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MP 6,1 Prices need to drop on 2013 Mac Pro - Let's Go!

w4rmk

w4rmk

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 13, 2006
286
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I am surprised that pre-owned prices are holding very steady on the 2013 Mac Pro given the imminent release of the new Mac Pro. I am hoping that will change in the coming months. I am on the hunt for a 2013 Mac Pro at the right price. Right now they are still a bit too high priced on eBay ($1,500 average). I am waiting patiently for prices to drop closer to $1k. I want to replace my old 2011 iMac that I use in my spare office as it won't support Catalina. I am also looking forward to tinkering around with upgrading of the processor and SSD in the 2013 Mac Pro. Would it be wise to get one with the upgraded video (D500 or D700)? How much of a difference does it make for standard business use over the base D300 video cards? I am not a gamer nor do I create video content. The Mac Pro will be used for office / business applications only.

I am waiting for the wave of Mac Pro's to hit the used market when the new Mac Pro start shipping... Come on upgraders !
 
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Writing this on a 2013 with D300. Literally waiting for a 4K video to render. I don't think you'll notice any difference for general use between the different cards.

I did the 12 core upgrade last week (cheap and fun!)
 
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I scored a base model 2013 Mac Pro from a local Craigslist seller. Got it for $1,100 and was happy to find that based on the serial number it was built in 2017. Most of the ones I see for sale on eBay at the lower end of the price range have early 2013/14 build dates.

I have ordered these parts for my upgrades so far:
  • Intel Xeon E5-2667v2, 3.30GHz Eight Core Processor - $150 (eBay)
  • 4x16GB Memory to bring the total memory to 64GB - $100 (eBay)
  • Intel 660p 2TB NvME SSD - $199 (Micro Center)
  • Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter - $15 (Amazon)
  • ARCTIC MX-4 - Thermal Compound Paste - $10 (Amazon)
  • Aluminum Heatsink for PCIe NVMe M.2 2280 SSD with Silicone Thermal Pad - $6 (Amazon)
Question, I saw this note on Sintech's product page:
It can't support recovering from internet,important to prepare bootable USB disk driver(M.2 PCIe has no OS system inside,it must be erased first),if you don't know how to do this, you can ask for help.

It's poor English but can anyone point me to details about creating a bootable USB stick? I assume this note is saying that once I install the new SSD I won't be able to do an internet install of Mac OS?

Thanks,
Richard
 
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I just bought one from eBay a few weeks ago from a large volume reseller. It was $1500 and was in mint condition. Best part? I looked up the serial number when it arrived since serial wasn't listed on site and I was pleasantly surprised that it has a 2018 build date and the previous owner purchased AppleCare until 2021 which also wasn't mentioned in auction. The ones with AppleCare sell for $2k and up.

My guess it, some guy bought it last year after waiting a while for new Mac Pro and they announced it this past summer and he sold it to reseller.

I, like you, am using it for non graphic/gaming applications. I use it for school since it was the same price as a new Mac mini and I like the design. Catalina works great and I upgraded to a 1tb SSD.

Also, keep your SSD for potential future firmware updates. Apparently, it requires the original SSD to install firmware updates.
 
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They were pretty low a couple of months ago, at least locally. In my area, there was a six core D500 unit going for $1300CDN. But now, they’ve practically doubled in price.
 
Moved reply that was here about SSD performance over to its own separate post.
 
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The prices are very high in my local area too. There was one that was $4500CAD and not many under $2000CAD.
 
I'll be looking to ultimately swap my 5,1 for a 6,1, since the 6,1 will serve as a good machine for my 32-bit legacy applications and it's a beautiful piece of aesthetic design (that takes up a lot less room.) Definitely waiting for sub-$1000 prices, but that will probably take another Mac Pro revision/another year or two, since the 7,1's higher price mean it won't push the 6,1s down as much or as fast.
 
