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2008 to 2012 good upgrade?

F

Foxdog175

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 3, 2008
149
68
I do a lot of heavy Photoshop work. Coming from an early 08 MP with 12g ram, a 512 nvidia gpu, and no ssd, would the "new" MP be a substantial upgrade? Also, it looks like their 512 ssd dropped in price. Is it worth the cost now? I haven't seen any other sites that sell one that large.

Edit: aside from the ssd, I'd also be looking to increase the ram to at least 32g from a 3rd party retailer.
 
Opportunity cost. If buying now will get you further ahead than a potential SB-E MP later this year or next would, then do it. That's what I did this time last year and haven't looked back. It will help a whole lot using updated hardware from your 2008, especially with an SSD and up to 12 cores. But you're paying a premium on last generation technology literally the same as the 2010 gen with the exception of the 2.4GHz 12 core (slower) and the 3.06GHz 12 core (max 4% faster than the 2.93GHz)
 
Stick or twist.

I would sling a fair sized SSD in the 2008 and wait for the next one. I did exactly that in 2010 and see no reason to change till the spec does significantly more.
2 SSDs, one as system and one for scratch would be even better I guess. A pair of 2TB mechanical drives would probably cover storage in the other 2 bays.
Or even one of these: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDPHW2R240/ :D
 
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I'd stick with the box you have and drop in a SSD as mentioned above. I have access to newer boxes, and I don't see any big difference to be honest. I don't think it's worth jumping to any of this old tech for the minor gains you might see in what you are doing. SSD all the way though.
 
Other than an SSD, what would be the best one could hope to achieve in tricking out this old pony to last until the (snort) next upgrade?

Not to hijack, but if an SSD and a few other enhancements can breathe another year into this...

I'm looking for optimal results in video editing (minor After Effects). Currently have the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 card (512MB) and 14GB of RAM. I was hoping to upgrade as I am feeling the age of this machine, and as I am filming 3 cam (Panasonic AG-AC130s) really was hoping to get a new machine so I could edit the footage natively (no log and transfer into ProRes) in Premiere Pro...
 
treehorn said:
Other than an SSD, what would be the best one could hope to achieve in tricking out this old pony to last until the (snort) next upgrade?

Not to hijack, but if an SSD and a few other enhancements can breathe another year into this...

I'm looking for optimal results in video editing (minor After Effects). Currently have the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 card (512MB) and 14GB of RAM. I was hoping to upgrade as I am feeling the age of this machine, and as I am filming 3 cam (Panasonic AG-AC130s) really was hoping to get a new machine so I could edit the footage natively (no log and transfer into ProRes) in Premiere Pro...
Click to expand...

As a 2008 3.2Ghz 8 core owner I've more or less maxed out my machine with the following:
16GB Ram (yes you can go higher, but Ram for the 2008 models is insanely expensive compared to the newer MacPro's)
Apple 5870 graphics card. (Went with Apple to avoid any pitfalls with a cheaper flashed card). You can go with a higher spec flashed PC card but they might not be 100% compatible.
SSD SSD SSD SSD SSD SSD This one thing breathed so much life into my machine. Picked up a 256GB Crucial M4. Did the bracket hack so it's mounted in the normal internal bays. (super super easy, see below) OS and critical things on the SSD, media and everything else on other giant normal HD's. You can get a SATA III PCIe card, but from my minimal research you can't boot from the SSD when attached. So my SSD maxes out the SATAII connection, but the speed is still damn good compared to rotating disks, and the instant access makes the machine just seem so snappy.


Quick overview on the SSD bracket hack. The Crucial M4's come with a little tray to make the 2.5" SSD become your standard 3.5" size. Of course this isn't compatible with the Apple Drive sleds from the Mac Pro. I forget the Apple drive numbering scheme, but for this example lets say the drive closest to the front is #1, and the back is #4. You will need a normal 3.5" drive in Bay #3 for this to work.
So for a single SSD (my case) you remove the #4 (back) Apple Drive sled, and the normal drive in #3. Then screw the drive tray that came with the M4 into the drive mounted next to it using the side holes on the drive not used by the Apple bracket. So now you have a drive with one "Wing" on the right. The tray just hangs there in space, lined up with the bottom of the drive. Put it back into the MacPro. Then slide the SSD over the tray that's now hovering over Bay #4 and click it into the Mac Pro's backpane. As long as your MacPro isn't moving around it won't ever come off. The SSD is supported from below with zero stress on the connector. You can stick the unused drive sled back in also so you don't lose it, it won't mess with your SSD. You could even literally just click the drive in without the little tray holding it up but that would put a lot of stress on the connector. There are lot's of 2.5" to 3.5" sled adaptors out there, but this was free, quick, easy and has worked for about 6 months with no problem.
 
