Nice to see that you guys feel as I dared to feel: that the 4,1's and 5,1's are still useable for Photoshop.. and that hopefully the used prices will drop below $800 as the 2013 MP's hit the market. Am thinking that even a 4-core will end up as the most cost-effective solution, as I am not doing this for a living... just for fun editing photos of the kids! W. Li
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Possible purchase of 4,1 or 5,1 Mac Pro, any advice appreciated
- Thread starter craigmartin
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I'm also thinking about buying a 2009 Mac Pro from OWC. It's a 4.1 version. I don't have money to buy a more recent version. Presently I have a 2009 mac mini, which I bought new at the time. I am a working photographer but have managed to live with the mini. At the time purchased, with the recession, I had to economize. Now I want a Mac Pro but have to work within budget. I realize that most others on the forum are not in my specific position, but I see that I can upgrade the machine as I go along. I'm not adverse to that. I still have a G4 tower that was having problems, another friend also had one he wanted to get rid off, so I "married" the 2 and now have 1 good machine. I've also done other upgrades with my computers. So, I guess, I'm just hoping for some reassurance that I my purchase isn't totally wrong. Thanks for any feedback.
Rich
Rich
As you're uk here's my tuppence.
The GTX 680 is fine, forget about paying through the nose for the mac edition. I bought a used PC evga 680 reference design which looks exactly the same as the mac edition off eBay for £200. Offered returns so I could thoroughly test it, unregistered warranty by EVGA so once tested I registered it myself.
Took 5 mins to flash the card with the mac EFI bios in windows.
PCIe power leads here for £4 each delivered.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290779934...l?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=290779934656&_rdc=1
Use the money you've saved for a higher spec cpu Mac Pro! Scrumpymacs do offer a warranty with their kit, I've heard nothing bad about their service, only good. I do similar kind of work as they do if you're close to south London Surrey area but you will have to get the MP yourself ;-)
The GTX 680 is fine, forget about paying through the nose for the mac edition. I bought a used PC evga 680 reference design which looks exactly the same as the mac edition off eBay for £200. Offered returns so I could thoroughly test it, unregistered warranty by EVGA so once tested I registered it myself.
Took 5 mins to flash the card with the mac EFI bios in windows.
PCIe power leads here for £4 each delivered.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290779934...l?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=290779934656&_rdc=1
Use the money you've saved for a higher spec cpu Mac Pro! Scrumpymacs do offer a warranty with their kit, I've heard nothing bad about their service, only good. I do similar kind of work as they do if you're close to south London Surrey area but you will have to get the MP yourself ;-)
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I just purchased a used Mac Pro for 3D work myself last month. Got a 12-core 2.93GHz 5,1 and my render times are cut in half (coming from 2012 3.4GHz i7 iMac). I researched and calculated and saw this was the best value/performance for me.
One thing you might want to watch out for is the video cards. The 680 4GB comes with either a 6+8 pin or 8+8 pin power connector (depending on model). Some have has success using only the 2x6-pin power ports on the MP, but it's kind of iffy. I didn't want to take the chance, so I went with a 670 4GB which needs 6+6 pin connectors. It performs quite close to a 680 anyway. Either way, I don't know how you'd run two of these cards without an external PSU.
One thing you might want to watch out for is the video cards. The 680 4GB comes with either a 6+8 pin or 8+8 pin power connector (depending on model). Some have has success using only the 2x6-pin power ports on the MP, but it's kind of iffy. I didn't want to take the chance, so I went with a 670 4GB which needs 6+6 pin connectors. It performs quite close to a 680 anyway. Either way, I don't know how you'd run two of these cards without an external PSU.