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

$600 eBay Mac Pro Mid 2010 project.

verdejt

verdejt

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 19, 2011
363
110
Central Florida
Ok here is the latest update on my $600 2010 MacPro 5,1. After spending about 15 minutes getting all the dust out of it with a blower I put it all back together. It does in fact have 2x2.24Ghz Quad Core processors, 32Gb of RAM, a 250Gb Samsung EVO 840 SSD, 1Tb Western Digital Black HDD, Superdrive, I removed the Geforce 760 (PC) video card and installed a NVIDIA GeForce GTX680 with support for CUDA and Metal and 4K flashed for MAC (that was 225 on eBay). It had 2 other PCI cards installed but I removed them. 1. Decklink HD Extreme 3D+ and a Solarflare SFN5122F Dual-Port 10Gbe server adapter. I've tested a few of the ports and so far they seem to be working. The only downside like I said is the right front "foot" is bent and partially pulled away from the frame. I'm going to try this weekend (when I will have some real free time) and muscle it back into some sort of better shape. Later on I can purchase a new/used enclosure and swap everything over and it will be better than new. All in all I'm pretty happy with it so far. Of course I'm going to reload the OS with something a little newer. It's currently running El Capitan and I want to at least put Sierra if not High Sierra on it. Then once all is settled I intend to try the Mojave beta and see how it runs.
 
Well this morning I ran Etercheck and man it took forever to complete. I did get a lot of warnings about 32 bit software but no errors hardware wise. Tonight when I get home I’m going to format the SSD and load either Sierra or High Sierra on it and see how that goes.
 
Excellent! Bummer about the foot, no one ever seems to package these sufficiently to prevent damage. This type of damage is why I am very reluctant to buy one which has to be shipped. If there's one advantage to the 6,1 it's that it's a lot easier to ship without damage.

How are you liking it so far?
 
  • Like
Reactions: verdejt
So far pretty good. I have found a new enclosure online for about a hundred bucks so a little bit down the road that might happen. I’ve only had about an hour to tinker with it. Since I have Fridays off because we work 4/10 hour days most of the hardcore stuff will have to wait until then. I might try to reload it tonight if time permits if not this weekend for sure. I could not believe the amount of dust inside this thing. I had a pile almost the size of a small rabbit. I was afraid to power it up before cleaning it out.
 
Instead of swapping all the parts into a new case, grab a 2010 single-CPU in good shape, swap the CPU trays, upgrade CPUs in both machines to hex, and sell the spare. I did that a few months back and made money on the deal.
 
  • Like
Reactions: verdejt
I want a 2010 dual-cpu tray (I already have a pair of hex-core Xeons) I've been keeping an eye on the prices online, and $300 - $400 is the going rate right now for a tray with quads and RAM. The thing is, a dual-CPU 2010 mac pro can be had for about $700. I've been unable to sell my 2008 or 2009, so until that happens, I'm rocking the single CPU.

DPUser said:
Instead of swapping all the parts into a new case, grab a 2010 single-CPU in good shape, swap the CPU trays, upgrade CPUs in both machines to hex, and sell the spare. I did that a few months back and made money on the deal.
Click to expand...
 
DPUser said:
Craigslist and Ca$h can be the source for an amazing deal... I picked up my Octo 2010 (now 12 core) for $500 late last year.
Click to expand...
Craigslist or other local purchase for me. Unfortunately, as the OP has discovered, shipping damage is a real possibility. I've read too many stories of damaged cases due to shipping.
[doublepost=1532021603][/doublepost]
verdejt said:
So far pretty good. I have found a new enclosure online for about a hundred bucks so a little bit down the road that might happen. I’ve only had about an hour to tinker with it. Since I have Fridays off because we work 4/10 hour days most of the hardcore stuff will have to wait until then. I might try to reload it tonight if time permits if not this weekend for sure. I could not believe the amount of dust inside this thing. I had a pile almost the size of a small rabbit. I was afraid to power it up before cleaning it out.
Click to expand...
Amazing how dirty some of these systems get. I routinely blow mine out with compressed air to keep them in good working order.

Anyone see that video by the 8-bit Guy where he restores the very grungy Vic-20? Amazing it was still operational given the environment it was exposed to.
 
I think the foot was damaged from a previous ship. My unit was packed very well and the box had no dents or damage to suggest that it was never dropped.
 
No but but the description said used and had minor scratches and dents and other normal wear and tear defects.
However unless it was almost pristine a new case was in the future. So I'm not mad or disappointed.
 
verdejt said:
No but but the description said used and had minor scratches and dents and other normal wear and tear defects.
However unless it was almost pristine a new case was in the future. So I'm not mad or disappointed.
Click to expand...
As long as you're happy with it. They're great systems.
 
So far I am. I'm still playing around with it. Right now I have Sierra on drive and in the process of loading Mojave on another drive. I will probably upgrade the Sierra to High Sierra and configure it for everyday use and then play with Mojave on the side.
 
I've thought about upgrading mine (it's the 2.8Ghz quad core model with 32GB RAM, otherwise stock). I've considered buying a dual processor tray but they were too expensive when I last looked (seems as if the price may have come down considerably). A hexa-core is an option but not sure if I want to go that route. I may just spring for a dual processor system as a whole but finding them local at a reasonable price is difficult (don't want to ship due to case damage).

Mine has been running 24 x 7 for years as a VM server but I'm migrating all my VMs over to a Z620 system running Linux. That will free it up for general purpose use.
 
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