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Looking to buy a 5,1 Mac Pro..some questions

Zorn

Zorn

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 14, 2006
1,144
840
Ohio
I had been wanting to do hackintosh for a while, and after many failed attempts decided it wasn't worth the trouble. I'm now looking into getting a Mac Pro. I don't want to spend $2500 and be stuck with anemic graphics cards, so the nMP is out of the question for me. I'm looking at getting a Mac Pro, preferably a 5,1 I'm thinking just to keep it current for the longest amount of time.

Anything I should specifically look for when buying one, or is there a specific model that seems to be the sweet spot right now in terms of getting one used for a good price vs. its performance? I'm thinking I'll add in a GTX 980 GPU, along with running Yosemite. I realize I won't get USB 3.0, but I'm not really using anything that needs it. Any tips or advice would be appreciated. I mainly use my computer for casual use and gaming (all my games are Mac compatible).
 
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Since you're prioritizing gaming, you don't need a dual-socket config, and a faster quad core is better than 12 cores or whatever. The 2012 5,1 revs are the ones that have 3.2 quad core W3565 processors, and those are probably the ones you want; but the thing is, the 2012 models are going to be more expensive and when looking for used stuff on eBay I usually find heavily mod'd multicore setups that are more expensive and wasted power for what you want.

So I'd recommend getting a 4,1 2009 model where you can upgrade the processor yourself if you want higher clocks (2.66GHz might be too slow?) They're now all below $1000 these days and the quads are usually more like $500-700.
 
Agree that get the 4,1 quad is the best option. Flash it to 5,1. And then get a X5677, or W3690 / X5690 for the highest clock speed.

USB 3.0 is actually available for the old Mac Pro. Just get the Inateck KT4004 PCIe card, and then you are good to go.

GTX980 seems a good choice, but the card is not fully functional under OSX yet. You may keep yourself updated, but better not make the purchase now.
 
h9826790 said:
Agree that get the 4,1 quad is the best option. Flash it to 5,1. And then get a X5677, or W3690 / X5690 for the highest clock speed.

USB 3.0 is actually available for the old Mac Pro. Just get the Inateck KT4004 PCIe card, and then you are good to go.

GTX980 seems a good choice, but the card is not fully functional under OSX yet. You may keep yourself updated, but better not make the purchase now.
Click to expand...

Is the Kt4004 better then the Highpoint USB?

Thank you
 
Derekm15 said:
Is the Kt4004 better then the Highpoint USB?

Thank you
Click to expand...

Both are fine. The Inateck KT4004 can accept other USB devices like keyboard, printer, mouse. For the RocketU Highpoint, depends on the model. The 1144C accepts other USB devices. The 1144CM model only supports HDs, flash drives and SD Card Readers. Price wise the KT4004 is cheaper. There is also a 7 port Inateck for Mac Pro available. This model needs to be connected to the power supply located at the drive bay.
 
Thanks for all the great advice so far. Looks like a 4.1 it is. What price should I expect to pay for one, and anything specific I should look for when picking one? Thanks
 
Macsonic said:
Both are fine. The Inateck KT4004 can accept other USB devices like keyboard, printer, mouse. For the RocketU Highpoint, depends on the model. The 1144C accepts other USB devices. The 1144CM model only supports HDs, flash drives and SD Card Readers. Price wise the KT4004 is cheaper. There is also a 7 port Inateck for Mac Pro available. This model needs to be connected to the power supply located at the drive bay.
Click to expand...

Oddly enough, I have all three cards. I tend to use RocketU 1144C the most. The 1144CM now collects dust... My MP has 8 USB 3.0 ports so I only use 3.0 hubs during testing. One thing I did run across was the 1144C took longer to mount a large (New/empty) NTFS drive as compared to the Fresco Logic cards when using OSX. Formatted to HFS+ it's blazingly fast for me.

IIRC you have the 1144C also? What are your thoughts?

Oops, sorry I got carried away Zorn. I'm not trying to hijack your thread, my apologies...
Mea Culpa...
 
crjackson2134 said:
Oddly enough, I have all three cards. I tend to use RocketU 1144C the most. The 1144CM now collects dust... My MP has 8 USB 3.0 ports so I only use 3.0 hubs during testing. One thing I did run across was the 1144C took longer to mount a large (New/empty) NTFS drive as compared to the Fresco Logic cards when using OSX. Formatted to HFS+ it's blazingly fast for me.

IIRC you have the 1144C also? What are your thoughts?

Oops, sorry I got carried away Zorn. I'm not trying to hijack your thread, my apologies...
Mea Culpa...
Click to expand...

