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7,1 or M3 Max studio for protools home studio


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My afterburner card arrived from the iPowerresale firm.

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I noticed too that MPX modules appear to be back in stock at Apple (in my country at least), same as afterburner cards (at AUD$3000 each!).
 
I have a 5,1 the 6 core machine that does nothing else other than run my indoor cycling paincave. It has been very dependable considering it was second hand only to get its CPU tray (which was a dual CPU one).

Replacing it with a second 7,1 would be very very tempting. I’d stay the base GPU and probably just put the RX6600XT in it. Could probably put something much higher spec in it too. I suppose a PC W6800 32GB would work.
There are still top engineer / producers still making hits records on these dinosaurs 5,1.

If it ain't broke, don't fix according to the audio engineering world.

After all, the most important thing to a recording engineer is being stable and rock solid, and speed takes a backseat.
 
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I suspect they are not using Opencore or Monterey - which is where both of my 5,1s come unstuck. They both do forbidden sign on a restart, but work fine on cold boot.

First it was supposed to be the Samsung SSDs, so those drives got replaced with a different brand and then they still did the same. Other than that they are fine - Opencore definitely is running. It's too much bother to troubleshoot more.

After all, the most important thing to a recording engineer is being stable and rock solid, and speed takes a backseat.

Is an almost 14 year old machine a good choice to keep going in a production environment, with very old electronics and the known parts that can fail over time? Note the warnings on the firmware topics and the firmware rebuilds being done. Also the lack of parts that will eventually occur over time. My 7,1 is still under Applecare and relatively new so it has support.
 
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Is an almost 14 year old machine a good choice to keep going in a production environment, with very old electronics and the known parts that can fail over time? Note the warnings on the firmware topics and the firmware rebuilds being done. Also the lack of parts that will eventually occur over time. My 7,1 is still under Applecare and relatively new so it has support.

Things are not so black and white.

Frequently you are forced to maintain old hardware working in production, like when you need a Mac that runs CS3/FCP9/ProTools9/etc. Upgrading to the most recent hardware it's not a choice for several types of workflows, since there are loads of hardware/software combos that can only run today if you have an old Mac Pro. Sometimes the computer itself is just the cheapest part of the equation, like mixing consoles/equalization tables that cost 5 digits+.

So, keeping the hardware correctly maintained and having spares is something that a lot of audio/video/print workflows require today, and will continue to require for some time, working MacPro5,1s.

Hey, I even know some studios that still maintain PowerMacs to this day to run earlier versions of ProTools/AbletonLive and company.
 
Holy crap! Everything's back in stock - storage as well.
It must be regional.
UK Apple store has nothing apart from feet/wheels/drive enclosure.
UK Amazon, 1no. W6900X left £6000.
Absolutely zero other results on Amazon.
 
UK Amazon, 1no. W6900X left £6000
Blimey that’s expensive!!

I’d be interested how many of those W6900X cards actually got fitted to the 7,1. On paper the duo seems the better choice even though it had some faults according to some folk (overheating).

I’m kicking myself I didn’t specify the Duo when I ordered my 7,1.
 
Another crazy Amazon listing......;)
What WAS the retail price?

 
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I saw the W6800X Duo drop in price on Amazon, here in Sweden. Going all the way down to 20 000 Sek (around €1730) in the end of February. Then it bounced back to regular price 62 500 Sek (€5390). (forex fluctuate). 1 card left.
I was lucky, and purchased two. The first a bit premature (27 000 Sek), but who knew how low it would go? 😆

The W6900X is about the same price as in UK (70 265 Sek). 4 cards left.
I have not seen any restock on Apple Sweden (yet).

Screenshot 2024-04-22 at 22.57.25.png


edit: the cards were shipped from storage in Spain
 
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I noticed on the US Apple Store that the replacement hard drives (they have them for the 2023 MP) and anything related to the 2019 Mac Pro, such as video cards, are "out of stock."
 
