New Mac Pro Machine

[kwiz]

Hello fellow DP users!

Is anyone here using the latest Mac Pro with DP 8.xx?
I'm curious to know how you're getting along with it.
Right now it's a pretty expensive upgrade for me because of the lack of PCI slots etc..
However, I'm currently saving to be able to make the jump by the end of the year.

All ideas/suggestions are welcomed!

[BKK-OZ]

I've got my new MP, but it will take me a few more days before I can run DP up on it - I have to get a TB-Firewire cable, and I have to find the time to do the installs too. (DP will be easy, but I got lotsa plugs!)

Then, of course, I need to find my key/license code - I moved recently, not sure where the manual is, except I know it is in some box somewhere. I have emailed MOTU (3x) asking if they can help me out with the numbers... we'll see.

I will report back soonest.

In the meantime, anyone else out there on the frontier?

[HCMarkus]

Hello fellow DP users!

Is anyone here using the latest Mac Pro with DP 8.xx?
I'm curious to know how you're getting along with it.
Right now it's a pretty expensive upgrade for me because of the lack of PCI slots etc..
However, I'm currently saving to be able to make the jump by the end of the year.

All ideas/suggestions are welcomed!

You might look into upgrading the CPUs in your 12 core to 3.33 or 3.4, kwiz. If your current CPUs clock at 2.2 or so, you could see a substantial improvement that would get you very close to the nMP top end machines.

That said, the nMP is a very sweet package, and I'm looking forward to reports from BKK once his new machine is up and running.

[buhardilla]

Hello fellow DP users!

Is anyone here using the latest Mac Pro with DP 8.xx?
..

All ideas/suggestions are welcomed!

You might look into upgrading the CPUs in your 12 core to 3.33 or 3.4, kwiz. If your current CPUs clock at 2.2 or so, you could see a substantial improvement that would get you very close to the nMP top end machines
....

+1
My best computer investment ever done was to upgrade my MP 3.1/quadcore 2.2 to 5.1/hexacore 3.3. Add a SS hard drive unit for OS, enough RAM to full processor specs and a new powerful PC graphic card.. .
I'd also like to compare test performance with last MP released by Apple.

[wonder]

Hello fellow DP users!

Is anyone here using the latest Mac Pro with DP 8.xx?
..

All ideas/suggestions are welcomed!

You might look into upgrading the CPUs in your 12 core to 3.33 or 3.4, kwiz. If your current CPUs clock at 2.2 or so, you could see a substantial improvement that would get you very close to the nMP top end machines
....

+1
My best computer investment ever done was to upgrade my MP 3.1/quadcore 2.2 to 5.1/hexacore 3.3. Add a SS hard drive unit for OS, enough RAM to full processor specs and a new powerful PC graphic card.. .
I'd also like to compare test performance with last MP released by Apple.

If you don't mind ... how much did you invest in upgrading all this?
I might do the same

[buhardilla]

If you don't mind ... how much did you invest in upgrading all this?
I might do the same

Approximately the upgrading cost was (I had to pay in euros):
3*8 GbDDR3 RAM slots from OWC (300$)
1 OWC Mount hd adapter (20$)+1 SamsungEVO 250Gb SSD (210$)
1 W3680 Xeon processor (3.33GHz/6 cores) bought in eBay (510$)
1 nVidia GT640 2Gb (100$)
Screws, Arctic Silver Kit, etc (40$)
Both, firmware soft updater (Netkas) and SSD trim utility (Chameleon) are freeware donation
Keep in mind that I bought in 2013 and today could be lower.

[HCMarkus]

buhardilla, if you did the upgrade, your MP must have started life as a 2009 4,1, because the 3,1 cannot be flashed to a 5,1. The 4,1 can.

My 4,1 2.66 hex is now a 5,1 3.33 hex. Other than general system upgrades (RAM, SSD, GPU) the only significant expense involved is the new CPU. I paid just under $600 for my new W3680, but that was over a year ago, before Intel stopped selling them. Although new 3680's and 3690s (3.46 hex) still show up new on occasion, asking prices tend to be very high. Used CPUs are available in a variety of flavors; I've seen 3680s starting at about $400.

This website has a ton of info about upgrading MPs: http://pindelski.org/Photography/2013/0 ... 009-part-i

Unfortunately 2008 3,1's have a more limited upgrade potential. You can move to a CPU that is clocked faster, but cannot upgrade to the Nehalem Westmere CPUs the 5,1 utilizes.

[wonder]

buhardilla, if you did the upgrade, your MP must have started life as a 2009 4,1, because the 3,1 cannot be flashed to a 5,1. The 4,1 can.

My 4,1 2.66 hex is now a 5,1 3.33 hex. Other than general system upgrades (RAM, SSD, GPU) the only significant expense involved is the new CPU. I paid just under $600 for my new W3680, but that was over a year ago, before Intel stopped selling them. Although new 3680's and 3690s (3.46 hex) still show up new on occasion, asking prices tend to be very high. Used CPUs are available in a variety of flavors; I've seen 3680s starting at about $400.

