Mac pro 1.1 options (upgrade vs buy new one)

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Level 1

5 points

Mac pro 1.1 options (upgrade vs buy new one)

Hi all

Lately my "old" mac pro 1.1 is starting to feel sluggish....i have the Xeon 5150@2.66(x2 core) processors, 7 Gb of ram and a Radeon 3870; playing with Football manager or starcraft 2 is a bit of a pain, and even the other apps feels much slower with SnowLeopard, compared to when i was running Leopard (guess because of the 64 bit), so i guess that is time to do some upgrading.

So far the best video card that i can get is the 3870; the 8800 from Nvidia is not too much better, and the x1900xt is pretty old (i had that one before switching to the 3870), and the cards that support the old 1.1 bus are very few (and even fewer the ones that support the Apple firmware).

The memory can be increased, but I doubt that will make too much of a difference, since while i look at the computer load i rarely use more than 5 gb of ram.

So at this point i was wondering if there is any option to upgrade the processors (like putting a 4 core to replace my 2 core? I am not into upgrades since when i switched to macs; I was hoping that I would not have to do upgrades for quite a bit, and in facts has been almost 4 years since when i have got the pro) and increase the ram); if it's worth to increase the performances in a meaningful and noticeable way, or is better to hold on for a bit and get a newer mac pro?

I mainly use the mac to daily tasks, 3d modeling and rendering, development with xcode and some games; I also run W7 via bootcamp to play mmorpg and other games not available on mac, and the fact that i cannot use the 64 bit version of windows is another pain, since it sees only the first 2 Gb of ram (and it is slow with just 2 Gb).

I would love to hear suggestions; since I don't wanna waste money upgrading the machine if in the end the improvements (new processors and more memory) would not be noticeable, compared to get a base mac pro of the modern era.

And if I would get a new mac pro and sell my current one, how much would be worth?

Thanks in advance!

Mac Pro Dual 2.66 Xeon/7Gb/Radeon3870, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Mar 6, 2011 12:11 AM

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Answer 1

gumsie

Level 4

2,179 points

Mar 6, 2011 12:51 AM in response to darshie76

Try an SSD. Most cost effective upgrade I've ever carried out. Do a little research and then look [here|http://www.xlr8yourmac.com>.
Just as a try out I bought the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD. (Only 40GB but only my boot stuff is on it).

I think the only limitation with upgrading is the lack of W7 64 bit support.

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Answer 2

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Mar 6, 2011 3:50 AM in response to darshie76

ATI 5770

SSD (but larger SSDs are both better and insures you have free space plus aren't filling the cells so often, and lack of TRIM support still not in 10.6.6).
2 x 5355 processor upgrade

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/

An SSD is a good investment probably. Just don't short change. The difference between my pair of small 40GB units and 120GB is enough so I prefer one large unit over RAID of two smaller.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC560LL/A

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Answer 3

gumsie

Level 4

2,179 points

Mar 6, 2011 4:02 AM in response to The hatter

The hatter wrote:
ATI 5770

SSD (but larger SSDs are both better and insures you have free space plus aren't filling the cells so often, and lack of TRIM support still not in 10.6.6).
An SSD is a good investment probably. Just don't short change. The difference between my pair of small 40GB units and 120GB is enough so I prefer one large unit over RAID of two smaller.

In response to me I assume Hatter? Thanks for the info. I only bought the 40 as the cost was such that I wanted to assess SSDs using my seat-of-the-pants-ometer before I released any sizeable quantities of cash.

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Answer 4

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Mar 6, 2011 4:17 AM in response to gumsie

I wanted F90 (80GB $189) had been out of stock for two weeks and was anxious to buy. the pair of 40s cost more and well, they're 'okay.'

In response to the OP, not you but to the thread.
Just adding $0.02 was all.

Trouble right now is I want to see 3-4 months before I am sure that the newest SSDs are okay. One person bought an Intel unit but had to update the firmware and needed access to a PC before they could use it in their Mac.

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Answer 5

gumsie

Level 4

2,179 points

Mar 6, 2011 4:36 AM in response to The hatter

No wories, if I'd have known how well these things perform I'd have plumped for the bigger one straight out.
Back in the day someone advised more RAM to speed up my G5. Went I think from 512MB to 3GB, noticed virtually nothing. Fitted the SSD in place of my stock drive and was blown away by the difference!

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Answer 6

darshie76 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 6, 2011 12:52 PM in response to The hatter

Gumsie + Hatter

So it's enough to just get a faster HDD using an SSD type?

What about the processor upgrade or the Ram upgrade? Saw a 4Gb upgrade (2x2gb) for 149, that is not bad but don't know how useful could it be.

The video card seems to be compatible with 2010 Mac pro (guess is the 4.1 version?), but how much better is compared to my actual 4870 to justify a 300 dollar upgrade?

Thanks a lot for your replies!

