Should I bother yet? - G4-933 Mac Pro

Hi All,
Given that I use mainly graphic software - Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Freehand on my G4-933. And given that the mac Pro will be running these under Rosetta - should I bother upgrading yet or wait till these apps are all universal - est spring 2007?
For example the Macworld test shows that speed wise the MP2.66 model is comparable with a Dual G4-1.42 in photoshop.
Should I consider some other upgrade path in the mean time?
Grateful for any thoughts on the matter.

If you can afford to upgrade to 6GB RAM, maybe in a couple months, no I would not wait at all.
2GB for Rosetta
4GB for Photoshop
2.66 or 3GHz model
Throw in some SATA drives for your work
Yes, it will be better, but take a look at today's
http://www.macrumors.com and link to Barefeats
http://www.barefeats.com
how much RAM did MacWorld have? not 6GB probably which seems to be essential for what you want. You could wait. You've waited this long
I have not seen a Mac I want or like this much - ever!

Similar Messages

What USB 3.0 card should I get for early 2009 Mac Pro so I can connect the Drobo 5D? They say get CalDigit or Sonnet. Anyone have preference or experience with reliability. Trying to find which is better.

What USB 3.0 card should I get for early 2009 Mac Pro so I can connect the Drobo 5D? They say get CalDigit or Sonnet. Anyone have preference or experience with reliability with this. I am running Lion and Trying to find which is better as I know from experience not all cards are created equal. Thanks in advance for your help!

yakov536 wrote:
High Point RocketU Quad USB 3.0 for Mac is working great for me. Had an issue with CD/DVD Drive which was resolved with most current driver downloaded from the support site.
Running Moutain Lion on Early 2009, mirroring two Seagate Go Flex 2TB USB 3.0 Drives. Installed in Slot 4.
Using it primarily with VMWare Fusion for Virtual Drives. Windows, Unbuntu and other OS running really well.
HPT Support was responsive and very helpfull using the WEB Portal under the product page.
I have some comments and a suggestion:
Have you tried your setup with a SD/CF combo card reader (like the Lexar or Kingston FCR-H63)? Does the card appear on the desktop when first plugged in?
Did you need to fool around with any kind of power issues in installing this card in the x4 PCIe slot of the MacPro?
Suggestion. Have you tried one of the fixed in this article to cure the BT issues in MacPro 3,1?
Good luck.
Henry

Need a RAID that will work on both new and old Mac Pro

Desperately need to expand my RAID storage, and also not quite ready to buy the new Mac Pro. Are there any high quality 6TB+ RAID enclosures that will work on both the new and older non-firebolt Mac Pros? I already have a sh*t load of 2TB 3.5 drives, so I only need an enclosure.
Even when i get the new macpro, I will use the old mac pro as a second station, so i need the RAID to work on both.

Why not go for a eSATA Raid and a cheap eSATA card for old Mac Pro and get either a Thunderbolt to eSATA or USB 3.0 to eSATA adapter for your new Mac Pro? Thunderbolt to eSATA is faster, of course.
I have a MacPower/Inxtron Hydra 4 x 2 TB eSata for example. I have a eSATA card in my Mac Pro and when I need to use it on my Retina Macbook Pro I use a USB 3.0 to eSATA adapter. Gives me about 240 MBytes/s with Raid 5.
On the eSATAcard it's just a little bit more, like 250/260 MBytes/s.

