I currently have a 2007 8-core 3.0GHz 2,1 Mac Pro and have been thinking of upgrading it in the past few months. Have been doing some research and the consensus seems to be that the next update to the Mac Pro is quite a while away so I'm thinking of purchasing my upgrades in the next few weeks. Usage will be mostly Aperture and Handbrake encoding. One of the main issues I have with my current Mac Pro is the noise levels, especially when running Handbrake encodes. My Mac Pro is on 24/7 as it hosts my iTunes library which is shared to several PCs/Macs as well as Apple TVs around my house.
My current setup:
- 2 x Quad-core 3.0GHz (X5365)
- Apple 30" Cinema Display
- 4 GB RAM
- 2 SuperDrives
- HD Bays:
- Bay 1: 80GB SSD (Intel X25-M) (Mac OS X and Apps)
- Bay 2: 150GB WD VelociRaptor (Documents, Photos, Downloads)
- Bay 3: 1.5TB WD (iTunes)
- Bay 4: 1.5TB WD (iTunes)
(Drives in bays 3 and 4 are configured as a RAID 0)
I'm considering the 2.8 QC, 3.2 QC and 3.33 HC 2010 Mac Pro models and am also thinking of replacing my Intel SSD with an OWC Mercury Extreme Pro. Will also be upgrading the RAM to 12GB (3 x 4GB). What do you guys think?
Some queries I have which I was hoping you guys would be able to provide some insight on:
- Assuming I do upgrade, will the Intel SSD or the WD VelociRaptor have the better performance as the storage drive for my Documents, Photos and Downloads? (assuming the smaller capacity of the SSD is not an issue)
- Is there a difference in the noise levels of the 3 models I am contemplating (when at full load and not idling)?
- Is there anyone who has upgraded to a 2010 model from my current model, and if you have, would you recommend it?
- Based on my research, the 2010 2.8 QC might actually perform slower than my current machine for Handbrake encodes, is this really the case?
My current setup:
- 2 x Quad-core 3.0GHz (X5365)
- Apple 30" Cinema Display
- 4 GB RAM
- 2 SuperDrives
- HD Bays:
- Bay 1: 80GB SSD (Intel X25-M) (Mac OS X and Apps)
- Bay 2: 150GB WD VelociRaptor (Documents, Photos, Downloads)
- Bay 3: 1.5TB WD (iTunes)
- Bay 4: 1.5TB WD (iTunes)
(Drives in bays 3 and 4 are configured as a RAID 0)
I'm considering the 2.8 QC, 3.2 QC and 3.33 HC 2010 Mac Pro models and am also thinking of replacing my Intel SSD with an OWC Mercury Extreme Pro. Will also be upgrading the RAM to 12GB (3 x 4GB). What do you guys think?
Some queries I have which I was hoping you guys would be able to provide some insight on:
- Assuming I do upgrade, will the Intel SSD or the WD VelociRaptor have the better performance as the storage drive for my Documents, Photos and Downloads? (assuming the smaller capacity of the SSD is not an issue)
- Is there a difference in the noise levels of the 3 models I am contemplating (when at full load and not idling)?
- Is there anyone who has upgraded to a 2010 model from my current model, and if you have, would you recommend it?
- Based on my research, the 2010 2.8 QC might actually perform slower than my current machine for Handbrake encodes, is this really the case?