, Apple reconsiders expandability in the professional space. I would not buy the current configuration.

Looking to possibly pick up a 2010 2.8 QC Nehalem Mac Pro with 16gb RAM, 160gb SSD+320gb HDD for $600. Would you? It'll be replacing a 2010 Mac Mini Server which will likely be a media server (I'd plan to upgrade the hard drives in it of course). Does this seem like a good price? Or should I splurge and get a 6/12 core?

I love mine. Use it many hours a day. It is fully configured. Just added another 2TB Crucial SSD on a FASTA-6GU3-Plus connector.

 

[CapnDavey]

check local used computer stores before you buy I got a 8 core 266 09 mac pro with 8 gig of ram for 400 dollars they go for much more on eBay.