Should I buy a iMac or Mac Pro

Hi all
I am looking to buy a new Mac.
My main purpose will be for developing apps both for Mac ios and running Parallels Desktop to use windows.
I first thought to buy the Mac Pro as it everything I am looking for. If I buy a Mac Pro then I would also have to buy the 27' Thunderbolt Display. When I did my research on the Thunderbolt display I almost got a heart attack when I saw the price.
So then I went and checked the iMac to see it specs and was let down when I saw it only has an i5. Though the price would be much lighter on my pocket.
So now I am torn between buying the iMac or the Mac Pro.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Sincerely
The one who can't choose

Craig952101 wrote:
If I buy a Mac Pro then I would also have to buy the 27' Thunderbolt Display. When I did my research on the Thunderbolt display I almost got a heart attack when I saw the price.
No, that's not correct. There is absolutely no reason you have to buy the Thunderbolt Display if you buy a Mac Pro. You can choose from many monitors.
The Mac Pro connects to monitors through any of its Thunderbolt ports. But you must realize that on a Mac, every Thunderbolt port is the same as the Mini DisplayPort industry standard video connection. You can therefore buy any DisplayPort monitor on the market and plug it in.
For example, I bought a nice NEC monitor and I can plug it into the Thunderbolt port on my Mac Pro or MacBook Pro, using a $5 Mini DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable.
But there are other questions about your post. lllaass has a good question: How do you plan to use your Mac? Because a Mac Pro is too much computer for most users. It's for high end users. You said you had a heart attack at the price of the Apple Thunderbolt Display. But the Thunderbolt Display is only a mid-range price for a professional monitor. Many professional monitors cost between $1000-2000. If you are having a heart attack over the Thunderbolt display price, why aren't you having one over the Mac Pro price?
Following that, if you are worried about the i5 in an iMac, why not just customize the iMac order to get an i7 instead? It's an option for all iMacs except the cheapest one, and it would be much less expensive than a Mac Pro plus any good monitor.

Should my dot-120 link my mac pro to my Magic Trackpad

I have a Mac Pro Dual Core Intel running 10.7.2. Should my D-Link DBT-120 work with my Magic Trackpad?
The dongle has two lights, one is "Link" and the other is "PWR". Neither is lit and in System Report the Bluetooth item reports No information found. Does that mean the 120 is dead?

I was able to dignose my problem from the Apple Support link http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3048. It appears that my dongle is defective. I have ordered a new one from OWC.

How much RAM should I get for My 2013 Mac pro?

I am buying a Mac Pro on behalf of my production company. I am getting half payment up front to buy gera and the other half in a month or two, I am looking at the 8 Core Model, with Dual D700's, and 256GB PCIE Hard Drive but not sure if to go 32GB RAM or 64GB RAM. I dont want to break the bank more than I half to, plus for now I am manily using 1080p or at most some 4k here and there. I just dont want to waste another 800 dollars on 32GB RAM more now, when I can wait until I get my other half of my salary for the TV show Im working on.

Which Adobe software are you using? Premiere Pro CC and After Effects CC? Anything else?
How do you use the software? What kind of workflow?
What kind of files do you edit? How big are they?
This queston is best posted in the specific product forums where the users of the software can give more specific tailored advice.

What internal hard drive should I get for a 2007 Mac Pro?

Hello, I have a 2007 Mac Pro in which I would like to install two additional internal hard drives. I want to use one to run Time Machine and I want to use the other as an archive for my photos. What is the best internal hard drive to get for these purposes? Thanks for any help.

System:
SSD: Samsung 840 128GB
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series-120GB-internal-MZ-7TD120BW/dp/B009NHAF06/
Icy Dock $15
http://www.amazon.com/2-5-3-5-Ssd-sata-Convert/dp/B002Z2QDNE/
Sonnet Tempo Pro
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempossdpro.html
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet%20Technologies/TSATA6SSDE/
WD Black 1TB $85
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Internal-Desktop/dp/B0036Q7MV0/
WD 3TB $225
Western Digital 3TB WD Black SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Desktop Hard Drive WD3001FAEX
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B2UWTHE/

Hi i have been problems on start up it will shut down after 1 second through the apple logo and spinning wheel yet once my Mac Pro 2008 starts up fully it works fine till i shut down then it all starts over

I copied this
May 12 20:58:59 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***
May 12 20:59:07 localhost com.apple.kextd[10]: Can't create kext cache under / - owner not root.
May 12 20:59:08 localhost bootlog[39]: BOOT_TIME: 1336852733 0
May 12 20:59:11 localhost DirectoryService[36]: Improper shutdown detected
there is more but does this give anyone an idea
Regards Jim

Linc has suggested you use Disk Utility "Repair Permissions". This is one of the few obscure cases where "Repair Permissions" should be exactly the right solution.
For almost every other routine problem, the Disk Utility function "Repair Disk" is the right choice, and "Repair Permissions" is just a distraction.

