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MP All Models Mac Pro........Get basic then upgrade later?

bigbadneil

bigbadneil

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 18, 2009
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Im going to buy a new Mac Pro to replace my Slooooooooow 2012 Mac Pro old model below;
Screenshot 2019-12-13 at 05.55.17.png

I am thinking of getting the basic Mac Pro and possibly update late using stuff from OWC or similar..............good idea or not?
Screenshot 2019-12-13 at 06.00.50.png


I guess I would get the monitor and stand as well
Neil
 
Unless need all of your data stacked n one big pile or are already at 700+ GB already then 1TB would work too. A drive for your working data could be on another drive that you can increment later. I imagine OWC (and others) will have options lower than Apple's $400/TB rate . Maybe not hugely lower or faster , but optionally can add later.
 
+1

It’s not certain whether the CPU will be user upgradeable so I would get more cores and base model everything else
 
Personally, I'm not a fan of the T2 chip and NAND storage options from Apple. I'd rather roll my own using PCIe risers (Sonnet 4x4 or Highpoint) and add my own NVMe drives. We don't know yet if the x16 PCIe slots are bifurcated or not to allow for cheaper risers like the Asus M.2 card, but they likely won't be bootable.

I'd rather spend money upfront to upgrade to the 12 core for faster memory speeds and faster turbo boost rather than spend $800 on 2GB of SSD.

theoretically the chips are socketed and standard Xeon-W's from Intel. Apple will never endorse the CPU upgrade as user upgradeable, but eventually we'll find someone who will swap the CPU and see if it works.
 
The machine almost certainly will be able to use the CPUs available as upgrades at some point in the future. Evaluating the usefulness or cost efficiency of that is another topic.

If you're buying the machine now, plan to have it "as-is" with CPU for 2-3 years while under warranty. It would be almost foolish to risk damaging the $6K+ beast for an upgrade. Let some YouTuber test it on theirs first.
 
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I’m actually interested to know if you get 8c basic CPU MP 7,1, the internals especially motherboard, are in no way compromised compared to the specced up version.
 
jinnyman said:
I’m actually interested to know if you get 8c basic CPU MP 7,1, the internals especially motherboard, are in no way compromised compared to the specced up version.
Click to expand...

It will "only" support half the 1.5TB of RAM that the highest spec model will. That's only due to limitation of that CPU though and would go to 1.5TB if you later swap the CPU to a "-M" variant. It will use a slower spec of RAM too (also remedied by swapping out components). Otherwise there's nothing we've seen to indicate the base is any different that the highest spec in terms of potential.
 
I have more-or-less the same config, so I'll be interested in seeing the real-world speed improvements of the 7,1. I unfortunately think I'm stuck in the same twilight zone as the 6,1—I'd see a speed improvement but it's not really worth the dollar price with my current work needs.

I definitely think the processor will be upgradeable down the line, but like others say I wouldn't touch it until the warranty had run out, so if you're fine with 8 cores then stick with it. I'd just keep the SSD at 1TB since that's an extremely usable size (I don't quite fill up my 512GB, and in the past I've survived on 256GB) but it'll be much cheaper to fill the machine up with SATA or PCIe flash via an add-on card. Plus if you leave off that upgrade you're essentially paying yourself ahead for a 64GB RAM purchase or similar aftermarket upgrade.
 
The other consideration is that the base model comes with slightly slower RAM.
 
Does anyone have perspective on mixing the Apple RAM with 3rd party DIMMs? What about different capacities in different slots? Mismatched RAM sticks in the 3,1 - 5,1 cMPs could really harsh your buzz. Would love to know if that's still a "gotcha" with the 7,1s...
 
I got the base model - 256gb SSD & 8-Core, but starting to really regret it. Should have gone with the 12-core and 1TB - but now they’re backordered and my base arrives Monday.
 
Blair Paulsen said:
Does anyone have perspective on mixing the Apple RAM with 3rd party DIMMs? What about different capacities in different slots? Mismatched RAM sticks in the 3,1 - 5,1 cMPs could really harsh your buzz. Would love to know if that's still a "gotcha" with the 7,1s...
Click to expand...
As long as you follow Apple’s support doc for compatible DIMMs, numbers of DIMMs, and where to place lower-capacity DIMMs and the like, I doubt you’ll have any problems.

I haven’t had RAM problems (besides a third-party stick going bad) in 15 years at this point.
 
M3Jedi77 said:
I got the base model - 256gb SSD & 8-Core, but starting to really regret it. Should have gone with the 12-core and 1TB - but now they’re backordered and my base arrives Monday.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about it. A new 12 core runs ~$1,500 from a 3rd party supplier, so if you got anything more than $500 for the 8 core you'll be ahead.
 
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MisterAndrew said:
I wouldn't worry about it. A new 12 core runs ~$1,500 from a 3rd party supplier, so if you got anything more than $500 for the 8 core you'll be ahead.
Click to expand...

Is there an aftermarket for the base 8-Core? Also would it be possible (advisable?) to hang onto the 8-Core until something new comes out in another 1-2 years and drop that into the Mac Pro?

Really just want this thing to be future proof.
 
Presumably there would be buyers for it (someone building a workstation or server). Although you might want to hang onto it to swap in if you ever need warranty service just to be on the safe side. It's hard to say if Intel will come out with new CPUs that are compatible, but it's possible.
 
Apple has denied warranty claims for systems that are not with components as shipped, such as CPU, GPU and RAM. Even if they are user serviceable, if you have a warranty claim the original parts need to be swapped in or at least brought with you.

For those people swapping out RAM, would hold onto the sticks Apple ships you for at least your warranty period.

For those looking to swap the CPU, would wait until at least the iFixIt teardown videos are posted. They MIGHT be testing another CPU. Regardless, would not get rid of your shipped CPU if you want the warranty.
 
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I suspect they won't even look at it if the problem could possibly be the upgraded part. My first MBP started having problems after upgrading the OS, and from the symptoms, I was "Roight, that's the memory." Took it down to the genius bar, they wouldn't even look at it because I'd upgraded the drive. It turned out to be the memory (if they'd listened to me, they would have only had to replace one part), but I was glad I still had the old drive and could pop it back in.

Definitely keep your parts until its out of warranty/AppleCare.
 
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