MP All Models The "I just ordered/bought/got my new/refurb Mac Pro" thread [Merged]

[Appleseedjr]

iPhone 6

Why do I have to type my Apple ID about 15 to 20 times a day?
Can't I get a master Apple ID that can be entered once or something.
Thanks

 

[Sanlitun]

Performance was lacking? How so? I mean, you know exactly what you ordered, so in what way didn't it live up to your expectations.

Also, I see the option you're looking for in Yosemite (see the very bottom of the screenshot below) -- I assume it's not doing what you want?

I think we didn't understand what sort of performance we would get from the D500. After looking at this it seems that even the D700 isn't going to be state of the art so it seems likely we will just keep the D500 machine.

I find that the font rendering is really bad, and you can actually only partially disable sub pixel rendering with the LCD toggle. There is no way to completely turn smoothing off. As an example of where this can be a real headache is when you have SSH terminals open to other machines and it's all using the Courier font. It all looks smeared or painted and can be really fatiguing after a while.

I haven't used a Mac in a feww years and there have been a lot of improvements but there are still some real PITA issues. This machine runs Yosemite and I haven't seen a Mavericks machine. Were the fonts like this on that version of OS X as well?

 

[iamMacPerson]

I haven't used a Mac in a feww years and there have been a lot of improvements but there are still some real PITA issues. This machine runs Yosemite and I haven't seen a Mavericks machine. Were the fonts like this on that version of OS X as well?

No. 10.10 Yosemite was the first version of OS X to change the system font. IIRC there is an app that allows you to modify what font the system used by default but I don't remember the name. I honestly like Helvetica Neue.

 

[mikepj]

I think we didn't understand what sort of performance we would get from the D500. After looking at this it seems that even the D700 isn't going to be state of the art so it seems likely we will just keep the D500 machine.

I find that the font rendering is really bad, and you can actually only partially disable sub pixel rendering with the LCD toggle. There is no way to completely turn smoothing off. As an example of where this can be a real headache is when you have SSH terminals open to other machines and it's all using the Courier font. It all looks smeared or painted and can be really fatiguing after a while.

I haven't used a Mac in a feww years and there have been a lot of improvements but there are still some real PITA issues. This machine runs Yosemite and I haven't seen a Mavericks machine. Were the fonts like this on that version of OS X as well?

Yosemite changed the system font from Lucida Grande to Helvetica Neue, but the font rendering didn't change between the two versions of OS X. OS X and Windows actually take quite different approaches to font rendering, as discussed here:

http://damieng.com/blog/2007/06/13/font-rendering-philosophies-of-windows-and-mac-os-x

I don't particularly care for Courier as a fixed width font. I find Monaco 10pt is the sharpest, but you will want to disable "Antialias text" in the Terminal Preferences (under Profiles) to get the most clarity out of it. Xcode defaults to Menlo, which isn't bad but can look a bit heavy.

 

[Sanlitun]

I don't particularly care for Courier as a fixed width font. I find Monaco 10pt is the sharpest, but you will want to disable "Antialias text" in the Terminal Preferences (under Profiles) to get the most clarity out of it. Xcode defaults to Menlo, which isn't bad but can look a bit heavy.

I've spent some time looking at this issue and as far as I can tell terminal.app is the only software in which you can truly completely disable font smoothing. I also tried the ZOC ssh client (I was hoping to use the tabs) and vSSH from the app store and they are almost illegible. Even typing in the same text in terminal and textedit produces a huge difference.

I tried a couple of the system font replacements that are available and the best was the Input System font with the LCD font smoothing disabled. But it is no where near as good as what one would see on a PC with Cleartype disabled.

I have a few more days left in my return period so I will keep at it.

 

[mikepj]

I've spent some time looking at this issue and as far as I can tell terminal.app is the only software in which you can truly completely disable font smoothing. I also tried the ZOC ssh client (I was hoping to use the tabs) and vSSH from the app store and they are almost illegible. Even typing in the same text in terminal and textedit produces a huge difference.

Is there a big benefit to the tab system that ZOC offers compared to the tabs in Terminal.app?

It's crazy, because disabling anti-aliasing when drawing text in OS X is seriously one line of code (I added an option to my own system monitor app, XRG). Surprising that more terminal apps don't offer that.

 

[ottergoose]

Thanks All!

Tip of the hat to all of you for the ongoing discussions here; lots of great info.

I don't have particularly high demands (front-end web development and some photography), but, I do need a reliable desktop, and I don't have time for jumping through endless trial/error keeping my Hackintosh up to date anymore - no more hacker nonsense for me (or at least as little as possible ).

Just ordered a bare-bones MP4,1 off of eBay; can't wait for it to arrive!

