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What now

rantingrich

rantingrich

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 10, 2009
190
5
Southern Illinois
Well I have been looking around for my next USED MAC purchase. I want to buy a used (MAYBE NEW) I want a used MACPRO. I was told to wait till the WWDC was over as everyone thought APPLE would have a updated MAC PRO line! NOT.

I looked at a 12 core Westmere 2.93 on the refurbished apple area and hell they want almost as much as a new one at 6 grand.

I have to as of yet FOUND any used WESTMERE on any site.

I guess I could get a Nahelem is it? BUT.

Most of my work is in 3d Animation video and other high end stuff SO power is a concern. When rendering animation on my POWER G5 quad for 10 seconds of animation is taking a week. I will be using After effects and premiere and 3D Program called Carrara.

I would like to keep it under 4 grand if possible WITH a 1GIG video card. I plan to buy more RAM and perhaps a SSD after I get the MACPRO. 64 bit is a must!

I plan to buy a DELL 30 inch LCD IPS for this as well so want the 1 gig card. Almost every used mac I am finding has a 512 ram card meaning another $500 for a 1-gig card

Any suggestions?

e-mail if you wish at

rantingrich1@frontier.com
 
I bought a refurbed QC in oct 2011 and just upgraded it myself.(16gb ram, 4tb raid, 120gb ssd as the boot and 1 extra 2tb WD green drive

Apparently, the QC processor is 'easy' to upgrade to a 6core and I think theres a new nvidia card which will work under 10.7.4 - I'm usng 10.6.8 because I hated lion (crashing apps, no QuickTime pro amongst others)

Failing that, if you have time to spare, keep am eye on fleabay
 
The difference between Nehalem and Westmere is not that much. But if it is important to you, you can buy a Nehalem 2009 or 2010 and upgrade the processor(s) yourself for much less money than Apple charges. The correct CPU(s) will simply drop into a 2010. With the 2009 you also need to do an unauthorized firmware update, which won't work on a refurb model.

Every Mac Pro refurb currently listed on the refurb site has a 1GB video card. Every 2010 used Mac Pro should be including a 1GB card. If you are seeing 512mb video cards you are looking at older computers. In any case, to accelerate your Adobe software you probably want a card that supports CUDA.
 
Fleabay!

LOL! No kidding! Thanks for the advice but what is QC? I was reading that on guy said get SIX core 3.33 over a 12 core 2.4 NEW! Interesting! I have read it I puke about all the opinion about Processor speed over number of Cores.

It is CLEAR though SPEED such as the 3.33 over the 2.4 is more important than the number of cores

----------
ActionableMango said:
The difference between Nehalem and Westmere is not that much. But if it is important to you, you can buy a Nehalem 2009 or 2010 and upgrade the processor(s) yourself for much less money than Apple charges. The correct CPU(s) will simply drop into a 2010. With the 2009 you also need to do an unauthorized firmware update, which won't work on a refurb model.

Every Mac Pro refurb currently listed on the refurb site has a 1GB video card. Every 2010 used Mac Pro should be including a 1GB card. If you are seeing 512mb video cards you are looking at older computers. In any case, to accelerate your Adobe software you probably want a card that supports CUDA.
Click to expand...

INTERESTING! Where can I find/look for these Processor upgrades. How do I make sure they work say with a used Nehalem 2010!!! I know I can find a few of those . I would love to MAX out the CORES on a Nehalem
 
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