I bit the bullet at bought the Sonnet Allegro USB 3.0 card. The card is also based on the FrescoLogic chipset

I didn't opt for the Inateck because Sonnet has a local distributor here in Singapore so warranty and parts replacements is less of an issue. I got it for about US$70 so it is a bit pricier than the Inateck models.

So far it's been great - I plugged storage, mouse, webcam, charging an iPad and even plugged in a USB TV tuner and it's been running smoothly without any hiccups. And I didn't get any disruption to my Bluetooth signal which is another plus.

That said, I like the Highpoint 1144C since it has independent controllers for each port. But it's quite pricey, especially after you factor in shipping.
 
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crjackson2134 said:
Oddly enough, I have all three cards. I tend to use RocketU 1144C the most. The 1144CM now collects dust... My MP has 8 USB 3.0 ports so I only use 3.0 hubs during testing. One thing I did run across was the 1144C took longer to mount a large (New/empty) NTFS drive as compared to the Fresco Logic cards when using OSX. Formatted to HFS+ it's blazingly fast for me.

IIRC you have the 1144C also? What are your thoughts?

Oops, sorry I got carried away Zorn. I'm not trying to hijack your thread, my apologies...
Mea Culpa...
Click to expand...

Hi Crjackson. My apologies too to the thread starter. I only have the RocketU 1144CM and also the Inateck KT4004. I am still contemplating about the 1144C if I should buy it also. Thanks.

----------
Zorn said:
Thanks for all the great advice so far. Looks like a 4.1 it is. What price should I expect to pay for one, and anything specific I should look for when picking one? Thanks
Click to expand...

H Zorn. The price range for a quad 2.66ghz 4.1 Mac Pro is around $800 more or lower. The price of a 2.8ghz quad core 5.1 Mac Pro is around $1200+ You may also encounter 4.1s with upgraded CPUs at 6 core 3.33ghz or 3.46ghz. They go for around $1500 though I am not sure. Look for a unit that has an indication it was taken good care by its owner. Thanks and Good Luck.
 
Zorn said:
Thanks for all the great advice so far. Looks like a 4.1 it is. What price should I expect to pay for one, and anything specific I should look for when picking one? Thanks
Click to expand...

I got a 5,1 quad 2.8 for $749 incl. shipping off eBay. That was a fairly good deal; expect 4,1's around $500-800. Macofalltrades has a decent deal on a 2.66 quad for $649 currently: http://www.macofalltrades.com/Mac-Pro-1x-2-66GHz-QC-Xeon-Early-2009-p/mp-266-4c-e09a.htm The advantage of using them is they guarantee their refurbs.
 
I was able to pick up a nice 2009 Nehalem with a 2.93Ghz CPU and 12GB RAM, SSD, in great condition, that has already been flashed to 5,1 firmware. Got it for about $745 & should be here by week's end. I'm excited to get it and install the Yosemite GM and use my 980GTX with it!

Any recommendations you guys have for first things to do/check with a MP? Thanks for all the help and recommendations so far!
 
Zorn said:
I was able to pick up a nice 2009 Nehalem with a 2.93Ghz CPU and 12GB RAM, SSD, in great condition, that has already been flashed to 5,1 firmware. Got it for about $745 & should be here by week's end. I'm excited to get it and install the Yosemite GM and use my 980GTX with it!

Any recommendations you guys have for first things to do/check with a MP? Thanks for all the help and recommendations so far!
Click to expand...

I would check to make sure the PCI slots and USB and SATA ports are working.

Then run a benchmark tool to stress the CPU and memory and monitor temperature. I have the (almost) exact config but with 24GB RAM and a GTX660Ti.
 
fuchsdh said:
Since you're prioritizing gaming, you don't need a dual-socket config,
Click to expand...

There's more to this. Simply don't get a dual socket, some (at least one!) games don't run at all. Elder scrolls online got me. Needed XCode installing and some system tweaking every time your system woke or gets powered on.

Nox
 
nox-uk said:
There's more to this. Simply don't get a dual socket, some (at least one!) games don't run at all. Elder scrolls online got me. Needed XCode installing and some system tweaking every time your system woke or gets powered on.

Nox
Click to expand...

Dead Space 2 (legit copy) crashed over and over when I tried to play. Finally slid the Dual CPU board out and slid Single CPU board in....problem solved.
 
nox-uk said:
There's more to this. Simply don't get a dual socket, some (at least one!) games don't run at all. Elder scrolls online got me. Needed XCode installing and some system tweaking every time your system woke or gets powered on.

Nox
Click to expand...