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Answer 7

darshie76 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 6, 2011 1:34 PM in response to darshie76

I've found this online....is this a good price (and the right processor? 2 quad core will make my machine a 8 core)

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=xeon+x5355&hl=en&client=firefox-a&cid=9 756771094508552299&os=sellers#

Reading your comment Hatter, I've discovered this tool called geekbench; I score now 4365 (on w7, gotta try rebooting in osx and compare), and seems that the slowest elements are the memory performance (1713) and the memory bandwidth performance (1825); is there a way to increase the memory performances? I can find only 1 type of memory sold by OWC for 1.1 pro

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Answer 8

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Mar 6, 2011 3:18 PM in response to darshie76

5355s are popular. Those that really stress their system and need the 8-cores and went that path loved it, but then went on to buy new 2010 systems, too, which you could say, offered better performance.

More bandwidth, efficiency, from memory to processors and of course PCIe 2.0.

CS5 can always use 4GB more RAM. Ideal: 4 x 2GB or 4 x 4GB, or 8 DIMMs. In some cases, apps will just use more, like CS5 but also OS X and even Safari and others.

I would bow to Barefeats tests of the 5770 vs 4870 in 1,1.

Just threw an SSD into my own 1,1 and if nothing else (and the F120 is fast) is there is just zero noise emitting. I was using a 150GB 10K WD VR from last year.

But I wouldn't say an SSD is 'nuf, but an investment, worthwhile, and should get couple good yrs. They help whatever you do, unlike RAM and even 5770 or those 5355s that are dependent on an app using them fully.

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Answer 9

darshie76 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 6, 2011 4:17 PM in response to The hatter

I see, so I would benefit from a replacement of my 2 core processors with 2 4 cores; after all the applications that i use the most are mainly 3d based (or games when i boot W7).

At the moment i cannot afford 3K for a 2010 model (at most i could get a refurb from last year), so I was considering if i should just wait next year and get a new model, or upgrade this one, but from what you said seems that there is still hope to keep this machine up and running decently for the next couple of years 🙂

As now I guess that this is the plan:

- 2x5355 (saw them here for 285 each: http://www.allhdd.com/c.php?target=products&mode=search&subcats=Y&type=extended& avail=Y&pshort=Y&pfull=Y&pname=Y&pkeywords=Y&cid=0&q=HH80563KJ0678M&src=ggl)

- Radeon 5770 (Found it here for 229: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/726537-REG/AppleMC742ZM_A_ATI_Radeon_HD5770.html)

- SSD 80Gb (found it for 149 here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227685)

The total gets close to a grand; the cost of a new machine would be 2499 plus taxes; now I think that the improvement in performances with these upgrades will be more or less the same of getting a base 2010 model...is that true ? (i have no way to compare since the standard tests done on various configs does something generic, i am pretty specifically using my machine for few but very demanding tasks, so i can only rely on your expertise and experience).

Now what is not clear to me is if i can eventually run the system in 64 bit mode (in w7 and OSX) if i upgrade to the 5355; it ***** to not be able to use the full 7 gb of ram on w7, and the EFI on the 1.1 seems to not be able to direct 64 bits, even if the OS supports it.

Last question: do i put also bootcamp on the SSD? I am not too savy on the mac OS space allocation side; but I assume that the system files that has to be on the boot disk (Library, System and so on) are not that much, and I can move the app folder and the home folder on the regular HDD...any suggestions?

Thanks a lot, you really are very helpful and knowledgeable!

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Answer 10

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Mar 6, 2011 4:27 PM in response to darshie76

On paper it may 'look' similar to new, but as I tried to point out, more bandwidth, larger L3 cache, even PCIe 2.0 graphics - and for 3D add something more down the road.

I would take the 2010 2.8 4-core $2100 Special instead of new. Comes with 5770.

In two years or less, throw in a 3.33GHz 6-core; Quadro 4000.

I've heard mostly people finding X5355s on ebay but wherever should be fine.

Way I put it firstly was, you might spend $900, you might sell yours for $800, so you have a deficit gap in there, and the time between both transactions. The SSD does help and you'd probably want one no matter what.

You have to work around or reburn Windows 7 DVD/ISO. With 8-cores you actually would not HAVE to use Windows 7 Pro (Home Premium is single socket).

Gotta run for now...

http://jowie.com/blog/post/2008/02/24/Select-CD-ROM-Boot-Type-prompt-while-tryin g-to-boot-from-Vista-x64-DVD-burnt-from-iso-file.aspx

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Answer 11

darshie76 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 6, 2011 4:54 PM in response to The hatter

Thanks a lot for your replies!

In the end i get your point....upgrading a machine designed to run 4 years old is not the same as running one designed for today; I do not expect the same exact performances but just to be able to use the machine for another year or 2, until i gotta get a new machine (5 years are already about an era in computer time-lines:P).

I will check on Ebay for the X5355; i just wanna get a processor that is new, and not refurb and sold as new; and seems that many stores sell them as bulk without even warranty...if anyone knows a good place where to get them and the seller is reliable i would appreciate 🙂

I will also get the OCZ SSD; the prices seems the same everywhere so i will just go for the store that gives me more confidence (newegg).

Is there any other store selling 5770 at an affordable price?

As windows i have W7 Ultimate; hopefully it will run all my 8 cores not in single thread mode 🙂

I was told that it would run 64 bit version on 1.1, but then looking on various forums I discovered that the boot does not happen if you use the 64 bit, so I had to move on the 32 bit version...hopefully the article that you posted will help....last time i just gave up installing the 64 bit version on my 1.1 pro 🙂

Thanks again!

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