Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Mac Pro increase the power.

swuroshi said:
Hi everyone I joined yesterday, and I wanted some advice from you.
I have an old Mac Pro 3,1 -8 core - 28.8 GHz- 8 gb RAM- 2008 - bought from a friend for about 4 months and it works well with FCPX 10.1.3. working in AVCHD but sometimes the color wheel turns too !!!!

What do you advise me to do to give it more power?
What are the first things to replace?
I would like to replace the parts with calm because I do not have a lot of money available immediately, but only a little at a time.
So the first expense to do what would it be?
Thanks.
Click to expand...


The rationale is that instead of throwing "good money" into a 2008 3,1 is better spent starting with a 4,1 2009 (or even 2010 5,1)

Video editing storage should be able to sustain ~250MB/sec or better.
And usually it is limited bandwidth and getting files and data into and out of the processor (via memory) that is the bottleneck.
At least you don't need to buy SCSI drives and controllers today!

The 2008 is hampered by cost of memory if you need more than 16GB, by its older PCIe 1.0 slots 3&4, and even GPUs do not do as well in a 2008 as the same card in the 2009 will show.

I would recommend would look like:

* Dual ATI/AMD can help with FCP-X and even a single 7970 might be the ticket. Do one good GPU that is flashed.

* 6-core 3.4GHz 2009 w/ 24-32GB RAM, some SSDs on PCIe controller and 4x4TB of storage for your work.

Cost that out on 2009 vs 2008.

FBDIMMs for 2006-2008 4x4GB NEMIX
MacSales Memory Mac Pro
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
swuroshi said:
Hi everyone I joined yesterday, and I wanted some advice from you.
I have an old Mac Pro 3,1 -8 core - 28.8 GHz- 8 gb RAM- 2008 - bought from a friend for about 4 months and it works well with FCPX 10.1.3. working in AVCHD but sometimes the color wheel turns too !!!!

What do you advise me to do to give it more power?
What are the first things to replace?
I would like to replace the parts with calm because I do not have a lot of money available immediately, but only a little at a time.
So the first expense to do what would it be?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

1) Get a lot more ram (at the very least double it, but preferably install the max) - http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/261646386937?lpid=82&chn=ps ;

2) Get an SSD ( the fastest you can afford) [ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...TMATCH&Description=macpro+ssd&N=-1&isNodeId=1 ].

3) Get an Nvidia Kepler or Maxwell GPU, preferably a GTX 780, 780 6G, 970, 980 or Titan X { http://www.anandtech.com/show/9059/the-nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan-x-review } [ http://www.newegg.com/Desktop-Graphics-Cards/BrandSubCat/ID-1402-48?Order=PRICED note that most of these require supplementary power source and won't give you a boot screen, unless you get a flashed one, say for instance from MVC = MacVidCards]. The last URL lists EVGA products. I recommend them highly. There're refurbs there and EVGA has a record of standing behind them too; so consider them also to save money. The cards that I recommend support CUDA for GPU computing and OpenCL for GPU computing in connection with FCP, especially the 7xxs, 9xxs and the Titan X - so with them you get CUDA and OpenCL support. Keep in mind that the more recent the card's release date, the more energy efficient and less power draining it is. If you don't won't to fiddle with issues involving how to power the card, get a card with no more than dual 6-pin power connectors (your Mac's motherboard should support dual 6-pin power connectors, although you may have to purchase the cables on Ebay or Amazon where I've found them for under $10 each, e.g. - http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/251526972068?lpid=82&chn=ps) or https://www.google.com/search?clien...ro+PCIe+cables&spell=1&spd=776940361661257175 .
 
Last edited:
You are editing in FCP X & you don't need the fastest machine on earth. An 8-core 2.8GHz Mac Pro 3,1 has plenty enough power & will be better than a 4-core Mac Pro 4,1 especially when you are rendering out the finished video.

It doesn't matter what SSD you get as long as it's a recent one & you use a PCIe card like an Apricom Velocity instead of just plugging it into the SATA-II drive sled.

It doesn't make much sense to spend a fortune on a GTX980 to upgrade a Mac Pro 3,1. It doesn't make much sense to buy any sort of graphics card new in any case & the best bang for buck is a used GTX570.

