2009 Mac Pro 8-Core performs disappointing! Any tips?

[DJ Hellfire]

What's up guys. Just got a 2009 Mac Pro 4,1; specs in my sig. The performance on this thing isn't really up to par at all with my other Macs nor the PC it replaced. I'm hoping someone can give some tips.

Some of the issues I'm having is slowness for one. It boots up lightning fast and everything feels snappy. When browsing the internet (please don't mention having internet on a DAW machine), everything is fast. But once I start installing something in the background or transfer some files, the internet loading is dramatically decreased, with both Chrome and Safari. Once background tasks are done, internet speed is normal.

Another issue is I've done some quick Pro Tools testing and I got some popping and clicks at 64MB at one point on a small session with less than to plugins. Also got a cpu overload error once. And the meters seem a bit sluggish.

Lastly, while trying to install Komplete 9 from the DVD's, the install always fails around disk G or H, which takes almost 2 hours just to get to. I've used these disks to install on my iMac and a couple times on my PC and never had a single failed install. The Mac Pro even had a couple failed installs while installing a couple plugins, which eventually went through successfully on the second install.

Other than these issues, everything seems fine. I did a fresh install of Mountain Lion 10.8.4 as soon as I got it. I also tried disabling Spotlight for all harddrives except the os drive. This didn't make any difference. My custom built PC specs are below and so far the Mac Pro doesn't perform as well. My iMac also performs flawlessly with several background tasks running AND multiple users signed onto the computer. So I'd think a computer with 8 cores and 32GB ram would be ridiculous.

I'm wondering if I could have defective RAM or just Google Chrome acting up?! Any ideas?


Old PC Specs - Custom Mid Tower - Q6600 Quad OC'ed to 3.4GHz - Windows 7 Pro x64 - EP45T-UD3LR Motherboard - - ATI Radeon HD 3600 Series 512MB DDR2 - Cooler Master V8 CPU cooler - 16GB G. Skill DDR3 1333 RAM

[YYR123]

I don't think Mac's in general feel as snappy as a super charged win machine but are really stable workhorses

I would check the ram and make sure it's all the same speed and hopefully the same brand

SSD's installed? Sata6gb spinners? What's the graphics card like? Is it upgrade able ? Since u said ur graphics is lagging

[DJ Hellfire]

Originally Posted by YYR123

I don't think Mac's in general feel as snappy as a super charged win machine but are really stable workhorses

I would check the ram and make sure it's all the same speed and hopefully the same brand

SSD's installed? Sata6gb spinners? What's the graphics card like? Is it upgrade able ? Since u said ur graphics is lagging

My iMac is SUPER snappy though, although it's a 2013 model. The ram on the Mac Pro is all the exact same. 1066MHz OWC brand.

No SSD's, but I also don't have any on my other computers.

The graphics is the stock one. It's the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB of GDDR3 and I'm running two 22" 1080p screens off it. It is upgradable, but I would think it's fine compared to the ATI Radeon HD 3600 Series 512MB DDR2 in my PC.

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by DJ Hellfire

My iMac is SUPER snappy though, although it's a 2013 model. The ram on the Mac Pro is all the exact same. 1066MHz OWC brand.

No SSD's, but I also don't have any on my other computers.

The graphics is the stock one. It's the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB of GDDR3 and I'm running two 22" 1080p screens off it. It is upgradable, but I would think it's fine compared to the ATI Radeon HD 3600 Series 512MB DDR2 in my PC.

Have you tried to disconnect one of the monitors and see what gives!?
We hade a similar issue with our Mac Pro Quad 2.66Ghz and after screwing around with the graphics PT ran great. The mac ran perfect with one monitor and after that We swapped out the graphic card and now it is awesome again.
Also Imdon't think PT loves 1080i resolution with less than 1GB graphics.
Just a sugestion and maybe worth looking into.

Best Regards
Chris

[DJ Hellfire]

Originally Posted by Southsidemusic

Have you tried to disconnect one of the monitors and see what gives!?
We hade a similar issue with our Mac Pro Quad 2.66Ghz and after screwing around with the graphics PT ran great. The mac ran perfect with one monitor and after that We swapped out the graphic card and now it is awesome again.
Also Imdon't think PT loves 1080i resolution with less than 1GB graphics.
Just a sugestion and maybe worth looking into.

Best Regards
Chris

I'll give it a shot. What graphics card would you recommend for running dual screens on the Mac? I've been using the ATI with the PC since 2008 and never had any issues with PT graphics-wise. Same screens too.

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by DJ Hellfire

I'll give it a shot. What graphics card would you recommend for running dual screens on the Mac? I've been using the ATI with the PC since 2008 and never had any issues with PT graphics-wise. Same screens too.

We used the Nvidia Geforce 8800GT for dual screens and it is working perfectly

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desk...specifications

It doesn't break the bank either as I believe we paid less than $179 and maybe you can get one cheaper second hand or a similar card to your liking.

Christopher

[DJ Hellfire]

Originally Posted by Southsidemusic

We used the Nvidia Geforce 8800GT for dual screens and it is working perfectly

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desk...specifications

It doesn't break the bank either as I believe we paid less than $179 and maybe you can get one cheaper second hand or a similar card to your liking.

Christopher

Hmmm, that card seems to actually be older than the one I have. I just found current drivers for my graphics card. Gonna try that before spending another dime! Another thing I think would help may be just adding a second graphics card of the one I already have. They're pretty cheap!

[koban4max]

how about radeon 5770?

[DJ Hellfire]

Originally Posted by koban4max

how about radeon 5770?

I was looking at it, but kinda skeptical since Apple doesn't officially support it with models 2009 and older. They support the 5870 but it's twice the price!

[koban4max]

I have EXACT mac pro of yours. I do have radeon 5770. (correction: i have quad core) Anyway, i have logic pro for mac...and it's great... i don't have any problems with it. I'm just giving you my testimony.