New Mac Pro and 9.2 Hangs on Adjustments?? Old G5 Doesn't

Hello
I have what should be a very fast new Mac Pro. 6 core at 3.46Ghz. 48Gb of RAM. Solid state boot drive. Software RAID 0 with 2 Hitachi 3TB drives, hardly anything on them yet. Nvidea Quadro 4000 CUDA card. Everything installed and burned in for the overnight 8 hour test with the MPG workstation program at OWC. Lion 10.7.2.
I had approximately 700 in camera photos combined still in camera between an up-to-16MP Sony NEX 5N camera and up-to-24MP pics on a Sony A77, that have already been loaded into my 6-7 year old 2.4Ghz dual core G5 with 6.5Gb RAM and much older version of iPhoto. OS 10.4.7 I believe.
Last night I loaded all those same pictures into the new machine and 9.2 version iPhoto. And then deleted them from the cards on both cameras. No issues. Smoking fast imports compared to the G5 which wasn't all that bad.
On the G5 with the picture adjust controls I could use the slider to go deeply into those same photos and see the effects of contrast, sharpness and all the other options. Like butter. Make the adjustments while in that deep if desired and then pull back to evaluate the overall picture before saving. Or back in again if desired. No issues.
With the new rig I couldn't wait to try all of this, but once I go deep inside and start to move the adjustment slider controls the system every time starts getting hung with the spinning wheel. Have to wait and wait for them to catch up to the curser on that adjustment. Most of the time the system then will just get stuck and I have to force iPhoto to quit.
Please....does anyone know why all this latest powerfull hardware and software is doing that, compared to the old, much less capable G5? I am really concerned now. Haven't had a chance to get Photoshop and the other production premium software tested yet.
And one last question please. Does anyone know if the "Enhance" feature in the Quick Fixes section adjusts Gamma as well? There seems to be a lot more going on to give the photos depth (what I always really try to do) than the sum of the small slider movements in the Adjust section. With my old system and iPhoto version there was no "Gamma" adjust slider in iPhoto proper......but if I saved a photo first to my Desktop for instance, and then called up the adjustment features, there was a Gamma slider there. Very handy and appreciated.
I see similar vast improvements on some photos now with the "Enhance" feature that looks like maybe Gamma has been optimized as well? There now is no Gamma slider available even if the photo is taken to the desktop first.
Thanks much
Ron

Hello Terence
Thanks for the tip to try. Couldn't get to it until late last night. Seems to still be the same in Library 2.
Also seems to be worse with 27" Cinema Display at full resolution. And with several sliders on adjustment. If I drop the resolution to 1920 x 1080 or 1600 x 900 and move smoothly about it is not as apt to hang up. With as much horsepower as the new Mac Pro has, should resolution of monitor be an issue in these adjustments deep into the pictures?
How about the Enhance button? Is gamma involved? Everything I read about it on searches only talks about boosting saturation of the color and fine tuning with little other slider adjustments. But on a picture where it has made a big difference to the good with depth and overall look, if I look at where the sliders were adjusted and then undo the enhance, and go back and manually put the sliders in the same position it doesn't look the same.
Does anyone know if gamma is being adjusted with this button? Sure seems like it but can't find it mentioned anywhere.
Thanks again!

Mac Pro 2008 to MBP 2011?