 

[avkdm]

Just bought a mid 2010 Mac Pro 5,1 with 3.2ghz W3565 12gb Ram (3x4) 2xMac 5770 (the real deal not flashed)and 3x2TB HDD. was a BTO machine I believe.Paid 1K(AUD)
Which is a reasonable price in Australia. Have already taken out the video cards, thinking of selling to recoup some money,and put in a GTX570 for games.
Also put in a 128GB SSD which runs Yosemite. I also have an X5690 on the way!
Hoping to see a difference in performance. Had a Mac Pro 3,1 a few years back and sold it a couple of years ago. I got the urge for another Mac Pro when I seen this one 4 sale a km down the road!Back into the fray!
Believe it or not I sold my 21.5 Imac late 2012 i7 3.1 with 16gb Ram for this Baby,call me a fool but I just hate looking at a machine I can't get into to replace parts (without difficulty of course!)selling the Imac left me with the money for the PRO AND X5690!

 

[wildbk]

Just received my first mac pro, an early 08 3,1 model. 8 Core, only 2gb of ram though. Going to be grabbing an ssd and 32gb of 667mhz ram this week.

Not too sure what im going to use the machine for yet, just always wanted one.

 

[stempsons]

Been agonizing over the decision to go with a oMP or nMP for close to a month. Well now the agonizing is over! Snagged a base nMP from Best Buy (open box) still in the factory plastic...so not even turned on by whoever had returned it. The price was to good to pass up $2150 roughly, plus 5% back in rewards points made the purchase a no brainer. This is great machine, coupled with a Mac Mini as a file server through thunderbolt makes this killer for photo work.

I was initially looking at a oMP 5,1, but after calculation memory, video card to push 4k and PCIe SSD costs, made the nMP more practical.

Stoked!

 

[scottsjack]

Been agonizing over the decision to go with a oMP or nMP for close to a month. Well now the agonizing is over! Snagged a base nMP from Best Buy (open box) still in the factory plastic...so not even turned on by whoever had returned it. The price was to good to pass up $2150 roughly, plus 5% back in rewards points made the purchase a no brainer. This is great machine, coupled with a Mac Mini as a file server through thunderbolt makes this killer for photo work.

I was initially looking at a oMP 5,1, but after calculation memory, video card to push 4k and PCIe SSD costs, made the nMP more practical.

Stoked!

That's a super deal. You paid just slightly less for it than the retail price for a top of the line mini with 1TB, 16GB and i7. Nice work!

 

[Reticuli]

Been agonizing over the decision to go with a oMP or nMP for close to a month. Well now the agonizing is over! Snagged a base nMP from Best Buy (open box) still in the factory plastic...so not even turned on by whoever had returned it. The price was to good to pass up $2150 roughly, plus 5% back in rewards points made the purchase a no brainer. This is great machine, coupled with a Mac Mini as a file server through thunderbolt makes this killer for photo work.

I was initially looking at a oMP 5,1, but after calculation memory, video card to push 4k and PCIe SSD costs, made the nMP more practical.

Stoked!

Super happy for you bud, you got a killer bargain

 

[stempsons]

That's a super deal. You paid just slightly less for it than the retail price for a top of the line mini with 1TB, 16GB and i7. Nice work!

Yeah, I was stoked. Only one best buy in the Portland area actually carries the mac pro, and it was just by chance they had a returned on in back. Couldn't leave the store without it!

----------

Super happy for you bud, you got a killer bargain

Why thank you!

 

[thestickman]

2008 on its way

Trigger has been pulled on a refurbished 3,1 Mac Pro. SSD at the ready and RAM to soon follow. Should be here middle of next week.

Never been happier to make a post on any forum before lol.

Peace

 

[sauria]

Trigger has been pulled on a refurbished 3,1 Mac Pro. SSD at the ready and RAM to soon follow. Should be here middle of next week.

Never been happier to make a post on any forum before lol.

Peace

Great!

 

[evopanop]

Just picked up a new-to-me 2009/Nehalem Mac Pro 2.66 "Quad Core" for $500 from Craigslist. 12GB RAM (4GBx2, 2GBx2), 650GB HDD, GT 120 GPU. It was a great deal, IMO. Got it to replace my Early-2011 2.3 i5 13" MacBook Pro. Needed something that I could upgrade to be more powerful than the MBP.

Thinking about replacing the GPU with a Radeon 7950, since I can get those for about $200-$250. I'd really prefer an Nvidia, though. Are there any Nvidia GPUs in that price-range that are comparable in performance to the 7950?

 

[avkdm]

Just picked up a new-to-me 2009/Nehalem Mac Pro 2.66 "Quad Core" for $500 from Craigslist. 12GB RAM (4GBx2, 2GBx2), 650GB HDD, GT 120 GPU. It was a great deal, IMO. Got it to replace my Early-2011 2.3 i5 13" MacBook Pro. Needed something that I could upgrade to be more powerful than the MBP.

