Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

2010 Mac Pro 5.1, is it still worth buying?

Good to see Mac Pro 5.1 fans here. I agree that's the best looking desktop workstation Apple has ever done. I bought it in December 2010 6-core 3.33Ghz ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB, 3GB RAM & 2TB hard drive (which works well until today!). I love the fact it has 4 bays for HDD + you can fit SSD in one of the CD slot.

The only thing I replaced was 3x 4GB RAM, so I have 12GB RAM & added OWC 120GB SSD (in 2010 as well, still running rock solid as a main drive). I was thinking whether to sell it and buy a new Mac Pro but the new shiny black doesn't fascinate me that much. I would probably prefer to buy iMac instead. With the OS X upgrades we will see, but I have not even upgraded to Sierra yet, while El Capitan gets all the security updates.

I am thinking which upgrades would be worth doing:

1. RAM? Add 8GB ($47) to make it 20GB RAM or replace all with 4x 8GB ($160 OWC) or 3x 16GB ($285).
2. 6G OWC SSD 240GB ($164) or 480GB ($260). I don't use it for storage but 120GB I currently have is definitely too small.
3. USB 3.0 , Sonnet Allegro USB 3.0 4-Port ($55) or something better?

Anything else worth upgrading?
 
carpsafari said:
Do not buy OWC ram!! Way to expensive and slow too.
SSD the same, don't buy OWC.
Sonnet usb is fine.
Click to expand...

My experience with OWC SSD is that it has been working rock solid for the past 6,5 year, sometimes you pay for the quality as well I think? Beside they have ready to implement solution: OWC Mercury Accelsior S + OWC Mercury Electra 6G. Any cheaper alternatives?
 
OWC SSD's are about the slowest around!
For a Samsung EVO you pay $100

OWC ram the same!

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

OWC excelsior the same crap!
For the same money buy a SM951, 4x as fast same price.
 
stiwi said:
My experience with OWC SSD is that it has been working rock solid for the past 6,5 year, sometimes you pay for the quality as well I think? Beside they have ready to implement solution: OWC Mercury Accelsior S + OWC Mercury Electra 6G. Any cheaper alternatives?
Click to expand...

I've read of quite a few OWC SSD failures. I don't know if they still use them, but there was a time when they used SandForce controllers which relied on compression to achieve their advertised speeds. Unfortunately, if the data you are writing is already compressed, you would not see the same levels of performance.

Honestly, buying from OWC does not mean you are paying for quality. You are just paying inflated prices for lower quality.

Alternatives? Samsung SSDs are probably the most popular. I've personally used and installed many, many Crucials. SanDisk is also good. These guys are NAND manufacturers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: h9826790
SM951 256 GB AHCI $120 + I will need Lycom DT-120 M.2 PCIe to PCIe 3.0 ($20). OWC SSD Mercury Electra 6G including brackets is $130 but yes, it is not a flash memory but SSD. Question whether a difference can been seen between those two in normal use and how much you can actually achieve on Mac Pro 5,1

4x8GB RAM $160 from OWC & $96 from A-Tech (Amazon), however A-Tech has two prices: $96 for registered RAM & $175 unbuffered RAM , any difference between them?
 
Bought. Thanks! Really good buy. $36 cheaper than OWC, plus I get another stick.

Now the question is should I use 24GB or all of 36GB...
 
grcar said:
For some reason TWO different machines are called mac pro 5,1. The mid 2010 machines have model numbers MCXXXLL/A. The mid 2012 machines have model numbers MDXXXLL/A.

You are much better off buying the 2012 machines. Apple has a policy of keeping a model running for 7 years after introduction, so the 2012 MDXXXLL/A will last until 2019. That means the software will work, and you can bring it in to an Apple store for repairs if all else fails.

I recommend the quad core MD770LL/A. It should cost about $700. Beware many sellers change the firmware on the 2010 models to make them appear to be 2012 machines.

There is something special about 2012 Apple products. The mac mini people swear their 2012 mac minis are the best. Maybe the ghost of Steve Jobs wanted one last batch of insanely great products.
Click to expand...


Is this a sarcastic post?
[doublepost=1495140730][/doublepost]OP. I'd say no, as a professional photographer.

Your laptop will be much faster for photo editing.
 
Thought I'd join in. I have a 2009 4,1 system, quad core 2.66. Just ordered a 12 core, 3.33 with 64gb RAM, PCIe SSD, USB 3.0 NVIDIA GTX 780 and I'll be adding another HD or two....

Should have it all together by next week, i'll keep everyone posted.
 
  • Like
Reactions: howiest
Does anyone think a 5,1 with 12 core and 32GB RAM (and 1TB hdd) is worth $900 today? I saw one on sale and is wondering if I should bite. I am currently using a MacBook Pro Esc 13" (2017) and really looking to get more power in a desktop class for some light video processing. I worry the Xeons are too old and too hot (and noisy). I definitely can't afford the upcoming Mac Pro and do not think Mac Mini is good enough (is it)?
 
belfong said:
Does anyone think a 5,1 with 12 core and 32GB RAM (and 1TB hdd) is worth $900 today? I saw one on sale and is wondering if I should bite. I am currently using a MacBook Pro Esc 13" (2017) and really looking to get more power in a desktop class for some light video processing. I worry the Xeons are too old and too hot (and noisy). I definitely can't afford the upcoming Mac Pro and do not think Mac Mini is good enough (is it)?
Click to expand...