CIA said:
As a 2008 3.2Ghz 8 core owner I've more or less maxed out my machine with the following:
16GB Ram (yes you can go higher, but Ram for the 2008 models is insanely expensive compared to the newer MacPro's)
Apple 5870 graphics card. (Went with Apple to avoid any pitfalls with a cheaper flashed card). You can go with a higher spec flashed PC card but they might not be 100% compatible.
SSD SSD SSD SSD SSD SSD This one thing breathed so much life into my machine. Picked up a 256GB Crucial M4. Did the bracket hack so it's mounted in the normal internal bays. (super super easy, see below) OS and critical things on the SSD, media and everything else on other giant normal HD's. You can get a SATA III PCIe card, but from my minimal research you can't boot from the SSD when attached. So my SSD maxes out the SATAII connection, but the speed is still damn good compared to rotating disks, and the instant access makes the machine just seem so snappy.


Quick overview on the SSD bracket hack. The Crucial M4's come with a little tray to make the 2.5" SSD become your standard 3.5" size. Of course this isn't compatible with the Apple Drive sleds from the Mac Pro. I forget the Apple drive numbering scheme, but for this example lets say the drive closest to the front is #1, and the back is #4. You will need a normal 3.5" drive in Bay #3 for this to work.
So for a single SSD (my case) you remove the #4 (back) Apple Drive sled, and the normal drive in #3. Then screw the drive tray that came with the M4 into the drive mounted next to it using the side holes on the drive not used by the Apple bracket. So now you have a drive with one "Wing" on the right. The tray just hangs there in space, lined up with the bottom of the drive. Put it back into the MacPro. Then slide the SSD over the tray that's now hovering over Bay #4 and click it into the Mac Pro's backpane. As long as your MacPro isn't moving around it won't ever come off. The SSD is supported from below with zero stress on the connector. You can stick the unused drive sled back in also so you don't lose it, it won't mess with your SSD. You could even literally just click the drive in without the little tray holding it up but that would put a lot of stress on the connector. There are lot's of 2.5" to 3.5" sled adaptors out there, but this was free, quick, easy and has worked for about 6 months with no problem.
Click to expand...

I just used 2 way tape when I had my MP..attach 2 way tape insert stick it to the to put sled back in place..
 
GermanyChris said:
I just used 2 way tape when I had my MP..attach 2 way tape insert stick it to the to put sled back in place..
Click to expand...

And the drive lined up?


Here's a quick n dirty photo example of my mounting job The top pic shows looking up at the side mounted sled hack, and the bottom shows looking straight on at the drive to the backpane. I forgot I did take the screws out of the Apple drive sled to make it fit back in, but they are taped to the sled in a little baggy should I ever move back to a normal drive.
 
As another early 2008 Mac Pro owner -- eight cores, base -- I'm also curious about how that model compares with the 2010/2012 four core base, or the single hex core. Specifically, using Sound Track Pro for audio editing, would I see much if any performance improvements? Some operations, for example, now take an hour or more. If that could be reduced by half I'd save a lot of time...

Thanks for any/all responses.
 
relbbircs said:
As another early 2008 Mac Pro owner -- eight cores, base -- I'm also curious about how that model compares with the 2010/2012 four core base, or the single hex core. Specifically, using Sound Track Pro for audio editing, would I see much if any performance improvements? Some operations, for example, now take an hour or more. If that could be reduced by half I'd save a lot of time...

Thanks for any/all responses.
Click to expand...

Hex, yes. Quad core, probably not.
 
CIA said:
And the drive lined up?


Here's a quick n dirty photo example of my mounting job The top pic shows looking up at the side mounted sled hack, and the bottom shows looking straight on at the drive to the backpane. I forgot I did take the screws out of the Apple drive sled to make it fit back in, but they are taped to the sled in a little baggy should I ever move back to a normal drive.
Click to expand...

put the 2 way tape on the top, slide it into the sata port then push up…works like a charm..
 
relbbircs said:
As another early 2008 Mac Pro owner -- eight cores, base -- I'm also curious about how that model compares with the 2010/2012 four core base, or the single hex core. Specifically, using Sound Track Pro for audio editing, would I see much if any performance improvements? Some operations, for example, now take an hour or more. If that could be reduced by half I'd save a lot of time...

Thanks for any/all responses.
Click to expand...

Are those operations that are taking an hour or more using multiple cores?
If not then you won't get much performance gain.
 
Thanks CIA. I think I'll get me a 5870 and a SSD and let that hold me over until the highly anticipated 2013 update, which I'm sure will be all rainbows and unicorns and fulfill every fantasy I've ever had about computing.
 
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