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Would you pay ~$1,300 for 2009 Mac Pro?

J

joot

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 3, 2006
110
21
I was checking e-bay for a 12 core 3.33 westmere mac pro and I'm seeing a few around ~$1,300. The ones I saw were mostly 2009 (4,1 firmware) flashed to 2010 (5,1 firmware). I bought one with the two x5680 cpu, gtx 120 gpu, 32GB ram, 1TB HD for $1,375.00 shipped. Was I crazy to spend this much for 7 yr. old Mac Pro? I used it for video editing, Final Cut X and Premiere. No games...planning to get a GTX 670 to upgrade the GTX 120 for another $100. Total price comes to a whopping $1,475.00! Am I crazy?
 
$1300 would get you 52GB of contemporary Apple RAM so there are a LOT crazier ways to spend that.

CRXjLmz.png

(How should one describe this type of profit margin? Galactic Profit Margin?)
 
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are you crazy? what are your other options? what would they cost? I've been updating 4,1s for almost 5 years now to put machines in a professional environment. and those machines continue to get work done. yes, they just keep getting older, they also keep getting cheaper while remaining somehow relevant (mostly related to Apple's decisions) and highly extensible. It's not for everyone but in terms of bang for the buck (if you want to keep with OS X), it's hard to beat.
 
I was going to go the PC Hackintosh route and would have gotten a "better" spec. system but I didn't want to deal with different kext to get it to work properly. I just I'm just trying to justify my decision at the moment...
 
pastrychef said:
I just sold my 5,1 so, no, I wouldn't pay $1300 for a 4,1.
Click to expand...

What did you end up replacing with? I sold my 5,1 in the last 6 months as well...

OP, I've been seeing stock configurations of 4,1 on my local craigslist for around $300-$600. The dual processor units hold a bit more value...
 
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Like I said, I bought a flashed 2009 ---> 2010 unit with dual cpu running @ 3.33 (X5680) for $1,375.00. This is NOT a quad system. It's a 2 X 6 core = 12 core system that's why it's expensive...
 
It's much cheaper if you do it yourself.

Dual CPU 4,1, $450 - 600 (GT120 included, this is the worse GPU you can get with the stock 4,1)
2x 5680, $300 - 400
8x4G ECC RAM, $30
1TB HDD, $40

So, the shipping cost $300-550?

And yes, this estimation is for a 12 cores 5,1 (flashed) system, few guys here even running dual X5690 + much better GPU and still cost less than $1375.

For $1375, should already include a 1TB SSD, and a GPU like 7950 / 680. Also 6x8G 1333MHz ECC RAM.
 
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That's not too bad, then. If it has sufficient memory, and runs your applications the way you want them to, I would not say it's bad value.

But yes, it is always going to be cheaper to do the upgrade yourself.
 
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Yeah, for perspective I bought my bog-standard 4,1 quad in 2011 for $1650. If five years of depreciation buys you a dual six core with maxed out RAM for less I'm gonna say that's not too bad.
 
A powerful machine. If it gets the job done, you are getting it done for about as cheap as you can get under macOS.

It cost me quite a bit more than that to assemble my first 2009 single hex CPU MP in 2012. Back then, a single W3680 cost $600, and W3690s were out of sight. I did a second one (studio backup machine) a couple of months back for $750 + SSDs. The W3690 cost me $175 on Ebay.

Have fun with the new beast!
 
joot said:
I was checking e-bay for a 12 core 3.33 westmere mac pro and I'm seeing a few around ~$1,300. The ones I saw were mostly 2009 (4,1 firmware) flashed to 2010 (5,1 firmware). I bought one with the two x5680 cpu, gtx 120 gpu, 32GB ram, 1TB HD for $1,375.00 shipped. Was I crazy to spend this much for 7 yr. old Mac Pro? I used it for video editing, Final Cut X and Premiere. No games...planning to get a GTX 670 to upgrade the GTX 120 for another $100. Total price comes to a whopping $1,475.00! Am I crazy?
Click to expand...

I've seen much worse deals, so as long as you're satisfied it's all good.
It's hard to buy 12-core trashcan for that money.
 
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rawweb said:
What did you end up replacing with? I sold my 5,1 in the last 6 months as well...
Click to expand...

flowrider said:
If I sold mine, I'd be lost:(

Lou
Click to expand...

I put together a hackintosh. Specs:

Asus Maximux VIII Gene Z170 mATX motherboard.
i7-6700K.
64GB RAM.
Moved my GTX 980 from my old 5,1 and put it in to the new hackintosh.
Moved all the drives from my old 5,1 and put it in to the new hackintosh including my Apple SSUBX SSD.

More info here.
 
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austinpike said:
Where are these dual CPU 4,1s for $450-600...?
Click to expand...

They're out there. I'm in Australia and picked up a 2010 dual quad 2.4GHz for AUD$800 2 weeks ago. I put x5680s in it.
Last week the same machine sold on gumtree here for $600 ono. I just missed that one by a few minutes.
We pay much more in Aus for apple stuff than in usa so I would say they are out there.
 
i got mine 5,1 Mid 2010 single 6core W3690 with HD5770 & 8GBram for 700$ and did some upgrades to it , now its something like this

Mac Pro 5,1 Mid 2010 - El Capitan 10.11.5
Single W3690 6core
32GB 1333ECC Ram - 80$
SM951 512GB with Lycom DT-120 m.2 adaptor for OS - Pulled from my Windows Machine
1TB SSD 840EVO with OWC Accelsior S Pci-E Card - SSD Pulled from my Windows Machine
Inateck USB 3.0 PCI-E Expansion Card
Gigabyte R9-280x- Thought it died but reapplied thermalPaste & cleaned it a bit and it just works fine :p - Non EFi with Dell U3415W
2x2TB HDD in Raid0
Apple Broadcom BCM94360CD Airport extreme card for continuity - Pending . . .

everything is working smooth as silk and hoping this to last atleast 2 years , trying hackintosh for past 3 years and i m done with consistently tinkering around , atleast it just works & totally worth it . . .
 
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