Absolutely not.
What I, and many have done is to get a base model 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 (actually I have 2 of them), upgrade the firmware to 5,1, and then build it up. Add a processor upgrade like the X5680 3.33 GHz 6-Core for pocket change ($30.00 to $40.00 on eBay), and then add RAM and fast storage. Also, add a good supported GPU like the Sapphire Radeon Pulse 580.

I paid $290.00 for my last 2009 base Mac Pro a year ago. A 2010/2012 Mac Pro will cost more, but $900.00 is ridiculous in 2019.

Keep in mind that you're buying a 2 year computer. You can run the latest OS for 2 years, after that you're on your own. I'm okay with that, but others are not. Full disclosure, you're talking to a guy running a mint, max'ed out, 2007 MacBookPro with El Capitan installed. I like the older days of Apple... forgive me.

I researched the new Mac Mini, but I have misgivings about the throttling and the quirks of having to buy an eGPU. I've waffled back and forth, even considering an iMac, but I'm leaning toward a Hackintosh when these workhorses are no longer viable.

Good luck with whatever you choose!
 
Thanks sir. My predicament is that I’m not in the US or UK where, base on eBay, there seems to be a lot of users of Mac Pro letting go. Where I live, there are currently around 4 Mac Pros on sale. And there in also lies another problem which is upgradability - although that’s lesser of a problem because I could buy them off eBay US since the items are smaller and thus cheaper shipping cost - but for a complete huge system like the Mac Pro base, I have to get from a local buyer.

There is a 2008 3,1 at US$250, but I don’t think I want that as that’s not useful at all.
 
howiest said:
Keep in mind that you're buying a 2 year computer. You can run the latest OS for 2 years, after that you're on your own. I'm okay with that, but others are not. Full disclosure, you're talking to a guy running a mint, max'ed out, 2007 MacBookPro with El Capitan installed. I like the older days of Apple... forgive me.
Click to expand...

I hope with Dosdudes help future macOS will not be an issue on the Mac Pro 4,1/5,1: http://dosdude1.com/catalina/

E.g. look at the excellent Mojave support for older Mac's: http://dosdude1.com/mojave/
 
belfong said:
Does anyone think a 5,1 with 12 core and 32GB RAM (and 1TB hdd) is worth $900 today? I saw one on sale and is wondering if I should bite. I am currently using a MacBook Pro Esc 13" (2017) and really looking to get more power in a desktop class for some light video processing. I worry the Xeons are too old and too hot (and noisy). I definitely can't afford the upcoming Mac Pro and do not think Mac Mini is good enough (is it)?
Click to expand...

I was in the same predicament in terms of getting a desktop machine to do video and photo editing and processing and the Mac Pro 5,1 is a great upgrade over my older Mac Mini 2011 as well as my Macbook Air 2014. There are a couple of things to note. The Xeons are too old in the 4,1 and 5,1 compared to today's current Core i series found in your Macbook Pro as well as in the newer Mac Mini. And that is Quicksync -- a hardware encoding/decoding h.264 and h.265 (in newer Macs) that can encode and decode finished edited video into a final playable format. The Xeon CPU does not have Quicksync and this is the downside of the Mac Pro 5,1. The only workable solution is to use a compatible GPU and hack the Mac Pro 5,1 into using the GPU to encode/decode in h.264. Pretty much most of the video encoding/decoding is spent on creating that final h.264 video file, so you will be very disappointed with the Mac Pro 5,1 if compare Quicksync vs CPU encoding. Which is why I kept my Macbook Air because the Air could encode a 1hr 4K to 1080pHD with quicksync in 51min as opposed to my 8 core Mac Pro 5,1 in 1hr and 45min with only CPU encoding. I use Davinci Resolve and my Air just to read the projects made by the Mac Pro off the Mini's server and batch render it, while I can continue editing video on the Mac Pro.

The plus side of the Mac Pro 5,1 is its ability to accept most compatible GPU and this helps processing video footage by speeding up the rendering and the graphics part compared to a Mac that does not have one. The majority of video editing software including iMovie supports a good GPU. If the GPU has 8Gb of GDDR5 and higher, then timeline editing will be very smooth. At least smoother and quicker than your Macbook Pro. There are video processing software like Avidemux (video enhancing and up-rezing software) and Mercalli SAL Mac (a professional grade video stabilizer software better than iMovie and most FCPX/Vegas as it analyzes all motion vectors before fixing) will utilize all threads. So if you have a 12 core mac, all 24 threads will be used to speed up video enhancing and stabilizing and this will smoke your Macbook Pro 2017. Plus if you RAID your drives and install a NVMe scratch drive in the Mac Pro, it will make video production so much more efficient. These were the reasons why I didn't buy the newer Mac Mini 2018, because my Mac Pro 5,1 as it currently stands is the same as the Mini i3 2018 in multi-core performance but comes with a RX580 enough memory for 4K video editing and RAID drives for $100 cheaper than a stock base refurb 2018 Mac Mini i3 without any external RAID drives, eGPU and more RAM.

