[Help]2009 Mac Pro or else ?

[xlys]

well i have been wondering around at different forums just to get proper answer but i m not able to get proper answer , so the thing is i m getting 2009 single chip 2.66GHZ quadcore / 6gb ram / gt 120 512mb gpu / no hdd at the price of 1200$ ... i can't get anyother mac pro like 2010/2012 or dual pro mac pro so this is the only option for me right now and can't afford 2013 mac pro even the base model because in my country its coasts 3600$ for the baseline version, so i was thinking that is this worthy upgrade as i m going to use it atleast for 3 years and dont want that apple all of sudden discontinue futher OS upgrades .. right now i have 2012 i7 Mac mini with 16gb ram and using it with 1 u2711 but this machine is so slow for my usage because with just small load the cpu fan crank up and things went slow all of sudden .. this mini machine is not enough for my tasks as i have to use virtual machines and do photo editing and few other stuff , the thing i m thinking to do is to upgrade to something like this



upgrade the firmware to 5,1
upgrade the Processor to the single pro to max level
32GB 1333 Ram
hand-off/continuity enabled BT card - got the card for free
GTX 960 4Gb or r9-280x 3gb .. both resting in my drawer
Sata m.2 4 pic adapter / 256GB GB for Boot Drive - just need adapter
1TB Sata SSD pcie adapter for others media stuff - just need adapter
usb 3.0 pcie card
2x2TB HDD for misc stuff - both resting in my drawer
u2713hm iPs monitor / u2212h in portrait mode



this total thing will coast me approx 1800$ other then monitor

also tried 2013 15inch macbook pro with 750m but it still cried as i was using it .... so i m thinking to get proper desktop workstation



so is this worthy upgrade for atleast 3 years or use the non official way or i have to switch to windows ( which i really really don't want to do) as i really really love os x


Thankyou so much

 

[Loa]

Hello,

I love my 2009 MP, but if your i7 iMac is the fastest processor for that year, it's probably faster than a maxed out 2009. Head to geekbench to make sure that a 3.33 on the 2009 MP would be faster than your iMac.

Loa

 

[Unami]

@loa op got a mac mini - no imac

 

[IowaLynn]

Hello,

I love my 2009 MP, but if your i7 iMac is the fastest processor for that year, it's probably faster than a maxed out 2009. Head to geekbench to make sure that a 3.33 on the 2009 MP would be faster than your iMac.

Loa

But an iMac is struggling and the Xeon processor doesn't break a sweat, doesn't use mobile parts like GPU and 4,1 can have 4x blade + 4x4TB and it's PCIE cards, upgrades a d replace as needed, including cost of 32GB RAM max vs ?

Come to UK or USA save on price, 4,1 can be found for $US495 pays for plane ticket!

PS liking Windows 10 very much and lots of options building

 

[xlys]

Hello,



I love my 2009 MP, but if your i7 iMac is the fastest processor for that year, it's probably faster than a maxed out 2009. Head to geekbench to make sure that a 3.33 on the 2009 MP would be faster than your iMac.



Loa

I don't have iMac actually i have mac mini and this thing get hot with 106'C temps with 1440P monitor ... And i want a proper desktop work station and if i go towards imac i will be getting 27 inch imac i7 / 780m / 32Gb .... And every other thing is outside the case "which i really really don't like " and this thing will coast me approx 2800$ and dont want the 5K model as r9 290 series are tend to get real damn hot ...

All i want is future proof "3 years max as i will shift to other machine at that time"/ low coast / running cool "as the summer is around corner and where i live it get 48'C in normal days" / and fast enough to handle tasks

 

[xlys]

But an iMac is struggling and the Xeon processor doesn't break a sweat, doesn't use no old parts like GPU and 4,1 can have 4x blade + 4x4TB and it's PCIE cards, upgrades a d replace as needed, including cost of 32GB RAM max vs ?



Come to UK or USA save on price, 4,1 can be found for $US495 pays for plane ticket!

