Upgrading Mac Mini to Mac Pro... Thoughts??

Hey all

I am running a Mac Mini server Mid 2011 with 2ghz Quad core I7 with 16gb ram and 2 x 500gb 7200rpm HDD's... I am a music producer and i am starting to find that using Ableton 8 and logic once i start adding a few heavy VST's into the mix that the CPU starts effecting the audio...

First question... is there any use in upgrading this mac mini any further and if so what would be recommended I have thought about putting a SSD drive in as the main OSX drive but not sure if this will help me achieve what i want...

Second question... Would i benefit from upgrading to a mac pro?? I have seen some on ebay lately around the 3.1 mark and higher with 2 x 2.8ghz quad core xeon CPU and of course the newer ones have better specs...

So im wondering upgrade to a Mac Pro or stay with the Mac Mini and upgrade that (if there is anything else i can do to it that is)

muchly appreciate any help with this issue

thanks

Im not going to go too deep into the why's, but you have mentioned the MacPro and if you have the $ i say go for it.
Will it benefit you more than the Mini ?? Yes.
Will you be able to do more with the MacPro ?? Yes.
Will you be able to upgrade the MacPro from where it is ?? Yes
Will getting the MacPro future proof you and give you better performance from those high CPU intensive tasks, that will only get higher and higher as the months/years go buy ?? Yes
You already have the Monitor ?? Yes
Will you feel on top of the world having the power of the MacPro under you ?? Yes
Will there be any benefit in putting a SSD in the MacMini ?? Negligible

So in short, if you have the money, buy the MacPro and then go about your business, and be happy in the thought, that however heavy the VST's are, the MacPro will just plod along non the wiser

My 2c after i just read about VST's. MacPro will be my option

Hey there Tatt

Thanks heaps for your input you have helped me decide to switch to the mac pro... Sooooo now the question is which one??

Is there a certain year/model to not go under?? Like would a 3.1 suit my needs or should i go something abit newer and spend the extra $$?? Does the amount of Cores and the type of Ram that it uses effect the speed of the machine in a huge respect... What im trying to figure out is whats the best machine for my needs... Im not a gamer and never will be so graphics and video cards mean not a huge amount to me...

Thanks for such a quick reply too

Well that is a bit like asking me what your favourite colour is lol NAh not really but . . . .

Ill give you the Geekbench tests and can help you make a choice. Mind you looking at the tests the latest MacMini isn't too far off a MacPro if you look at the list you can see List.
Now I'm not going back on y first post, if you have the $ then a MacPro would be best for you and what you do, and probably more CPU intensive than running a game, but rumour is, and just rumours are that Apple will be doing a update to the MacPro, and they usually mention these updates at the WWDC and that is at beginning of June, so it could be a good bet to wait out for 4 weeks and see what they say ?? According to the MacRumours Buying Guide they are saying don't buy, with the rumours there telling you why not and there could be something out in April/May ?? BUT if they do a update and there hasn't been one for 365 odd days, then you will be paying a premium for it, so a older model might be for you ?? And you can add what you want.
Always look in the refurb store of you countries Apple on-line Store . . .

Hope thats been a bit of help, and now i have put some confusion into it

Your mini is a touch faster than my W3570 Mac Pro in Geekbench you have SATA 6 and TB I don't..The difference in your usage scenario is my RAM ceiling is MUCH higher. I can have a minimum of 4 HDD's i.e. you can record into one. It'll grow with you in the future if you desire that..that being said IMHO some of the best music in the world was produced on a G3..

My GB:

Thanks heaps for all the advice guys...

I have found myself a great deal on a 2008 2 x 2.8ghz 8 core 3,1 model just waiting on delivery next week and will do geek bench tests on both before i sell off the mac mini...

Just need to find some decent 8gb Ramm sticks that wont cost me my first born child lol

again thanks and will post bench results once done...

Mc Newbie said:

Thanks heaps for all the advice guys...

I have found myself a great deal on a 2008 2 x 2.8ghz 8 core 3,1 model just waiting on delivery next week and will do geek bench tests on both before i sell off the mac mini...

Just need to find some decent 8gb Ramm sticks that wont cost me my first born child lol

again thanks and will post bench results once done...

Click to expand...

Wow congrats and for RAM i use Performance Upgrades; FireWire USB SATA Storage; Memory, more at OWC second to none in price and customer service and they only do Mac Hardware

Mc Newbie said:

Thanks heaps for all the advice guys...

I have found myself a great deal on a 2008 2 x 2.8ghz 8 core 3,1 model just waiting on delivery next week and will do geek bench tests on both before i sell off the mac mini...

Just need to find some decent 8gb Ramm sticks that wont cost me my first born child lol

again thanks and will post bench results once done...

Click to expand...

Really any dual rank server RAM will be fine.

Ok so im looking at some extra RAM and i have found some ex server RAM and the seller keeps trying to tell me that this RAM only suits Intel 5400 chipsets... Now as far as i can tell off the stats on EVERYMAC.com the chipset for my MAC PRO is a Intel Xeon E5462 sooooo is the seller being hard to deal with or am i going up the wrong path??

The RAM stats are exactly the same as what it says my PRO takes... DDR2 800MHZ PC-6400FB ECC Server RAM

Im not the greatest with ram types lol

thanks

Mc Newbie said:

Ok so im looking at some extra RAM and i have found some ex server RAM and the seller keeps trying to tell me that this RAM only suits Intel 5400 chipsets... Now as far as i can tell off the stats on EVERYMAC.com the chipset for my MAC PRO is a Intel Xeon E5462 sooooo is the seller being hard to deal with or am i going up the wrong path??

The RAM stats are exactly the same as what it says my PRO takes... DDR2 800MHZ PC-6400FB ECC Server RAM

Im not the greatest with ram types lol

thanks

Click to expand...

Sounds right..