I kind of feel sorry for hornedrum. He started this discussion, and has missed everything that has happened this week
Haha, I (weirdly) stopped getting notifications for new posts so thought the thread had died. Just read through 7 pages, ooooft!
I am in the UK otherwise would have probably jumped on one of those NIB 7,1 machines.
£300 Shipping and 20% VAT is not worth it, imho.

I've actually been writing with the 5,1. So much analogue gear in here (Otari 2 track mastering tape, Roland 301 space echo, 1977 Rhodes piano. Korg MS20, vintage drums and cymbals etc) none of which are upgradeable, hah.

So I am taking 6 months to decide, and only making (new) music with mostly audio, and some limited basic VIs in Kontakt. I can track at 32 buffer through my RME fireface UC fine, be creative and start new sessions, then decide which machine I buy to edit bigger sessions with, overdubs at low latency etc once the M4s are out. ;)

It's a new room here, so was rethinking everything, and I have remembered how good a 14 year old computer actually is. I almost felt guilty for looking elsewhere. Like a 14 year marriage... ;)
 
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From the restock in Apple store Australia, and the fact that people are still able to get Apple Care+ for a purchased New Mac Pro 2019.
It seems very likely that it will be supported in the next macOS at least. Wouldn't you say?

I honestly don't think that Apple will drop support for the 7,1 until they have an apple silicon machine that can provide (at least) as much RAM in order to properly cater to all use cases as a legitimate upgrade/replacement.

Yes, yes Apple Silicon memory usage, blahblahblah whatever.

At the end of the day some workloads need a lot of RAM, and the 7,1 supports a lot of it. The current models are nowhere close in that particular niche - yet.
 
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My W3275M CPU arrived, now I have to wait for the T15 Torx 152mm to also be delivered which should be today.

I’m going to try the CPU swap. It can’t be that difficult - I did the 6,1 CPU upgrade and that was pull the whole computer apart until no computer was left. ;)
 
There are W3275M brand new from China on ebay $ 1875 / € 1750. All posted this week.
Not sure if that is a good price?

I saw those but I'm also rather wary. Really all the sales of processors are pretty risky unless they are brand new.

When it is a cheap Xeon X5690 you don't care so much, but near USD$2000 worth of W3275M is a lot of money.
 
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That was relatively easy. Damn these CPUs are big! Massive size.

Now to stack this thing out with 1.5TB of RAM. ;) And we need a couple of W6800X Duos to finish it off (along with a sudden inflow of $$$). ;)

I wonder what Windows will do when I restart, half expecting it to want to be activated again. Sigh...

I didn't have the Wera adjustable torque screw driver, but to use the T15x150mm bit I had an adaptor and used it with the small torque wrench I use for working on my bicycles. That could be set to required torque.

The 150mm T15 bit was hard to find so I got a Chinese set from Amazon. The rest of the required screw drivers I had in a set from Super Cheap Auto in Australia which wasn't expensive and had everything.

it seems to run cooler than the W3245 as well, it's idling at 33ºC. I used Noctua NT-H2 thermal paste.
 
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I am really beginnning to hate this thread......😭
Every time I see a new post regarding the eBay offers from Cali, I really really want to get one.
Even with the $350 shipping to the UK, it's an absolute steal.

BUT after contemplation I always come back to 'I really don't need it'.
I should unwatch it so I am not tempted.....😁

It's great to see so many people getting these great bargains though.
This must be the biggest Mac price saving in history.
 
I am really beginnning to hate this thread......😭
Every time I see a new post regarding the eBay offers from Cali, I really really want to get one.
Even with the $350 shipping to the UK, it's an absolute steal.

BUT after contemplation I always come back to 'I really don't need it'.
I should unwatch it so I am not tempted.....😁

It's great to see so many people getting these great bargains though.
This must be the biggest Mac price saving in history.
I know how you feel and I bought one!
 
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