Your Mac Pro's

[cherry su]

2x2.8ghz quad core
6GB memory
512MB Geforce 8800
OWC eSata extender
OWC external eSata 2x disk enclosure
320gb boot
3x 500gb raid0 storage
2x 750gb external raid0 for time machine backup (also backed up to 8x disk raid in my server)
2x Dell 2007FP 20" lcd monitors

yay! it's a trackball!

 

[Tallest Skil]

If you don't need it right away, then why do you need such a powerful machine?

You are going all out, for fun?

What do you plan to use it for?

I'm a computer engineering major and someone who wants to teach himself how to use a lot of software. I'm going to go into hardware design, I believe, and I'd also like the expandability afforded only to Mac Pro users.

I have more reasons, but I'll wait until I have the darn thing to make yet another post about them.

 

[nanofrog]

I'm a computer engineering major and someone who wants to teach himself how to use a lot of software. I'm going to go into hardware design, I believe, and I'd also like the expandability afforded only to Mac Pro users.

I have more reasons, but I'll wait until I have the darn thing to make yet another post about them.

Hmm... Computer Engineering...sounds familiar.

I'd definitely recommend getting to know software, as there's more jobs on this end than hardware design. Simple practicality.

 

[Tallest Skil]

I'd definitely recommend getting to know software, as there's more jobs on this end than hardware design. Simple practicality.

Hardware design as in... I want to design not the componentry, but the computers themselves.

Like, oh, I don't know... on Jonathan Ive's design team...

 

[Fomaphone]

If you don't need it right away, then why do you need such a powerful machine?

You are going all out, for fun?

What do you plan to use it for?

i'm in the same boat. my dual 2.5 PPC G5 (6.5gb RAM, 6800 Ultra, 9800 pro, 500gb samsung, 1tb WDCB) bit it at the end of november, and i need a powerful machine when the new ones arrive. ... but as my great grandmother used to say about shoes, "i don't have the money to buy cheap things," meaning that i will need to squeeze every day i can out of the new machine.

since nobody is paying me to use my own computer at present (for the next few months i can tutor FCP in my school's computer labs instead of in my apartment and i have access to a top-tier post production facility) all i really "need" to get by right now is this old PC laptop, my external HD's, and a SATA/IDE to USB converter.

however, when the new model comes out, i will be making full use of the max performance specs that i can afford for my own work.

the reason i haven't bought the current model yet is that i plan to have the computer for 5 years... 20-50% gains in performance for video work over the current generation over a five year period is absolutely worth the wait if you're on a budget...because these upcoming machines are so powerful, i'll be able to grow into it (as my budget grows i can upgrade)... hopefully, clients will buy my next mac pro. for now, i've got my student adc membership and $5k set aside, even if that's a HUGE amount of money to me at present.

considering that there's plenty of economic gloom on the horizon, having the best machine i can have will really go a long way if i'm trying to build my reel or freelance. i spent a lot of money on my last computer and i absolutely returned my investment by making professional quality student work.... with which i've made $0 but have gotten excellent professional opportunities.

since i'm somebody who can wait, (no demanding deadlines or a yearly tech budget yet) i'm clearly not the pro client apple is looking for, but i feel that i and people like me are making a very wise decision to wait.

 

[subaqua]

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro3,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per processor): 12 MB
Memory: 10 GB (I added 4x2GB sticks from TransIntl)
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
4 x 1TB Caviar WD10001FALS SATA disks in bays 1..4 (RAID 10)
(One 1.8TB volume)
2 TB external RAID 1 / mirrored FW 800 disks for TimeMachine backups.
Brother 9840CDW Color Laser Printer/Scanner/Fax
Goldtouch split ergonomic keyboard
Logitech bluetooth mouse (the mighty mouse just required too much maintenance to keep the scroll wheel clean)
Dual monitors (Dell 19" 1280x1024 & Samsung 22" Wide 1680x1050
Stereo Link 1200 USB DAC audio to stereo system.

 

[tom.]

Spec is in my sig.

My room is tiny but I only spend weekdays in it at the moment - working in Stoke On Trent. Moving in to a proper house come the summer, instead of this shared pile of..... nevermind.

 

[nanofrog]

Hardware design as in... I want to design not the componentry, but the computers themselves.

Like, oh, I don't know... on Jonathan Ive's design team...

I though that was Industrial Design. Fancy name for for the person who makes pretty packaging.

Computer Engineering is more about designing from the silicon level up to finished products on the hardware side. (Functional, but prototypes might look like they were made by Dr. Frankenstein). Miscellaneous guts lying all over the test bench.

So which is it to be?
Package Boy?
Or the Monster Maker?

