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

bmoraski

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 27, 2020
102
40
So I pulled the trigger on this little gem. Specs and pics to follow. I couldn't resist. Came across an article that discussed identifying Manufacturing dates. Can anyone confirm this info ? According to this, mine is a 2019. Which would be freaking awesome.
IMG_4871.JPG
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chucks4me

GlynH

macrumors regular
Jun 14, 2016
138
35
Well as I understand it the fourth character in the serial number indicates the year according to the table you show above so the fourth character on your 6,1 is either Y or Z?

Great to discover your Mac Pro 6,1 was built in 2019 but surely the Mac Pro 6,1 in your sig should still read 2013 shouldn't it as that is the model release year irrespective of when it was built?

My 6,1 looks to have been built in 2014 but it will forever be a Mac Pro 6,1 2013

And I very recently bought a new to me MacBook Pro 16" i9/64GB/2TB (I know...I know...should have purchased M1/2/3 but it was a good price) and was surprised to find out it was still under AppleCare for Enterprise until 9th August this year meaning it was originally purchased 10th August 2021.

Looking at the table above the fourth character in its serial number is G which seems to reinforce the theory that it was built in 2021 which would tie-in with the 3 year AppleCare expiry date but it will still be known as MacBook Pro 2019 despite the 2021 build date.

-=Glyn=-
 
  • Like
Reactions: bmoraski

bmoraski

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 27, 2020
102
40
Great to discover your Mac Pro 6,1 was built in 2019 but surely the Mac Pro 6,1 in your sig should still read 2013 shouldn't it as that is the model release year irrespective of when it was built?

-=Glyn=-

I wrestled with that when i was updating and i believe you are correct. I will update. lol

And I very recently bought a new to me MacBook Pro 16" i9/64GB/2TB (I know...I know...should have purchased M1/2/3 but it was a good price) and was surprised to find out it was still under AppleCare for Enterprise until 9th August this year meaning it was originally purchased 10th August 2021.

Looking at the table above the fourth character in its serial number is G which seems to reinforce the theory that it was built in 2021 which would tie-in with the 3 year AppleCare expiry date but it will still be known as MacBook Pro 2019 despite the 2021 build date.

-=Glyn=-

Thats a fantastic Mac. Especially if the price was right. I would have done the same. I could have gotten a mac mini but the deal on the 6,1 sealed the deal. For a 12 core ( soon to be 32 gb ram ) for less than a bare bones mini , the choice was obvious.
 

frou

macrumors 65816
Mar 14, 2009
1,392
2,002
And I thought I did well finding a 'V' serial on eBay (which was full of ancient specimens). Nice one!
 
  • Like
Reactions: bmoraski

bmoraski

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 27, 2020
102
40
Oh i should have said mine is a Y. lol
I would have been happy with a V or S. Was not expecting what i got.
 

avro707

macrumors 68020
Dec 13, 2010
2,263
1,654
Interesting, although I already knew mine was 2014 week 22.

I just call mine by the general model code.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bmoraski

vanc

macrumors 6502
Nov 21, 2007
489
154
So I pulled the trigger on this little gem. Specs and pics to follow. I couldn't resist. Came across an article that discussed identifying Manufacturing dates. Can anyone confirm this info ? According to this, mine is a 2019. Which would be freaking awesome.
Congratuations! and Thanks for the tips.

Got mine a few weeks ago from eBay. The 4th character of the serial number is X. So it was made in 2018. I also checked the SN from Apple and the purchase date was Jan 2019. I was happy too. :)

It came with 8-core CPU, 64G memory and 1TB SSD. I did open it up (very easy) and turned out both memory and SSD are genuine Apple OEM parts. That surprised a bit, honestly.

I bought a 12-core Xeon E5-2697v2 on eBay and it's yet to arrive. But after reading various web sites, I doubt it could give me any meaningful performance boost due to the lower base and boost clock.

After tried bunch of things in the last few weeks, the GPU (D500 for me) was one of the weakest points. Almost all software could only use a single GPU and it's by no means powerful at all. Any sustained load (like playing Youtube videos, playing casual games) would drive it very hard and power usage shot up. The thermal envolope was apparently too low for the design and it would throttle quite frequently.

I'm going to try an eGPU once my thunderbolt 2 cable arrives (I already have a Razer Core X with an AMD Vega 56 and Thunderbolt 3 to 2 adapter). The eGPU works fine with an Intel mac mini 2018. I hope that should make the mac pro more useful.

But anyway, even though it received lot of criticism for its lack of expandability and thermal headroom, its design is still iconic. I placed it together with an iMAC G4. It's rather pleasing to my eye (not to my wife's though. :cool: )

Not too much to tinker with, but well, just enjoy our new precious.
 

krakman

macrumors 6502
Dec 3, 2009
450
511
I'm going to try an eGPU once my thunderbolt 2 cable arrives (I already have a Razer Core X with an AMD Vega 56 and Thunderbolt 3 to 2 adapter). The eGPU works fine with an Intel mac mini 2018. I hope that should make the mac pro more useful.
its not as simple as plugging the wires in..... you will need it install OCLP and then Kryptonite to get the EGPU working.

I tried this with a Blackmagic EGPU and FCPX. whilst it worked it was a lot of hassle and you need to reinstall Kryptonite every time there is an OS update, however Monterey updates are few and far between now.

If you choose to use an unsupported OS via OCLP you have to disable the on board GPUs and only use the EGPU.

Currently OCLP+Sonoma doesn't support the Vega 56.
 

krakman

macrumors 6502
Dec 3, 2009
450
511
After tried bunch of things in the last few weeks, the GPU (D500 for me) was one of the weakest points. Almost all software could only use a single GPU and it's by no means powerful at all. Any sustained load (like playing Youtube videos, playing casual games) would drive it very hard and power usage shot up. The thermal envolope was apparently too low for the design and it would throttle quite frequently.
I have the the 4 core d300 model and it works fine editing video in FCPX whilst streaming video on Amazon Prime.

Youtube works fine. no throttling experienced. Maybe you have your YouTube setting set to Max?

Never played games so can't comment.

Did you format the SSD and reinstall a fresh copy of Monterey. PRAM reset?
 

krakman

macrumors 6502
Dec 3, 2009
450
511
I bought a 12-core Xeon E5-2697v2 on eBay and it's yet to arrive. But after reading various web sites, I doubt it could give me any meaningful performance boost due to the lower base and boost clock.
the 8 core I generally consider the sweet spot. I bought a 10 core CPU but have yet to fit it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: throAU and bmoraski

throAU

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2012
9,198
7,349
Perth, Western Australia
I recently got a 6,1 as well initially for aesthetics as I think it's going to be the next g4 cube.

But its actually surprisingly usable :)

Mine is a 6 core, D500s, 64 GB - I bought an 8 core e5-2667v2 off eBay for it ($28!, lol) but haven't gotten around to swapping it yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bmoraski

AngryRedTicTac

macrumors regular
Jan 15, 2011
133
59
Congrats!

I've been greatly enjoying my 2019 built 6-core D700 1TB 64GB NIB rig I got on eBay in December of 22 which actually qualified for AppleCare. Great little machine, I do ponder jumping to an 8 or 10 core, but I haven't felt compelled to do so just yet. It was pretty much it or a Mini for me as well. The Mini would stomp a mud hole in it, but I don't care. My trash can is glorious. Really a shame that socket is stuck on that chipset, I would happily pay to move it forward a gen or two. Alas....
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.