16GB of RAM is good. 32GB is better. Get the cheaper 667Mhz FB-DIMMs. They run cooler & are cheaper than the 800MHz parts & in real life you will notice no difference in performance.
 
Had my 3,1 for a few weeks now. LOVE IT. Put a SSD in bay 1 for now. 12gb ram for now, soon to be upped to 20gb. Hope to get PCIe card for the SSD in a few weeks. Running Geforce 740 in slot 2.

I do pro audio & have zero issues. I've read many assertions "they run too hot". Not seeing it happen here even under 30+ plugins & a few Vi's in various DAW's. I plan on using it till I "have" to upgrade to a 5,1 MP.

Keep it dust (and animal fur) free & it should last a long time. As always, YMMV. Peace :)
 
GeForce 740

thestickman said:
Had my 3,1 for a few weeks now. LOVE IT. Put a SSD in bay 1 for now. 12gb ram for now, soon to be upped to 20gb. Hope to get PCIe card for the SSD in a few weeks. Running Geforce 740 in slot 2.

I do pro audio & have zero issues. I've read many assertions "they run too hot". Not seeing it happen here even under 30+ plugins & a few Vi's in various DAW's. I plan on using it till I "have" to upgrade to a 5,1 MP.

Keep it dust (and animal fur) free & it should last a long time. As always, YMMV. Peace :)
Click to expand...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KJGYOBQ...lid=18JNKCLWNA3NH&coliid=I1KTYD7IBC756T&psc=1

Is this the GPU you are running? I have a 3,1 and was thinking about getting this to run photoshop and lightroom 5.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Hay! Who gave the 2008 Macpro Party and forgot to invite me?! :D
Hardware v. Software. Many users chase hardware when many times it's the software that does not take advantage of the HW. If possible try other software to compare performance. Case in point: Avid MC 8.3.1 plays R3D, 5D, 7D and others pretty well on my 3,1 but Adobe Premiere plays all formats effortlessly! It's like night and day! Same HW Different SW!
 

Attachments

  • Beer & Pizza.png
    Beer & Pizza.png
    653.4 KB · Views: 91
From my perspective, a 3,1 seems fine to run CUDA and OpenCl stuff without much trouble.

But OpenGl is where it hits a glass ceiling.

Uningine Valley tests of cards below 7950 will scale normally. But 35FPS is the absolute max on Extreme HD preset. As in a GTX680 or a GTX780 or a Titan-X will all get the same score. So if what you use needs powerful OpenGl, a 3,1 would be a limited choice. And mine has Dual 3.2 Ghz 4 cores, maxed out except for 667Mz RAM.

If you want one o those nifty PCIE SSDs you have to run it in slot 1 or 2 in a 3,1 to see full speed as 3 or 4 will run it at half the speed available in a 4,1 or 5,1.
 
Good morning, I Read this discussion now forgotten, and I wanted to know if it is still worthwhile to buy a MacPro 2008, and then in addition to increasing the maximum, install OSX El Capitan.
 
Vladiciu said:
Good morning, I Read this discussion now forgotten, and I wanted to know if it is still worthwhile to buy a MacPro 2008, and then in addition to increasing the maximum, install OSX El Capitan.
Click to expand...

I bought an 8-Core 3,1 a few weeks ago and I love it. I have two SSD's in it, one running Yosemite and the other El Capitan and it's flawless with both. Prior to this I had an i5 MBP and I wouldn't go back.

I also swapped out the old ATi card for a GTX 650 and I'm running 10GB Ram.

I use it mainly for Xcode and graphics editing but now and again I'll play the odd game on my bootcamp partition and it still handles stuff well.

Definitely still a worthwhile purchase if you can get one cheap.
 
I have a cMP 4,1

Replaced the stock nvidia GT 120 with a GT 640 and my machine is much more responsive.

I already have a boot SSD on a PCI card.

OP, install a SSD for the OS and apps first.
Everything will be snappier.
 
The 4,1 and 5,1 models use entirely different CPUs than the 3,1s.

The 3,1s use the Intel Harpertown architecture while the 4,1s and 5,1s use the Westmere architecture.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back