Mac Pro 3.1 still powerfull?

[sqm]

Hey Guys,

I thinking about to get a 2,8 ghz 8core Mac Pro for around 500€ from a friend.

Ram Upgrade to 32gb and to plug my existing gtx 570 in it.

Do you think this could still be a workhorse for editing and gradin?

I got a 4ghz quad, 16gb ram hackintosch, the power is enogh for my work, but i dont trust the hacked system.

 

[sqm]

Final price is 400€

 

[Inazuma]

Look at the CPU benchmarks of the one inside the Mac Pro compared to what you have right now https://www.cpubenchmark.net/

[Seenematic]

That's a bargain.  The RAM alone is almost worth that much.
I still have the very same MacPro (bought it new back in 2008) and considered upgrading to a new iMac, but installed El Capitan and switched from FCP7 to FCPX.

El Capitan runs flawlessly and FCPX is much faster than FCP7.  I don't work with 4K footage, but I'm editing a video with 5 layers on top of each other, including keying and my Mac has no problem playing this.
I guess 4K is a different story, so it depends on what you want to do, but for 400€ I wouldn't hesitate.  

 

[Calum MacPhail]

You are better off getting the Mac Pro 4.1 and onwards. The 2009 4.1 model can take the parts all the way up to the 2012 model if you upgrade the firmware to 5.1. Lets you use faster ram and potentially two 6 core processors, which you can upgrade yourself and still has decent heft. I've seen single socket 2010 models for £350, I wouldnt go for less than a 2009 model.

[sqm]

That's a bargain.  The RAM alone is almost worth that much.
I still have the very same MacPro (bought it new back in 2008) and considered upgrading to a new iMac, but installed El Capitan and switched from FCP7 to FCPX.

El Capitan runs flawlessly and FCPX is much faster than FCP7.  I don't work with 4K footage, but I'm editing a video with 5 layers on top of each other, including keying and my Mac has no problem playing this.
I guess 4K is a different story, so it depends on what you want to do, but for 400€ I wouldn't hesitate.  

 

Thanks man, great to hear, diddnt bought it yet bust testing it, witch the internal hdd its slow as f*** i will check that with an SSD

You are better off getting the Mac Pro 4.1 and onwards. The 2009 4.1 model can take the parts all the way up to the 2012 model if you upgrade the firmware to 5.1. Lets you use faster ram and potentially two 6 core processors, which you can upgrade yourself and still has decent heft. I've seen single socket 2010 models for £350, I wouldnt go for less than a 2009 model.

Thanks, the 4.1 models here are between 900-1000€ single cpu the cpu ugrades are from 500-1000... so lets say i upgrad once a time, then i´ve paid 2000€ for that.

For that price i can get a realy decent imac..

Just looking for something that can handle my stuff for the next year until i can buy a big maschine.

I will edit HD and sometimes 4k, but the main thing would be grading in davinci.

I would love to get Andrews imac, but dont got the money yet.... Andrew if you read this, maybe a two months fee ?

Thanks guys.

 

 

 

[Julian]

That's a bargain.  The RAM alone is almost worth that much.
 

Are you kidding?  That's DDR2 ram... ancient stuff.  32GB new DDR3 ram is like €150...
True, the Mac Pro uses expensive ECC memory, but that has no advantage in speed whatsoever and is kind of pointless for video editing.

@sqm

What's in your hackingtosh exactly? i5 or i7? either way, it's probably like 4 generations newer than the Xeon E5462 in the Mac Pro 3.1. That makes quite a difference in new instructions, optimisations, etc.

Even with it 8 cores I doubt it's going to be an upgrade over your current system.
Buying an 8 year old computer... even if it was very powerful by then, is not a smart move imo. Maybe if your current setup was really slower, but it's not.

I can see your point of wanting to have a native mac though. You could consider changing systems because of that and the price of €400 seems ok. But it's still an old system... Wouldn't invest in it.

 

[sqm]

 

@sqm

What's in your hackingtosh exactly? i5 or i7? either way, it's probably like 4 generations newer than the Xeon E5462 in the Mac Pro 3.1. That makes quite a difference in new instructions, optimisations, etc.

Its a i5 4670k clocked at 3,9ghz, 16gb ram and a Gtx 850

Great Maschine but like you said i want a native mac...

Seems like i have to save to get a decent imac or something.

Thanks

[Seenematic]

Are you kidding?  That's DDR2 ram... ancient stuff.  32GB new DDR3 ram is like €150...
True, the Mac Pro uses expensive ECC memory, but that has no advantage in speed whatsoever and is kind of pointless for video editing.

@sqm

What's in your hackingtosh exactly? i5 or i7? either way, it's probably like 4 generations newer than the Xeon E5462 in the Mac Pro 3.1. That makes quite a difference in new instructions, optimisations, etc.

Even with it 8 cores I doubt it's going to be an upgrade over your current system.
Buying an 8 year old computer... even if it was very powerful by then, is not a smart move imo. Maybe if your current setup was really slower, but it's not.

I can see your point of wanting to have a native mac though. You could consider changing systems because of that and the price of €400 seems ok. But it's still an old system... Wouldn't invest in it.

 

If you can provide me with a direct link to 32 GB RAM that is 100% compatible with a MacPro for $150, including shipping and taxes, I'd love to hear that.
 

You are better off getting the Mac Pro 4.1 and onwards. The 2009 4.1 model can take the parts all the way up to the 2012 model if you upgrade the firmware to 5.1. Lets you use faster ram and potentially two 6 core processors, which you can upgrade yourself and still has decent heft. I've seen single socket 2010 models for £350, I wouldnt go for less than a 2009 model.

Please share all the Mac Pro 4.1's that you know for sale for £350.  Because I haven't seen any.

[Julian]

If you can provide me with a direct link to 32 GB RAM that is 100% compatible with a MacPro for $150, including shipping and taxes, I'd love to hear that.
 

I know it's not available for that price. My point is, there is no benefit whatsoever of the expensive, ancient, ddr2 ecc memory in the MacPro 3.1.
You make it sound like it's such a great deal because of it has expensive memory. It's still slow memory...

And by the way, Mac Pro's work fine with non-ecc memory. So for a Mac Pro 4.1 you can just check Amazon for kits of 4x DDR3 8GB memory, there's plenty even for less than $150.