Which second hand Mac Pro to choose

Question

Level 1

0 points

Which second hand Mac Pro to choose

Hello,

Now I am using a 21,5" iMac with a cinema display 20". It has a 3,06 core 2 duo processor - 8gb - 1TB. My iMac has been to the repair so often because of the LED displays. I want a mac without a LED display and just want to use my 20" and hopefully another 20" or an 23" cinema display.

I got 4 Mac Pro's with different prices and I don't know what to choose. One thing I know for sure and that is I want a faster Mac Pro than my iMac is now. I want the same or a better graphic card.

1. Mac pro 1,1 - 2 x 2,66 processor - 14gb - 2 x 2TB (It has 4 x 2tb and asks €2000) I don't have that money so I asked for 2 x 2 tb and he is willing to do that. This Mac Pro comes with a 23" cinema display. I said I want it for €1300 euro, but I did not have an reply yet.

2. Mac Pro 3,1 - 2 x 2,8(quad core) processor - 4gb - 1,8 TB --> €1300

Ati Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB

3. Mac Pro 4,1 - 1 x 2,66 (quad core) processor - 12gb - 640 gb --> €1350

NVIDIA GeForce

4. Mac Pro 1,1 - 2 x 2,66 processor - 6gb - 1 TB --> €750

GeForce 7300 GT 256 VIDEOCARD

Best regards,

Cathelijne

Posted on Jan 29, 2012 7:03 AM

Reply

Answer 1

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jan 29, 2012 7:15 AM in response to MacZwik

MacPro3,1 or even 5,1

If Apple Store Specials has US$2100 5,1 2,8 4-core that is 2010 and good base platform - you can drop in a new processor.

WHAT you want to do matters the most. Obviously even today's 4-core iMac packs a punch, Do you do hgih end graphics and need 24GB RAM perhaps? or need 6-core 3.3GHz? or just a solid home/buiness computer?

Mac Pro Specials

Plan on replacing graphic cards oin any/all of these.

Truth is also any can be a nice enough system. Even the 1,1 you will find people upgrading the processor to 8-core ( 2 x 4-core 2.66 $US500 )

Don't worry about RAM and drives, and 2 x 2TB enterprise drives are value about $US400 only.

That 4,1 with Nvidia GT120 / DDR3 and support for 3 x 8GB as well.

Geekbench would be nice to compare the 3,1 to 4,1 for instance.

Reply

Answer 2

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jan 29, 2012 7:56 AM in response to The hatter

http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/#64bit

Reply

Answer 3

MacZwik Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 29, 2012 8:06 AM in response to The hatter

Many thanks for your reply. I am going to do an education about product design. Think I am going to work with Indesign, Illustrator, AutoCad maybe? Not sure which software I need. I use premiere with HD 60 fps movies, but that is just for home made movies. I want a mac that is better than the one I have. I also want to buy a Mac Pro that has the things I want in it and I don't have to buy more RAM or harddisks of processors for at least a year. Which one is the best of the list you think an which one is faster than the one I have?

I have looked for refurbished ones, but I live in europe and couldn't find any Mac Pro as a refurbished one.

Reply

Answer 4

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jan 29, 2012 8:15 AM in response to MacZwik

Apple Store Speicals seem to be USA and France

Those are good solid ref'd units though there could be other outlets.

The scores of your imac were in the 4000 while any of the 3,1 and later are in the 9000s

RAM is cheap. http://www.macsales.com/memory $300 24GB for Mac Pro 4,1

RAM for 1,1 are expensive. But 4GB really won't do or cut it on that 3,1 model either.

Mac Pro you should be upgrading disk drives.

The 4,1 looks promising and there you still are going to need RAM and hard drives maybe even video card if not today at some point.

A 3 yr old system drive is ready for backup purpose or you need to plan for failure no matter what. Don't know what your backups look like but 2-3 sets.

Reply

Answer 5

MacZwik Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 29, 2012 8:20 AM in response to The hatter

Thanks. In the benchmark test the 3,1 8 core seems faster than the 4,1 quad core. I have an external backup for my Mac Pro. It is 1 TB. So It is not necessary to have a backup in my Mac Pro. I think I am not going to buy the 1,1. Think they are too old. Still have to choose between the 3,1 and 4,1. Price is almost the same. The 3,1 has more HD the 4,1 has more RAM...

