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Thinking of saving up for a Mac Pro 2008..


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I'm getting kinda tired of using a hack for day to day activities[been doing so since 2006..], so I was thinking of going for a real Mac desktop. I have a few questions:

 

1. 4 cores or 8?

 

I've asked a few friends and they say I should go for the 8 core model, but I'm not really sure, especially considering I don't do anything too incredibly stressful on the CPUs[Photoshop, but not with 9999999x9999999 documents.., vmware/parallels, and windows for games, and XCode for programming, as well as other miscellaneous emulators/programs].

 

2. Buy the $100 extra superdrive, or add in my own IDE drive for like $30?

 

3. Does quad channel RAM really help that much more, or should I just stick with 2GB for day to day life?

 

 

The iMac doesn't really fit my needs, because I don't want a slow[relatively speaking..as in the FSB and the RAM speeds..core 2s are FAST] laptop CPU/RAM in a desktop, and the graphics card[the 2600] leaves a bit to be desired, and if I'm going to upgrade, it's going to be BIG, i.e latest CPU/GPU.

 

I'll ask more as I think of more.

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You might do OK with only 4 cores but get more power if you have the cash. You definitely want 4GB of ram instead of only 2GB. HDDs (like everything else except the useless shuffle MP3 player) are way overpriced at apple, so yeah, use your own. Just make sure you buy a quality model and not some no-name POS.

 

Good luck!

 

hecker

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Does the quad channel RAM really make that much of a difference?

There's a theoretical advantage in terms of both bandwith and latency.

A single RAM module has a 64-bit bandwidth. Dual channel improves this by 2 (128-bits) by accessing two modules at the same time (2x64). Double that again and you have a bandwith of 256-bit (4x 64).

 

To make it short: let's say that in most cases you won't see much of difference but sometimes you will see a huge performance boost. I say, if you can afford it, buy it.

 

PS: What I meant in my previous post is that you should get more RAM (4GB instead of 2GB). I did not mention anything about the dual- quad-channel issue. Dual-channel and Quad-channel, refers only to the way the RAM is built, not it's actual size.

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If you are going to be doing a lot of gaming, IMO its better to select the 4 core option and tack on the 8800GT. Also two things I'd put in my Mac Pro are Airport, Wireless KB/Mouse, and Dual 16x Superdrives.

 

That being said, if you do plan on doing some real number crunching, its better to stick with the 8 cores as you won't find a 2.8GHz chip for $499 anytime in the near future.

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don't bother with the extra superdrive, just add in any IDE (or sata :() optical drive

 

i've got a 2008 model mac pro myself, and apple give you 4 extra screws to mount a second optical drive if you choose to (they're on the reverse side of the optical drive carrier)

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It accepts SATA dvd drives? I was reading the instruction manual and it only mentioned Parallel/Ultra ATA 100.

They might work if you managed to connect them - not sure if it's possible. The OS shouldn't have a problem with them, given that they work on Hackintoshes.

 

PATA ones should still be easy to get, though.

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It accepts SATA dvd drives? I was reading the instruction manual and it only mentioned Parallel/Ultra ATA 100.

 

yeah, on the logic board, beneath the front fan unit, are a pair of sata ports marked "ODD_SATA" - I'm assuming they are there for futureproofing, SATA dvd/blu ray drives etc (you can also connect an e-sata bracket to them if you want)

 

btw: i recommend you attempt to "futureproof" yourself, and go for the 8core system, and a minimum of 4gb of ram - that'll keep the mac lasting longer before you need to update

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Also, if you get just one processor, you might not be able to find another one later down the track to upgrade. This is beside the issue of needing a heatsink, as has been mentioned.

 

I guess if I were in your position, I'd have to think carefully, too. I'd bet, though, if you got the 8-core and at some point launched a CPU-heavy multithreaded task, you'd be glad you had it!

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Your best bet would be to configure it with the least amount of RAM, the smallest hard drive, and a single optical drive. I did a quick search and you can get 16GB of RAM for under $330 [4 kits of 2X2GB] shipped. Furthermore, a 1TB SATA harddrive can be had for under $250, and 500GB for $99. The closest Pioneer burners I am seeing are the 212 and the 115, and I have no idea with regards to the drivers support but can say that they are listed at under $30.

 

So do yourself a favor, barebones it from Apple and buy the stuff and throw it in separately, spending an hour more to save several hundred.

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I did a quick search and you can get 16GB of RAM for under $330 [4 kits of 2X2GB] shipped.

 

Are you sure they were 800MHz FBDIMMs? The 533s the old MacPro used have come down a lot, but last I checked, 16GB of 800MHz FBDIMMs would run around $750 from the cheapest vendor (for 8x2, or $1500 for 4x4)

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  • 1 month later...

Is tough to decide between 4 and 8 cores, especially if you are 100% sure that you don't or will need the second CPU, but as someone said, down the line, it might be very hard to get another identical CPU.

 

For example, I needed a northwood P4 for a PC and was not able to get one, no matter were I looked and I don't trust a used CPU.

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