buying first mac pro, quad-core 2.8. what upgrades can I do on my own?

[poipu420]

Greetings all,
I am looking to purchase a entry level mac pro for programming, gaming, and simple video editing. What upgrades can I do on my own to save money? Is the speed increase of the 3.2 Nehalem worth it?

I was thinking of buying/installing my own SSD for the apps and os. Also, upgrading to 6GB of memory. Would doing this void warranty? In the future, what else would I be able to upgrade?

Thanks,

 

[charlieegan3]

depends completely on your expertise.

http://www.ifixit.com/Device/Mac_Pro

 

[mulo]

you can do just about anything. hard drives, memory, graphics cards, even cpus

although you should note that you can't stick an extra processor inside the quad core model, but you can buy the octal core model and then later upgrade it to like an 12 core, or perhaps 16 core if they have released compatible chips by the time

 

[jetjaguar]

how much are the processors to upgrade the 2.4 octo core model?

 

[derbothaus]

how much are the processors to upgrade the 2.4 octo core model?

Doesn't work that way. If you want dual CPU's you need to buy a dual tray Mac Pro. 8-core 2.4 or the 12-core's. If you only buy a single Quad or hex the price to procure a dual socket tray is way too high. You might as well get a new Mac Pro. If you want dual socket and eventually upgrade to 2x3.46GHz 6-cores (fastest X58 Xeons) you should get the 2.4 8-core and upgrade it. If you can get by with a single hex then you can get a Quad and upgrade it.

 

[jetjaguar]

no i know i would need to buy the 2.4 octo. My question was how much due 6 core cpus cost to perform that upgrade .. they are definitely more expensive then the 599 cost for the single cpu hex