Got Early 2008 mac pro - What kind of power do I possess?

Hello,
To whom it may concern, for a long time now I have been with powerpc and finally made the jump and transition to the mac pro. The machine I currently have is a Early 2008 8-core 3.0ghz machine. I'd like to know what kind of real power I have here. Also, how do I set up a regular raid setup using either disk utility or a 3rd party program?
My hard drives are as follows: 2 320GB hard drives, 1 1TB hard drive w/32MB cache, and 1 250GB hard drive. I also am going to get the ATI Radeon 4870 HD so that I can use the mini-display port with a new 24 inch ACD.
Bear in mind as of right now, I am not much of a heavy graphics or pro-app user, though I plan to delve into imovie and creating my own movies of my family. I also plan to learn a little bit about high definition encoding(really don't know what this is), and possibly maybe a little bit of the other video apps.
I got the mac pro for mainly being able to stick with the intel technology, as I realize now that Intel is the way to go. Also, got the mac pro due to its powerful expansion capabilities.
So, my question is this: What options are available for my machine? I am aware that the max memory is 32GB, though will I ever need to use that much? What is optimal or the sweet-spot for my mac pro to be fast?

I got the mac pro for mainly being able to stick with the intel technology, as I realize now that Intel is the way to go.
Wow! After all your Intel bashing thru the years! Man!
Also, got the mac pro due to its powerful expansion capabilities.
Same here.
So, my question is this: What options are available for my machine? I am aware that the max memory is 32GB, though will I ever need to use that much? What is optimal or the sweet-spot for my mac pro to be fast?
It is fast and sweet now!
Nadav, you mean you really don't know where to find this information? You've been using Macs for years and have been posting and reading posts here since 3/31/05. Please, if you need help for a real issue we are here to help....but please don't waste our time with these beginner like posts.
You have the knowledge!
Dale

Similar Messages

  • Early 2008 Mac Pro-What type of HD?  Smart failing?

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    Run WD Lifeguard (*Windows program or their ISO you burn to CD) is best and almost only reliable way.
    If a drive has started to use spare blocks it is gone.
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  • Where and what type of solid state drive should I buy for my early 2008 Mac Pro Desktop??

    where can I buy and what type of solid state drive should I use to upgrade my early 2008 Mac Pro Desktop??

    Rick,
    When you get a chance.... DSLReports is off line: their SQL server decided to take its indexes and access to data. Power. Not enough of the right kind of UPS. Same happened to StorageReview's "Drive Reliability Database" about 8-9 yrs ago.
    dslreports.com is offline
    Fri Apr 20 09:05:55 EDT 2012
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    System: Small and fast.
    DLLoyd even goes for short-stroking drives to get and maintain highest I/O
    The new 10k VRs hit 200MB/sec - I still use them and still find them useful, long lasting, feel responsive with whatever I ask of them. I know they get criticized and "cost too much"
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    SSD + SAS + 4TB storage
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    People wonnder why shrink a drive to 2.5" (or why not go down to 1.8".
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  • I have an early 2008 Mac Pro, which has re-booting problems. Also what does the spinning beach-ball indicate?

    Hi, I have an early 2008 Mac Pro which has re-booting problems.
    Processor speed is: 2.8
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    This worked for a few days and then the same problem started again.
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    When you have the beachball activity, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.  
    These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
    Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
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    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
    ☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.
    The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
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    from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
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    from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
    Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Scroll back to the time you noted above.
    Select the messages entered from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat, whichever comes first.
    Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
    The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of it useless for solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
    Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
    Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
    Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

  • What upgrade graphic card do i need for a early 2008 mac pro

    I have a early 2008 Mac Pro.  ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256 MB is what i have now.  What is a good upgrade graphic card to get.

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  • Hi everyone,I am new to this so please forgive me any mistakes I may make.Early 2008 Mac Pro desktop installed ML ok but next day nothing, reinstall ok restart same problem ML installer remains on my  snow leopard disk. Any help appreciated.Kind regards

    There I go first mistake straight off. I was wondering how to fit my big long problem in. My fault I am sure but if anyone can help please.
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    Install Mountain Lion
    Double-click on the Mountain Lion Installer application in your Applications folder. Follow instructions to install Mountain Lion on your old Lion drive - Drive 2. When the installer finally finishes it will restart the computer automatically from Drive 2. At this point there is no need to change the Startup Disk unless you want to boot from your Snow Leopard drive.
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  • I just installed a 3TB hard drive on an early 2008 mac pro and the system doesn't recognize the drive.  What now?

    I just installed a 3TB hard drive on an early 2008 mac pro and it is not recognized/not visible.  What now?

    If the drive is correctly installed on to the sled, and the mounting screws are snug, not tight, and the sled is inserted properly so that all the roof-tangs catch as the sled is inserted, failure to show up in Disk Utility means the drive is not useable.
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  • Installing OS and Apps on SSD boot drive on early 2008 Mac Pro while keeping all other data from old iMac on hdd

    So I've just got myself a early 2008 Mac Pro with a OCZ RevoDrive 80GB PCIe SSD to replace my old iMac which is slowly but surely giving up on me. I want to put my OS (mavericks) and some/all (whichever is possible/easier) apps, both apple and 3rd party, from my old iMac, onto the SSD but keep all my other data on the 2TB HDD, also from my old iMac, in the mac pro. Can anyone tell me how to do this/if its possible? (not massively tech savvy so simpleish language and steps would be handy!) Thanks!