 

[diotav]

Mac Pro Dualcore 3GHz
8x 1GB RAM
4x 750GB F1 Spinpoint
ATI Radeon X1900 512MB
Bluetooth + Airport
LG GGW-H20L Blu-ray
30" Cinema Display

Currently selling the complete machine and waiting for the new Mac Pro's!
Will add more storage and RAM to my future workstation.

 

[Tallest Skil]

I though that was Industrial Design. Fancy name for for the person who makes pretty packaging.

Computer Engineering is more about designing from the silicon level up to finished products on the hardware side. (Functional, but prototypes might look like they were made by Dr. Frankenstein). Miscellaneous guts lying all over the test bench.

So which is it to be?
Package Boy?
Or the Monster Maker?

Well, I figure... you have Ive, right? Does all of the preliminary designs.

And then you have the hardware engineering team beneath him that tells him that his designs don't conform to the laws of physics because of heat dissipation requirements and the size of the components that must go in the machines.

And then he says, "Right, then, you pansies; what works?" And that hardware team draws up the positioning of the componentry inside the computer. Then, based on heat and required fan positioning, Ive does a new design that conforms to the hardware team's internals and the laws of physics.

I want to be on that hardware team. It'd be cool to be the one making the designs, too, and so I'll just do that on my own, but then wouldn't it be better to eliminate the middle man (hardware team) entirely by having the same person who does the hardware design know what the crap he's doing and the boundaries by which he is restricted?

That was a long sentence... Here it is: Wouldn't it be better for someone to do both? And therefore, would I need a double major for that? Computer Engineering/Industrial Design?

Still trying to figure it out for myself. Any ideas as to what I should go for?

 

[nanofrog]

Well, I figure... you have Ive, right? Does all of the preliminary designs.

And then you have the hardware engineering team beneath him that tells him that his designs don't conform to the laws of physics because of heat dissipation requirements and the size of the components that must go in the machines.

And then he says, "Right, then, you pansies; what works?" And that hardware team draws up the positioning of the componentry inside the computer. Then, based on heat and required fan positioning, Ive does a new design that conforms to the hardware team's internals and the laws of physics.

I want to be on that hardware team. It'd be cool to be the one making the designs, too, and so I'll just do that on my own, but then wouldn't it be better to eliminate the middle man (hardware team) entirely by having the same person who does the hardware design know what the crap he's doing and the boundaries by which he is restricted?

That was a long sentence... Here it is: Wouldn't it be better for someone to do both? And therefore, would I need a double major for that? Computer Engineering/Industrial Design?

Still trying to figure it out for myself. Any ideas as to what I should go for?

Well, I'm on the hardware side, so though I like good Industrial Design, I'd rather have a form-follows-function appearance with a product that works. (My stuff wouldn't be much more than a slightly dressed up project box).

Such Industrial Design isn't cheap, and is falling by the wayside IMO. "Not in the budget" would seem the likely reasoning for consumer goods. Industrial goods, it doesn't matter. Only if it works, and possibly needs to survive major abuse. "Let's see if it will work if we drop it off a 10 story building".

So having both might not be a bad idea. If you can only choose one, it's really up to you, as it's your life.

 

[iisarenotnobody]

Mine...
2x 3.2GHZ (Octacore)
16GB of ram
Nvidia Quadro FX5600 1.5GB
2x2TBl HardDrives, for holding lots of data (Just got, really good for the moment)
1x 300GB 10000RPM Harddrive has files which are needed occasionally.
1x 256GB SSD, built for speed... But a bugger to fit, had to make a special rack LOL just to fit it into the drive bay... Main System Drive for getting files used every day
1x E-Sata PCI-Express Card
2x 30" Toshiba High Resolution Monitors (Medical) Used to be Apple ones but they weren't really legal for me to practice
(radiology) using them...
Some Random 6TB raid array which I don't know the name of but it's connected by E-Sata


Wow. You are EXACTLY who I want to be when I (hopefully) get into radiology. thanks for the ideas man.
Apps Always Running.... No one else has so I thought that I should....
Safari 4 (Much faster than 3)
Mail
iChat
Growl
Photoshop CS4
Aperture 2
Keynote/Pages one or the other...
Aycan Workstation Osirix...
Activity Moniter
Paralels Desktop 4 running Vista Ultimate 64BIT to run some of my med
softwAre that does not run on mac (it really annoys me sometimes)

Well that's about it and it's nice to see that I'm not the only person who's spending a fortune on Apple Products...

Jack

Wow, you are exactly the person I want to be when I (hopefully) get into radiology.

 

[slughead]

I've got an antique, I guess: first mac pro they made back in 2006.

