What would you replace an old MacPro with these days?

[agershon]

You can build a core i7 HackPro with TB for about $1100.

Also a buddy of mine is selling a ready-to-go HackPro, 8 core, 12G RAM I think, and he's asking $700. Email if interested.

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk 2

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by Meads

I found somebody willing to pay $1360 for my MacPro 2,1 and another one gave me $2200 for the 4,1. Guess I've been very lucky.

Yes you have

Originally Posted by Meads

Crossing my fingers for you. The 3930k is killer!
Make sure, the board you're getting has 8 ram banks, not only 4. Once PT11 is out, you'll be happy for the possibility, to throw as much ram at it, as possible.

Also for a Hackintosh first timer, I'd recommend you go with a prebuilt machine. It's easier to set it up, because you have a step by step manual.
I wasn't smart enough to do so, and built one all on my own. Took me a whole night to get OSX to boot.
Save you the tears!

Will do - pre built meaning a system that some has already assembled - right ?

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by propower

You can beat this price a little bit with a Hack (not much) and get Sata III and Thunderbolt but... why bother?..

That way I would be in the front of the hardware curve and not on the tail end.

Avid did not deem my 3.1 system worthy of PT11 - so going with a 4.1 seems like asking for trouble

I love my 3.1 - Dual Quad Cores - I think there is lots of life on them (power wise) as long as I reside on 10.2 and below.....but I digress - that's the way it went down so be it - but I want to be at the front of the hardware curve next time that's all

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by agershon

You can build a core i7 HackPro with TB for about $1100.

Also a buddy of mine is selling a ready-to-go HackPro, 8 core, 12G RAM I think, and he's asking $700.

Not with the i7-3930k - that's for sure - and if ur going for power/price u have to get the hex-core !!!

[propower]

Originally Posted by agershon

You can build a core i7 HackPro with TB for about $1100.

For $800 you can buy an 2012 mini i7... (granted the hack will have better thermal management). But for that kind of price and "only" getting an i7 why bother? Run the mini and be done with it.

[P,B,S]

Originally Posted by Meads

You couldn't come up with a better plan.
That's simply the way to go,

The concept of a mackintosh makes sense but ,
I feel comfortable knowing someone ALOT smarter than me designed my MAC PRO to actually function as I need it to. Musicians area called hacks for a reason. They might have some skill in a few areas but somewhere they lack something that keeps them from being PRO
ILL go with 12 core ALEX for $3799. and the guarranty of performance no hack will ever offer !

But in theory if I was a computer genious a hackintosh could be as good or better buy very easily upgradable and a lot cheaper . but IM NO JEANYUS .

[Meads]

Originally Posted by YYR123

Will do - pre built meaning a system that some has already assembled - right ?

Exactly. Many people write a complete roadmap to their builds that you simply need to follow, to be up and running.

[Meads]

Originally Posted by propower

Used 2009 MacPro 2.66 -- ~$900 to $1200
W3680 - 3.33GHz Hex core proc ~$600

= Hex Core Mac Pro -- $1800

If you are lucky and shop patiently this can be done for closer to $1500

You can beat this price a little bit with a Hack (not much) and get Sata III and Thunderbolt but... why bother? The $1800 MP will be a killer machine that you can add SATA III (if you really need it) or Esata for external raids...

IMO - 2008 MP 8 core is more like $1K on local CL to get a sale...

This is uninformed bollocks. Hex core does not equal hex core. The W3680 is from 2010 and a completely different generation and architecture than the current i7 CPUs.
You cannot even compare these two. If you like, look at the geekbench scores. My i7 3930k with 32GB RAM has a score of 19000. Look up, what the W3680 has in a similar configuration.

My DVerb score is 708. No current MacPro comes even near that.
And please look up, what the current most powerful MacPro costs. I payed $1950 for my whole system, including case, thermal paste, and everything.

So this price "beats a little bit" the price of an equal machine from apple? Yeah, right.
Do your homework before posting.

[propower]

Originally Posted by Meads

This is uninformed bollocks. Hex core does not equal hex core. The W3680 is from 2010 and a completely different generation and architecture than the current i7 CPUs.
You cannot even compare these two. If you like, look at the geekbench scores. My i7 3930k with 32GB RAM has a score of 19000. Look up, what the W3680 has in a similar configuration.

My DVerb score is 708. No current MacPro comes even near that.
And please look up, what the current most powerful MacPro costs. I payed $1950 for my whole system, including case, thermal paste, and everything.

So this price "beats a little bit" the price of an equal machine from apple? Yeah, right.
Do your homework before posting.