Hello everyone, i just wanted to ask everyones opinion on something that i have been thinking about for a very long time. Right now i have a 2008 Mac pro 8 core w/ 8gb ram/ 2tb hd/ nvidia geforce 8800gt. I use my mac pro for normal use but also final cut studio using 1080p video editing.
I also have a MBP 15 inch i think 2007 or 8. It has 2.4ghz dual core w/ 4gb ram. The screen on it is currently broken and i haven't gotten around to replacing it yet because im not sure if it is worth it. I also used my laptop for final cut editing on the go.
With the release of the 2011 MBP and their amazing specs, im wondering if i should sell my current MP and MBP and get the 17' or 15' quad core mac book pros with the 750gb hdd and 1gb vram.
My question is-- IS IT WORTH IT??
Obviously it won't preform as well as my current 2008 mac pro but can it get close. A little less speed is fine but it cant take like 15 minutes more to render something. Thats what im concerned about.
Or should i just stick with my mac pro and get the screen on my MBP fixed? One thing i like about the MBP is portability obviously.

Hello amass121,
Obviously it won't preform as well as my current 2008 mac pro but can it get close.
I don't agree with the above statement!
If you buy the 2011 Apple MacBook Pro 2.3GHz quad-core model, it will outperform your 2008 Mac pro 8-Core, especially if you upgrade its RAM to 8GB.
Don't just take my word for it. Read Lloyd Chambers 24 page review in his Mac Performance Guide:
http://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews-MacBookProFeb2011.html
As you will see from Lloyd's tests, with many applications it outperforms some of the 2010 Mac Pro models, which in turn would outperform your current 2008 Mac pro set-up.
It is now possible to upgrade the 2011 MacBook Pro's RAM to 16GB (2 x 8GB), but at the moment the cost is astronomical and not really justifiable, but the price of 8GB (2 x 4GB) is, in my opinion, very reasonable:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/AppleMacBook_MacBook_Pro/Upgrade/DDR3_1333MHzSDRAM
In your position I would stick with the 2008 Mac Pro, and replace the MBP 15" with a 2011 2.3GHz quad-core model.
That way you will have the best of both worlds, because there is still a lot you can do to upgrade your 2008 Mac Pro in the meantime, until such time as you might decide to move up to a future generation version.
Regards,
Bill
Message was edited by: Biltan-Wales

Intel Mac Pro w/10.4.7 - I need to access a 2003 Western Digital hard drive

Hey another question for the gurus of Mac out there. Got an Intel Mac Pro running 10.4.7 and I need to access old information from someones else's Western Digital (internal/ external w/case) drive. It's a "WD1200JB-00RCA1" model drive from 2003. I've already tried using the case with firewire connection on both my laptop and Mac Pro, but it will not mount. I does get power though. I'm thinking of trying it internally, but know that the Mac Pro is picky about specific types and specs on drives. Just curious if anyone thinks I can make it work internaly without screwing up the drive or more importantly, the Mac Pro.
Apparently this same drive was used internally on a mac back in 2003, but obvioulsy an older Mac. Any tips appreciated.

That drive (according to WD) is a WD Caviar SE 120GB UDMA 100 IDE drive. Assuming everything is set-up correctly, external enclosures typically require the drive to be jumpered as and IDE master, then it should mount.
The fact that it doesn't mount is not a good sign.
You could try this internally in the spare optical drive bay - you'd need a 5.25" to 3.5" mounting kit. If I were to go this route, I'd disconnect the optical drive temporarily - the cables will reach better and you stand less chance of getting an IDE bus incompatability with the optical drive.
I think the default set-up for the MacPro IDE bus is Cable Select so you may need to look into jumpering the drive dor this (CSEL)

CUDA hardware in a mac pro

I am considering buying an "nvidia gtx-285"card for my 2008 mac pro. I already own a "NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3" card. I have a bunch of questions about how worthwhile this upgrade would be:
1. Would the cuda technology give me the ability to playback Canon 7d (50mps avchd footage) smoothly in CS4? With my current graphics card CS4 chokes on it, and I am exporting mpeg 2 proxy files to edit with.
2. Can others tell me their experience with CS5, a cuda card, and working with high bitrate avchd footage?
3. What should I do with my old card? Would both fit in my mac pro? Would having the older one in there too disable the use of cuda technology in Premiere? Could I tell Premiere to only use the cuda card and ignore the other one?

