MP 1,1-5,1 What should I do with my 5,1?

[prefuse07]

Since i've upgraded to the 7,1 -- now looking for ideas/recommendation on what to do with my trusty old 5,1...

It's just sitting collecting dust, and I feel bad throwing it away, since it still is a very potent machine, but I have absolutely no use for it.

A friend recommended I use it as a media server, for Plex or something similar, but I really don't have the space and a location to keep it running 24/7.

Doubt I can sell it for anything, and it's way too heavy to ship?...

Any thoughts/recommendations?

 

[tsialex]

Probably not very useful to you, but I have several Macs that have eventual use as what I like to call period machines, like a Mac that I can open old CS3 files or run FCP7 to export an old project and etc. It's very handy when you need it.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

I have a few machines that I call my "rosetta stone" machines. They were made at cool periods of time where they span support for a LOT of operating systems and older software. I use laptops for it, because it's just easier to pull them out for duty. One such excellent machine was the last 17" MBP. It had thunderbolt 1, firewire, and PCMCIA slot. And importantly it spanned a lot of versions of the OS.

But @tsialex suggests, maybe making the 5,1 into such a machine could be fun. Plus you can make a an uber boot disk that has like every version of the OS and some important utilities. Hmm. I have my old 5,1 collecting dust too, and that seems like a great use for it.

The problem with giving to anyone, for some reason people feel like YOU owe THEM a favor for giving them a machine. And then they will do you the favor of letting you be permeant IT support for the machine for the rest of your life. Totally a no good deed goes unpunished scenario.

And the value of selling it, well time value of money etc, I'd rather keep it for if/when I need it. I kind of look at both machines as retro at this point, and worth saving. I always regret having sold my NeXT cube (although it's one of only two computer I ever actually made a profit from, the other being the IIfx), and I get the feeling I may feel the same about the 5,1 and 7,1.

If they make and M3extreme chip, I'll get it, and I don't plan on selling the 7,1 either. Making 'retro' stations out of the old hardware, even if not used regularly, will have a lot of value, particularly with an "uber boot drive" that can have all kinds of period software, and importantly, lots of period recovery data utilities.

 

[MrScratchHook]

Since i've upgraded to the 7,1 -- now looking for ideas/recommendation on what to do with my trusty old 5,1...

It's just sitting collecting dust, and I feel bad throwing it away, since it still is a very potent machine, but I have absolutely no use for it.

A friend recommended I use it as a media server, for Plex or something similar, but I really don't have the space and a location to keep it running 24/7.

Doubt I can sell it for anything, and it's way too heavy to ship?...

Any thoughts/recommendations?

Sell it locally..no shipping required. you dont need it whatsoever. list it for around $200. you might end up taking $150, it is what it is.

 

[mateo14]

Since i've upgraded to the 7,1 -- now looking for ideas/recommendation on what to do with my trusty old 5,1...

It's just sitting collecting dust, and I feel bad throwing it away, since it still is a very potent machine, but I have absolutely no use for it.

A friend recommended I use it as a media server, for Plex or something similar, but I really don't have the space and a location to keep it running 24/7.

Doubt I can sell it for anything, and it's way too heavy to ship?...

Any thoughts/recommendations?

That is how I would use this computer for classic/retro games and DVD movies if I had GeForce GTX 480

- Mac OS X 10.6 (PowerPC games/DVD movies)
- macOS High Sierra (32-bit Intel games/DVD movies)
- Linux 64-bit (Linux games/DVD Movies/internet)
- Linux 32-bit from 2010-2012 (old 32-bit games)

 

[avro707]

Since i've upgraded to the 7,1 -- now looking for ideas/recommendation on what to do with my trusty old 5,1...

It's just sitting collecting dust, and I feel bad throwing it away, since it still is a very potent machine, but I have absolutely no use for it.

A friend recommended I use it as a media server, for Plex or something similar, but I really don't have the space and a location to keep it running 24/7.

Doubt I can sell it for anything, and it's way too heavy to ship?...

Any thoughts/recommendations?

Make a YouTube video where you drop a piano on it, throw it out of a window, drive a car over it, etc.

You know, all the usual stupid stuff those people do…

I have similar with my dual CPU 5,1. It’s perfect but doesn’t get used. I even have the original box.

 

[mode11]

I sold my MP for £250 this summer, the 6600XT for £220, and the various SSDs for about £50 each. Even sold off the OWC drive sled, USB3 card, NVMe adapter. If you use the frequent 80% off seller's fee deals on eBay you can keep most of the loot. It's a hassle wiping stuff, digging out the boxes, packing well etc., but I prefer stuff to go to a good home than just dumping it, and the money went towards the PC.

The MP is a great piece of design, but it's big and heavy, and uses too much power to use as a NAS or similar. Perhaps I'll miss it one day and start perusing eBay for one, but I really doubt it.

 

[flat4]

Donate it to the OCLP project

 

[mateo14]

Use the switch KVM to use the same mouse, keyboard, monitor, and speakers/headphones for Mac Pro 5,1 and Mac Pro 7,1. You could switch easily between these two computers by clicking a button.

That could help you save some space and give the same experience with classic applications/games on older operating systems.

Who doesn't like to play Max Payne or Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 for Mac?

 

[haralds]

I revived mine after retiring when I bought a high-end Studio setup. This is situated in an office shared with myy wife.

The 5,1 was moved to our guest room as a backup office and "Lair." It is running Monterey and Sonoma under OCLP, but also has Monterey and DosDude patched Catalina.

I can run old games, and native Windows 10 games under Intel BootCamp. I can also make noise with Logic Pro and synths.