    How to use an SSD with your HDD
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  • Early 2008 Mac Pro Startup Problems.

    Hi all,
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    b) Sometimes all you hear is the Apple loading Chime "doong" constantly, and a blank screen.
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    b) I have taken all the other hard drives out.
    c) I cannot get into Mac OSX or Windows Vista ( however Vista is the default OS right now)
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    b) Is there a way I could format the WD Black Caviar HDD to a Mac Extended one in Windows on my laptop connected via sata?
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    e) If it is not the graphics card then do you believe it is the hard drive? or could it be something else?
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    KInd Regards
    Bobby

    Vista on its own hard drive? Windows doesn't like to move the drive bay.
    you could boot from Vista DVD (I'd upgrade to Windows 7 SP1 when possible)
    clone backups - for both
    emergency boot drive / OS X DVD - you can, and should, always have more than one Mac OS boot volume handy.  So yes use 10.6 DVD
    Preventative and disk maintenance (Disk Warrior etc)
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  • Early 2008 Mac Pro - worth bothering with?

    Hi,
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    I'm curious if this computer is worth bothering with? If so, what are some essential upgrades that would make this hum? I'm assuming an SSD? Should I bother finding extra ram for it (it has 4gb now).
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    alphaace wrote:
    If my wife just watches netflix/browser/word etc --- no games -- but does do a heavy bit of photo editing -- should I upgrade the gpus?
    And if so, what would everyone recommend?
    Also, I need to buy some hard drive caddies (only one left in it) -- however, I need a converter to put in a ssd right (as they are 2.5")? Any recommendations on those?   
    I have been able to find Mac Pro drive caddies on eBay. Here's one that would get you a set of 4:http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Mac-Pro-Hard-Drive-Sled-Caddy-Complete-Set-1-4-Mac -Pro-2006-2008-/111386524693?pt=US_Drive_Bay_Caddies&hash=item19ef277c15. The screws appear to all be there.
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  • Are there two versions of early 2008 Mac Pro ?

    Hello.
    I recently got a new fans set for my early 2008 Mac Pro apple part 922-8497.
    When I wanted to replace the front double fan thing I learned that my case uses screws to fit the fans element.
    The fans element I got was without screws and doesn't fit.
    Even though it is called "early 2008 Mac Pro front fans"
    What was I doing wrong ?

    Following fan is the same fan as you got?
    http://www.gomacpro.com/mac-pro-front-fan-w-pci-card-guide-922-8497/
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  • Compatible graphics cards for the early 2008 Mac Pro 3,1?

    I have an early 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 with the 2.66Ghz Quad core processor that is running Lion. I had an ATI Radeon Card in there that didn't last very long (I've read not great reviews about them recently) and now I need a replacement that will be compatible with my system and that will last me longer than my previous card did. The problem is I don't know what my options are. Can anyone reccomend me a viable replacement? I do video/audio production so something high end would be nice.
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    There are some good ideas, comments and tests just how much difference and in what applications.
    The differences between 2.5GT and others are less than you might think.
    There is no-compromise performance for some areas of CS6 and CUDA with ML and GTX 570 or above. The new EVGA GTX 660-Ti FTW w/ 3GB $330 looks to be very popular and that is the "mid-range" today, compared to $400-500 where GTX 680 sits or ATI 79xx series.
    If you have to use 10.6.8 that is a bigger factor and some cards require 10.7.4 or later.
    The 5x70 were average cards when they came out. There is no reason to have a system where early boot is totally dependent upon firmware and couldn't do basic video. Anyway some people are willing to swap out the 5770 and keep it just for debugging.
    As to the original question: can't tell if you were interested in asking if a MacBook Pro Retina or something else... kind of hard to argue. A 12-core 3.33GHz with 48GB and 5 internal hard drives - it is hard not to do whateer you throw at it esp. if cost is not the primary concern but work is and it is suppose to pay for itself.

  • Why are there so many problems with the early 2008 Mac Pro ???

