Apple Mac Pro 2 X 2.8 Quad advice?

D

drew137

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I am shopping around for a new machine as my PC is due for an upgrade, I was looking at the above and thought it would be a super option.

I did some pricing and tried to build a PC with similar spec but it seemed to work out more expensive?

If I ran bootcamp or something and ran XP would the gaming performance match a high end gaming rig?

Anyone with one of these wish to comment I'd like to hear what you have to say :D
 
Yeh I heard that, but this is a brand new machine that has 6GB memory and the 8800GT graphics upgrade. I can get it from the office for 26K? Still a bargain or not? The new machine is likely to be hugely expensive prob around 40K?
 
drew137 said:
Yeh I heard that, but this is a brand new machine that has 6GB memory and the 8800GT graphics upgrade. I can get it from the office for 26K? Still a bargain or not? The new machine is likely to be hugely expensive prob around 40K?
Click to expand...

The Mac Pros use ECC Double Buffered RAM and the processors are great
for parallel processing but for games I'd go with dual core (highest clock speed).
The double buffered ECC RAM does pose some gaming slowdown issues
and you can't get SLI on the Mac Pro because no single cards with
that solution exist for the Mac.
 
Thanks for that info, I'll be doing some more research tonight on the machine. Although I don't really play games to often I would like to be able to if I am spending this amount of cash! What are the main advantages of SLI?
 
drew137 said:
Thanks for that info, I'll be doing some more research tonight on the machine. Although I don't really play games to often I would like to be able to if I am spending this amount of cash! What are the main advantages of SLI?
Click to expand...

Better gaming performance. For 3D games you want the best GPU available,
the Macs offer decent commercial GPUs and excellent professional ones, but
for gaming things like SLI (two GPUs as two cards or 2 on one card) do
not happen on the Mac. It would still give you great performance but
not as great as a PC 1/3 the price. The two Xeons are also targeted at parallel
processing as is the RAM. Still if you need the power for work, go for it
but remember that gaming will be a more distant goal.
 
drew137 said:
Yeh I heard that, but this is a brand new machine that has 6GB memory and the 8800GT graphics upgrade. I can get it from the office for 26K? Still a bargain or not? The new machine is likely to be hugely expensive prob around 40K?
Click to expand...

True it is a great price, but I would hate myself if I were to drop 26K on a machine and a month later Apple release a MUCH Better Mac Pro. The Mac Pro hasn't had a real upgrade in years... only spec bumps. Unless you're getting the machine 2nd hand from your office, and 26K is just within your budget, I would wait and see what Apple do.
 
There is no way until at least the end of the year you will see a new Macbook PRO especially in these uncertain times. The Macbook PRO saw two new versions in the space of a few months. There has been a lot of talk around the web about Apples pace at which it release new product and a prime example would be the Macbook PRO if they want to keep market share, it would be stupid to release a new Macbook PRO in the next few months, it just won't happen.

@Vertigo to say the reincarnation of the new unibody Macbook PRO is just a spec upgrade is a bit it of a understatement in my view. Unless your idea of a overhaul is reinventing the wheel :)
 
Last edited:
Mac Pro pumpkin. Mac Pro. Read again... wait for it. MAC PRO. Not MacBook Pro. Chop
 
VertigoZA said:
True it is a great price, but I would hate myself if I were to drop 26K on a machine and a month later Apple release a MUCH Better Mac Pro. The Mac Pro hasn't had a real upgrade in years... only spec bumps. Unless you're getting the machine 2nd hand from your office, and 26K is just within your budget, I would wait and see what Apple do.
Click to expand...

I did some more reading and they expect the new one to be better of course but carry a much larger price tag which will probably be way out of my price range unfortunately.

The machine is brand spanking new has not even ben switched on yet, that's what makes it so tempting!

On another note I need a TV tuner for the beast what can you chaps recommend?
 
drew137 said:
I did some more reading and they expect the new one to be better of course but carry a much larger price tag which will probably be way out of my price range unfortunately.

The machine is brand spanking new has not even ben switched on yet, that's what makes it so tempting!

On another note I need a TV tuner for the beast what can you chaps recommend?
Click to expand...

I agree with you, and if you NEED it then get it, waiting for a newer model might seem rational, but the price is most likely going to be ludicrous. The only thing i can suggest is make sure about the warranty on it and how long it has left. If u would like to no u can pm me the serial number and i will tell u.
 
*back from my venture in "off topic" (don't go there, those people are scary)

... ya then its an awesome deal and I would go for it! Does it come with a cinema display for the same price... cause that would be fantastic!
 
VertigoZA said:
Mac Pro pumpkin. Mac Pro. Read again... wait for it. MAC PRO. Not MacBook Pro. Chop
Click to expand...

I own a Mac Pro! The Mac Pro uses Double Buffered RAM chips with ECC (and high latency) which are optimised for servers and not single application processes. The Mac Pro uses Xeon chips which are optimised differently to i7 Extreme Chips, the former is ideal for parallel processing the latter ideal for single app peak processing. Finally the Mac Pro can only accept 3D accellerators with EFI
and there are no SLI versions like that targetted at the MacPro. The Mac Pro
is not a gaming machine and if you expect top of the line performance or
performance to match the cash spent on the machine you'll be disappointed.

Your Sir are the CHOP around here. Grow up and learn to read before you
insult other people.
 
PeterCH said:
I own a Mac Pro! The Mac Pro uses Double Buffered RAM chips with ECC which are optimised for servers and not single application processes. The Mac Pro uses Xeon chips which are optimised differently to i7 Extreme Chips, the former is ideal for parallel processing the latter ideal for single app peak processing. Finally the Mac Pro can only accept 3D accellerators with EFI
and there are no SLI versions like that targetted at the MacPro. The Mac Pro
is not a gaming machine and if you expect top of the line performance or
performance to match the cash spent on the machine you'll be disappointed.

Your Sir are the CHOP around here. Grow up and learn to read before you
insult other people.
Click to expand...

I think he meant this post

PAYBACK said:
There is no way until at least the end of the year you will see a new Macbook PRO especially in these uncertain times. The Macbook PRO saw two new versions in the space of a few months. There has been a lot of talk around the web about Apples pace at which it release new product and a prime example would be the Macbook PRO if they want to keep market share, it would be stupid to release a new Macbook PRO in the next few months, it just won't happen.

@Vertigo to say the reincarnation of the new unibody Macbook PRO is just a spec upgrade is a bit it of a understatement in my view. Unless your idea of a overhaul is reinventing the wheel :)
Click to expand...
 
tau1z said:
I agree with you, and if you NEED it then get it, waiting for a newer model might seem rational, but the price is most likely going to be ludicrous. The only thing i can suggest is make sure about the warranty on it and how long it has left. If u would like to no u can pm me the serial number and i will tell u.
Click to expand...

No worries, I work for SAcamera so it's brand new and will be invoiced to me and under warranty for a full year :D
 
PeterCH said:
He said "pumpkin" which I assume is referenced to me in Peter-the-Pumpkin-eater. If he did not allude to me, I apologise.
Click to expand...

...what??? I have no idea what you are talking about.

My point is: *sigh*

I said the MAC PRO is due for an upgrade... and you said that the MACBOOK PRO has just been upgraded??

pumpkin was just meant to be a term-of-endearment...
 
VertigoZA said:
...what??? I have no idea what you are talking about.

My point is: *sigh*

I said the MAC PRO is due for an upgrade... and you said that the MACBOOK PRO has just been upgraded??

pumpkin was just meant to be a term-of-endearment...
Click to expand...

Ok, soz. I assumed incorrectly.
 
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