Heating management is definitely on Mac Pro's side. It just never gets too hot nor too loud fan wise even under load. Contrast that to my Mini and the Air and the spinning fan sounds like a Top Gun Maverick jet engine howling for take off during heavy loads. I had to put cooling fans on both my Macbook Air and Mini to cool them down under heavy loads or they will throttle speeds. No need for that with the Mac Pro.

In terms of pricing, I found that US prices are by far the most cheapest in terms of higher end Mac Pros. Like in your country, where I live in Canada, prices for Mac Pros are insanely high. I mean, some people are asking $600-800 Cad even for a Mac Pro 3,1 or $1700 Cad for the same Mac Pro 5,1 you're looking at, though that one comes with an aging Quadro 4000 GPU. I was lucky enough to get a loaded Mac Pro 4,1 flashed to 5,1 for the same US price in Canada, but it's pretty rare.

Another option you can do is to add an eGPU (an external GPU) to help with your light video editing. All you need is to buy a external box like the Akitio Node and a GPU (Radeon Vega 56 or RX580) and then connect it to your Macbook Pro and have the best of both worlds. You have Quicksync for encoding and you have the GPU for speeding up timeline editing.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: belfong and DPUser
Do not buy a 3,1. Not upgradeable (in any meaningful way). 4,1 with firmware hack to 5,1 is OK, but it is easier to upgrade CPUs in dual "real" 5,1s, because they don't use de-lidded CPUs.

Once the 7,1 hits the stores, there may be an increase in supply of used 5,1s.

The new Mac Mini with eGPU might be your best option.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MisterAndrew and belfong
Synchro3 said:
I hope with Dosdudes help future macOS will not be an issue on the Mac Pro 4,1/5,1: http://dosdude1.com/catalina/

E.g. look at the excellent Mojave support for older Mac's: http://dosdude1.com/mojave/
Click to expand...


I tried for fun dosdude mod to install Catalina on my Mac Pro 5.1 on a clean Samsung SSD with only a fresh copy of the latest Mojave on it and it simply hangs at the END of the install after I press the start (install) button.
Is it normal or am I missing something?
Everything went normal up to that point....right at the end.....
 
Last edited:
5,1s are really becoming worthless here in the USA now that they're obsolete. There are 5 available on eBay right now for pickup in California for $199 or best offer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: belfong
iluvmacs99 said:
Which is why I kept my Macbook Air because the Air could encode a 1hr 4K to 1080pHD with quicksync in 51min as opposed to my 8 core Mac Pro 5,1 in 1hr and 45min with only CPU encoding. I use Davinci Resolve and my Air just to read the projects made by the Mac Pro off the Mini's server and batch render it, while I can continue editing video on the Mac Pro.
Click to expand...
Thanks for such a detailed write-up. I am not aware of QuickSync technology and if these are available in modern CPU, then you are absolutely right - at that price of US$900 for the Mac Pro 5,1 here, I might as well go for the 2018 Mac Mini. While it is not as much fun as compare the ability to mod the Mac Pro, I think the mini is practical for my usage. It's small to fit on a table top, quiet and have modern technology.

MisterAndrew said:
5,1s are really becoming worthless here in the USA now that they're obsolete. There are 5 available on eBay right now for pickup in California for $199 or best offer.
Click to expand...
Wow, I wouldn't mind spending $199 just for the fun of playing with the Mac Pro. Alas, those are not available here. Ok, one day if I visit the USA, I be sure to check these out.
 
MisterAndrew said:
5,1s are really becoming worthless here in the USA now that they're obsolete. There are 5 available on eBay right now for pickup in California for $199 or best offer.
Click to expand...

Those are probably single processor models. A fast, dual CPU 5,1 still has some value, at least for audio work. A 2018 i7 Mac Mini is slower and not inexpensive with the basic 32GB memory, a 1TB SSD and third party storage enclosure. This will no doubt change when Apple eventually updates the Mac Mini, also driving down the value of all the 2013 Mac Pros.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DPUser
A couple of thoughts:

Many of the so-called "5,1" Mc Pros for sale are 4,1s with EFI updated to 5,1 status. Not that such machines work any less well than "true" 5,1s, they just have an extra year or more of mileage.

While I concur that dual 5,1s still have value for audio work (I use one every day), I'd extend that to single CPU X5680 and 90/W3680 and 90 machines. While the extra cores of a dual come in very handy for massive projects and when dealing with multiple VIs, a single CPU 5,1 is eminently useable for a plethora of audio recording and mixing projects.

I picked up my 2010 5,1 dual CPU for $500 about 2 years back. Dropped in two X5680s for under $100 total. Even today, the value proposition at that price holds up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back