Mac Pro - Which Xeon?

[shoe11]

Not sure how to make this into a poll, but for those of you who have already ordered/received your Mac Pro which speed Xeons did you opt for? Presently I'm torn over spending the extra $$$ for the 3.0's vs. the std 2.66's. Anyway curious what other people decided to go with.

~shoe

 

[Sun Baked]

Unless you do a lot of CPU-intensive stuff like rendering files all day, then the best bang-for-the-buck is the 2.66GHz machine.

Spending money on memory still nets a larger boost in net speed than the same money spent on the CPU cycle bump.

Of course degrading to 2.0GHz is just silly, since Apple set the sweet spot at 2.66GHz.

 

[milozauckerman]

A savings that benefits Apple more than you is still a savings.

If you intend to ever play a game in Wondws, moving from the 2.66 to the 2.0 almost saves you enough to get the X1900 (should the wait become reasonable), or if you're working with large media files it covers your upgrade to 2GB of memory.

 

[amac4me]

Unless you do a lot of CPU-intensive stuff like rendering files all day, then the best bang-for-the-buck is the 2.66GHz machine.

Spending money on memory still nets a larger boost in net speed than the same money spent on the CPU cycle bump.

Of course degrading to 2.0GHz is just silly, since Apple set the sweet spot at 2.66GHz.

I agree with that comment. Use any money you save by sticking with the 2.66 towards any upgrades such as RAM, graphics, or disk space. Good luck with your decision.

 

[cjkihlbom]

I went with the 3 GHz. Steve promised we would have 3 GHz a year ago, and I've been waiting. So when they announced it now, I couldn't resist

This is my setup (yet to be delivered):

3.00 GHz Quad Xeon
4GB 667 DDR2 FB DIMM ECC - 4x1GB
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB SDRAM
Nvidia GeForce 7300 GT 256MB
250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s drive @ 7200 rpm
16x SuperDrive DL (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme
Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse
Apple Cinema HD Display (23" flat panel)
AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro

To that I'll add two 20" Cinema Displays and three WD Raptor 10k RPM 150 Gb drives in a RAID 0. I also ordered the nicely matching Altec Lansing FX-6021 speakers.

Can't wait to set it all up!

 

[adiddas125]

I went with the 3 GHz. Steve promised we would have 3 GHz a year ago, and I've been waiting. So when they announced it now, I couldn't resist

This is my setup (yet to be delivered):

3.00 GHz Quad Xeon
4GB 667 DDR2 FB DIMM ECC - 4x1GB
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB SDRAM
Nvidia GeForce 7300 GT 256MB
250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s drive @ 7200 rpm
16x SuperDrive DL (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme
Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse
Apple Cinema HD Display (23" flat panel)
AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro

To that I'll add two 20" Cinema Displays and three WD Raptor 10k RPM 150 Gb drives in a RAID 0. I also ordered the nicely matching Altec Lansing FX-6021 speakers.

Can't wait to set it all up!

WOW Nice setup! Makes my MB look like a little toy.

 

[Clydefrog]

why two video cards? I believe the ATi has 2 DVI ports. Man i wish i could have that system

 

[nsknike]

I went with the 3 GHz. Steve promised we would have 3 GHz a year ago, and I've been waiting. So when they announced it now, I couldn't resist

This is my setup (yet to be delivered):

3.00 GHz Quad Xeon
4GB 667 DDR2 FB DIMM ECC - 4x1GB
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB SDRAM
Nvidia GeForce 7300 GT 256MB
250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s drive @ 7200 rpm
16x SuperDrive DL (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme
Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse
Apple Cinema HD Display (23" flat panel)
AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro

To that I'll add two 20" Cinema Displays and three WD Raptor 10k RPM 150 Gb drives in a RAID 0. I also ordered the nicely matching Altec Lansing FX-6021 speakers.

Can't wait to set it all up!

Sorry to tell you this but you can't use the ATI 1900, with the Nvidia 7300. Apple has stated that. Other than that, great machine.

 

[shoe11]

I went with the 3 GHz. Steve promised we would have 3 GHz a year ago, and I've been waiting. So when they announced it now, I couldn't resist

This is my setup (yet to be delivered):

3.00 GHz Quad Xeon
4GB 667 DDR2 FB DIMM ECC - 4x1GB
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB SDRAM
Nvidia GeForce 7300 GT 256MB
250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s drive @ 7200 rpm
16x SuperDrive DL (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme
Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse
Apple Cinema HD Display (23" flat panel)
AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro

To that I'll add two 20" Cinema Displays and three WD Raptor 10k RPM 150 Gb drives in a RAID 0. I also ordered the nicely matching Altec Lansing FX-6021 speakers.

Can't wait to set it all up!

And here I am having issues with the 3.0 upgrade price!

 

[cjkihlbom]

why two video cards? I believe the ATi has 2 DVI ports. Man i wish i could have that system

Because I'll be using 3 displays... one 23" ACD and two 20" ACD

Sorry to tell you this but you can't use the ATI 1900, with the Nvidia 7300. Apple has stated that. Other than that, great machine.

Yes, it will work just fine. We discussed it in this thread. I had a friend of mine at WWDC try it together with an Apple Engineer.

 

[nsknike]

Hmm, ok thats news to me, thanks for the info.