1. Would the cuda technology give me the ability to playback Canon 7d (50mps avchd footage) smoothly in CS4? With my current graphics card CS4 chokes on it, and I am exporting mpeg 2 proxy files to edit with.
No, GPU acceleration is a feature of CS5, not CS4. Also check to make sure your Mac tower would support it. You need a Mac Pro that is a 3.1 or 4.1. I have a 2008 Mac Pro and if you look in the System Profiler, it is a 2.1, which means it won't support a CUDA enabled nvidia graphics card.
2. Can others tell me their experience with CS5, a cuda card, and working with high bitrate avchd footage?
It works great. the GPU accelerates the effects, not the decoding of the video. If you put CS5 on your existing Mac Pro, you'll get two thirds of the Mercury Playback engine without the GPU. Because CS5 is native 64 bit you will see a big difference in the performance.
3. What should I do with my old card? Would both fit in my mac pro? Would having the older one in there too disable the use of cuda technology in Premiere? Could I tell Premiere to only use the cuda card and ignore the other one?
ebay?
Dennis

Please help to upgrade my Mac Pro

I am a graphic designer. I start doing freelance job at home. I do a lot of photoshop work. I read on this and other forums to learn how to upgrade my Mac Pro. I am not a tech person at all. Please give me advise.
1) I need to have a backup system. I am thinking of OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro. But how can I connect this to the airport extreme and my Mac Pro as a backup and storage drive for both computers? My Mac Pro has no airport card, and the extreme has only one USB port which was connect to the printer.
2) I need more memory. I only has 2 GB now. They are 4x512 MB located at Riser A. I am thinking to buy the memory from OWC together with the external hard drive.
3) After I do my back up on my Mac Pro. I will upgrade the OS to Snow Leopard. Should I also add another internal hard drive? I only have 250 GB on my Mac Pro
Thank you.

Your Mac is 4 yrs old. Sure you want to invest in it? for someone beginning to do a lot of work in CS4 etc.
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404440.html
http://www.adobe.com/go/kb401089
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404439.html
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2008/10/adobe-cs4-review.ars/4
http://www.macgurus.com/guides/storageaccelguide.php
http://www.macgurus.com/productpages/guides/ZeroDrives.php
http://www.macgurus.com/guides/photoshopguide.php
http://homepage.mac.com/boots911/.Public/PhotoshopAccelerationBasics2.4W.pdf
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=820476
http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2009/04/266ghz-8-core-mac-pro-review.ars/6

