Shall I buy this Mac pro?

[Jaap-Jan Willig]

The 2006 MacPro with the specifications you mentioned is the same speed under your mouse as your Late-2009 Apple iMac "Core i5" 2.66 more or less.

You mean that it has the same speed? Because if that so i am happy with the speed. I dont need to run heavy programs like apreture or something. I just want a computer for school and a little bit gaming. And i can buy it from an apple retail seller and it is refurbished.

 

[Tesselator]

The 2006 MacPro with the specifications you mentioned is the same speed under your mouse as your Late-2009 Apple iMac "Core i5" 2.66 more or less.

You mean that it has the same speed? Because if that so i am happy with the speed. I dont need to run heavy programs like apreture or something. I just want a computer for school and a little bit gaming. And i can buy it from an apple retail seller and it is refurbished.

Extremely close, yes.

Other's are right in that it's a little high in price. Not toooo bad but yeah, I would hope to get it for $600 to $700 or so (delivered). 730 euros is currently $950.

I would assume that for 730 euros you could get a MacPro3,1 there in the Netherlands. So for the MP1,1 then (with the specs you listed) right around 550 Euros to 575 euros would be about right. IMO. I dunno what it's like where you live tho.

In your approximate area:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-MacPr...86?pt=Klassische_Computer&hash=item1e793058d6

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MacPro-3-1-...pple_Desktops_All_In_Ones&hash=item4ac2e92c58 MP 3,1 760 Euros (Sold) Austria

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Mac-P...47?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_23&hash=item460c3dfe73 MP 1,1 550 Euros (Sold) Belgium
Mac Pro Mid 2006 upgraded
2x 2,66Ghz Dual Core Xeon
RAM 16Gb
ATI Radeon 5770 (official apple model)
1x SSD OCZ Vertex 2 96Gb
2x Western Digital RE3 320Gb disks (stripped raid array)
Plextor PX-LB950SA BLU-RAY Writer
Mac OS X Lion

And so on.

 

[Jaap-Jan Willig]

I would assume that for 730 euros you could get and MacPro3,1 there in the Netherlands. So for the MP1,1 then (with the specs you listed) right around 550 Euros to 575 euros would be about right. IMO. I dunno what's it's like where you live tho.[/QUOTE]

Second hand, it costs about 550 euros, but i trust that less than an apple retail store who sells refurbished apple computers.

And I know it's a lot of money for a 6/7 years old computer, but a whole new imac costs +/- 1300 euro's, and a mac mini..., no thanks, it is fast, but there is no possibility to upgrade it. And this mac pro is fast enough for me.

 

[666sheep]

Haha, in Netherlands prices are seem to be quite high:
this one (1,1) went for 880 EUR with bunch of "extra" software (which you could torrent yourself as seller didn't mention about install discs)
On my local market, you can get 1,1 for about 500 - 550 EUR, sometimes even less.

 

[Jaap-Jan Willig]

Haha, in Netherlands prices are seem to be quite high:

not only the computers, a box of cigarets: around 6.5 euros.

 

[Tesselator]

WoW!

Also as far as games go the MP1,1 with the specs you listed can play these games well:

AA = full speed 30FPS or more at the highest settings in 1080p
BB = between 10 and 20 FPS at the highest settings in 1080p but either at medium setting and/or at 720p it gets 30FPS or more.
CC = Needs both low settings and small screen 720p or less to achieve good frame rate.
?? = I forget.
-- = Doesn't apply.

AA - Angry Birds Space.app
AA - BioShock Demo
AA - Borderlands2.app
AA - BSM Demo
AA - Call of Duty 4
BB - CoDBlackOps.app
AA - Cars
AA - Counter-Strike Global Offensive
AA - Diablo III
AA - DiRT 2
AA - DiRT 2 Demo
?? - Empire Total War.app
BB - F1 2012.app
-- - GameRanger
AA - Halo.app
AA - Nexuiz
AA - Quake 4
AA - Quake 3 Arena
BB - Quake Live
AA - Savage 2.app
BB - Sid Meiers Railroads Demo.app
AA - SPORE
AA - StarCraft II
CC - The Witcher 2
AA - Tomb Raider - Anniversary Demo.app
BB - Ubisoft - Assassin's Creed II
-- - Unigine-Heaven-3.0.app
AA - Unreal Tournament 2004
-- - Valley.app
?? - Warhammer 40k - Dawn Of War Dark Crusade.app

 

[blackhand1001]

Hello,

I am using my macbook pro as a 'main' computer, and I saw this Mac Pro on the internet for 730 euros (specs are bellow). Is this a good price for an old mac pro with these specs and do you recommend to buy this for a 'main' computer?

Proccessor
Processor Intel Xeon
Processor Speed 2x 2.66 GHz
RAM 4 GB
Type RAM 8x PC2-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 ECC fully-buffered DIMM (matched pair)
Architecture 64-bit
System Bus 1.33 GHz
Processor Type 5150 ("woodcrest")
Number of Cores 4
Cache 4 MB L3
Hard Drive 250 GB (7200-rpm, SATA)
Hard Drive Bus 4x 3.0 Gbps Serial ATA (SATA) controllers
Grafische processors
Graphics Memory 1 GB GDDR5 SDRAM
Graphics Card ATI Radeon HD 5770

ABSOLUTELY NOT. That machine is ancient. It would be fine for less money but at that price point its a complete ripoff.

