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Was Seriously Considering Upgrading to a nMP...

S

sammyman

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 21, 2005
998
65
Until I realized how expensive it would be to build a machine that is more capable than my cMP.

I have a 2010 cMP 8-core machine, and am researching buying an Apple SSD on the big thread here as well two 6-core 3.4GHz chips. Those together are going to cost me about $1,000. And my Mac Pro is probably worth about a $1000, or together about $2k.

That is putting me into nMP territory, or so I thought. Refurbished nMP's are $2,500. But to get a similar 12-core setup will cost more like $6k.

Maybe a new 2015 nMP would change the playing field, but for right now, it just doesn't make sense to pay for the premium to buy a nMP.

I'm sure many of you already knew this, but I guess I didn't realize how much more expensive the nMP is.
 
the IO on the cMP is horrendously outdated. No usb 3, thunderbolt, HDMi, wifi ac, etc.
 
This is true. However, I paid $60 and now have 4 USB 3.0 ports. I always plug directly into the ethernet on my desktops too. But it is outdated nonetheless.
 
Sheesh, these old mac pros are seriously upgradable. At work we have about 10 aging mac pros and just received 5 new ones.

But taking just one of the 2009 4,1 single socket ones and getting better components has raised the roof of the machine.

Still awaiting for delivery of some of the parts, but

PCI card for a bootable SATA III SSD - $50
Samsung 850 EVO 1TB - $340
Nvidia GTX 750TI - $130 -- display port, hdmi, etc.
Dell 4K IPS monitor - $600
Intel Xeon 6 core X5680 $240 (firmware update to make it a 5,1)
USB 3.0 pic card -- thunderbolt is overrated for most setups

and this thing is gonna fly. It will certainly hold up for a while until at least the next revision of nMP.
 
Something missing here: what is it used for?

Will you like old expensive AMD D700 or want GTX 970?
Adobe or FinalCut?
Ready or already running 10.10 or like being able to use earlier version?

Or, just like to?

Thunderbolt storage? can cost an arm and leg. Hidden cost.

For me, my cMP has gotten too heavy to lift and move more than anything so weight is an issue! That, and my office area gets too warm in summer and doesn't need the extra exhaust in the room.

Apple wants $1000 for that PCIE-SSD 1TB so that is a wash.
 
poematik13 said:
the IO on the cMP is horrendously outdated. No usb 3, thunderbolt, HDMi, wifi ac, etc.
Click to expand...

Yea, criminal I tell you :eek:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/20725467/

Also, who and what uses 12-core to its advantage? MacPerformnaceGuide recommended custom 8-core instead for those not content with 6-core as an option.

Giving up internal storage of 4x8TB AND having 3 x PCIe slots is hard to swallow.

So, let's see, 16-32TB of internal storage, SATA III + USB3, GTX 980, PCIe-SSD - and still have one PCIe slot open.
 
sammyman said:
Until I realized how expensive it would be to build a machine that is more capable than my cMP.

I have a 2010 cMP 8-core machine, and am researching buying an Apple SSD on the big thread here as well two 6-core 3.4GHz chips. Those together are going to cost me about $1,000. And my Mac Pro is probably worth about a $1000, or together about $2k.

That is putting me into nMP territory, or so I thought. Refurbished nMP's are $2,500. But to get a similar 12-core setup will cost more like $6k.

Maybe a new 2015 nMP would change the playing field, but for right now, it just doesn't make sense to pay for the premium to buy a nMP.

I'm sure many of you already knew this, but I guess I didn't realize how much more expensive the nMP is.
Click to expand...

The difference between three-year-old computers has never been enough to justify the cost difference in general, IMO, especially regarding pro-tier computers. Even putting aside upgrades you can run a pro Mac for quite some time, and you should expect to given the cost—the move to Intel really shafted the mid-tier use case for the Pros.
 
IowaLynn said:
Giving up internal storage of 4x8TB AND having 3 x PCIe slots is hard to swallow.
Click to expand...

I tried that for awhile. I replaced my 2010 MP with a 2012 mini 2.6 quad and put my HDDs in an OWC Thunderbay 4. The idea was that if I was just fidding around on the net I would leave the TB4 off and just run the mini.

In the end I gave both of them up and bought a 2012 MP. Now I have four data drives, one Time Machine drive, a Blu-ray burner and a PCIe/SATA3 boot drive all in the same box. There is still room for another PCIe/SATA3 SSD, USB3 and a more powerful GPU if I need them.
 
For all we know, there might not be an update on the nMP until 2020. Lol. I would love to see an update sooner than later, but it does seem like the MP line is a priority with all focus being on the watch and iPhones.
 
The cMP has been surprisingly resilient. You can get around a lot of the outdated technology like the SATA interface with a PCI-E SSD solution, graphics with a swap in with a PCI-E GPU (cheap too, if you don't care about boot screens), and even USB3.0 ports through an accessory card.

The only thing that's limited is the CPU, but these Xeon CPUs still score pretty well on the benchmarks, and when you look at how much they're "slower" by it's usually in the single digit performance range, even to the latest offerings. At most 20%. You have to wonder then if that extra 20% is worth almost $5-8k for a "new" machine.

For most people here, I suspect not. But for a office environment where a support policy and replacement is needed, I guess calling Dell is easier than trying to troubleshoot it internally. cMP parts are quite hard to come by.
 
H2SO4 said:
Depends what you mean by 'a lot’. Wouldn’t mind betting that there are significantly more professionals that don’t use Thunderbolt than there are those that do.
Click to expand...

i work in tv/film/media and ever since 2011 when it was introduced a lot of people have flocked to it. it's a constant stream of data as opposed to USB 3 which is a burst protocol so its way better suited for video editing etc. The last "stream" IO was firewire 800 and that is not fast enough for anything these days.
 
poematik13 said:
i work in tv/film/media and ever since 2011 when it was introduced a lot of people have flocked to it. it's a constant stream of data as opposed to USB 3 which is a burst protocol so its way better suited for video editing etc. The last "stream" IO was firewire 800 and that is not fast enough for anything these days.
Click to expand...

I’m not by any stretch of the imagination suggesting that Thunderbolt isn’t superior. I’m in Power Electronics so only really get involved first hand with computers at home, (and of course Outlook, excel and some proprietary software at work). Every time I see Macs at work, (pretty regular - we manage the Power at Industrial Automation facilities, Design Houses, Research Clusters and Data Centres), I ask questions about them as well as taking a good look. Anecdotal I know but I just do not see/hear about Thunderbolt anywhere.

EDIT:
Mind you PCs may well be using it too and I never ask about those.
 
Thunderbolt has been great for me thus far since introducing it into my pro-audio workflow. I have an LG 34UM95 connected to my nMP, a Universal Audio Apollo daisy-chained to the back of the monitor via TB, my iLok and keyboard connected to the monitor's USB 2 ports, and a USB 3.0 drive I'm using as a Time Machine backup into the one USB 3 port on the monitor. Everything runs great over the single TB cable with no performance hiccups.

I usually leave my session drive, which is a small Apple SATA SSD drive in a portable TB enclosure, plugged into a second TB port. It's fast, quiet, and reliable, with no random disconnects, no more waking the computer from sleep to find the drive unmounted, as I've experienced with FW800 drives in the past. The back of my nMP is clean aside from the power cable and two TB cables, with plenty more room for additional I/O when I need to expand my setup. I really cannot complain about anything here.
 
Was really tempted to buy an 8 core 2009 machine and upgrade it to 3.46 12 core .. just not sure if that is what i want to do anymore
 
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