Moderator: James Steele
The specs I listed are, as noted (perhaps not clearly enough), for the standard (PC) model... different ports, yes, different resolutions for the DP outputs, no.frankf wrote:Hmm. The Apple branded one has 2 display ports and 1 Dual link DVI. NO HDMI. MAybe yours is newer model?
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC742 ... o-mid-2010
Steve - Have you bought yet? I'll send you a PM. Basically I would not get a 3,1 (that's what I have), but if you decide to, I'm a RAM seller/distributer and can get you 8GB kits for the 3,1 for about $120. Maybe less, depending on what's going on. That RAM is legacy. I only sell RAM to fellow MOTUNATION and VI Control pals. It's nothing I make a profit on. I know how hard it is to find that RAM and I know there are great deals if you know where to look. Only three companies still manufacture that particular RAM last time I checked. Most re-label it and sell it for $240+.stevenew wrote:Hi,
I am going to upgrade from my lowly 2009 2.66 Core 2 Duo iMac, but as finances are very restricted I am limited to buying a used machine (here in the UK) so I have narrowed my choices to either a 3.1 Mac Pro or if I am lucky a 4.1 Mac Pro or a i7 Mac Mini. Having looked at all the specs on EveryMac (benchmarks etc) I can see no reason to get a Mac Mini other than more recent, USB 3, smaller, quieter. Where as even a 3.1 Mac Pro will give me more expansion, more RAM and in the case of a 8 core more CPU power
Whatever I get, I am going to put in at least a SSD boot drive and take the ram to 16GB, USB 3 card for the Pro, maybe a SATA 3 card.
So my questions to you knowledgeable guys are:
1) For DP is a 8 core 2008 3.1 Mac Pro better than a 4 core 2009 4.1?
2) Any reason why a Mac Mini would be better for DP?
Any other comments on my choices are welcome but remember I am in the UK and used prices & choice are more limited than in the US.
Thanks
Steve
Steve - You've made all excellent choices. You'll be happy with that system. For DP it's all about having many cores, the speed of the CPU, fast SSD I/O and a lot of RAM (in that order). Also, Kontakt does a lot of disk streaming and SSDs are almost as fast as RAM (at least as Kontakt is concerned). I would tend to use the SSD as your sample drive because it has to be fast enough to stream hundreds of files per second (or so), where as an audio/data drive just needs to be fast enough to stream much longer but fewer files that (if you keep your drive in good shape) will be pulled contiguously. Again, that's assuming you're using a lot of samples and some audio. However if your doing mainly audio, and your reading 100 tracks or so, then maybe put the project on the SSD. You can also put both the Project Folder and your samples on the SSD. If you do that only put one project at a time on your SSD.stevenew wrote:Hi,
Many thanks for all the replies & advice. In theory (I say theory because we have paid for it but won't receive it till after the new year) we have just bought a 4.1 Mac Pro 8 core 2x2.26 with 16GB ram, stock 640GB hd & PCIesata card. I already have a 240GB SSD to use as a boot drive & managed last night to get a another SSD (480GB) reduced in the sales. I have a OWC Sled & PCI SSD card (to mount the boot SSD on) coming, I now just need to buy a new UPS for the Pro as my current will be no good and another keyboard & mouse!
We are now officially broke! I will up the ram in a couple of months but for now 16GB will do, (I have survived this long with 8 so 16 will be luxury).
Any thoughts on whether I should use my 2nd SSD as the sample drive or data drive?
The graphics card is the stock NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 which will hopefully do for now and will allow me to run 2 23" monitors.
Thanks
Steve