MP All Models Which MacPro to keep?

[xbart]

Early this year I was given a 2010 MacPro 5,1, I spent $300 on Ram, SSD, CPU upgrade and a new graphics card. It has been working without issue for 5 months. This replaced a 2010 iMac for home use. I had planned on buying a new iMac until the Mac Pro fell into my lap. Fast forward, two weeks ago I was given a 2013 MacPro 6,1. Spent $60 for some memory.
I’m trying to decide which one to keep, both will work for my home needs. I do occasionally use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign at home, but nothing more demanding than that. Everything that I’m using the PCIe slots for would be on the Mac Pro 6,1.

I’m thinking that I would get more for selling the 6,1 but it might also delay my next computer purchase.
Any thoughts?

 

[w1z]

Sell your 5,1 as parts as you will get more for it this way and keep the 6,1 until you are ready for your next purchase / upgrade. The 6,1 has catalina support, is great for your current needs and uses less power than the 5,1.

 

[kohlson]

I agree with @W1SS . Much longer lifespan for the 6,1 - perhaps to 14.17. Seems adequate for your foreseeable needs. It has standard USB3 and TB ports. It would seem that anything is more energy efficient than the cMP, but I don't know that for sure.

 

[xbart]

Good points! Would not having any HDDs in the 5,1 have much impact on the power usage?

 

[kohlson]

Would not having any HDDs in the 5,1 have much impact on the power usage?

No really. In sleep mode I measure mine at 30 watts, and at idle it's about 180. Doing something doubles or triples this. (This is without the monitor, like an iMac).

 

[xbart]

No really. In sleep mode I measure mine at 30 watts, and at idle it's about 180. Doing something doubles or triples this. (This is without the monitor, like an iMac).

Thanks for the power usage information.

Sell your 5,1 as parts as you will get more for it this way

As far as parting it out, would there much interest in a tray with single 6-Core Intel Xeon 3.06 GHz?

 

[velocityg4]

As far as lifespan goes. The Mac Pro 5,1 may have a longer useful life. If you like tinkering. As you can upgrade the GPU you can keep running new versions of macOS with the assistance of patches like from DOSDude. Even though 6,1 has longer official support. Once a new version kills GPU compatibility. That is the end of the line.

Then again. Why not sell both and get a new Mac Mini with the money? You'll get at least $1,500 for both of them. If these are bottom of the barrel. Perhaps a lot more depending on the specs. It may be enough for an i5 or i7 Mac Mini with 32GB RAM.

The 6-core i7 Mac Mini will do better on most CPU tasks. It is vastly more energy efficient. With Thunderbolt 3 you can add fast external SSD or an eGPU.

 

[iluvmacs99]

Early this year I was given a 2010 MacPro 5,1, I spent $300 on Ram, SSD, CPU upgrade and a new graphics card. It has been working without issue for 5 months. This replaced a 2010 iMac for home use. I had planned on buying a new iMac until the Mac Pro fell into my lap. Fast forward, two weeks ago I was given a 2013 MacPro 6,1. Spent $60 for some memory.
I’m trying to decide which one to keep, both will work for my home needs. I do occasionally use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign at home, but nothing more demanding than that. Everything that I’m using the PCIe slots for would be on the Mac Pro 6,1.

I’m thinking that I would get more for selling the 6,1 but it might also delay my next computer purchase.
Any thoughts?

As others had said, the Mac Pro 6,1 will not lose a lot of value going forward as it is still supported probably for a little while longer and it is smaller than the 5,1. You have a single CPU 5,1 and if you had spent $300 on it, you could probably get back most of what you spent if you sell it now. The longer you wait the more you lose the initial investment, because that $300 is currently tied up on a machine that's not used much I suppose and that's $300 you can better use elsewhere I think. Computers are not good investment vehicles unless you are making money with it or need them for some crucial apps that can serve your daily needs like if your job requires it. Otherwise, tying up unnecessary capital on a machine which is guaranteed to lose value in the long run is not really wise I would think.

 

[deconstruct60]

As far as lifespan goes. The Mac Pro 5,1 may have a longer useful life. If you like tinkering. As you can upgrade the GPU you can keep running new versions of macOS with the assistance of patches like from DOSDude. Even though 6,1 has longer official support. Once a new version kills GPU compatibility. That is the end of the line.

This has some huge assumptions in it to try to push a huge gap between the two when there pragmatically isn't.

First, that GPU is only major line of changes. The x86_64 instruction set is changing over time. The 5,1 is just as 'stuck in time' as the 6,1 in this respect. Actually even more so since it has an even older set of x86_64 instructions. If a future macOS instance pragmatically says AVX2 is required the 5,1 is done. When the other Mac models that also don't have AVX2 fade away, it will be consistent to drop the others too. Same thing with virtual memory and the other instruction subset areas that are still getting dynamic changes.

Drivers for elements embedded in the chipset ( USB , Ethernet, etc.) same issue.

The "immunity" of the 5,1 because can swap out GPUs cards is rather myopic. It gave the 5,1 an incrementally longer runway to extensive desupport. ( quick peak at the DOSDude website has the MP 1,1-2,1 on the not supported list). Over ten years other stuff changed than just GPU tech.

Periodically, Apple does 'Spring cleaning' For example.
"...macOS frameworks are now thinned for the x86-64 architecture. ..."
https://developer.apple.com/documen...tes/macos_catalina_10_15_beta_5_release_notes
periodically they will chuck "old stuff" that has been on the obsolete and deprecated list for an extended period of time.


Second, it is a major assumption is that Apple isn't going to further limit rouge installers and rogue core system components. Rogue kexts , modifying Apple's core system code, etc. are all probably going to get harder to do over time. 10.15 Calalina is bringing a split of the system file store into a different file volume than than user data/code and applications. That is probably "step 1". A non Apple system installer ( all the way up to the system content being installed) may not work in the future. Installers for the system and applications ( and new system extensions (new style for kext) ) could be on two different tracks in the future as they are on separate volumes with different security.


Not being on Apple's Obsolete list is more likely path to future system support than being on it. The 5,1 has a bit of an edge for users who want to snapshot on the currently available systems and do production work in a time bubble for as long as possible.

 

[MisterAndrew]

Keep the 2013 Mac Pro until you can afford a newer machine. A couple years from now you should be able to pick up a 2019 Mac Pro for 1/2 to 3/4 the current price. Same for 2018 Mac mini.

 

[deconstruct60]

Keep the 2013 Mac Pro until you can afford a newer machine. A couple years from now you should be able to pick up a 2019 Mac Pro for 1/2 to 3/4 the current price. Same for 2018 Mac mini.

If Apple goes back into Rip van Winkle mode on the Mac Pro and there is no new model for a couple of years the used price probably isn’t gong to come down that far. Apple is not going to sell anywhere near the Mac Pros than previous iterations ( probably several 10s of thousands less ) . Much fewer buyers in the ‘mew’ status will turn into much fewer sellers in the ‘sell’ status later. If Coupled with no new model for the ‘newest shiny’ for folks to latch to , then number of modules on used market will just be that much more tight.

If the MPX modules come on regular basis that too will shrink the used market . Apple may subtitle movement on the base system for a limited set of MPX modules.