which Mac Pro ?

[tommypenngotti]

Might buy a new Mac Pro for my office - , what do you guys recommend? I have a 2009 Mac Pro in my studio , works great , but don't want to invest in a Mac that's going to be outdated next year , thanks!

[mikehalloran]

If yours is a 4.1, it's not really obsolete. It can be updated and upgraded - plenty of threads on that already. The two things you can't do with it: Thunderbolt and 802.11ac Wi-Fi (which really is faster than ethernet on many networks).

Unless you have an investment in PCIe hardware, not in evidence by your signature, the new Mac Pro is probably your best bet.

You can save some $$$$ by shopping the Refurb Store: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

Nothing new today becomes obsolete next year.

[tommypenngotti]

It is a 4,1 -
DP 8.7
Reason 8
Motu 896
Motu 828 Mk2

just curious how long before it's too late to buy a 2009, or is a 2010 for that matter
thanks!

[jlaudon]

I've been researching as well (I have a 2009 Mac Pro) and even though my present setup works fine, it does get bogged down (even with SSD drives for system and audio) pretty quickly, and my UA Apollo interface drops the UAD plugins once in a while, apparently because of the Firewire bandwidth running out...

My geek bench benchmarks for my mac pro are lower than for my 2011 macbook pro i7 and 2012 Mac mini... (RAM is the limitation with these though). So, ultimately I would lean towards a 2013 (actually wait for an update first) Mac Pro with Thunderbolt, even though it's crazy expensive. More RAM, Thunderbolt ports, more and more affordable interfaces (Apollo Twin Duo is great!) and prices going down for the external drives, make this the best long term investment if you can afford it.

[Steve Steele]

Might buy a new Mac Pro for my office - , what do you guys recommend? I have a 2009 Mac Pro in my studio , works great , but don't want to invest in a Mac that's going to be outdated next year , thanks!

You can do the 2010 firmware upgrade and install 2010 CPUs as fast as 3.47GHz. If you do it right the Geekbench score comes out around 33000.

Install a PCIe eSATA card or Mini SAS and get SATA III speeds or above with SSDs for you sample drives. And install a PCIe SSD OS boot drive.

Make sure you have 64GBs of RAM and your 2009 can just about hang with the current MPs.

I have a 2008 3,1 so I'm screwed. Although it's still plenty fast, it's not upgradable enough and it's falling behind the current MPs and the next gen MPs by a huge margin. The new v3 Xeons are FAST!

[HCMarkus]

I'll piggyback on NIghtwatch here…

If your 2009 4,1 is an 8 core (Dual CPU), you can do the CPU swap as noted and hit Geekbench scores that are very close to the latest 6,1 Trashcan MP. However, the 4,1 8-Core CPU swap is somewhat challenging, as the dual CPU 4,1's used lidless CPUs, thus making the swap a fiddly affair fraught with a significant degree of peril. That said, the swap has been accomplished by many with extremely successful results. (Note that if your Mac Pro was a 5,1 the 8 core to 12 core update would be as simple as the single CPU swap discussed below)

If your 2009 4,1 is a quad, it is an absolute NO BRAINER to flash the EFI and replace the CPU (lidded, like all standard Intel CPUs) with a Hex 3.33 or 3.46 CPU (xeon W3680/3690) which can be had used on Ebay for about $200. Lots of these hex CPUs are currently being pulled from servers, so the market is awash with them. Upgrade your GPU from the GT120 that probably resides in your machine, and you have a new Mac that will Geekbench in the 16,000 range, faster than latest 6,1 Quad Mac Pro. I did it two years ago and DP simply rocks on my machine. And no need to buy the Thunderbolt peripherals the new Mac will require.