Which Mac to buy

[rick0chet]

Hi folks,
There's a Mac on Ebay at the moment that is spec'd through the roof but I don't know if it's compatible with PT10 ..... Obviously I've checked the compatibility on the Avid site but It's unclear as the model doesn't show up in the list..

Anyway here's the spec .....

I mean, what is a 'bloomfield' and 'gulftown' processor.....Is he making it up!? I'm a bit confused..... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Failing that what would Y'all recommend I get ....... cheers.

Processor
CPU: Intel Xeon 3500 Series ("Bloomfield")
CPU Speed: 3.33 GHz
CPU Cores: 6
FPU: integrated
Bus Speed: 4.8 GT/s (QPI)
Register Width: 64-bit
Data Bus Width: 64-bit
Address Bus Width: 64-bit
ROM: EFI
RAM Type: DDR3 ECC SDRAM
Minimum RAM Speed: 1066 MHz
RAM: 12 GB
RAM slots: 4
Maximum RAM: 32 GB
Level 1 Cache: 32 kB data, 32 kB instruction
Level 2 Cache: 256 kB per-core (1 MB total)
Level 3 Cache: 8 MB on-processor
Expansion Slots: 1 PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot, 2 PCI Express 2.0 x4 slots

Video
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5870
VRAM: 1 GB GDDR5
Max Resolution: all resolutions supported
Video Out: 2x Mini DisplayPort, DVI (dual link)

Storage
Hard Drive: 1 TB 7200 RPM
ATA Bus: Serial-ATA
Optical Drive: 32x/32x/32x/18x/18x/8x CD-RW/DVD±RW/DVD±R DL

Input/Output
USB: 5 (2.0)
Firewire800: 4
Audio Out: 2x stereo 24 bit mini, Optical TOSLINK, HDMI via Mini DisplayPort
Audio In: stereo 24 bit mini, Optical TOSLINK
Speaker: mono

Networking
Ethernet: 2x 10/100/1000Base-T
Airport Extreme: 802.11n
Bluetooth: 2.1+EDR

Miscellaneous
Power: 1440 Watts
Dimensions: 20.1" H x 8.1" W x 18.7" D
Weight: 39.9 lbs.

Notes
Machines with BTO 6-core "Gulftown" processors used 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, and had a bus-speed of 6.4 GT/s.

Introduced in July 2010, The Mac Pro (Mid 2010, Single CPU) improved processor speed and GPU performance over the previous Mac Pro (Early 2009, Single CPU). It came in a single highly-customizable configuration, with a 4-core 2.8 GHz Intel Xeon 3500-series processor, 3 GB of RAM, a 1 TB 7200 RPM hard drive, and 1 GB of VRAM, for $2499. Built-to-order options included a 3.2 GHz 4-core or 3.33 GHz 6-core "Gulftown" processor, up to 32 GB of RAM, up to 8 TB of storage (via four hard drive bays), an additional ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card, an ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics card, a second 18x SuperDrive, and RAID and Fibre Channel PCI Express cards. A server configuration was also made available, with 8 GB of RAM and dual 1 TB 7200 RPM hard disks. All configurations were discontinued in June 2012 with the introduction of the Mac Pro (Mid 2012, Single CPU).

[Obsidian Dragon]

This model will be fine with Protools. It is a recent model and many here have used it with Protools without any issues. I say go for it.

Having said that, the Mac Pro line has been long overdue for an update. A newer, faster, blow your mind model is probably around the corner but it will cost you a pretty penny. Apple has been leaning towards all SSD drives, USB 3 ports, Tunderbolt ports, SD card slots, and Retina display resolutions in their other lines so those are probably on the horizon. If you can afford it, you can wait. Otherwise jump on the model you found on Ebay at a good price.

What Operating System does it come with? Lion 10.7.x works great as does the previous version (Snow Leopard). The latest OS (Mountain Lion) works but has some new features for software registration that are not yet included in Protools 10.2 (Avid says it is working on getting this fixed). If does not prevent Protools from working but just throws up a message when installing.

[Carl Lie]

I've been using that computer for a few years and it's great with PT 10.

I didn't see the price in your post but they were about $3600 new (plus extra RAM and drives). You may need to update the OS as it isn't mentioned as well.

It's a solid machine.

Carl

[rick0chet]

Thanks for the response folks .....
The listing says it comes with Lion installed and snow leopard on discs... which I figure sorts me out either way so that's all cool....
As regards waiting for the next gen of mac pro..... I'm in the pre-mixing stage of an album so I need to get it all razzle dazzle before I start that and there's quite a lot of Intel only plugs that I want to use so, couple that with the fact that my G5 has grown a bit of a beard.... now's the time I reckon.....

It's listed at £2k so I guess thats about $3k but it's had a graphics upgrade, from quad to hex processor upgrade and 12Gb of mem installed.....
He says in the listing that the upgrades made it £3k when it was new....

Reckon I'm going to go for it ......

Thanks again for the help folks ... much appreciated...

Rick