    Hi everybody out there using Mac Pro's early 2008,
    I found out there is a lot of problems with the early 2008 Mac Pro.
    My early 2008 Mac Pro has been repaired ones under warranty and now it stopped working again ! Also see under: Mac Pro early 2008 no chime and does not start up. Why is this ????
    It worked well for about 2 years and then it just fails and i had this failing issue twice already !!! Is this just a BAD Apple product or how do you think I need to approach this. Let’s face it, these machine don’t come cheap and you at least expect them to work without problems for 4-5 years. What is happening here ???
    Cheers, Kavango

    go to a black screen after 15 minutes or a couple hours
    That is probably an indication that you need to find a new graphics card.
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    1) Apple brand cards,
    2) "sold in the Apple store" cards, and
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    • Apple-firmware 5770, about US$250** works near full speed in every model Mac Pro, Drivers in 10.6.5
    • Apple-firmware 5870, about US$450
    2) "sold in the Apple store" cards
    • NVIDIA Quadro 4000, about US$1200
    • NVIDIA Quadro 5000, about US$2500
    3) "Mac Edition" cards -- REQUIRE 10.8.3 or later:
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    • EVGA GTX 680 Mac Edition, about US$600
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    If you are Meet ALL of these:
    • running 10.8.3 or later AND
    • don't care about "no boot screens" etc AND
    • can re-wire or otherwise "work out" the power cabling, THEN:
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  • With Boot Camp, should I install the 64 bit version of Windows 7 (Home Premium edition) OR the 32 bit version when installing onto an early 2008 Mac Pro operating OSX Lion with a 1 TByte internal HDD?

    With an early 2008 Mac Pro I'm about to add a second internal drive (1 TByte SATA) and initially install OSX Lion onto the new drive.  Then to partition this new HDD via Boot camp.  But my question is whether I am best advised to purchase the 64 bit version of Windows 7 (Home Premium) or the 32 bit version of Windows 7 (Home Premium) for the Windows sector of the disk  What are the differences, and will I notice a difference in performance?

    In chart from wiki, (scroll down to "Comparison chart") check the maximum CPUs supported.
    You don't see this on MSoft's 1st searched for chart hit. This is one reason you will regret not paying for Professional+ if you get Home Premium 64 as I did for Mac Pro early 2008.
    Home Prem Task Mgr sees 4 processors vs. the 8 that are seen by Pro+.    
    Costs more than a Mac upgrade to Lion if you make that mistake. 
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions

  • Early 2008 Mac Pro + ATI Radeon HD 4870 = Not working

    Just took delivery of my new HD 4870 video card today. I installed it in my Early 2008 Mac Pro and booted up. I got a picture no problem on one monitor, but nothing on the other. Furthermore, the display perfpane was missing a lot of controls, like Arrangement and Detect Displays and whatnot.
    I did a bunch of rebooting and swapping of cables, and determined that both the mini-display port and the standard DVI connection will drive a monitor. However, if both are plugged in, the only active display is the one plugged into the mini-display port, and there's no option to setup the secondary display.
    So I booted into bootcamp, and it automatically recognized both display ports, and mirrored my desktop on both monitors. I downloaded and installed the latest windows drivers, rebooted the machine into windows once more, and was able to configure a multiple monitor display with no problem.
    This tells me it's not the card and it's not the motherboard.
    Booting back into mac OS, I discovered that it doesn't even recognize that the card has video ram. It thought I had no video ram in the system.
    So, this all leads me to the conclusion that Apple shipped me a card that it has not yet provided driver support for.
    Hey Apple, can I have my 4870 display driver now?

    Hi again,
    It was funny to read all your answers on my iPhone while away from my computer. I could have reply on the iPhone but I preferred to wait to give you all the procedure I used to install the beta driver successfully this morning.
    To start, I found this link:
    http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=155477
    and followed the "4870 INSTRUCTIONS", starting like suggested by doing the "First, follow the 4850 INSTRUCTIONS above"... (See the link)
    I would like also to specify that I did this without having installed the card physically yet. So I kept my HD 2600 in the computer, followed all the steps excepted for the step 3:
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    There is no -f nor -v switches available for the reboot command at the shell prompt. I simply rebooted as usual "Pomme -> Redémarrer".
    After the reboot, all my software was still working as expected with my HD 2600 card, meaning that these steps are specific and active only for the HD 4870 when it's detected at boot-up.
    You may have to Google for the string "Kext" in order to get the application to install the file ATY_Motmot.kext. For your information, ATY_Motmot filename is the same string as the one found under "System Information ->PCI cards" under "Name".
    I get:
    ATI Radeon HD 4870:
    Name: ATY, Motmot
    The article is not clear regarding where to find the OpenGL.framework to backup before installing the downloaded one. I found mine under:
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    After having shutdown the computer, just after the reboot that proofed everything was ok, I removed the original HD 2600 card and put back the new HD 4870 and boot up...
    Then I check the "System Information" and found both "Quartz Extreme" and "Core image" supported!
    I launched Aperture, got it!
    I launched Final Cut Express, got it!
    I launched Starry Night Pro Plus, got it! Then I checked the OpenGL settings in Starry Night Pro PLus and activated both options:
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    When I was doing these actions with my original HD 2600 card, the software was giving me a warning that my hardware did not support these options and that it could crash.
    This time, with the HD 4870, it accepted my settings and give me back a very beautiful blue sky with much more shades!
    So in conclusion, it works very smoothtly with my system and I am writing this with two monitors, having bought the MiniDP to DVI adapter this afternoon
    I am happy!
    P.S.: A girl from Apple support called me back this afternoon regarding my problem. She was very happy two when I told her that I did apply the beta driver and that it was working very well...
    Good luck and best regards...

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