 

[Jaap-Jan Willig]

Ok. Here is an example of a 2008 mac pro. This one is not refurbished. The guy is asking 750 euro for it and the highest bid is 500 euro.

2x 2.8 GHz (E5462) Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Harpertown" (MA970)
8 GB 800 MHz DDR FB-DIMM
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256 MB
320GB opslag

http://www.marktplaats.nl/a/compute...da871b0d84f75c3056cc6db858f31&previousPage=lr

But what do you guys think about buying a second-hand computer?

 

[Macsonic]

But what do you guys think about buying a second-hand computer?

It's fine to buy used, second-hand computers. Just verify from the seller there are no issues he encountered. If you can personally pick up the Mac Pro, inspect and test it that would be great.

 

[666sheep]

Ok. Here is an example of a 2008 mac pro. This one is not refurbished. The guy is asking 750 euro for it and the highest bid is 500 euro.

2x 2.8 GHz (E5462) Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Harpertown" (MA970)
8 GB 800 MHz DDR FB-DIMM
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256 MB
320GB opslag

http://www.marktplaats.nl/a/compute...da871b0d84f75c3056cc6db858f31&previousPage=lr

But what do you guys think about buying a second-hand computer?

Looks good. Stock config with reasonable memory upgrade. For this price I'd buy it myself (I'm on the market for 3,1 too).

 

[Tesselator]

It's fine to buy used, second-hand computers. Just verify from the seller there are no issues he encountered. If you can personally pick up the Mac Pro, inspect and test it that would be great.

Yup, I agree. I bought this one new but that's only cuz it was about a week after Apple introduced the first Intel based machines. Used is totally the way to go and my next one will be used for sure - not refurbished.

Yeah, I would just make sure the seller will give you 10 days or so to test it. Then when you get it give it a good work out for the full ten days. Run 7 or 8 instances of Rember on the RAM. Run all the tests and burn-ins you can find on the GPU, and do the same for the CPU. Move the RAM around in the raiser cards. Test the HDD in all of the SATA II bays. And give the PWBs a good looking over. Then just forget about all that and enjoy the machine. Do all the testing with Apple's normal SMC fan profiles - don't use SMCFanControl till after you're done testing.

Also, I think I would buy it by paying his 750e. Otherwise you'll muck around and lose out. I mean, when I searched they seemed pretty rare in your area.

Good luck!

(Later, when you get some money ahead, you can upgrade that awful GPU. )

 

[Les Kern]

Lot 'o convo about a "no freakin' way" answer.

 

[Tesselator]

Cuz that answer is wrong in this case.




.

 

[Jaap-Jan Willig]

Yeah, I would just make sure the seller will give you 10 days or so to test it. Then when you get it give it a good work out for the full ten days.

I dont think that the seller would do such thing, but it worth to ask, now i have to convince my parents for letting me buying a second-hand computer that is 750 euro...

 

[barmann]

The base MacPro 1,1 came with 1 GB (two 512 MB) of 667 MHz DDR2 ECC fully buffered DIMM. So yeah, 4GB is an upgrade. The HDD is base spec tho.

Under 8GB in an MP doesn't count as an upgrade for me, but of course that's correct again.
How could they sell it like that ?

There were quite a few 32GB upgrades available in the $275 or so range till I got on here about a month ago and laughed at people spending four times more. Then they all dried up really fast and I even noticed a few active posters here updating their profile signatures. So if the deals are kinda rare I'm to blame I suppose. This should bounce back fairly soon tho - I can't imagine there's too many people who both read here and also have a MP1,1 and also are looking to upgrade to 32GB. But here's a few deals:
....

Thanks a bunch, mate, guess I'll have to dig a bit deeper .
I just got 4x2GB for a friend's MP 1.1 for 129 Euros, and that was by far the best I could find in Europe, or shipped to the EU from anywhere, in the past few weeks .

Maybe she should ask someone else to help out next time .

For my MP 3.1 I'm still looking, and will check your links for possible sources .

 

[barmann]

Haha, in Netherlands prices are seem to be quite high:

not only the computers, a box of cigarets: around 6.5 euros.

Robbery !
But try the US, in NYC cigs are 12 dollars a box .

As for your need for a faster computer; you mentioned games and Windows .
Do you happen play games in Windows, maybe even via an emulator ?
Either way, for gaming, your graphics card , or lack of a dedicated one, might be the bottleneck .

I'm not entirely sure which MBP you own - a 2011, 13" MBP 8.1 ? - but with the specs you mentioned it should do very well for regular computing .

 

[Tesselator]

For my MP 3.1 I'm still looking, and will check your links for possible sources .

You can run the 667MHz RAM in your MP3,1 AFAIK and you almost won't know the difference. You'll feel it occasionally tho. The 800MHz stuff that I've seen is considerably more expensive than the 667MHz deals - when looking at 4GB modules. About a 35% increase.

So what costs $300 in 667MHz is more like $400 or $450 in 800MHz. Of course that's still better than the $900 to $1K that Apples specific vendors want for the addition of $40 worth of heat-sinks tho.

 

[Macsonic]

You can run the 667MHz RAM in your MP3,1 AFAIK and you almost won't know the difference.

You're correct. I have tried running either a 667mhz or 800mhz in my 3,1 Mac Pro and somehow not much difference in speed.