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In my area a full specd-up up one goes around for 2200€, a base one with a thunderbolt display for 1700€, a base one for 1200€ and if you can believe this there’s even one listing that asks 2700€ for a base one, these prices are bonkers, you have to be stupid to pay this kind of money for a 7 year old machine, these listings are up online since the beginning of summer and they will never sell at this rate, the prices dropped only slightly ever since I picked up the interest in this machine and follow these listings and did not drop at all ever since 7.1 came into picture, I do this because I find it a more suitable music production and film scoring capable machine than a 2018 mac mini but this wait is killing me slowly.😫😤🤬🤯
 
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I think a lot of 6,1 owners were expecting the entry level 7,1 to be cheaper than what was announced. Thus, they are holding on to theirs and causing the prices to stay stable. The entry price point of the 7,1 is also allowing the resellers to keep prices steady, if not increase slightly, because they know the only other alternative to their base model $1300 6,1s for sale, is a $6000+ 7,1.

Usually when a newer model comes out, the older one drops in price... but that hasn't happened here.
 
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I think the old model is also ideal to transition over to desktop duties - it's small enough to be out of the way, upgradeable next to contemporary alternatives and does not consume a lot of energy. If I had an need for a second or backup desktop then that would be the last computer to drop once its been replaced as the work horse.

Almost seems like all that complaining about the Trashcan/writing it off next to the Mini done in these forums is just a ploy to get those second hand prices to drop? ;)
 
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My thought is that nobody is in any hurry to get rid of their 2013 models. Even if they purchased a 7.1, they will keep them - especially if they tricked them out - as back ups, because they love them, or just to keep them up and running for certain applications. I have the idea that many available used 2013 models are from pawn shops and estate sales :rolleyes:
 
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Well, a cursory look at eBay shows the 12 core versions at around $2500 with 64 GB RAM and 1 or 2 TB storage. I suspect they may go down a bit from there, but probably not a lot - perhaps to ~$2k.

I think the models with the D300s are likely to diminish in value more and faster; whatever CPU/RAM/storage they have. Of course, those are the ones that people seek out the least . . . It seems the D500s are in the greatest demand, as they seem to burn out less than the D700s.
 
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The upgrades to bump this machine up to it’s max I think go about around 200-300$ (maybe even less if you try a bit harder) without taking the SSD (or SSDs if you go also for that Amfeltec, if you know what I mean) in account, that’s to each needs and taste, my point is that the prices are just not justifiable, for what exactly I’m paying that 2500 $ price tag for the higher tier GPUs mainly it seems, for two 7 year old 500$ each GPU, damn ! AMD really knows it seems how to make some timeless GPUs ladies and gents.

*reading very fast* ➡⬇

[This study at the time it was published was made with a base model 6.1 Mac Pro at a reference price point of 1200 $, the upgrades at the given moment were found to be circulating around the 200-300$ price range taking in account exchange rates, price fluctuations and inflation, thus doing some basic mathematics acrobatics we will find that after extrapolating the base price and upgrades {2500-1200-300=1000} that the price of a 7 years old dual GPU system equals with the word outrageous or preposterous, at the time you handsome reader from the year 3030 A.D you will read this study with your 30-30 vision it will probably not be valid anymore and most definitely not relevant and I at last will be buried with my 6.1 Mac Pro that my grandsons bought me as my dying wish, at last.

⏸ ▶

P.S: The price the kids bought it at in 2069 was a total steal. If you can believe it handsome reader it was only 699.99$ with free shipping, it was really a smash deal, say you can’t get a great deal anymore my a$$, oh boy, what a great day it was...]

Fin.

The Institute Of Boredom And Useless Studies ® 2020 ©
 
Zen_Arcade said:
Well, a cursory look at eBay shows the 12 core versions at around $2500 with 64 GB RAM and 1 or 2 TB storage. I suspect they may go down a bit from there, but probably not a lot - perhaps to ~$2k.

I think the models with the D300s are likely to diminish in value more and faster; whatever CPU/RAM/storage they have. Of course, those are the ones that people seek out the least . . . It seems the D500s are in the greatest demand, as they seem to burn out less than the D700s.
Click to expand...


By 'burn out' do you mean they fail based mostly on heat/thermal issues? I have an 8-core with D700s and use Mac Fan Control to keep the fan spinning at at least 1300rpm. I seldom see temps above 90F on the GPU diodes and 120F on the PCIe switch diode (which frequently seems to be the hottest point of the system.)
 
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