Of course I know the Hex core upgrade to the 2009 MP will only get a GB of 13,700. The 19,000 you are getting is impressive for sure. And price wise yours is about the same. Where the difference lies is that the 2009 upgrade will work as an apple machine with no issues because it is one. You also seemed to have missed that my whole argument was for modding a 2009 MP with a hex proc. All prices listed are totally in line...

I have built hacks in the past! There is a big warning on the TonyMac page right now about socket 2011 CPUs and Power Management + speedstep. For starters neither of these are working correctly. How many hack builders even know what the implication of this is?? And there will be other niggles if you just want to plug things in and have them work. In 2009 - my hacks were amazing. Outperformed everything in their class for 1/2 the price.... but then my Artist series could not be recognized... and mirrored monitors didn't work right... and Air display on the ipad was not reliable...

Now I have NO idea what todays issues are but I do not believe there aren't any! I already called out two big ones.

Hacks are for the enthusiast who wants to "maintain" their system or someone wanting to keep PCIx cards going or maybe just a person who has a stable configuration and if it works with that then good enough. Software is pretty much never an issue... its hardware.

So... be a little nicer I think... and admit that modding a 2009 is actually just as valid as building a hack.

For that matter... when a 2012 $800 quad i7 mac mini (Thunderbolt, usb3, wifi, ethernet, FW800, HDMI) are GB ~11,000 one has to seriously question the need for hacks at all ! - just sayin -- the mini is at least as good or up to 2X to 3X faster than MacPros from 1,1 to 3,1 - it even specs better than many 4,1's !

[Meads]

Originally Posted by propower

Of course I know the Hex core upgrade to the 2009 MP will only get a GB of 13,700. The 19,000 you are getting is impressive for sure. And price wise yours is about the same. Where the difference lies is that the 2009 upgrade will work as an apple machine with no issues because it is one.

I have built hacks in the past! There is a big warning on the TonyMac page right now about socket 2011 CPUs and Power Management + speedstep. For starters neither of these are working correctly. How many hack builders even know what the implication of this is?? And there will be other niggles if you just want to plug things in and have them work. In 2009 - my hacks were amazing. Outperformed everything in their class for 1/2 the price.... but then my Artist series could not be recognized... and mirrored monitors didn't work quite right... and Air display on the ipad was not reliable...

Now I have NO idea what todays issues are but I do not believe there aren't any! I already called out two big ones.

Hacks are for the enthusiast who wants to "maintain" their system or someone wanting to keep PCIx cards going or maybe just a person who has a stable configuration and if it works with that then good enough. Software is pretty much never an issue... its hardware.

So... be a little nicer I think... and admit that modding a 2009 is actually just as valid as building a hack.

To adress your last point first:

I'm a nice guy, I really am. But I do not admit what you want me to. While modding a 2009 MP sure is an option, you cannot upgrade it to a degree that it could compete with a state-of-the-art Hackintosh.
You're not only limited with the CPU you can use (which basically is one-step-up Xeon), you're also bound to slow RAM. You cannot put 1600MHz RAM into a MP. And you also have to go for ECC RAM, which is ridiculously expensive. It never happened to me, that a non-ECC unit died, thus causing world-ending mayhem, so that I could justify spending that much more for the safety of ECC.

I'm not a Hackintosh-expert. I'm a greatful user, who built two Hackintoshs in the last two or three months. So I don't want to come over like a knowitall, and also I can only speak from my experience.
But I have to say, that my two machines both run with no issues at all. The only difference to a genuine Apple computer is, when you switch it on.
There's no "Boonnngggg" sound, but therefore an ugly Mainboard-Bootscreen.
Once this is over, and OSX is up, there's no difference. I have no issues whatsoever.
HD Native works flawlessly, so does my Artist-Controller, dual screens, USB 3.0, Firewire, and frankly everything else. Also it is quieter than a MacPro, because I was able to choose a sound proof case, a fanless power supply and a fanless graphics card. The only noticable sound is caused by the 8(!) harddrives.

I have a 2011 CPU, and I even overclocked it with no issues. I also read about power managment problems when you send the machine to sleep mode. Well, big deal - Avid advises to disable sleep mode anyways, so what's the downside here?

I give you, it has been an unpleasant experience getting it up and running, and it cost me several hours and an even bigger amount of nerves.
But I'm happy to invest all that, if this means that I'm saving (literally!) thousands of $.

Maybe there would be issues, if I needed to use different stuff. Maybe, maybe not. Makes no sense for me to worry about that. Everything I need is working, and I have no reason to expect anything different down the road.

You are right - an Apple computer should guarantee you working like an Apple machine with no issues, because it is one.
I personally am not willing to spend that much money only for this guarantee. But everybody has to know that for himself.