Hahah its not an easy thing for an asian to get USA/UK visa and alone the trip will coast me more then 2013 6Core mac pro excluding the 2009 mac pro ... But i can import it through ebay "doing this for quite awhile" but still risk as its really heavy and don't want it to get damaged.. I really have so damn narrow option

2009 Mac Pro with mentioned upgrades
Non official way to use OSX "sorry i tried but failed"
Swtich to windows
Keep using macmini with smaller display and wait to get some more funds to get 2013 mac pro ... Don't want iMac because i want to use external display and will upgrade to ultrawide monitor

And well as i read that with firmware update i will be able to install 4X8Gb 1333mhz dimms on the machine where as 4x4 1066mhz without firmware update ....

 

[Loa]

Hello,

Everybody knows that a Mac Pro is a more expandable computer. My point is that a 2012 i7 computer (iMac or mini) will be faster than a 3.33 GHz CPU in a Mac Pro. If your apps can use all the cores from a Hex (12 hyperthreaded cores), then maybe you'll get an edge. Otherwise, here are the geekbench scores:

Mac Mini: 2800 / 11000
3.33GHz (quad): 2300 / 9000
3.33GHz (hex): 2500 / 13000

I'm not sure just how bad the thermal throttling is on a mac mini, but be very sure that it's an issue, otherwise your workstation mac pro will be significantly slower[/i].

Sure you can add more RAM, more HDs, faster SSDs, better GPUs and other PCIe stuff. But depending on your apps and needs, this may be irrelevant.

If your bottleneck is the CPU, then you'll lose performance.

Loa

 

[IowaLynn]

Hello,

Everybody knows that a Mac Pro is a more expandable computer. My point is that a 2012 i7 computer (iMac or mini) will be faster than a 3.33 GHz CPU in a Mac Pro. If your apps can use all the cores from a Hex (12 hyperthreaded cores), then maybe you'll get an edge. Otherwise, here are the geekbench scores:

Mac Mini: 2800 / 11000
3.33GHz (quad): 2300 / 9000
3.33GHz (hex): 2500 / 13000

I'm not sure just how bad the thermal throttling is on a mac mini, but be very sure that it's an issue, otherwise your workstation mac pro will be significantly slower[/i].

Sure you can add more RAM, more HDs, faster SSDs, better GPUs and other PCIe stuff. But depending on your apps and needs, this may be irrelevant.

If your bottleneck is the CPU, then you'll lose performance.

Loa

Other than video most apps are IO bound and mobile mini iMac suffer from heat. Feel scores are just that, right? Not real world.

My MacPro will be 9 yrs old Aug due to ease of upgrade and replace parts. Irrelevant?

 

[xlys]

Hello,



Everybody knows that a Mac Pro is a more expandable computer. My point is that a 2012 i7 computer (iMac or mini) will be faster than a 3.33 GHz CPU in a Mac Pro. If your apps can use all the cores from a Hex (12 hyperthreaded cores), then maybe you'll get an edge. Otherwise, here are the geekbench scores:



Mac Mini: 2800 / 11000

3.33GHz (quad): 2300 / 9000

3.33GHz (hex): 2500 / 13000



I'm not sure just how bad the thermal throttling is on a mac mini, but be very sure that it's an issue, otherwise your workstation mac pro will be significantly slower[/i].



Sure you can add more RAM, more HDs, faster SSDs, better GPUs and other PCIe stuff. But depending on your apps and needs, this may be irrelevant.



If your bottleneck is the CPU, then you'll lose performance.



Loa

But don't u think that there is a difference between desktop cpu with discrete gpu vs aio mobile processor ... Well benchmark really isn't my thing ... I only want my computer to handle modern tasks , i m not going to render 4K video out of it but atleast it could handle my tasks and handle them fast and even most of them are not even recourse hungry while powering 2 monitors "2560x1440P + 1920x1080P (in portrait ) " even i will be upgrading the cpu to hex core or if i could get decent deal on dual cpu tray so i will try to get my hands on this ...

The thing that my mac mini suffers is that it can't handle 1440P screen and with most of my apps running the computer lags really bad that i have to quit 50% of the apps

So what do u suggest ??? My software are not recourse hungry but eventually it will get pretty damn loaded within a year and i will show u the apps i m running and u will get idea ... How bad i want to shift to the dam machine

----------

Other than video most apps are IO bound and mobile mini iMac suffer from heat. Feel scores are just that, right? Not real world.



