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

[VinnyVincent]

Larger capacities of the same model are generally faster, but any size is going to be vastly better than a traditional HD. Personally I wouldn't go less than 240GB for a system drive. With video editing I'd think you would end up with cache and temp files on the OS drive. (Though you could maybe set it to use the media drive, but that partially defeats the purpose of having an SSD.) If you do iPhone backups to the system drive that will eat up space. If you are downloading movies you'll have to constantly monitor and empty your downloads folder.

It generally isn't much more to make that step up - the Sandisk I linked is $44 for the 120GB vs $64 for the 240GB.

Alright thanks for the advice, I went with a 240gig sandisk from best buy here locally. Now I get to install it.
They didn't have any adapters I need and I want to get this thing running!
Is there a common method for installing it without an adapter?
When you say "float", do you mean just plug it into the slot and let it hang there, or do I need to fabricate/rig anything?

 

[austinpike]

When you say "float", do you mean just plug it into the slot and let it hang there, or do I need to fabricate/rig anything?

As long as you aren't moving the machine around, you can just let it hang there. Though on my 2007 I used a large twist-tie wrapped around the drive and sled so it had some support and isn't just hanging there completely loose.

 

[Brianthreedee]

My job was retiring a 2006 Mac Pro with 30" Cinema Display, and let me have it! Turns out it was the 3.0ghz dual Xeon, 4GBs, with two 500GB drives, andGforce 7300. That was last week! It now has 20GB of ram, Apple ATI 4870/512GB, and thanks to pikify3.1v8, El Capiton 10.11.3! This Pro is purring!

 

[elleana]

Just ordered a 2012 3.33Ghz 6-core from a reseller on eBay (iPower Resale). Probably paid a bit more than most folks here would pay but my options were somewhat limited (needed to find someone willing to ship internationally and handle customs through eBay Global Shipping). Anyway, am now planning my upgrades:

Samsung 256GB 950 PRO PCI-E SSD: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015SOI392
Inateck USB 3.0: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I027GPC

The one I ordered already comes with 32GB RAM so I'm good there, but am considering my graphics card options. I have an AMD R9 290 but from what I've read its going to be an uphill struggle to get that to work, so I'm thinking about either a 970, 980 or 980Ti, and then figuring out the flashing on my own. Most likely an EVGA card since that seems to be pretty popular around these parts.

970 is obviously the cheapest option and there are also no concerns with respect to power draw, but I do have a very nice 4K monitor (one reason why an iMac wouldn't have been suitable for me) and do dream of doing some occasional gaming in windows at 4K. The price differential between the GTX 980 ($400+++) and GTX 980Ti ($600 and change) doesn't seem all that great, and given that I do hope this machine will last me a good many years (my current desktop and iMac are both circa 2011) I'm thinking I should just bite the bullet and go with the GTX 980Ti. Would it be worth it?

 

[h9826790]

IMO, the 980Ti worth the money. However, at this moment, you cannot flash it by yourself, unless you develope the EFI part by yourself.

 

[elleana]

IMO, the 980Ti worth the money. However, at this moment, you cannot flash it by yourself, unless you develope the EFI part by yourself.

I see - thanks for the heads up. I was under the impression that the file was out there somewhere and I just needed to search for the specific one for my card and flash it in Windows but it seems that only applies to older cards.

If that's the case, given I will have a 5770 on hand I might just get a regular plain unflashed GTX980Ti and live without a boot screen, and swap it out for the 5770 if I need to update.

 

[h9826790]

I see - thanks for the heads up. I was under the impression that the file was out there somewhere and I just needed to search for the specific one for my card and flash it in Windows but it seems that only applies to older cards.

If that's the case, given I will have a 5770 on hand I might just get a regular plain unflashed GTX980Ti and live without a boot screen, and swap it out for the 5770 if I need to update.

That's a better plan.

 

[elleana]

That's a better plan.

Thank you. One more quick question - do you think the parts I've chosen would work well in OSX without me having to jump through many hoops to get them working?

 

[h9826790]

Thank you. One more quick question - do you think the parts I've chosen would work well in OSX without me having to jump through many hoops to get them working?

NVMe won't work, you better go for SM951 AHCI SSD.

