So glad I bought a 5,1 in 2015...

[choreo]

Rock on! I bought a 2012 refurb as soon at the Trash Can was announced.

Almost the same here... I think I may have bought the last one available new at B&H as soon as I heard about the trash can!

 

[HUGE AL]

This makes me want to post an even better thread. "So happy I bought a 3,1 in 2008". The best value Mac Pro, ever.

The 3,1 was indeed one of, if not the, best value tower Apple ever made. Mine (dual 2.8's) has been in continuous use for about 9 years now, with upgraded graphics (280X), SSD's, etc. Its single-threaded performance is poor by today's standards (5 times slower than my 6700k Linux box running at 4.6 GHz). Its multi-core performance is disappointing too (about 3 times slower despite having twice the physical cores). The user interface can feel rather laggy compared to even my base MBP. However, the 3,1 doesn't break a sweat or even raise its fan speed no matter what I throw at it, so yes, it's still capable of heavy projects that run for days on end, and it still gets a lot of use.

I sometimes regret not buying a 5,1 when the last call for them came out. However, while the 3,1-5,1's were the best towers Apple ever made, I think all cMP's are now too obsolete to invest in anymore. Instead, my informal plan is to throw my trusty 3,1 a retirement party on it's 10th anniversary. If Apple delivers a worthy nnMP by then, great! Otherwise, the combination of the MBP and Linux will do.

EXACTLY!! I'm typing this on a maxed out 3,1 with dual SAS drives with Apple RAID 1 purchased in 2008. LOVE the machine!! It's been my longest lasting desktop to date. Only drawback is I'm running 10.8.5 to keep the speed -- which is obviously becoming an issue.

Just to round my initial subject off (for now): I'm extremely delighted that Apple this week has come forward to give us a first look into their plans for an all new Mac Pro. It's VERY comforting going forward knowing that the platform I'm working on (MacOS on a pro machine with Apple native pro apps) will ALSO be the platform I will be working on in the future. It's been REALLY frustrating not knowing if I should just jump ship right away and put my bets on the Windows environment - with all the hassles of having to start working within a context of totally different pro apps.

So, now I'm even more happy that I chose to stay on the (5,1) ship in 2015, since now I know there will be a true "upgrade path" in the future. But GOD, what took them so long?

Kind of my thoughts as well. SERIOUSLY considering a maxed out 5,1 loaded with Sierra and SSDs. Pricing is around $4k. Thoughts and suggestions regarding this are greatly appreciated.

 

[developer13245]

Almost the same here... I think I may have bought the last one available new at B&H as soon as I heard about the trash can!

I bought my 5,1 NEW from B&H in June 2014 - the catalog listed the model as out of stock the day after mine shipped, so it was probably THE last one.... No regrets.

 

[Think77]

SERIOUSLY considering a maxed out 5,1 loaded with Sierra and SSDs. Pricing is around $4k. Thoughts and suggestions regarding this are greatly appreciated.

Just for the record: today, I bought a 30" Cinema Display (perfect condition, really gorgeous, ≈300$), so now my Mac Pro is ALMOST maxed out Could install more RAM and put in a slightly faster CPU and an even newer GPU, current one is a 5870. But hey, it's still 'a screamer' as Steve Jobs would put it!

 

[kschendel]

... SERIOUSLY considering a maxed out 5,1 loaded with Sierra and SSDs. Pricing is around $4k. Thoughts and suggestions regarding this are greatly appreciated.

If you need the very latest in GPUs or CPU's, no. If you are OK with a mild performance hit (maybe 25% on most real world work as compared to the very latest, at a guess?), and if you don't need multi-GPU performance, it's definitely worth a look IMO. The 5,1's are quiet and robust, you can run them flat out for days on end and they take it. I do that all the time with my 4,1 -> 5.1. The SATA II interface is a bit of a bummer but you can either install NVMe SSD and boot off something else, find an AHCI PCIe SSD (getting pricey), install SSD into the drive bays and take the hit (not as big as the specs make it look for a lot of work), or install a SATA III card for some of the SSD, or a combo. I find that the difference between the SATA II SSD drives and the NVMe SSD is hard to notice unless I'm really beating on it with large reads and writes.

 

[HUGE AL]

If you need the very latest in GPUs or CPU's, no. If you are OK with a mild performance hit (maybe 25% on most real world work as compared to the very latest, at a guess?), and if you don't need multi-GPU performance, it's definitely worth a look IMO. The 5,1's are quiet and robust, you can run them flat out for days on end and they take it. I do that all the time with my 4,1 -> 5.1. The SATA II interface is a bit of a bummer but you can either install NVMe SSD and boot off something else, find an AHCI PCIe SSD (getting pricey), install SSD into the drive bays and take the hit (not as big as the specs make it look for a lot of work), or install a SATA III card for some of the SSD, or a combo. I find that the difference between the SATA II SSD drives and the NVMe SSD is hard to notice unless I'm really beating on it with large reads and writes.

Of course I would want the latest and greatest GPU/CPU. But Apple really hasn't given us a choice.

I can't very well upgrade my 3,1 without significant time and money. The only option left is a tricked out 5,1.

Specs I'm looking at are:

2x Intel Xeon Westmere 6-Core 3.46Ghz Processors - 12 Cores and 24 Threads
128GB Ram (8x 16GB DDR3 ECC Memory)
1TB SSD hard drive
4TB standard rotational hard drive
NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB Video Card - 2x DVI Output 1x Display Port and 1x HDMI

Again, all opinions/advice appreciated.

 

[m4v3r1ck]

In April 2014 I bought an open box - new and never ever even turned on - BTO Mac Pro 5.1 (mid 2012) 12C - 2.66 - 24GB RAM - 512GB SSD for euro 2400,= and as an extra the Apple Care. This month it will receive it last maintenance based on Apple Care - replace fans - and I was very lucky and of course very happy with this power buy! It's still a rock solid machine and I'm planning to restore my cMP 3.1 (2008) back to glory as well, using it as a scanner-based workstation for the scanning and restoration of Super/Normal 8mm films / S-VHS & miniDV video projects.

NO!!! For now I don't need any new hardware from Apple. When the time arives, I'll definitely have a look at the other side of my hybrid OS system namely (Microsoft) Windows PC hardware.

Happy Easter ya all!

Cheers