4x2.6
3GB
8800
7600
2x samsung 22"
2 DVD burners inside
1TB software RAID 0 (2x500)
1TB backup
750GB boot
750GB External
2TB RAID 0 (4X500, going to make it a 1.5 RAID 5)
External SATA burner

I know, pretty ridiculous hard drive arrangement. I don't have the time to make it make sense. I don't even work in IT anymore.

About to install a new RAID card.

 

[Topper]

2008 Mac Pro

2x 3.0GHz
14 GB ram
8800 GT
500GB, 320GB internal drives
320GB, 250GB Lacie external drives

Wacom Intuos 2 9x12 tablet

21" Sony CRT. Waiting for new 30" ACD.

Combustion 4
Final Cut Studio 2
Adobe Premiere
Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Quake
Carrara Studio 3
Cinema 4D

 

[tom.]

Mac Pro Dualcore 3GHz
8x 1GB RAM
4x 750GB F1 Spinpoint
ATI Radeon X1900 512MB
Bluetooth + Airport
LG GGW-H20L Blu-ray
30" Cinema Display

Currently selling the complete machine and waiting for the new Mac Pro's!
Will add more storage and RAM to my future workstation.

That's my plan too - Nice setup btw.

 

[skyline r34]

Two 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
4GB (4x1GB)
(2) 500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB
Two 16x SuperDrives
AirPort Extreme Card (Wi-Fi)

Plan to purchase a bigger display when Apple release the 30 inch LED Cinema Display hopefully by next month we will see them, and i'm saving up for my next Mac Pro not (Gainestown) I started putting away sense last February and manage to put away $4352.12 and that's not including my 2008 Tax return, So I hope you guys like it and i know the 24 inch Acer display is tacky but i'm waiting to get the new 30 inch then it will look better

 

[More]

Just received two fantastic Western Digital RE3 1TB drives today to replace my aging Hitachi 1TB drives so a little update on my current specs. Still planning another 8GB of ram once Crucial get the 4GB boards back in stock...

My dual Intel X25-M SSD (RAID-0) drives give so much extra performance to the system I've pretty much lost all interest in the 2009 Mac Pro revision. Something tells me this current setup is a keeper regardless of the forthcoming Nehalem speed increase.

8 Core 3.2 Mac Pro, 8GB RAM (2x4GB)
GeForce 8800 GT
2x Intel X25-M 80GB RAID-0 (160GB) (LIGHTNING FAST!)
2x Western Digital RE3 1TB RAID-0 (2TB) (Internal Storage)
SeriTek 2SE2-E PCI-E Card
SeriTek 2EN2 Dual-Bay eSATA
2x Hitachi 1TB (Local Storage & Backup)
30" Apple Cinema HD Display

The noisiest thing about my setup is the fan on the SeriTek 2EN2. It used to be drowned out by my Quad G5. I can't believe how silent the Mac Pro is!

 

[pastrychef]

8 core 2.8GHz
16GB RAM
GeForce 8800GT
4 x 1TB Hard drives
2 x Optical drives

Dell 30" 3007WFP-HC Monitor

Samsung CLX-3175FN Color Laser

Wacom Intuos 2 9x12

 

[Chaywa]

I've got an antique, I guess: first mac pro they made back in 2006.

You did not just say that you have an antique from 2006. There is no emoticon for feeling old I guess. Why is this discussion limited to Mac Pros. What about the original?

Power Mac G5 Rev. A (first of the cheese graters)
Dual 2.0
6 GB RAM
2x 250 GB HDDs
Mac OS 10.4
ATI Radeon 9600
Black Magic HD SDI card
Sonnet esata card
2.5 TB Sonnet Raid
2x 23" cinema displays

Still going strong awaiting its Gainestown replacement.

 

[robotartfashion]

2.8ghz 8 core
10GB Ram
2x ATI 2600's
1 TB WD Black for time machine
640GB WD Black with Windows XP on Boot Camp
320 GB Boot Disk
1 TB WD Black for media (building a HTPC library for whenever they update the f***** mac mini)

Also a few more 640GB WD Blacks in external enclosures as photo and photo backup drives

2x 22" LG monitors
1x 22" Dell monitor
1X 17" Crappy off brand monitor

I'm a photog, so I'm really loving the upgrade from my core duo 20" imac, I actually justified the purchase as I spend a lot of time trading futures and this was the only mac that I could run more than 2 monitors off of and I thought....spend 1400 on a windows pc? f that noise, spend 3k on a combo use trading/photo editing platform, f'n a right!

I'm about to buy a few more 1TB Wd drives and the expander to put 2 of them in the second optical drive

 

[robotartfashion]

i kind of shudder to think what my power draw is going to be

 

[viking396]

Mine
2.8ghz dual Quads
8800GT
12gigs memory
4 500gig WD hard drives split between OSX & Vista 64 Ultimate
2 Dell 27" LCD's