Buying the 2012 MP and repurposing the old 2006

[akadmon]

If I can't sell my 2006 MP (12 GB, Apple 4870) for at least 1000 USD, I'm planning on keeping it. What's the best way to repurpose it (spare me the jokes, please)?

I'd like to reduce power consumption as much as possible while keeping all 4 bays occupied. Will it boot into target mode with the video card removed? Will my new MP only see one drive on the old one, or all four? Will I be able to put the old MP in sleep mode while it's running in target mode? Or at least be able to unmount and mount the drives as I need them?

Perhaps I should turn it into a web/mail server? What do I need to do this?

 

[Clix Pix]

I am facing pretty much the same situation (except that I'm not planning to purchase a new Mac Pro) so this is a thread which will be of particular interest to me. I hope that people have some good suggestions and recommendations....

 

[Rokeneer]

If I can't sell my 2006 MP (12 GB, Apple 4870) for at least 1000 USD, I'm planning on keeping it. What's the best way to repurpose it (spare me the jokes, please)?

I'd like to reduce power consumption as much as possible while keeping all 4 bays occupied. Will it boot into target mode with the video card removed? Will my new MP only see one drive on the old one, or all four? Will I be able to put the old MP in sleep mode while it's running in target mode? Or at least be able to unmount and mount the drives as I need them?

Perhaps I should turn it into a web/mail server? What do I need to do this?

Buy a DVD/Bluray drive for it, and put it in your movie theater. I can then stream, run all the iTunes stuff, and play DVD's + Bluray's

 

[chrfr]

I'd like to reduce power consumption as much as possible while keeping all 4 bays occupied. Will it boot into target mode with the video card removed?

You'll be able to buy 4 external drive housings for far less than you'd get for the Mac Pro. Running the Pro in target mode as a drive bay is not going to reduce your power consumption by any useful amount.

 

[Dr. Stealth]

Vote for Media Server !

Buy a DVD/Bluray drive for it, and put it in your movie theater. I can then stream, run all the iTunes stuff, and play DVD's + Bluray's

I agree. The 2006 will make an awesome media server. It'll run fine without a graphic card installed. I run an old G4 with 12TB of internal drives, without a graphic card, for my media server. I access it with Remote Desktop. It runs 24/7 in my basement, on my LAN.

Funny, the reason I kept my G4 was I tried to sell it on eBay and couldn't get a couple hundred for it. Now I'm so glad I didn't sell it. It's a workhorse.

 

[michael_aos]

I expect to be facing the same question.

Mine's configured w/8x 2GB = 16GB, ATI 5770, and OWC 240GB SSD in the 2nd optical bay.

I'm kind of leaning toward just giving it to my mom to replace her Power Mac G5 (2x 2Ghz, 3GB, 2x500GB, ATI Radeon 9600 128MB).

Then I might give the G5 to my grandma to replace her Power Mac G4 FW800 (2x 1.25Ghz, 2GB, 115GB OWC Legacy SSD, ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 64MB).

Then the G4 might replace an eMac...

 

[akadmon]

You'll be able to buy 4 external drive housings for far less than you'd get for the Mac Pro. Running the Pro in target mode as a drive bay is not going to reduce your power consumption by any useful amount.

The external enclosure will require the same amount of power to keep the drives running, and may actually require more power to keep them as cool as they are in a Mac Pro (more restricted air flow). So the difference is the power drawn by the processors and the video card, plus the power drawn by the fans used to cool them. Any idea what that is?

 

[FredT2]

What's the best way to repurpose it (spare me the jokes, please)?

Donate it to school.

 

[theSeb]

The external enclosure will require the same amount of power to keep the drives running, and may actually require more power to keep them as cool as they are in a Mac Pro (more restricted air flow). So the difference is the power drawn by the processors and the video card, plus the power drawn by the fans used to cool them. Any idea what that is?

Well, a Pegasus R6 enclosure has a 250W PSU. It uses ~64W at idle and ~69W when it's writing or reading. I am pretty sure that the Mac Pro uses quite a lot more, even without a graphic card.

 

[chrfr]

The external enclosure will require the same amount of power to keep the drives running, and may actually require more power to keep them as cool as they are in a Mac Pro (more restricted air flow). So the difference is the power drawn by the processors and the video card, plus the power drawn by the fans used to cool them. Any idea what that is?

Yeah. A lot: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2836 171W at idle, 250W max, 584BTU/h idle, 853 BTU/h max.

 

[akadmon]

Well, a Pegasus R6 enclosure has a 250W PSU. It uses ~64W at idle and ~69W when it's writing or reading. I am pretty sure that the Mac Pro uses quite a lot more, even without a graphic card.

Except that the R6 sells for $2499 and I don't have to pay a penny for my old MP. It would take about 10 years for the R6 to offset its cost through power savings (I'm basing this on 200 W delta and current rate I'm paying of 15 cent per kW).

 

[theSeb]

Except that the R6 sells for $2499 and I don't have to pay a penny for my old MP. It would take about 10 years for the R6 to offset its cost through power savings (I'm basing this on 200 W delta and current rate I'm paying of 15 cent per kW).

I was using the R6 pegasus as an extreme example of a drive enclosure. You could buy the 4 drive one for a lot less or something else for even less.

If it's just for storage, then a 4 bay enclosure makes sense. What you use the old Mac Pro for really depends on what you do with your computers right now. I can think of as couple of thinks I would do with it, but I am not sure whether they would make sense for you.

 

[Neodym]

Yeah. A lot: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2836 171W at idle, 250W max,

That's with only 1 GB Ram installed. On the other hand - with the graphic card removed (assuming it's a 7300GT) it's 16W less and by replacing the CPU's with SLAGA variants of the 5150 you could reduce Idle power by another 32W, bringing it down to 123W.

And if the MP goes to Sleep over night (fixed times) and/or after inactivity until you wake it via Wake-on-Lan you could surely save a lot more power. And then there is still the valid argument of the upfront cost for purchasing some proper NAS, which easily goes into the hundreds and gives you less possibilities.

I'm toying myself with the idea...

 

[strwrsfrk]

If I can't sell my 2006 MP (12 GB, Apple 4870) for at least 1000 USD, I'm planning on keeping it. What's the best way to repurpose it (spare me the jokes, please)?

I'd like to reduce power consumption as much as possible while keeping all 4 bays occupied. Will it boot into target mode with the video card removed? Will my new MP only see one drive on the old one, or all four? Will I be able to put the old MP in sleep mode while it's running in target mode? Or at least be able to unmount and mount the drives as I need them?

Perhaps I should turn it into a web/mail server? What do I need to do this?

Buy two x5355 CPUs, upgrade your 1,1 to a 2,1 using the Netkas firmware hack, and (in my experience) you should be able to easily get $1150 - $1200 with all the RAM and the 4870.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Computer-Components-Parts-/175673/i.html?_nkw=x5355

http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,1094.0.html

 

[DrNoellyG]

If you have needs like a media server for example, then turn it into that, otherwise sell it for whatever you can get and let someone else use it for a end they have (computing or otherwise).

 

[nycaleksey]

If you have needs like a media server for example, then turn it into that, otherwise sell it for whatever you can get and let someone else use it for a end they have (computing or otherwise).

I would advise not to use MP as a media server. The reason is simple - electricity costs. Same function could be achieved with a mac mini which would save one approximately $20 per month.