Buying base Quad Mac Pro

[bobsaget]

Hey guys,

I currently work in video editing/motion design, but am planning on taking a lot of motion design work home with me in the near future. I have decided I want a mac pro (regardless of what the new imac brings).

I was thinking of just simply getting the base 2.8ghz quad core mac pro from the an apple store with the educational discount, then dropping one of THESE bad boys in it when I start to get that upgrade itch and have a little more money saved up.

Of course, I will up the ram (non-Apple) to 16GB and probably stick in a small
SSD for the OS+apps when I get it.

Does all this sound good? Or does anyone have any better paths I could take to upgrade my 13" Core 2 Macbook Pro.


Thank you!

 

[Hellhammer]

That sounds good. Getting the 6-core CPU from eBay is a lot better choice than getting it from Apple. Saves you a lot $.

 

[DustinT]

Sounds like you know what you are doing. Enjoy!

 

[Transporteur]

Of course, I will up the ram (non-Apple) to 16GB and probably stick in a small
SSD for the OS+apps when I get it.

Be careful with "small" SSDs. Keep in mind that swap and cache files of both OS and your applications will be written the the boot drive as well and those can be pretty big.

Don't go below 80GB.

 

[bobsaget]

Thanks guys! It should do me really well.

Be careful with "small" SSDs. Keep in mind that swap and cache files of both OS and your applications will be written the the boot drive as well and those can be pretty big.

Don't go below 80GB.

Thanks, I was thinking a 128gb model. Any recommendations as to which 128gb SSD? I want something that is affordable, but FAST.

 

[Transporteur]

128GB is fine. Sandforce 2000 based drives are the fastest drives you can get these days and pretty affordable. Check out OWC or the OCZ Vertex 3.
Albeit these drives have a 6Gb/s SATA interface, you'd still benefit from the random speeds.

If you want reliability, chose Intel drives. Both the 320 and 510 are very fast drives.
If you don't want top notch drives and save some dough, check out the last generation drives such as Vertex 2 or Intel G2. Again, Intel for best reliability.

 

[philipma1957]

Hey guys,

I currently work in video editing/motion design, but am planning on taking a lot of motion design work home with me in the near future. I have decided I want a mac pro (regardless of what the new imac brings).

I was thinking of just simply getting the base 2.8ghz quad core mac pro from the an apple store with the educational discount, then dropping one of THESE bad boys in it when I start to get that upgrade itch and have a little more money saved up.

Of course, I will up the ram (non-Apple) to 16GB and probably stick in a small
SSD for the OS+apps when I get it.

Does all this sound good? Or does anyone have any better paths I could take to upgrade my 13" Core 2 Macbook Pro.


Thank you!

that is just what I did and here is the thread


https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1122551/

I used the same seller for the cpu. My only suggestion different for you is don't rush to buy a 40gb ssd. I have this one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Intel-SSDSA...e_Internal&hash=item588da92c57#ht_2405wt_1250

same seller as the cpu



http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Intel-SSDSA...e_Internal&hash=item588da5ee19#ht_2405wt_1250

if that one is too steep the one above is good.

 

[bobsaget]

that is just what I did and here is the thread


https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1122551/

I used the same seller for the cpu. My only suggestion different for you is don't rush to buy a 40gb ssd. I have this one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Intel-SSDSA...e_Internal&hash=item588da92c57#ht_2405wt_1250

same seller as the cpu



http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Intel-SSDSA...e_Internal&hash=item588da5ee19#ht_2405wt_1250

if that one is too steep the one above is good.

Thanks phil, your thread is what motivated me to get a mac pro instead of waiting for an imac; the ease of expandability is what did it for me.

I looked through the thread, and may have read over it, but I have a question regarding warranty. If I sold the OE quad chip, then my MP broke somehow (I would have applecare), could I just buy another 2.8 quad chip online and stick it in there, without them knowing or caring?

I could probably spring for the at 160GB drive. Thanks!

 

[philipma1957]

Thanks phil, your thread is what motivated me to get a mac pro instead of waiting for an imac; the ease of expandability is what did it for me.

I looked through the thread, and may have read over it, but I have a question regarding warranty. If I sold the OE quad chip, then my MP broke somehow (I would have applecare), could I just buy another 2.8 quad chip online and stick it in there, without them knowing or caring?

I could probably spring for the at 160GB drive. Thanks!

I am not a lawyer and warranty questions about this mod are hard to be sure about since no one has had a major repair with the mod in place at least as far as I know .


I sold my 2.8 quad chip thinking if my mac pro dies I would buy a 2.8 quad chip and put it in my machine and drag it down to the apple techs. I would hope for the best and find out what happens. I used to upgrade mac minis and I did 3 or 4 returns out of 100 machines. I set the machines back to stock and in all cases the machines were covered. I did not offer extra info. I just said what was wrong.