Upgrading a mac pro (Help?)

[muskie32]

Hi guys, My dad it wanting to upgrade a mac pro (getting really slow) This is used at our farm and is used heavily. It needs to be able to run multiple windows of photoshop, lightroom, bridge, Final Cut Pro, video decoding, and heavy uploading (to our photo site. It can be many GB's a day).

I am not setting a budget for this, but do not want to spend $6000 for a new one.

Here is what the system is:
http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php

It has 8GB of ram right now.
multiple HDD's
and 2x dual core Exeon's

That is about all the info i could get over the phone... ()

I will most likely upgrade it for him over thanksgiving.

So basically all i think i might need is a new(er) motherboard, 2 New(er) processors (would be nice to stick in 2 quads) and perhaps a SSD for boot and apps? And a few more hdds for data (we have 20 external T'drives full of data right now, lol...

Here are a few questions:
How many HHD slots does the mac pro have?
Can you upgrade the motherboard on a mac with-ought to much trouble? What i am thinking is you can just back up with time machine, and clone the mac to the old one on setup right?


Ok, right now the cost is not really a factor, just maybe under $3000-$4000... If less than great .

Thanks for any help!
-Muskie :awe:


EDIT: I do not need to keep to original case. If there is one that has more HHD space and upgrade space i am all for it!

It does not need to look like a mac, just be a mac

Also going to re-use the GPU, PSU (if i can?)

 

[TheStu]

Swapping the mobo could be tricky, and if you are wanting to build a Hack then you will need to make sure you get the right parts.

You might want to investigate replacing the CPUs on that system, see if it can be done, and then definitely get a fast SSD.

They have 4 hard drive bays.

 

[muskie32]

Ok, i was thinking something like this:
2X Cpu's
Motherboard
2x Ram

What PSU, GPU, case would you recommend?

EDIT:
PSU
Case
GPU
USB expansion
Firewire Expansion
USB 3 expansion card


I could just build a whole new system and we can keep the old one as well ^_^

Would the above build be compatible with apple? Will i be able to load the software right on or would i need to do something special to get apple on it? Will the expasion cards work with apple or not?

Thanks!

 

[mfenn]

I'm not a Hackintosh expert, but generally speaking, you cannot take any old hardware and load OS X on it. We really need a little more info about the existing Mac Pro (just go into the System Profiler and list out the exact specs).

 

[muskie32]

Oh, sorry go to This site and plug in the serial # G686394NQUQ2 to get the info...

Here is the thing, i am in texas right now, and the computer is in WI so i was going to do it over thanksgiving when i go up there so i need to order the parts as soon as possible...

 

[mfenn]

I get a message saying that the serial number is invalid (and am now apparently locked out because I tried to many searches!)

 

[muskie32]

Darn.. Typo.. Here is the serial # G86394NQUQ2 and another site: http://www.powerbookmedic.com/identify-mac-serial.php

 

[mfenn]

Ok, so that looks like it is the original Core 2 based Mac Pro. The CPUs could potentially be replaced by Clovertown or Harpertown CPUs, but I don't know if the price/performance of those chips would make it worthwhile.

Honestly, right now a 27" iMac with 8GB of RAM would be faster in every instance except for the HDDs.

 

[muskie32]

Would it really be faster...? We already have the monitors and stuff like that... And there needs to be HDD space... And lots of usb ports, Those are really the only problems. Would the parts i have listed work with a fresh install of mac osx?

 

[mfenn]

Would it really be faster...? We already have the monitors and stuff like that... And there needs to be HDD space... And lots of usb ports, Those are really the only problems. Would the parts i have listed work with a fresh install of mac osx?

Yes, it would be faster. A i5 760 is faster than two Core 2 Duos at 2.66GHz.

OS X is not like Windows. You would definitely not be able to just install it on those parts that you listed. You might be able to get it to work as a Hackintosh, but it's likely that there would be plenty of random weirdness.

 

[muskie32]

Ok, well i dont really want to go the Hackintosh rough..

 

[mfenn]

Ok, well i dont really want to go the Hackintosh rough..

Very understandable. In that case, you're stuck either trying to upgrade the CPUs or buying a new one.

 

[muskie32]

Very understandable. In that case, you're stuck either trying to upgrade the CPUs or buying a new one.

Sadly yes, :hmm:

Maybe i could just stick a ssd in it for apps? That would make it quite a bit faster i presume ^_^

 

[ananya.dragon]

Sadly yes, :hmm:

Maybe i could just stick a ssd in it for apps? That would make it quite a bit faster i presume ^_^

yeah you could do that.. seeing as you want to spend $3-4k try ordering one of the 27inch imacs tricked out... at around 2.5k with hdd and ssd

or a 12core mac pro @$5k... even the quad and 8cores are inside your budget

 

[muskie32]

I think i will just stick a 120gb ssd in it and see if id does the trick. If not then i will most likely get the 12 core... Or try to get the photographer to switch to windows

 

[Davidh373]

Is it OSX 1.5 or later? Earlier OS' may not even be compatible with solid state...

