2006 Mac Pro - bargain?

[jackcharles]

Hi,

I've just noticed that you can pick up a first gen Mac Pro for around £850-900 on eBay. I am a software developer, and this seems to me to be a bargain- a quad core mac that will always fulfil my memory needs. You can even put newer graphics cards in them!

I feel like I'm missing something.. or is this an excellent investment for £850? Are there any well known problems with the first gen Mac Pros?

Cheers

Jack

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Can you provide the specs apart from first gen Mac Pros? How old are they??

Regards

 

[harryb2448]

Mac Pro 1.1 are in fact Xeon dual cores and not quad cores which came with the second generation. No well known problems and that price is pretty high for 2.66Ghz models. If they are the slower 2GHz model very high.

Also make sure the original system install discs, OS X.4.7, come with the machines as this is the only way to get Apple Hardware Test. The standard graphics card is the nVdia GeForce 7300GT and better results are with the 8800GT available for about $150.00 or so new.

 

[pigoo3]

Mac Pro 1.1 are in fact Xeon dual cores and not quad cores which came with the second generation. No well known problems and that price is pretty high for 2.66Ghz models. If they are the slower 2GHz model very high.

Also make sure the original system install discs, OS X.4.7, come with the machines as this is the only way to get Apple Hardware Test. The standard graphics card is the nVdia GeForce 7300GT and better results are with the 8800GT available for about $150.00 or so new.

Hey Harry...I've been thinking about getting one of these 8800GT's for my 1st Generation Mac Pro...but then I found this article with some benchmarks:

Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT for Mac | Mac|Life

The 8800GT definitely looks better than the 7300GT...unfortunately (or fortunately) I have the X1900 card...and the 8800GT doesn't seem to do drastically better than the X1900.

I guess I'm still stuck with the X1900 (unless you know of some other benchmarks showing the 8800 to be MUCH better than the 1900).

- Nick

 

[harryb2448]

Horses for courses Nick I think. Used X1900 in a Dual Core G5 and quite a bit of troubles with a number of utilities, including Applejack from memory. They were pretty close in pricing when I purchased my 8800. OP was saying software development and think the 7300 would be just too slow.

What say you regarding the prices, Nick?

 

[pigoo3]

Horses for courses Nick I think. Used X1900 in a Dual Core G5 and quite a bit of troubles with a number of utilities, including Applejack from memory. They were pretty close in pricing when I purchased my 8800. OP was saying software development and think the 7300 would be just too slow.

What say you regarding the prices, Nick?

I really haven't had any problems with my X1900 in my Mac Pro...maybe the X1900 was more of a problem with the Powermac G5's.

As far as prices...I've had some trouble finding any internet stores that sell the 8800GT new. Here in the States I've checked:

- Macsales.com
- Newegg.com
- Macmall.com
- Amazon.com (had a couple used ones)
- Apple.com (discontinued)
- Tigerdirect.com

So...not too much luck so far finding a new one. Probably some used ones on e-Bay. I've actually been more interested in getting a used 7300...so I can attach more monitors to my Mac Pro (not worried about the 7300 graphics performance so much)...but they're still a little too expensive on e-Bay for my needs.

- Nick

 

[AngryRedTicTac]

A 1,1 is still a very solid machine, they are pretty bulletproof. Memory is not cheap for them, buy a machine with as much memory already installed as possible.

I wouldn't spend 150 bucks on an 8800, an HD 5770 is $250 for the Apple branded card and is a MUCH more powerful card that is plug and play. It is also very quiet, which is very nice, obviously not silent like a 7300, but not obtrusive at all.

1,1s are fairly easily upgraded to Clovertowns, a 2.33 octo machine is less than a 300 USD upgrade. A 2.66 octo is generally around 450-500. I'm a few months from swapping in some 5355s myself, I've about given up on finding a killer deal on the 5365 3.0 quads :-(