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2008 Mac Pro Upgrade Questions

G

GrannySmiths

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 4, 2011
11
0
I have a 2008 Mac Pro lying about, I swapped it for an 2010 MBP about 8 months ago. I've never actually used it as the old owner took most the RAM out and left me 1GB.

I was on the market for a new Apple system to complement my 2013 MBP for music production. But I had an idea. The 2008 Mac Pro I have is able to run Mavericks.

I hear these machine are work horses, so is it worth upgrading the hell out of it to make it a quick machine to run Logic Pro and Abelton Live?

I was thinking about upgrading the CPU, putting 32GB RAM in it and a 512 SSD. Is there anything else I'm missing? (Edit: Forgot about a new Graphics Card ... not sure which is a good one to go for though)

If I was to do this, would it be a powerful machine to last me a good while for music production or would it be worth investing in a top of the line iMac or the new Mac Pro?

Upgrading would save me money. And I see some of the 2008 machines that are maxed out going for thousands on eBay. I'm thinking I could spend about £1000 to max out the Mac Pro.

Is it worth it? Would the machine be quick? And any pitfalls to watch out for?

Recommendations on upgrade hardware would be excellent too.

Thank you

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Damn! I just checked the model number and it's actually a 2006! I feel ripped off now!

Looks like this is useless as Logic 10 only works on Mavericks.

Here's the model numbers:

#CK711000XZS
A1186
 
Well, I just read your update, after typing all of the stuff below...so I guess disregard it...or read it for fun. Typed too much to just backspace through it, lol.

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If you have the 8 core 2008 model, you should definitely keep it and use it. A 2010 macbook pro is actually a significant downgrade. And there's no need to upgrade the processor. If you're working with 64bit, multi-core capable projects, the 2008 mac pro (8 core) beats even the 2013 i5 iMacs, and all of the 2010-2011 macbook pro's in benchmarks.

And the upgrades shouldn't be anywhere near £1000. I maxed mine out with 32gb of ram off amazon for $225, and you can get a 512gb ssd for around $250.Which is like ~£290 total for you.

I have a 2011 quad i7 macbook pro, and my mac pro just kills it. Obviously the significant graphics card upgradability in the Mac Pro makes a world of difference.
 
Is it still worth upgrading this Mac? I know it supports 32GB RAM and runs Lion. Which is ok because Abelton Live will run on Lion, and it can still run in 64-bit mode.

I'm not sure if it's the 2.66GHz model or the 3.0GHz, will have to boot it up in the morning.

But, I should be able to upgrade the CPU, RAM, SSD and Graphics. So long as I can still run Abelton which it can, would this still be a fast and stable machine?

Thank you for your response.
 
Mac Pro 3,1 prices have dropped very fast since the arrival of the nMP. My tricked out 2.8 octo has dropped from £1200 to about £700 in less than a year, even with 16 GB RAM, SSD and a Sapphire 5870 on board.
The upside is that they are now an economical upgrade option for 1,1 owners who want Mavericks.

My 3,1 is going nowhere, I'm replacing hard drives and soldiering on.
 
GrannySmiths said:
Damn! I just checked the model number and it's actually a 2006! I feel ripped off now!

Looks like this is useless as Logic 10 only works on Mavericks.

Here's the model numbers:

#CK711000XZS
A1186
Click to expand...

It's 2006 for sure. You can be max it out to 2x 5365 + 32GB RAM for about £300 - quick UK ebay search (pair of CPUs £150, 8x 4GB RAM £160). If you'd look more carefully total cost can certainly be lower, especially the RAM.
You can install 10.9 on it and use it thanks to tiamo's bootloader - see "Mac Pro 1,1-2,1 and Mavericks" thread on the forum.
Is it worth it? You need to answer it yourself.
 
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