What you want to do is either get a PC custom built and run windows (get new software like the Adobe Production Premium) so that you can save some serious money and still get Mac Pro-like Specs and probably several professional apps for the same price as ONLY the mac pro hardware, or buy a new pro.

 

[HAL9000]

You should do what I did, just upgrade your Mac Pro, replace the processors, get faster RAM, replace the hard drives with SSD's, better graphics card. It's all very doable, and without spending that much money, It would cost less than buying a new one, and would probably be cheaper than building a PC, as you have some of the parts already.

Post your current model, Specs and I'll tell you what you can do with it.

Here's what I started with:

2006 Mac Pro 1,1

- 2 x Dual 2.66 X5150's Ghz
- 2GB DDR2 FB-DIMM 667mhz RAM
- 250GB HDD
- Superdrive

This is what I've now ended up with after my upgrades:

- 2 x Quad Xeon X5355's @2.66 overclocked to @3.2ghz - 1.313v FSB@1600mhz
- 12GB DDR2 FB-DIMM Kingston RAM @800Mhz
- Sapphire 5870 1GB + XFX 5970 2GB Crossfirex 850/1200
- SATA III 6GB/s + USB 3.0 Asus U3S6
- Bluetooth 2.1 + Airport 802.11n
- 2 x 64GB OCZ Vertex 2E SSD's RAID 0 - Mac OS X 10.6.4
- 60GB Crucial C300 6GB/s - Windows 7 Pro x64
- 1.5TB WD Green - Mac
- 1.0TB WD Green - NTFS
- Liteon Blu-Ray R/W x12
- Apple 1000w PSU
- 5.25" 450 PSU

 

[Davidh373]

- Apple 1000w PSU

wow.... that's really environmentally friendly of them...

There is no such as not "spending that much money" on upgrading the system you just described. It easily cost you over the cost of a custom build, and you get a lot of performance benefit, sure, but you could get three custom built computers for all the money you spent between the Mac Pro and the Upgrades and still get close to the Mac Pro performance with each...

 

[Davidh373]

Anyway, here is my build that would have the same performance as a 12 core mac that has double the RAM, Blu Ray ROM with DVD and CD Write, and an SSD.

Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-002-_-Product

PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-026-_-Product

2X Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-232-_-Product

Dual Xeon Motherboard with 4 USB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-409-_-Product

12GB DDR3 1333
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-356-_-Product

GTX470 (something you will never get from Apple)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-110-_-Product

OCZ Vertex 2 (Also something you'll never see from apple)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-550-_-Product

1TB Samsung F3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-185-_-Product

Blu Ray
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-199-_-Product

Total is $3194.25, and excels far beyond the Mac Pro in performace, and they start at $4999.00. If you want to get ECC memory to fit more than 48GB in, be my guest but I highly doubt you'll ever need it. You can then purchase the Adobe Production Premium for $1665.95 and have all your needs met .

Adobe Pro Pre CS5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-728-_-Product


EDIT: The way I learned things about Hackintosh was that the motherboard was what defined it as a Mac, so you could install OSX on it. Apple computers do not have the traditional BIOS, so it seems likely that's the case. You will need to get a Hackintosh install to get OSX on a different motherboard. If you want to keep the mobo (doubtful...) then you can perform a reinstall, but if you want to get the more advanced hardware, get a windows disk and Adobe CS5. Premiere has all the features of Final Cut Pro and then some, and the whole thing about Photoshop being "better on Mac" is a scam... If your Dad knows Windows, WONDERFUL...if he doesn't, teach him

 

[HAL9000]

wow.... that's really environmentally friendly of them...

There is no such as not "spending that much money" on upgrading the system you just described. It easily cost you over the cost of a custom build, and you get a lot of performance benefit, sure, but you could get three custom built computers for all the money you spent between the Mac Pro and the Upgrades and still get close to the Mac Pro performance with each...

Honestly, after the cost of the original Mac Pro is taken out of the equations just the upgrades didn't cost that much, Ok so my 5970 wasn't cheap, but everything else really was, my favourite bargain I bought was both my replacement processors on ebay, engineering samples, for about $350 for the pair so really other than that it was just RAM that was the big spender and my SSD's still really didn't come to that much.

 

[Davidh373]

Honestly, after the cost of the original Mac Pro is taken out of the equations just the upgrades didn't cost that much, Ok so my 5970 wasn't cheap, but everything else really was, my favourite bargain I bought was both my replacement processors on ebay, engineering samples, for about $350 for the pair so really other than that it was just RAM that was the big spender and my SSD's still really didn't come to that much.

that is a pretty darn impressive deal. Two Xeon quad-cores for $350! Put me down for that .

 

[HAL9000]

that is a pretty darn impressive deal. Two Xeon quad-cores for $350! Put me down for that .

I know I was dancing around when I spotted those snapped them up straight away, I bought two then 5 minutes later another ebayer bought the other 8 that were up, kind of feel like I should have bought more...

That being said they arn't the most recent xeons, clovertown, no HT, but they were the best that were compatible with the sockets in my MacPro, but it was a pretty good deal.