I was wondering how long Apple actually support the Mac Pro models? I currently use the Mac Pro 1,1 which is still going strong and perfect for my needs but it can only run OS 10.7.5. I want to upgrade to Mavericks as some of my software requires Mavericks to run...I have been offered a Mac Pro 3,1 for a good price but does anyone know if I'll be able to run the next OS on it?
Thanks in advance
Yes it will, and you can use your RAM and hard drives. Whether it is a good value or not, but yes it will run Mavericks.
Depending on what you do a next gen Haswell Mac Mini might do the job too.
Thanks Hatter but I should have made that question a little clearer...I know it can run Mavericks, but my question related to how many more future OS's is it likely to be able to run. I wondered if Apple had a timescale for supporting (being able to run the latest OS) it's Mac Pro lineup?
I procees very large files and have 4 internal drives, so a straight switch to another Mac Pro would be my preferred choice. I have been offered the Mac Pro 3,1 for £645, including a years warranty, which I think is a reasonable offer.
Another question...would the MacPro3,1 with 2 x 2.8GHz Quad Processors (Eight Core) be a noticeable improvement for Photoshop work, compared to my existing Mac Pro 1,1, 2x 2.66Ghz, Dual Core Intel Xeon?
What software today is it that requires Maverick?
Yours can for US$100 upgrade to 2 x quad-core 53xx (2.66 or 3.0) would also be more efficient.
Apple 2010 Refurbished are in Apple US Store Specials for $2100, and there are probably plenty of 2009 4,1 for $1000 range.
- system on SSD, scratch array on PCIe SSD controller (Sonnet Tempo Pro SSD, $299)
Depends but FBDIMMs have gotten cheaper and 24-32GB.
There are performance limitations of even the 2008 in terms of memory bandwidth and graphic card performance. The Mac Pro suffer from disk bandwidth, which can be circumvented with SSDs and on PCIe but even the 2008 still has two PCIe 1.1 slots and is a fussy machine.
A Mac Mini with Thunderbolt and 4-core and 32GB RAM was what I had in mind. That sounds like a lot for a 3,1 to me though.
I use Rapidweaver 5 to build websites and I have upgraded the software to run on Mavericks on my laptop but have now lost the ability to sync the files between desktop and laptop, due to the fact that the Mavericks version won't work on my desktop running 10.7.5. I often work on my laptop when out and about but when I'm home, I use the desktop.
I understand what you are saying but I live in the UK and things are a lot more expensive here than in the US. The 3,1 is £645 + another £100 to extend the warranty to 3 years. So for £745, I can have 3 years trouble free computing and have the convenience of plugging in my existing drives and just running a software update, which is far less hassle than having to install everything from scratch.
The UK Apple store has no refurbished Mac Pros available and when I looked a couple of months ago, the available models were £2200, which I couldn't justify spending, especially with the release of the new Mac Pro...which is still not available in the UK (4-6 weeks).
You could put Mavericks on your 1,1
http://www.tonymacx86.com/413-multibeast-6-2-update.html
- there are likely other methods if you look around and being done.
Mac Pro 2,1 and OS X Mavericks
Mac 7950 on the ground, EFI works in 1,1 Mac Pro but drivers don't
Mac Pro1,1 10.9.2 (Tiamo) Graphic Card Suggestions
What to expect and how to get the most out of a 3,1 probably:
Have I hit the ceiling? Is there anything else to make my Mac Pro 3,1 Faster?
I added a 500GB Samsung EVO on Sonnet Tempo SSD for data (could have another for scratch or to create an array), 256GB EVO for system on stock drive bay which is great, and 5770, 8 x 2GB; and running Lion like yours and very pleased performance wise. The 8-core and 2,1 firmware plus Mavericks would be icing on the cake.
I do have a 4-core i5 (4th gen 4771) all SATA 6G (6 ports inside), PCIe 3.0 it is an amazing system, uses UEFI and has 2 x 8GB (32GB supported). PSU, case, video I already had so $600 investment.
Thanks for the info, however, because I use this machine for business and not being that computer savvy as far as delving into the innards goes...I think I prefer to go the conventional route and have a warranty in place too.
Re my original question, I've spoken to a Mac tech bloke and he said that there's no reason why future OS's won't work on the 3,1 because they are 64bit processors and that is the only reason that the 1,1 won't run the latest OS...does that sound correct?
It is a little more subtle than that. The firmware shipped in the Mac Pro 1,1 and 2,1 cannot run 64-bit kernel, which allows for the use of large RAM memory and more advanced software and later (fully 64-bit) versions of Mac OS X. And that firmware cannot be upgraded (probably because there is not enough space for the later versions).
At this writing, we cannot see any obvious items that might cause the next "kink" that would leave certain models behind. Maybe something like not having ThunderBolt will become an issue someday, but it is not an issue yet.
Thanks Grant, that's the information I was looking for.
For Photoshop work, would I get more performance from a Mac Pro 5,1 (late 2010) 1 x Quad Core 3.2GHz Intel Xeon Processor with 16Gb DDR3 ECC RAM at £1245 or would the performance gains over the MacPro 3,1 with 2 x 2.8GHz Quad Processors (Eight Core) and 8GB RAM not be worth the extra £600? Would I be better off spending the difference on an SSD drive for the 3,1?
Yes the 5,1 is better in terms of PCIe 2.x slots, memory type and bandwidth, graphics, even using and booting from 3rd party PCIe SSD controllers. And you can throw in a 6-core 3.33.
One things about the 2008, it isn't even fully UEFI-64 and does not officially support Windows 8 as a result. It has a hybred PCIe 2.0 and 1.1 configuration. Of all the Pro models, it has the most personality quarks.
Geekbench has some results to get an idea.
No matter what system, you should have SSD for the system in today's world. SSDs are cheap for what they do and what you get. A 500GB US$299 now.
You would also need to plan to put 8 x 2GB or more RAM - 8GB is not enough, not for photoshop work. I even run more than 8GB a lot and not using photoshop.
The Hatter...a question re SSD...
I am thinking of purchasing a Mac Pro 5,1 3.2ghz Quad and adding a Sonnet Tempo Pro SSD SATA 600 PCIe 2.0 Controller which will take 2x 480GB SSD's in RAID0, which will accommodate my system only. The Mac has an ATI5770 graphics card installed, which I have in my existing Mac Pro 1,1 but will there be enough room to fit the Sonnet card, as the graphics card is quite large?
Would this setup give me a noticable speed increase over my existing Mac Pro 1,1?
there are four pcie card slots impossible not to have double wide gpu and 2 or 3 sonnet cards.
I would look at different SSDs and controller unless you own them already
system does not take 500GB move non systemitems to another drive
system does not need SATA III the stock drive bay is fine
use pcie for scratch, aperture, lightroom though
this thread was markedsolved once already.
How long do Apple support Mac Pro models?