This website has a ton of info about upgrading MPs: http://pindelski.org/Photography/2013/0 ... 009-part-i

Unfortunately 2008 3,1's have a more limited upgrade potential. You can move to a CPU that is clocked faster, but cannot upgrade to the Nehalem Westmere CPUs the 5,1 utilizes.

In my new machine, I'd like to really upgrade and pimp it out. It's already running great but with an SSD, possibly new CPU and other things, I wanna get this thing blazing.
thanks for the links

[buhardilla]

buhardilla, if you did the upgrade, your MP must have started life as a 2009 4,1, because the 3,1 cannot be flashed to a 5,1. The 4,1 can.

.

ooOOoopss!!!
Sure HCMarkus, you are pretty right: my original MP is a 2009 Nehalem 4.1 quad core model.

[jloeb]

buhardilla, if you did the upgrade, your MP must have started life as a 2009 4,1, because the 3,1 cannot be flashed to a 5,1. The 4,1 can.

My 4,1 2.66 hex is now a 5,1 3.33 hex. Other than general system upgrades (RAM, SSD, GPU) the only significant expense involved is the new CPU. I paid just under $600 for my new W3680, but that was over a year ago, before Intel stopped selling them. Although new 3680's and 3690s (3.46 hex) still show up new on occasion, asking prices tend to be very high. Used CPUs are available in a variety of flavors; I've seen 3680s starting at about $400.

This website has a ton of info about upgrading MPs: http://pindelski.org/Photography/2013/0 ... 009-part-i

Unfortunately 2008 3,1's have a more limited upgrade potential. You can move to a CPU that is clocked faster, but cannot upgrade to the Nehalem Westmere CPUs the 5,1 utilizes.

HC is this 4,1 CPU update really as simple as it looks? Just unscrew the heatsink, clean & dry the thermal paste off both surfaces well, unlatch the old, pop in the new, apply paste, replace heatsink? That plus firmware & memory is it??

If so, my 4,1 2.93GHz 8-core may become a 3.07GHz 12-core before too long.

BTW Kwiz, how fully SSD'd up are you? System/session/VIs?
Because you already have a pretty beefy CPU and I would think the biggest performance jump/$ would come from that before anything else (depending on what your average session looks like though, of course). Plus if you mount the SSDs on PCIe cards you get to take them with you to your next MacPro via Tbolt whenever that eventually does happen.

[HCMarkus]

HC is this 4,1 CPU update really as simple as it looks? Just unscrew the heatsink, clean & dry the thermal paste off both surfaces well, unlatch the old, pop in the new, apply paste, replace heatsink? That plus firmware & memory is it??

If so, my 4,1 2.93GHz 8-core may become a 3.07GHz 12-core before too long.

Yes and No...

The SNGLECPU 4,1 > 5,1 upgrade is super easy. You have to do the firmware upgrade first though or the machine won't boot with the new CPU. 1066 or 1333 RAM works regardless, but it won't run at 1333 until the new CPU is installed.

Unfortunately, the DUAL CPU upgrade is a little more challenging. In brief, unlike the Single CPU 4,1s and ALL 5,1s, the 4,1 Dual CPU MPs used a special CPU with no IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader - the metal lid on top of most CPUs). Because the lidless CPUs are thinner than those with IHS, upgrading the CPU in Dual 4,1's is finicky. Thoroughly review the link I provided above and you'll see what I mean.

That stated, many, many folks have successfully upgraded their dual 4,1 to 5,1 with fantastic results... you can actually make a faster 5,1 than Apple ever offered for sale. And there are lots of used CPUs available on EBay. So, if you are just a little bit brave and comfortable messin' around with this stuff, you can do it too!

As I recall, Kwiz was an early adopter of SSDs, so he may be looking for more than an upgrade of his old machine at this point. For me, the Hex 3,33 is quite adequate for my present needs.

[jloeb]

Thanks! Took a look a the website, looks very doable. I'll almost certainly do a 12 core upgrade, will watch prices on those chips. Need to work through the SSD upgrades first, which will be the big jump for me.

[kwiz]

Hello fellow DP users!

Is anyone here using the latest Mac Pro with DP 8.xx?
I'm curious to know how you're getting along with it.
Right now it's a pretty expensive upgrade for me because of the lack of PCI slots etc..
However, I'm currently saving to be able to make the jump by the end of the year.

All ideas/suggestions are welcomed!

You might look into upgrading the CPUs in your 12 core to 3.33 or 3.4, kwiz. If your current CPUs clock at 2.2 or so, you could see a substantial improvement that would get you very close to the nMP top end machines.

That said, the nMP is a very sweet package, and I'm looking forward to reports from BKK once his new machine is up and running.

That's a great idea HCMarkus! Thanks for the upgrade link as well. Plenty of homework to do once I get off the road. I recently added a PCI SSD blade to it and love the extra bump!
One last question. Do you know of any qualified techs that do this sort of upgrade?

[HCMarkus]

OWC and various EBay vendors advertise services... it's pretty darn simple! Any 4,1 or 5,1 Mac Pro is a candidate.

[kwiz]

OWC and various EBay vendors advertise services... it's pretty darn simple! Any 4,1 or 5,1 Mac Pro is a candidate.

Copy that!
Thanks again.