Tell me about the Mac Pro Plz

Yesurbius

Yesurbius

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Forgive me if these have been answered elsewhere - I searched but couldn't find anything.

1) The graphics cards can be updated - the Mac Pro has a graphics port and 3 PCI-Express ports AFAIK. But will it work with other cards? ie. let say I wanted a really great gaming system and bought two X1950 XTX CrossFire cards (or maybe dual SLI from nVidia) .. (a) would it boot up? (b) Would it work fine with Mac OS X? (b) Am I going to notice any deficies?

2) Can the CPU be upgraded? Is it a jumperless drop-in upgrade? I saw a website where a guy claimed to put two Core 2 Quads into the Dual Socket Mac Pro, and the computer happily accepted them and recognized the 8 cores. Is this the kind of upgradeability I could expect?

3) What kind of problems are happening in the Mac Pro ?? What things should I take into consideration?

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I've been holding onto a lot of money since last November. I thought that they'd come out with Leopard / new Macs in January - but they didn't. Its now looking like they won't release Leopard until mid June, and a Mac Pro upgrade won't happen until September..

I'm not the best with saving money and I'm fearful I'm gonna do something stupid like buy a Dell LOL So I'm thinking I'll buy it now, and slowly upgrade it... more memory ... faster CPU (if I need the power) ... better GPU (unless I decide to settle for the X1950 XT that is in the BTO options.

Appreciate ppls thoughts...
 
Yesurbius said:
Forgive me if these have been answered elsewhere - I searched but couldn't find anything.

1) The graphics cards can be updated - the Mac Pro has a graphics port and 3 PCI-Express ports AFAIK. But will it work with other cards? ie. let say I wanted a really great gaming system and bought two X1950 XTX CrossFire cards (or maybe dual SLI from nVidia) .. (a) would it boot up? (b) Would it work fine with Mac OS X? (b) Am I going to notice any deficies?
Click to expand...
You cannot purchase and install ANY old graphics card in a Macintosh computer -- they MUST be Macintosh-specific graphics cards. You can get Macintosh-specific graphics cards from the Apple Online Store, but be warned: they're significantly more expensive than their Windows/PC counterparts.

I would highly recommend purchasing the Mac Pro with the graphics options you want up-front, as Apple doesn't sell all the Mac Pro graphics card options as aftermarket pieces.

2) Can the CPU be upgraded? Is it a jumperless drop-in upgrade? I saw a website where a guy claimed to put two Core 2 Quads into the Dual Socket Mac Pro, and the computer happily accepted them and recognized the 8 cores. Is this the kind of upgradeability I could expect?
Click to expand...
Yes, you can upgrade the CPU with a compatible CPU.
 
1) The graphics cards can be updated - the Mac Pro has a graphics port and 3 PCI-Express ports AFAIK. But will it work with other cards?
Click to expand...
I found the answers to some of my questions.

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_pro/faq/index.html

"Standard" PC cards will not work as Mac OS X needs the drivers, and the card needs specific firmware.

It explains that the Mac Pro dynamically allocates lanes .. It has a 24 lane bus. This means you cannot put SLI / Crossfire cards into the Mac Pro because at most it can support Dual 8-Lane ports .. it can only support a single 16 lane port.

2) Can the CPU be upgraded? Is it a jumperless drop-in upgrade?
Click to expand...
They are hardware upgradeable - so I won't worry much beyond this - since I don't plan on upgrading CPUs now - would just like the option if I need to.

3) What kind of problems are happening in the Mac Pro ?? What things should I take into consideration?
Click to expand...

Still unsure about this.
 
Yesurbius said:
3) What kind of problems are happening in the Mac Pro ?? What things should I take into consideration?
Click to expand...
I switched to the Mac last September after over 20 years on non-Apple machines. There was no learning curve and I've encountered no problems with my Mac Pro. The problems I *have* encountered have nothing to do with the Mac Pro, they're usability complaints that have to do with Finder and OS X, which has its own set of irritants like any operating system. All in all, the transition was smooth and painless, and I wouldn't dream of going back.
 
1) I'd guess that it should work with video cards that have an EFI firmware, instead of a BIOS firmware. However, the chipset also has to support SLI/Crossfire. I think Apple prefers letting you make giant multi-monitor setups, with 4 large LCDs all over your desk or something.

2) Seems to work.

3) I haven't heard of problems, but frequently Apple has power supply weirdness issues (to fit their custom shape and sound) and logic board problems (unless Intel makes them now). This just means you should avoid the first couple revisions of a new Apple system, though I think CPU speed bounces usually don't count as new systems.
 
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