Mac pro 4,1 Ideas / Feedback

[thefredelement]

Hi, I started another thread about buying a 3,1 but now I think going for a 4,1 would be a bit of a wiser choice in terms of overall value, here's what I'm planning on getting:

Mac pro 2009 w/2 quad core 2.93Ghz cpus
32GB RAM
Intel 240GB SSD
ATI 6870HD 2GB

-- External RAID 1+0 (2TB usable) enclosure via eSata (thinking lacie but read some horrible reviews, I'm open to building my own, any suggestions?)

With all the pieces it's looking like around $4,600, which seems like a good deal to me, is it?

Also, what's the best way to go for eSata, I know there's a company that makes an extender from the MP's 2nd optical port to the back of the chassis, I also know I can get an internal card to do this, which got me thinking, Is it better to get an internal Sata controller card, or will it not matter on the 2009 (a bus bottleneck maybe?), I'm thinking should I go internal and then hookup the internal SSD to it, as well as external storage? - any thoughts/help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[wonderspark]

I got this eSATA / USB 3.0 card from OWC, and it's great. Bootable and hot-plugs external drives without any problems.

I have an SSD in my normal internal slot #1, and it performs great, even though the max speeds aren't as fast as if they were from a PCI slot. I tested max speeds from all sources using the same Crucial M4 256GB SSD...
1) internal slot (SATAII) - 230MB/sec write, 266MB/sec read
2) ODD bay #2 (SATAII) - 237MB/sec write, 270MB/sec read
3) PCI eSATA via Voyager Q dock - 168MB/sec write, 246MB/sec read
4) PCI USB 3.0 via Voyager Q dock - 169MB/sec write, 242MB/sec read
5) PCI via internal Areca RAID card - 281MB/sec write, 456MB/sec read
Point is, the random 4K reads are probably all about the same, and it flies along nicely as my main boot from the internal slot #1.

The 6870 seems like a hassle that would make more sense if you were getting the 69xx series instead, or get an NVIDIA GTX 570 from Mac Vid Cards and plug-n-play with ease.

I went with a proper RAID card from Areca, which hooks to an 8-bay RAID6. It's definitely more expensive, but worth it for my business.

 

[ClassObject]

Love my 4,1 with dual hex, 6870, intel ssd. Works great. Four monitors hooked up and is awesome

 

[AkuskaUK]

If you change it to the '10 firmware and processor upgrade, ill buy your processors?

 

[minifridge1138]

Just a thought on the eSata port.
There is an unused sata port for the lower Optical Drive.
So if you're only using the top ODD slot, then you can use this (see link) to get an eSata port.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/MPQXES2/

I actually found a similar one for $7 at my local computer store, except it was only 1 eSata port.



As for the MP you're looking at, I think it will be an awesome machine. The only disadvantage of the 4,1 dual processor model is the difficulty of updating processors (if you want to do that).