KT4004 is a good USB 3.0 card

You need to install and select Nvidia web driver BEFORE you install the 980Ti, otherwise black screen ONLY (not just no boot screen).

 

[scott.n]

"black screen ONLY", yes, but you can still use VNC/screen sharing from another device to log in and install the web drivers. This is what you need to do when doing OS updates. (Much easier and quicker than switching GPUs.)

 

[elleana]

Thanks for the advice. So now I will have the following for storage:

- Samsung SM951 512GB on a Lycom DT-120 for OSX (El Capitan).
- Samsung 840 Evo 512GB. I have one lying around and I'm looking to repurpose it to Boot Camp. Will I be able to use it as a boot drive with Windows 10? If that doesn't work I guess I can install Windows 10 using Boot Camp but run Windows through Paralllel.

Also from reading other threads I understand that there will be some delay (20-30 seconds) during boot as the system searches for boot drives. Will this only be an issue with the PCI-E SSD or is this a problem across the board?

 

[wildatheart]

Thanks for the advice. So now I will have the following for storage:

- Samsung SM951 512GB on a Lycom DT-120 for OSX (El Capitan).
- Samsung 840 Evo 512GB. I have one lying around and I'm looking to repurpose it to Boot Camp. Will I be able to use it as a boot drive with Windows 10? If that doesn't work I guess I can install Windows 10 using Boot Camp but run Windows through Paralllel.

Also from reading other threads I understand that there will be some delay (20-30 seconds) during boot as the system searches for boot drives. Will this only be an issue with the PCI-E SSD or is this a problem across the board?

The 840 EVO will work just fine (if you format it as MS-DOS (FAT)) . You can avoid the computer having to search for a startup drive by specifying it under 'Startup Disk' in your System Preferences.

 

[iOrbit]

first Mac Pro - 2.66 / 12 Core / 12 GB / 2.5TB / Radeon 5770 = £790.

damaged handle, and broken Superdrive though.

 

[wildatheart]

Very

first Mac Pro - 2.66 / 12 Core / 12 GB / 2.5TB / Radeon 5770 = £790.

damaged handle, and broken Superdrive though.

nice - bargain, too!

 

[m4v3r1ck]

first Mac Pro - 2.66 / 12 Core / 12 GB / 2.5TB / Radeon 5770 = £790.

damaged handle, and broken Superdrive though.

Nice catch!

1. Just cosmetics!
2. Who needs a superdrive anyway?

Enjoy your new Mac Pro!

Cheers

 

[iOrbit]

Very

nice - bargain, too!

thanks, it was originally £910 delivered, but after it got damaged in transit, i negotiated £120 price drop. have you encoded a blu ray with handbrake? i'd love to see how fast one of those blazing 3.46ghz 12 cores can encode a blu ray. this Mac i got has been substantially faster at doing it - i was impressed. can't imagine the extra 10'000 difference in geek bench.

Nice catch!

1. Just cosmetics!
2. Who needs a superdrive anyway?

Enjoy your new Mac Pro!

Cheers

you're right, i actually wasn't that bothered because i haven't bought this one to keep - when i do get one for keeps, it will be mint/immaculate. but right now i need a Mac that can quickly munch through my 300+ blu ray collection with handbrake. i hope to sell it off in a year without losing much money. whatever loss i get, will still turn out a lot cheaper than having rented one of these for £100 a month or however much they cost!

i just hope it doesn't die on me, I'm concerned about the PSU - theres a noise emitting from it thats a teeny bit noticeable for my liking.

 

[elleana]

Thanks for the advice. So now I will have the following for storage:

- Samsung SM951 512GB on a Lycom DT-120 for OSX (El Capitan).
- Samsung 840 Evo 512GB. I have one lying around and I'm looking to repurpose it to Boot Camp. Will I be able to use it as a boot drive with Windows 10? If that doesn't work I guess I can install Windows 10 using Boot Camp but run Windows through Paralllel.

Also from reading other threads I understand that there will be some delay (20-30 seconds) during boot as the system searches for boot drives. Will this only be an issue with the PCI-E SSD or is this a problem across the board?

IT CAME!!!

Installed the 512GB SSD and USB3.0 card, both worked right out the box without any additional effort.

