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2011 iMac vs. Mac Pro 1,1

C

cbrook824

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 10, 2011
5
0
Hey guys - Need some advice here.

I play a ton of Starcraft 2, and recently picked up Portal 2. When Diablo 3 comes out, I plan on giving up everything else in my life for that. Here is my current rig:

Mac Pro 1,1
3.0GHz Xeon Quad Core
14GB RAM (Excessive yes, but I got it this way)
ATI Radeon X1900XT


I am considering selling the Mac Pro to get a 2011 27in i7 iMac with the 2GB Video card. Is this a smart move, or should I just swap out my crappy X1900XT card for the 5770 for $250 and keep the money?
 
cbrook824 said:
I play a ton of Starcraft 2, and recently picked up Portal 2. When Diablo 3 comes out, I plan on giving up everything else in my life for that.
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I made the master league in Starcraft 2 solo last season, and even I hope that was a joke.

But on topic, I think it depends on what your current monitor is. Are you trying to drive a 30" monster at full resolution or something more reasonable? I like the iMac for its compactness, but if you're happy with your Mac Pro I'm not sure why else you'd want to ditch it for an iMac.
 
Zortrium said:
I made the master league in Starcraft 2 solo last season, and even I hope that was a joke.

But on topic, I think it depends on what your current monitor is. Are you trying to drive a 30" monster at full resolution or something more reasonable? I like the iMac for its compactness, but if you're happy with your Mac Pro I'm not sure why else you'd want to ditch it for an iMac.
Click to expand...



It was a joke! I actually have 2 monitors. One is a 21.5in Dell at 1920x1080, the other is a samsung TV that maxes at 720p.
 
I'd go for a 5870 instead of the 5770, but other than that you should be fine keeping your current machine if you're only looking to game. One word of caution, though: the 5870 on 1,1 Mac Pros seems to get the best results under Windows, not OS X. With a faster machine under OS X it will perform much better.
 
Keep that Mac Pro and upgrade the gpu. This will give you similar gaming performance for much less money.

And the iMacs mirror screen will suck for Diablo 3, where you will be running around in dark dungeons most of the time. With more dark colors on the screen the reflections become more and more distracting.
 
I guess what I was thinking is that I could sell the Mac Pro at roughly around half the cost of the iMac since it has the same form factor as the 2010 models, since the value of it is still solid and I will need to upgrade again at some point.
 
I did see some test results somewhere that showed the 5870 was only marginally faster then the 5770 which made many people conclude that the 5870 was not worth the extra $$$ over the 5770, this was strictly on a 1,1 machine though.
 
Personally I would make the move across to the iMac.

I have done so and it's fine (thought I went from a 2008 Octo Mac Pro)

The only issue is that when you are gaming you can't tab out and do other things as easily as it doesn't handle 'multi-tasking' as well.

But if you stick to a single thing at a time it's fine.

(oh and you'll save a bucket load in your power bills)
 
I have a 2008 Octo-core MacPro and even thought this office has a top of the line i7 iMac the most powerful machine in the room is still the 8 Core iMac with a brand new graphics card installed, especially when you want something heavy doing like encoding.

Even though you have the weaker Quad-core I would stick with the MacPro. Also you have the opportunity to swap out the MacPro CPU for a newer higher clocked model if you are game for a bit of hands on installation (you WILL lose your warranty).

So yeah my advice is keep the Pro and get a new GFX card the 1900 is woefully underpowered a new card will feel like a new machine for gaming.

Edwin
 
edddeduck said:
you WILL lose your warranty
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Warranty on a Mac Pro 1.1 from 2006? I would think it's already gone the way of the dodo. So the only thing at risk is the machine itself.

And I have to say I agree. My new Macbook Pro is equal to my 2.8 octo Mac Pro from 2008 in benchmarks, but when I start actually using them, it's like night and day. Mac Pro wins hands down.
 
Stiksi said:
Warranty on a Mac Pro 1.1 from 2006? I would think it's already gone the way of the dodo. So the only thing at risk is the machine itself.

And I have to say I agree. My new Macbook Pro is equal to my 2.8 octo Mac Pro from 2008 in benchmarks, but when I start actually using them, it's like night and day. Mac Pro wins hands down.
Click to expand...

I was leaving the warning just in case they had AppleCare or some other extended insurance, it tends to be voided if you break something yourself :)

But if you are careful and don't service your MacPro on a cheap carpet while moonwalking in nylon shoes you should be OK. :)

Edwin
 
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