MacVidCards said:
Dead Space 2 (legit copy) crashed over and over when I tried to play. Finally slid the Dual CPU board out and slid Single CPU board in....problem solved.
Click to expand...

Huh. First I've ever heard of this. Not that I'm surprised, really... games support has always been iffy and ephemeral.
 
ESO was incompatible with every dual CPU system, their forums had a lot of people with EVGA SR-2 mobos unhappy. Fix for them was to switch a cpu off in the BIOS :( I ended up installing windows 7 Home premium in bootcamp for it. Home premium doesn't support dual cpu so it ran. Win 8 pro I tried in single CPU mode too, but ESO knew...

Nox
 
Zorn said:
I was able to pick up a nice 2009 Nehalem with a 2.93Ghz CPU and 12GB RAM, SSD, in great condition, that has already been flashed to 5,1 firmware. Got it for about $745 & should be here by week's end. I'm excited to get it and install the Yosemite GM and use my 980GTX with it!

Any recommendations you guys have for first things to do/check with a MP? Thanks for all the help and recommendations so far!
Click to expand...


Congrats on the new machine!

I just got a Mac Pro 4,1 off Ebay myself and can't wait for it to arrive.

Mine is the 8 Core 2.26 Ghz, 16 GB Memory, SSD and GT120... Got it for $780...

Mainly gonna use it for PS myself, so I just figured, I should probably have went with a 3.33 Ghz Quad instead, but I might just upgrade it or see if someone want to trade trays :)
 
Zorn said:
Anything I should specifically look for when buying one, or is there a specific model that seems to be the sweet spot right now in terms of getting one used for a good price vs. its performance? I'm thinking I'll add in a GTX 980 GPU, along with running Yosemite. I realize I won't get USB 3.0, but I'm not really using anything that needs it. Any tips or advice would be appreciated. I mainly use my computer for casual use and gaming (all my games are Mac compatible).
Click to expand...

- First off, you might want to wait for the 980Ti - might be a couple more months (??). Though it will likely require external power in the Mac Pro and the 980 doesn't.

- For Hand-off/continuity, you can upgrade the built-in wireless pretty easily with this solution.

- Because it's SATA II, For SSD, you may want to consider an apricorn card for $90. You'll get much better performance

- If you're going to do SSD, you can build your own "fusion" drive extremely easily

- USB3 really is worth it ($30/card), there are a lot of really inexpensive solutions but a number of them are having problems with Yosemite at present

- If you need a lot of external storage and don't need a lot of throughput (and are comfortable with Apple Soft RAID), there are a lot of great solutions, the cheapest probably is eSATA. RocketRAID 644L is what I use, seems to boot even with Yosemite

- 5.25" BluRay drives are cheap now
 
h9826790 said:
Agree that get the 4,1 quad is the best option. Flash it to 5,1. And then get a X5677, or W3690 / X5690 for the highest clock speed.

USB 3.0 is actually available for the old Mac Pro. Just get the Inateck KT4004 PCIe card, and then you are good to go.

GTX980 seems a good choice, but the card is not fully functional under OSX yet. You may keep yourself updated, but better not make the purchase now.
Click to expand...

Plus add a pcie ssd and you will be screaming along nicely :)
 
Is the 4,1 same as the 5,1 mac pro? What's going to happen when future firmware updates are released?
 
ibuyufo said:
Is the 4,1 same as the 5,1 mac pro? What's going to happen when future firmware updates are released?
Click to expand...

It looks like there will be no more firmware update on any cMP. And quite a lot of 4,1 user here actually using the 5,1 firmware. Therefore, even there is a update for 5,1, the 4,1 still possible to get the same firmware update.
 
h9826790 said:
It looks like there will be no more firmware update on any cMP. And quite a lot of 4,1 user here actually using the 5,1 firmware. Therefore, even there is a update for 5,1, the 4,1 still possible to get the same firmware update.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info!
 
Heres a mac pro i customized with prices.

Mint 2010 8 core 2.4/ $1300
x2 x5675 3.06 hexacore/ $295 ebay
xp941 256gb/ $250 newegg
lycom m.2 sata adapter/ $25 ram city
waiting for a gtx 980 from mvc/ $800?
Using the stock 5770
4x8gb 1333 ram/ $210 ebay

im right around $2100 and the computer feels almost exactly the same as my 6 core d700 that i payed $4500 dollars for. I was able to sell the nMP for $3900 last month

I used to have a stock 12 core 2.66 before i sold it right before what seems as nose dive in cmp prices on ebay for $3000 and bought the nMP and i regretted that decision and now am happy i came back.
I love everything internal and knowing that my gpu is not obsolete as fast as the d700 are gonna be is great.
 
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