Thinking about replacing the GPU with a Radeon 7950, since I can get those for about $200-$250. I'd really prefer an Nvidia, though. Are there any Nvidia GPUs in that price-range that are comparable in performance to the 7950?

Congratulations on your new rig.
Get a reference gtx680 and flash it with EVGA Mac bios. it's faster than a 7970 and you will have boot screens!
edit: see this thread on how to do it
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1578255/

 

[evopanop]

Congratulations on your new rig.
Get a reference gtx680 and flash it with EVGA Mac bios. it's faster than a 7970 and you will have boot screens!

Thanks for the recommendation! I've also planned to upgrade the CPU to a W3690, and up the RAM to 24GB (2x8GB, 2x4GB). Is it possible to go beyond 24GB on a single-CPU MP? I've already done the 4,1 -> 5,1 firmware flash in anticipation of the CPU, etc. upgrades.

 

[avkdm]

Thanks for the recommendation! I've also planned to upgrade the CPU to a W3690, and up the RAM to 24GB (2x8GB, 2x4GB). Is it possible to go beyond 24GB on a single-CPU MP? I've already done the 4,1 -> 5,1 firmware flash in anticipation of the CPU, etc. upgrades.

Ive just put in a X5690 on my mp5,1, so pretty much the same cpu as the W3690 (which is the fastest you can get), I believe Maximum Ram on your rig is 48gb (32gb official) from memory (sorry about the pun).

 

[thestickman]

My 2008 Mac Pro was delivered today. Inside is very clean, zero dust. Fan are pretty much silent. Came with 2x2 667 ram in it. SSD installed.

Mavericks installing as I type. USB 3 card & GT 740 to be installed after Mavericks. I am very thankful to have this killer machine. Whohoo!!!

 

[sauria]

My 2008 Mac Pro was delivered today. Inside is very clean, zero dust. Fan are pretty much silent. Came with 2x2 667 ram in it. SSD installed.

Mavericks installing as I type. USB 3 card & GT 740 to be installed after Mavericks. I am very thankful to have this killer machine. Whohoo!!!

Great, enjoy it. Mine was such a reliable machine.

 

[thestickman]

Great, enjoy it. Mine was such a reliable machine.

Thank you very much

 

[Stuppido]

Finally

After various MBP's, iMacs and mini's I finally saw the light.

Just got a custom build 5,1 from create.pro - great service as well


http://create.pro

Case is A grade

3.46 Ghz x5690 6 core
24gb 3x8gb
Angelbird wrk 1tb PCIe ssd
WD Black 4tb
ATI r9 280x 3gb custom
PCIe usb 3.0 card

All for £2035 incl VAT

Put another 3tb black in for media as well

So glad I went this way. Spent ages drooling over the nMP but couldn't justify the 6 core price.

Feels like I've finally come of age!

 

[dlindsey100]

I have been using a 2012 rMBP for the last couple of years, so I thought that I would try and pick up a good used Mac Pro to go with it.

I was able to get a 2010 Mac Pro 5,1 from eBay for less than $700, which was in very good shape on the exterior, slight wear nothing significant. I added 16GB of RAM, Sonnet Allegro USB 3.0 4 port card, Sonnet Tempo SSD Pro Plus card along with a single OWA Mercury Extreme 6G 480GB SSD for now (read speeds are around 500 MB/s, and write speeds are around 250 MB/s), along with upgrading the CPU to a X5690 processor. Total spent so far is approximately $1500.

Things still to do - would be to add another SSD card at some point along with upgrading the ATI Radeon HD 5770 that came with the unit. Since I already don't have a boot screen due to the Tempo card and using rEFInd for my boot loader, would it be best to go with a stock GTX980 card?

Very happy with the unit so far...

 

[Childs]

I grabbed a Mac Pro that was going to be sent to the recyclers and decided to have a project. It was a 5,1 with 2 x 2.4Ghz, 1 TB WD Black HDD, 12 GB RAM (4 x 2GB and 4 x 1GB), and a 5770 1GB. So far I've upgraded the following:

2 x X5690 3.46Ghz
16GM RAM
Gigabyte R9 280x
OWC 240GB SSD (found in same bin in a different machine)

I ordered a Samsung 850 500GB SSD and Inatek KT4004 which should arrive in a couple days. When I bought the 280x off of Craigslist, literally 1 hour later I saw one on eBay ending soon for 75% of what I paid on CL. So I went for it and won the auction and now have two. I can't pass up a good deal. So I'm looking at 5.25 power supplies so I can get both in the case. Just using an old Dell U2711 monitor for now, but there is an HP 4K monitor I had my eye on but couldn't use because I was using a Mac Mini 2012. Its turning into a ghetto nMP! If only I could get thunderbolt...