Purchasing a 2010 Mac Pro.. Have questions.

[GXPvince]

I'm buying a 2010 refurbished Mac Pro today to replace the 1,1 I have. I don't want to spend even more money for ram on my 1,1 hence the purchase. 16gb isn't doing it.

Noobish questions I have...

1.) Eventually I would like to do a processor swap(probably pretty quick). Would this computer be a good candidate?
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC560LL/A/refurbished-mac-pro-28ghz-quad-core-intel-xeon

2.) I notice the 1066 ram.. Should I get faster ram right off the bat if I plan on doing the processor swap? Or does it even matter?

3.) I am guessing this purchase would be a tremendous jump from 1,1, would I notice an improvement in processor speed since this is a single 2.8 compared to my dual 2.66 I have now?

Thanks for your time guys and gals.

 

[spoonie1972]

good cpu candidate if you dont want to go dual... while the processor trays are changeable between same firmware boards, finding one may be spendy.

if you dont mind staying single-processor you can get a hex upgrade.

buying the 1333 ram isnt so much more expensive than the "slower stuff". no reason not to buy.

it does get expensive if you want masses of ram in a small amount of chips - i got 2x 16gb pieces and it was $400ish from OWC.

you'll probably notice a bit of a jump.

 

[thekev]

If you're considering a cpu swap anyway, it's not that great. If you're buying a single type, your obvious cpu swap would be a W3680 at $600. When the W3680 6 core mac pros show up in the Apple Store refurbished section, they're roughly $2500. You'd save $100, but it's unlikely that they'd honor the warranty at that point. You're splitting hairs on ram speed. The actual difference is negligible. What makes a difference is a read coming from ram rather than swap, although if you want to surpass 16GB on one a quad or hex model, you will need to remove the original ram anyway. It can take a total of 4 dimms.

 

[wonderspark]

1.) Eventually I would like to do a processor swap(probably pretty quick). Would this computer be a good candidate?
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC560LL/A/refurbished-mac-pro-28ghz-quad-core-intel-xeon Yes, that is the ideal candidate.

2.) I notice the 1066 ram.. Should I get faster ram right off the bat if I plan on doing the processor swap? Or does it even matter? Yes, you should get the 1333MHz RAM now, because it will still work perfectly in 1066MHz until you put in a CPU that clocks at 1333. I know from personal experience.

3.) I am guessing this purchase would be a tremendous jump from 1,1, would I notice an improvement in processor speed since this is a single 2.8 compared to my dual 2.66 I have now? Yes, it will be a huge jump, then another significant second jump to a 6-core.

I'm now beyond three years on my 2009 Mac Pro, and the original RAM that came with it has never been used, as I put 4x4GB sticks from OWC in before I even powered it up the first time. The 6-core CPU has been in for at least a year... I forgot when exactly I put it in, but anyway, my old CPU and RAM was never needed for anything. *cue corporate success music*