Next step - install the eVGA GtX980Ti. Just so I don't do anything stupid, correct order is install latest nVidia Drivers, then swap the graphics card out, turn off automatic software updates. Correct? For future updates, make sure an updated version of the drivers are installed BEFORE performing the software update. If anything breaks, swap the 5770 back or Remote Desktop in.

Did I miss anything?

After that Boot Camp but that's a walk in the park.

 

[h9826790]

IT CAME!!!

Installed the 512GB SSD and USB3.0 card, both worked right out the box without any additional effort.

Next step - install the eVGA GtX980Ti. Just so I don't do anything stupid, correct order is install latest nVidia Drivers, then swap the graphics card out, turn off automatic software updates. Correct? For future updates, make sure an updated version of the drivers are installed BEFORE performing the software update. If anything breaks, swap the 5770 back or Remote Desktop in.

Did I miss anything?

After that Boot Camp but that's a walk in the park.

You need to install AND SELECT the Nvidia web driver before you install the card.

Each driver is builded for a specific version of OSX, that means you CANNOT update the driver before you update the OSX. BUT yes, you better turn off auto update. You don't want to have black screen for no reason.

One of the easiest way to update the driver is by remote desktop. But swap back the 5770 should always work.

 

[elleana]

So I missed out one key point while doing my homework. All cables in the Mac Pro are modular, so the unit I got only came with one mini 6 pin PCI-E power cable. Had to order another one from Amazon (found one that goes from mini 6 pin to 8 pin right away which is helpful), which will only get here Tuesday next week. So I'm stuck with the 5770 for a couple more days.

 

[h9826790]

So I missed out one key point while doing my homework. All cables in the Mac Pro are modular, so the unit I got only came with one mini 6 pin PCI-E power cable. Had to order another one from Amazon (found one that goes from mini 6 pin to 8 pin right away which is helpful), which will only get here Tuesday next week. So I'm stuck with the 5770 for a couple more days.

I will suggest you "use" the 980Ti but may not stress it intentionally with something like Furmark. A 980Ti can draw lots of power from the 8pin. A single mini 6pin to 8pin adaptor cannot offer more than 120W (this is the real world limit, technically 75w is the limit). If you stress it, the power draw may shutdown your Mac (or even cause damage).

 

[pat500000]

Nice catch!

1. Just cosmetics!
2. Who needs a superdrive anyway?

Enjoy your new Mac Pro!

Cheers

I am one of the few who uses superdrive. Even if it was damaged, it could be replaced, right? It shouldn't cost much too.

 

[Messy]

Bought a few weeks back but I managed to buy the following.

• Mac Pro 4,1 - 2 x 2.26ghz (8 Core), 6GB Ram, 4 x 1TB HDD's (was set up for RAID), 640GB Main HDD, ATI HD 4870.
• Mac Pro G5
• Mac Bluetooth Mouse & Keyboard.
• 3 x Iomega 320GB Firewire HDD's.
• Aja Kona LHi
• Various cables and stuff.

For... £100!

One of my clients was throwing out some old equipment so I made him an offer.

I have since done the following:

Sold the G5 for £30.
Sold the Aja Kona LHi for £140.
Upgraded the Mac Pro. Now running 12 Cores @ 2.66ghz, 32GB RAM, Samsung EVO SSD, GTX 770 (Harvested from a spare PC).

I'm selling the 4870 if anyone needs one, just PM me.

So all in all, got a bit of a bargain, spent about £250 on upgrades, which all things considered is nothing. Very happy and now run it as my main machine.

 

[elleana]

That is an amazing deal. Congratulations and enjoy!

 

[wildatheart]

Upgraded the Mac Pro. Now running 12 Cores @ 2.66ghz, 32GB RAM, Samsung EVO SSD, GTX 770 (Harvested from a spare PC).

Very nifty. well done - maybe worth sticking the SSD on a PCIE card for even faster access? Do you miss the bootup screen with that graphics card?

 

[Messy]

Very nifty. well done - maybe worth sticking the SSD on a PCIE card for even faster access? Do you miss the bootup screen with that graphics card?

Haven't found it to be an issue, I do use Bootchamp for booting between OSX and Windows. Yeah, the SSD PCIE route is one I may travel at some point, cost is a factor at the moment though, I've managed to build a reasonable machine for not a lot of money so far.

Any specific PCIE & SSD combo's you'd suggest?