2.66 or 3.0 mac pro

Hi,
I've decided to get my new machine now. I know new ones are around the corner, but I need it today.
So, after scouring ebay and apple store, I see some options.

Is it worth the extra money for the 3.0 ove the 2.66?
My friend has developer discount that she will use for me, so I won't be paying retail.
Is the performance in photoshop and final cut that much better with 3.0?
I will have at least 6 gb in whichever machine I choose.
Thanks.

There might be some difference. According to benchmark scores, it isn't much faster. The 3GHz will be more noticible with Final Cut but with Photoshop the will perform sorta equally.
I get a discount at work (I realized after I bought my Mac Pro) and it is at cost. The difference will get you a free upgrade to the ATI card which is a good upgrade.

I agree with the above post. The 2.66 is a hardly noticeable speed decrease.

Thanks,
I am getting the ATI card with the 2.66. With the developer discount, it is a signifcant savings.

Then I can sell it when the new penryns come out and they work out all the bugs!

lisamel said:

Thanks,
I am getting the ATI card with the 2.66. With the developer discount, it is a signifcant savings.

Then I can sell it when the new penryns come out and they work out all the bugs!

Click to expand...

I hope you dont regret not getting the 3.0, i regret buying the 2.0 imac instead of the 2.4... but hey! its your choice. enjoy your new mac pro

With 4 cores and 2 processors the jump between the 2.66 and the 3.0 is not a significant as the one you have. With the amount of RAM and the upgraded video card except for super intense video editing the 2 systems are so close its negligible.

Good Choice

lisamel said:

Thanks,
I am getting the ATI card with the 2.66. With the developer discount, it is a signifcant savings.

Then I can sell it when the new penryns come out and they work out all the bugs!

Click to expand...

You won't regret going with the 2.66. I faced a similar dilemma when I was purchasing my Mac Pro. I did quite a bit of research, and the conclusion was the 2.66 would be more than sufficient for my needs, which don't differ from yours that much.

I run Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, and Dreamweaver at the same time in my work. I also do a bit of video editing. The processors have never been a bottleneck for me.

Where you do want to invest is the ram, which you said you are getting 6GB, and the HDs. For video/photo work I recommend setting up a scratch drive separate from the OS/App drive, and another drive for documents. Running them in a RAID configuration would be even better, but it costs more for all those drives obviously.

Thank you for the replies. I have my new machine and I set everything up. I am going to install final cut tonight and check it out.
I'm sure it will be fast enough for me. I'm not doing very heavy work yet.
When I do, the new models will be out and I can splurge.