My MacPro will be 9 yrs old Aug due to ease of upgrade and replace parts. Irrelevant?

What is your mac specification ?????

 

[IowaLynn]

The 2006 1,1 with XP941 boot drive. I did not upgrade cpu to 5355's but would have liked now that they are dirt cheap. I probably spent $300+ a year to keep it in shape with new RAM, SSDs or hdds and a new GPU every two years. Most of my time is research and writing, no longer doing graphics or anything, but in 2006 I was overdue and never could buy an iMac or laptop (I have tablets that I replace and use now where I needed a computer before too).


Next month I hope to put an i3 3.8GHz into an small form factor board and case with 4x M.2 512GB SSD - from all I read, these newest i3's while not the 4-core or H-T i7 many are use to are not bad and handle a lot. Very inexpensive. I was using i7-920 mostly until recently on my PCs.

You can build a nice PC Hackintosh even and definitely get what you need hardware wise easily. I already have $49 case and $79 PSU. Logicboard and i3 is all it needs (I have some memory too already). In fact unless the Intel Graphics doesn't do what I want then a GTX 960 will. And for a lot less.

All new Macs now come with PCIe-SSD, some with 2x interface but those seem to really make a difference.

 

[xlys]

The 2006 1,1 with XP941 boot drive. I did not upgrade cpu to 5355's but would have liked now that they are dirt cheap. I probably spent $300+ a year to keep it in shape with new RAM, SSDs or hdds and a new GPU every two years. Most of my time is research and writing, no longer doing graphics or anything, but in 2006 I was overdue and never could buy an iMac or laptop (I have tablets that I replace and use now where I needed a computer before too).





Next month I hope to put an i3 3.8GHz into an small form factor board and case with 4x M.2 512GB SSD - from all I read, these newest i3's while not the 4-core or H-T i7 many are use to are not bad and handle a lot. Very inexpensive. I was using i7-920 mostly until recently on my PCs.



You can build a nice PC Hackintosh even and definitely get what you need hardware wise easily. I already have $49 case and $79 PSU. Logicboard and i3 is all it needs (I have some memory too already). In fact unless the Intel Graphics doesn't do what I want then a GTX 960 will. And for a lot less.



All new Macs now come with PCIe-SSD, some with 2x interface but those seem to really make a difference.

Funny thing is that i have every single thing to turn on the hackintosh but it is so damn tricky and one single step can kill the whole system and this thing happened to me twice ... Which is why i m not really interested in .. This is why i was thinking to get mac pro so i could use things in peace and without worrying that one single installation will kill my whole setup and i have to redo stuff all over again

----------

I was thinking to get mac pro with required decent upgrades . Rather then building hackintosh and always fearing that one single step will break my bootloader :/

 

[pm7300]

Hackintosh

Why should you break the boot loader? Once you've tweaked it the right way it will work fine and stable.

 

[xlys]

2009 Mac Pro or else ?

Why should you break the boot loader? Once you've tweaked it the right way it will work fine and stable.

Well i think u would know recent security updates which killed the nvidia driver ( this thing made me crazy and made me to hammer my motherboard) / also i want to get continuity working with imessage and sms working without getting blacklisted from apple / what about random freezes / and fans always on high speed after os loads / these tiny things made me to turn on again my mac mini

 

[pm7300]

security update

And you are right, reliability is the 1st thing when you use your computer for your work. I'm not used to updates, unless they're mandatory to make something I need (but usually it ain't). As you can see I'm still running 10.9.5 and it's quite enough for what I need. I can suggest you to try your build while keeping your Mac as "primary fire", you'll probably find out something pleasant in a well-done Hackintosh that's what I've found building this one.... This doesn't mean it would be a better or a worse machine but it's worth a try IMO.

 

[Synchro3]

Buy the Mac Pro 2009 and max it out with Xeon W3690 3.46 GHZ or X5690 3.46 GHz. You will be satisfied.

I've got a Mac Mini 2012 and a maxed out Mac Pro 2009, and single thread speed is more or less the same. But the Mac Pro never throttles down in heavy tasks, and you have a real GPU, PCI-Express SSD's and so on.