Reply

Answer 6

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jan 29, 2012 8:26 AM in response to MacZwik

System OS and Apps

Data drive

Editing

Backup

Output

TimeMachine needs 350% your data needs

Clones are bootable backups - consider those a must also

the difference between 4 and 6GB of RAM doesn't tell or help.

the cost of DDR3 as I said is lot cheaper and performs better

If you can afford the 4,1 go for that. Just don't short change yourself on not feeding the beast what it needs to function, as a system.

A lot of people would say a combinaton of an SSD system, 2 x 8GB RAM, and wait for disk drive prices to improve as the effects of flooding at started to receed, both in price and production ram-up.

Reply

Answer 7

MacZwik Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 29, 2012 8:55 AM in response to The hatter

Sorry I don't know much about clones. I had an iMac and a time machine disk, so that wasn't necessarry. In case I will buy a Mac Pro soon. How do you clone a hard disk? I asume you do this with a special program.

Thanks I am also considering the 4,1. This only thing is, it "only" has 1 quad-core of 2,66 GHz while the 3,1 has 2 quad-cores of 2,8 GHz. The ram of the 4,1 is for the beginning enough. It is 12 gb. So the only thing I have to upgrade about the 4,1 are the harddrives...

Do you think i will notice any difference between the quad-core 2,66, with 12gb RAM and the 8-core 2,8, with 4gb RAM?

Reply

Answer 8

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jan 29, 2012 9:01 AM in response to MacZwik

Cloning as a Backup Strategy

TimeMachine alone isn't enough, a combo of both should be minimum.

Reply

Answer 9

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jan 29, 2012 9:07 AM in response to MacZwik

The difference in RAM prices. And memory bandwidth performance. 12GB should be fine.

The difference in Geekbench scores.

Difference in Hyper-threading a 4-core vs 8-core still favors 8 but... not enough.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Mac-Pro-Memory

MacPerformanceGuide Nehalem Memory Test

Reply

Answer 10

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jan 29, 2012 9:28 AM in response to MacZwik

Mac Pro (Early 2008)

Intel Xeon E5462 2.8 GHz (8 cores) 9231

Mac Pro (Early 2009)

Intel Xeon W3520 2.67 GHz (4 cores) 8273

http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/

I don't see that as enough to go back to 2008 with older (hotter, more expensive, less) RAM.

And if you were up to and wanted, 2009 and 2010 made processor upgrades easy. For $325:

http://ark.intel.com/products/39721/Intel-Xeon-Processor-W3565-%288M-Cache-3_20- GHz-4_80-GTs-Intel-QPI%29

http://www.buy.com/prod/intel-xeon-up-w3565-3-20-ghz-processor-socket-b-lga-1366 -quad-core-4/214920778.html

Look at the score that W3565 gives, and if you look around and browse take you into 10-11k benchscores.

http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/497952

Reply

Answer 11

MacZwik Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 29, 2012 9:17 AM in response to The hatter

Yep, I think you are right! Thanks a lot for your answer. Now I hope my iMac is sold for about 900 euro so I have to pay 400 for the Mac Pro 4,1. :-)

Reply

Answer 12

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jan 29, 2012 9:28 AM in response to MacZwik

I already spent your 400 euro for you as you can see!

I have a 2.66 2009 and while it may not be the fastest or play highest game frames, it has proven itself many times over. I was forced to buy RAM at one point when prices were high ($200 for 3 x 2GB) and today $68 would buy 3 x 4GB which would be nice to have.

An SSD is another way to give lot new performance and life to any system, so I would plan for one someday. Kick in the pants like a turbo-boost.

Look at the score that W3565 gives, and if you look around and browse take you into 10-11k benchscores.

http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/497952

Reply

Answer 13

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jan 29, 2012 9:39 AM in response to MacZwik

Close this with Apple 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 refurbished Apple Store Special:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FB871LL/A

Reply

Answer 14

MacZwik Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 30, 2012 1:39 PM in response to The hatter

Today got a really great offer. Mac Pro 3,1 - 2 x 2,8 quad core - 14 gb RAM - 1,8 TB for €1150. So 200 euro's less than the other 2 models. I think I am going for this one! You think this is a good choice?

I will build in a ssd for Lion and my aplications later on!

Reply

Answer 15

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jan 30, 2012 3:26 PM in response to MacZwik

I thought I made my thoughts clear. And DDR3 is faster and cheaper and doesn't heat up either. 4,1 has better graphics. A 2TB drive should not even be a consideration.

If you can't buy otherwise; if you will have trouble getting what you need selling yours; but up to you.

And for $300US you can out run 3,1 8-core with a new processor if you wanted.

buying 4 yr old system remember.

Reply