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Thinking about getting New MP but don't want to pay $2500

T

The Final Cut

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 5, 2009
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I have been wanting to get on the Mac Pro bandwagon for some time but for me, the price point is just too high. I have seen last gen machines around the net for $1500 or so, but I can't seem to find any good closeout deals as of late. Does anyone have ideas on where to get a older Mac Pro new, that's cheap? Also I would want to add a used graphics card for more a power, what are my option threre? Also do i need to buy a lot of accessories to mount 4 hdd, or do I just swap them in? Is it realistic to get a Mac pro tower with a good gaming graphics card for less the. $1700?
 
I absolutely can't wait to buy the new Mac Pro when it comes out. Maybe you should take advantage of Apple's no interest financing online?

Well, regardless if you decide to get an old one, all you have to do is slide the 3.5 SATAN drive into the bay. Nothing else is really needed to make that happen. You can have up to 4 drives.
 
The Final Cut said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

I have been wanting to get on the Mac Pro bandwagon for some time but for me, the price point is just too high. I have seen last gen machines around the net for $1500 or so, but I can't seem to find any good closeout deals as of late. Does anyone have ideas on where to get a older Mac Pro new, that's cheap? Also I would want to add a used graphics card for more a power, what are my option threre? Also do i need to buy a lot of accessories to mount 4 hdd, or do I just swap them in? Is it realistic to get a Mac pro tower with a good gaming graphics card for less the. $1700?
Click to expand...

A 2010 2.8GHz refurb is just barely over $2100. That's a bargain compared to a $1700 used MP that would need a lot of upgrades to match the 2010 model.
 
You mentioned you want a Mac Pro with a good gaming card, which would suggest you're looking for a gaming machine. For that building your own computer would be much sensible; most games are Windows only (or for consoles), so the DIY route would be more reasonable. You can get a very fast GPU with plentiful RAM, HDD space, etc., all in a range, plus it's very expandable.

With a Mac Pro, you're severely limited when it comes to expansion options; you can't really upgrade the CPU; the 5780 is the best GPU you can really buy (until you're looking for PC cards for Windows-only use, but then why are you buying a Mac Pro?); RAM you're limited to ECC RAM due the workstation status; you're limited to a few internal HDDs without severe modifications.

Anyways, with your budget of $1700, I'd consider investing, say $1000 on a good desktop gaming PC which would probably be leaps and bounds better than the Mac Pro [in gaming]; $700 you can pick up a Mac mini if you really want a Mac; otherwise spend $1700 on a DIY PC should yield a powerful gaming tower.
 
Yes. But if you want a "box to rule them all" get the Pro. I needed 1 computer in my small apartment. It boots everything (Lin/Win/Mac) and when I want to game I have no problems. I can play everything so far including the new Crysis high texture pack and DX11. So yes, if you want to have 2 towers and a laptop or something build a PC that is faster than the Mac Pro. If you use OS X as primary OS and game no larger than 1920x1200, I don't see the difference.
A decent gaming PC with everything will still set you back 1200-1500 and then you need a Mac. You cheapskates may be able to get something cheaper but I don't ever buy low end parts. So maybe another 2000.00 for a Mac if you want consumer or laptop and slightly more if you want real power. My Pro was 3500.00 something, so for me it was a wash and I don't have to eat up living space to host them. I can even upgrade my video card to what I want later. Takes some flashing but I am smart.
 
derbothaus said:
Yes. But if you want a "box to rule them all" get the Pro. I needed 1 computer in my small apartment. It boots everything (Lin/Win/Mac) and when I want to game I have no problems. I can play everything so far including the new Crysis high texture pack and DX11. So yes, if you want to have 2 towers and a laptop or something build a PC that is faster than the Mac Pro. If you use OS X as primary OS and game no larger than 1920x1200, I don't see the difference.
A decent gaming PC with everything will still set you back 1200-1500 and then you need a Mac. You cheapskates may be able to get something cheaper but I don't ever buy low end parts. So maybe another 2000.00 for a Mac if you want consumer or laptop and slightly more if you want real power. My Pro was 3500.00 something, so for me it was a wash and I don't have to eat up living space to host them. I can even upgrade my video card to what I want later. Takes some flashing but I am smart.
Click to expand...

Good point. My 2010 MP became an excellent Windows 7 machine for all of about $145.00 at B&H for and OEM version of W7 Pro.
 
Same here. I play games on my mac pro using bootcamp windows 7 64bit. I don't really play a lot of games anyways. If you only play games then pc will do it. but if you video editing and other stuff then will go for a mac.
 
Mac Pros haven't required ECC RAM since 2009.

I would seriously consider just building a gaming tower. I don't think MPs are worth the expense just for gaming.

$1700 for MP + high-end graphics is doubtful unless you buy a 2006/2007 model, which I wouldn't.
 
Watch EBay. A lot of times with some patience you can pick up a 4,1 or 5,1 for less than 1500 bucks.

I managed to snag a Quad 2.66 4,1 for 1050 shipped.
 
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