Help in choosing a refurbished MP

[gyus]

I need help in choosing a refurbished Mac Pro 5,1 sporting either the 2.4Ghz 4 core x 2 or a single 3.33Ghz 6 core. Both machines are identical otherwise (ATI Radeon 5770, 16GB RAM) and in price.

Im not a power user, but need the expandability offered by the Mac Pro line. What would your recommendation be? Some say the higher frequency of the 6 core is better - but in day to day use in El Capitan would one even feel it?

Confused!

 

[h9826790]

If that's a real refurbished 5,1 from Apple (but not a 4,1 flashed to 5,1 from someone else), and you need expendability, the dual Quad core is a better choice (for future). But before the upgrade, the 3.33 Hex can finish most of the job quicker than the dual 2.4 Quad.

 

[nigelbb]

That must be a real 5,1 not a 4,1 flashed to 5,1. The 4,1 dual processors are either 2 x 2.26GHz or 2 x 2.66GHz. The 5,1 dual quads are 2 x 2.4GHz.

 

[kschendel]

Very roughly, I'd say the single CPU buy is a better near term buy, and the dual CPU is the better long term buy. The 3.33 hex will probably feel somewhat faster than the dual 2.4 doing many, but not all, jobs; but if you throw more money at the dual CPU to upgrade the CPU's, you'll end up with the ultimately faster machine.