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Comments on my Mac Pro config?

T

theBigD23

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 13, 2008
609
115
Thanks for looking.

I ordered my Mac Pro, but wanted to see what the MR community thought of it. Here is what I got:

6-core
32 GB RAM
D300
512 GB Hard Drive

The 6-core, the upgrade cost was worth it, since it's so difficult to upgrade. The 8-core was just way too expensive. 512 is enough for me, since I can go to 1TB when I need to. My issue is with the D300 video cards. I thought it was upgradeable, but have been reading conflicting reports. Can it be upgraded?
I don't need that much video power. Only gaming, IF I do it on this computer.

What do you think of this config?
 
IMO, the D500 config was the sweet spot as far as price/performance. Not sure how you'll use it but I would have gone for the D500s.
 
Last edited:
Hunden said:
I'm interested to see what config suites for gaming. D700 over D500? Quad over 6-core?
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With a system that'll be used for gaming a lot, the faster everything, the better. :)

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cubedude said:
Same rationale, needs, and specs I ordered tonight, with anticipated February delivery, so I agree!
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At least there is someone else that ordered the same as me. :) I really hope the video card is upgrade able. If not I may just cancel and order the D500s.
 
theBigD23 said:
With a system that'll be used for gaming a lot, the faster everything, the better. :)

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At least there is someone else that ordered the same as me. :) I really hope the video card is upgrade able. If not I may just cancel and order the D500s.
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If it was upgradable, then there'd be upgrades available in the store, just like there were for the old Mac Pro. There isn't really any reason why they couldn't sell them separately if they intended for them to be un upgradable component.

But even if they do start selling upgrades at a later date, they will be very very expensive given that the GPU makes up the bulk of the $3000 of the base model, and you won't be able to resell your D300s as they will only fit in a Mac Pro and that's the lowest end card, so it won't be an upgrade for anyone.
 
peabo said:
If it was upgradable, then there'd be upgrades available in the store, just like there were for the old Mac Pro. There isn't really any reason why they couldn't sell them separately if they intended for them to be un upgradable component.

But even if they do start selling upgrades at a later date, they will be very very expensive given that the GPU makes up the bulk of the $3000 of the base model, and you won't be able to resell your D300s as they will only fit in a Mac Pro and that's the lowest end card, so it won't be an upgrade for anyone.
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The older mac pros didn't have upgraded video cards for their specific model until well after they were out. I have the 2008 Mac Pro and the upgraded video cards weren't there when they initially launched. I haven't checked but are the hard drive and ram on the site?

I also didn't really think about selling them. Maybe someone with a defective one will want it later. The most important thing is if it's upgraded le at all so that I have the option in the future.
 
It seems that it is a very beautiful computer, but…
For now, the upgrades of vital components may not be possible.
I would advise the current buyer to configure to current needs.
I think the OP has configured an excellent machine.
 
I'm pretty sure I'll cancel the D300 one and get the D500. It will cause a delay of a month, but I don't want to regret not getting the better VC for the next 5 or 6 years. It doesn't look like it'll be user upgradeable anyway.
 
I ordered the exact same config except I'm doing the memory myself with 2 16GB sticks so I leave slots open for future expansion to 64GB without wasting 4 8GB sticks.

I only plan to do Lightroom and some PS so I don't see a need for D500 for myself so I stuck with D300. 1TB is overkill as all my RAW files stay on external drives anyways so I stayed at 512GB. 6-core is for sure the sweet spot for price/performance combo in the nMP lineup. I'm sure it will be the most popular processor ordered.
 
theBigD23 said:
I'm pretty sure I'll cancel the D300 one and get the D500. It will cause a delay of a month, but I don't want to regret not getting the better VC for the next 5 or 6 years. It doesn't look like it'll be user upgradeable anyway.
Click to expand...

Call and see if they can alter your configuration and not lose your place in line. The odds are pretty good you'll go back to the end of the line, but when the rMBP came out I saw people posting they were able to change their configuration and not start over - its worth a short in trying, you have nothing to lose
 
I would wait for benchmarks before ordering a D500 over a D300 just for gaming.

Tom's hardware has an interesting article about gaming with the AMD Wx000 series.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/workstation-graphics-card-gaming,3425.html

With those the W8000 is actually significantly slower then a W7000 on which the D300 is based. Now the the D500 is not a W8000 card but it's still interesting.

If you're gonna buy the graphics just for gaming it might be worthwhile to wait for the D300 vs D500 benchmark. The D700 will be faster regardless.

But between the D300 and D500 might be quite small or non-existent (or maybe pretty big) who knows really? The amount of TFlops are very close which means the D500 runs at lower clocks.

I'm waiting for benchmarks before i spend an extra 400$ of even 1000$ for the D700.
 
Quash said:
I would wait for benchmarks before ordering a D500 over a D300 just for gaming.

Tom's hardware has an interesting article about gaming with the AMD Wx000 series.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/workstation-graphics-card-gaming,3425.html

With those the W8000 is actually significantly slower then a W7000 on which the D300 is based. Now the the D500 is not a W8000 card but it's still interesting.

If you're gonna buy the graphics just for gaming it might be worthwhile to wait for the D300 vs D500 benchmark. The D700 will be faster regardless.

But between the D300 and D500 might be quite small or non-existent (or maybe pretty big) who knows really? The amount of TFlops are very close which means the D500 runs at lower clocks.

I'm waiting for benchmarks before i spend an extra 400$ of even 1000$ for the D700.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I'll wait for benchmarks too. I didn't cancel my order but placed another one just in case. Looking forward to these benchmarks!

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maflynn said:
Call and see if they can alter your configuration and not lose your place in line. The odds are pretty good you'll go back to the end of the line, but when the rMBP came out I saw people posting they were able to change their configuration and not start over - its worth a short in trying, you have nothing to lose
Click to expand...

I tried and they said they couldn't do it without delaying until February.
 
theBigD23 said:
I'm pretty sure I'll cancel the D300 one and get the D500. It will cause a delay of a month, but I don't want to regret not getting the better VC for the next 5 or 6 years
Click to expand...
Good decision. What's a month extra for several years of potential high performance capability.
 
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