Upgrading MacPro 4,1

[xsydx]

I've almost decided to upgrade my mac pro as opposed to building a new PC for my Adobe Premiere/After Effects needs.

I've done research and I think for the time being my Dual Xeon processors will be sufficient on the processor end of things but Memory (6gb currently) and GFX (1x gt120) will need to upgraded.

The most reliable looking place i've found for the memory is www.macmemory.com But the stick still seem a bit pricey to me. Are there any other alternatives that you all would recommend?

Macvidcards seems to be the go-to person for GFX. I plan on using Adobe CC (premiere, encore, after effects) to work on mostly wedding and some motion gfx videos. What would be a recommended gfx card for a not very graphically demanding workflow? I would also like the card to be as plug and play as possible, no external power supplies or case modifications unless absolutely necessary.

I've built all of my editing pc's in the past so I am comfortable with modding & routing wires if I have to.

Thanks for your help.

 

[flowrider]

The most reliable looking place i've found for the memory is www.macmemory.com But the stick still seem a bit pricey to me. Are there any other alternatives that you all would recommend?

I recommend these guys. I have been using them since 1985 with my first Mac Plus. In all those years, I have never received a bad stick of RAM from them. They are Macintosh specialists and their RAM is guaranteed for life. IMHO, you cannot go wrong:

http://www.datamemorysystems.com/ap...ghz-mb535ll/a-cto-early-2009-memory-upgrades/

Lou

 

[Mac Gus]

Consider getting 1333 speed memory and updating your processors and firmware to 5,1. It's not that expensive to upgrade the processors.

 

[xsydx]

@flowrider
Thank you for that link, I will certainly look into it.

@Mac Gus
From the research I've done, I've determined that within my budget (approx $6-800) my biggest bang for the buck would be GPU and Memory upgrade.

Beyond that I would honestly just build another PC versus trying to experiment with the MP with limited support and warranty.

Feel free to tell me i'm wrong as I was getting a little confused when it came to CPU's and must admit that I didn't give it as much thought as the others.

 

[MacUser2525]

@flowrider
Thank you for that link, I will certainly look into it.

@Mac Gus
From the research I've done, I've determined that within my budget (approx $6-800) my biggest bang for the buck would be GPU and Memory upgrade.

Beyond that I would honestly just build another PC versus trying to experiment with the MP with limited support and warranty.

Feel free to tell me i'm wrong as I was getting a little confused when it came to CPU's and must admit that I didn't give it as much thought as the others.

Never had problem with the ram from these guys at a quick look seems they are cheaper as well and has been mentioned 1333mhz priced just about identically there would be the way to go. Then if you ever upgrade to 6 core processors you have the ram for it already in machine a pair of x5650 would set you back about $300 and almost double your processing power.

http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore//index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=404

 

[xsydx]

Thank you for the feedback so far guys.

Can anyone recommend a specific Nvidia gtx card that fits within the mac pro without external power supply or case mods and will be good for editing video? I would rather have a card that goes above and beyond what i need to have that comfortable buffer if i decide to do some basic 3d models and rendering on my machine as opposed to my pc thats built for it.

 

[xsydx]

If I have an older pc with a GTX470 can it be flashed/modded so I can put a newer GPU in the pc and use the 470 for the mac?

 

[xcodeSyn]

If I have an older pc with a GTX470 can it be flashed/modded so I can put a newer GPU in the pc and use the 470 for the mac?

The GTX 470 has similar specs to the 570, so it should work in OS X 10.7.5 and later as long as its ID is included in the drivers. You can test it if you got one. Because of its undersized EEPROM, it requires re-soldering a bigger EEPROM chip for Mac EFI if you can find it. I think MacVidCards can still do the flashing for this model, but I doubt anyone would pay $200 just to get a boot screen for this out-of-date GPU.

 

[xsydx]

The GTX 470 has similar specs to the 570, so it should work in OS X 10.7.5 and later as long as its ID is included in the drivers. You can test it if you got one. Because of its undersized EEPROM, it requires re-soldering a bigger EEPROM chip for Mac EFI if you can find it. I think MacVidCards can still do the flashing for this model, but I doubt anyone would pay $200 just to get a boot screen for this out-of-date GPU.

Thanks. What you say makes sense.

I bid on an evga GTX 680 w/ 4gb for Mac on ebay. Auction ends in a day so lets see what happens there.