Need help with Mac Pro purchasing decision

I've read preliminary reviews on the new Mac Pro, and I'm ready to upgrade my current Mac Pro (which is Dual 2.4 Ghz Quad-core with 32 GB RAM). But I'm going through some major turmoil in the decision. My current Mac Pro, aged as it may be, has been good to me, and when it needed upgrading, it was so easy to do. I installed an additional two internal hard disks, giving the Mac Pro 3 TBs of internal storage. RAM upgrade was a breeze, and when the graphics card went out, I was able to buy and install a replacement without a hiccup.
I love the low profile of the new Mac Pro, albeit I'll still be putting it on the floor - I don't like having my desktop computer in my desk work area. And it looks like upgrading the RAM in the new Mac Pro is pretty simple (although horribly expensive). I would require a CD/DVD drive, so that becomes a piece of "stuff" I have to clutter my work are with. However, most importantly, the internal storage issue, FOR ME, is huge. Without the ability to add internal drives, getting the 1TB flash storage is a must, but sooooooo expensive. AND.. I still need additional storage (more than half of my current 3 TBs is in use).
Moreover, the whole lack of upgradability has me concerned that the new Mac Pro may disappear like the G4 Cube. I haven't seen any rave reviews of the new Mac Pro overall.
But I need to upgrade.
I have configured a new Mac Pro on the Apple Store about 100 times now, but never making the purchase for all of the above reasons, as well as the $5K price tag that it keeps ending up at. I even started looking at refurbished Mac Pros (newer than mine, but the same old huge silver case). The advantage is that it's upgradeable, and I won't end up with an optical drive or external hard drives cluttering my desk space.
The truth is, every time I go to buy, either a new Mac Pro, or a refurbished one, I hit a wall. I'm walking the fence, wondering if I should walk it until a newer Mac Pro shows up with more expandability options (although it seems unlikely since Apple's direction seems to be form over function).
The new Mac Pro has been out for awhile, so I am looking for feedback from people who are kind of in my shoes, but already bit the bullet. I don't want to encourage replies of regret, but I also would prefer the truth over grandiose reviews simply to justify making the leap (and dropping some huge bills). It happens... "I just spent 5 grande, I better **** well love it, and I'll make sure everyone else thinks I do!" ;-)
Please share your experiences. How have you gotten around the lack of upgradeability on the internal storage? I have had bad experiences with external drives in the past. Firewire drives were fast and furious, but the were not as reliable as internal drives. USB drives lag, and that dreaded spin up time every time the Mac OS does something that wakes up all the drives, even if the external drives weren't actually being accessed (never had that problem with Firewire drives, maybe because they were always spun up?).
Anyway, I don't want my buyer's pain to turn into buyer's remorse, so I appreciate all the wisdom any of you would be willing to share.
Thanks,
Bill

I'll offer my comments although there are others much better qualified to answer than I am.
First, the reason I bought the machine that I got was that I found an "open box" deal at a local retailer and got a substantial discount from the normal list price. Otherwise, I might not have gone to the nMP quite as quickly as I did. Regarding ram and the ssd drive, both of these can be upgraded at some later date if I find that is needed. The ram I will probably bump asap, filling the one empty slot with likely an 8gb OWC module.
To run your VGA monitors, you will need 2 passive mini-display port to VGA adapters. You can buy these pretty much anywhere, the Apple ones are superb quality at a price but other options are out there. These will plug into 2 of the Thunderbolt ports on the nMP.
Regarding cpu's and gpu's it gets a bit confusing. Basically right now it depends on the software that you are going to run. It is not likely coincidence that FCPX 10.1 came out basically at the same time as the nMP, as it really highlights full use of the multicore cpu's plus the dual fast gpu's. FCPX really screams on the nMP.
Right now, it seems more video software is making optimum use of both the multicore cpu's and dual gpu's in the nMP. Other software, most notably photo software that should also benefit, is lagging behind. For instance (going only from memory) Adobe software is not very good at using multi-core cpu's nor does it use multiple gpu's either. You can find comparisons of running Photoshop filters on a 3.7ghz 4-core vs the (slower clock speed) 6 or 8 cores and the 4-core comes out close or even faster in some tests because Photoshop uses only a single core, which on the 4-core machine is faster.
However, this is a pretty specific instance and generally buying the fastest cpu and gpu that you can afford is a good plan. Especially so for the gpu's as right now, the video may end up being the only component that does not end up with some sort of upgrade option in the foreseeable future.
If I was going to order a system under the circumstances you have stated, the 6-core with the D500 gpu's sure looks like the sweet spot in the lineup, and probably money well spent. After I would probably upgrade the ssd next, since in order to upgrade it later you have to remove a perfectly good ssd since there is only one slot. Personally I am ok with the 256gb as my boot and system drive, since with Thunderbolt you have basically PCIe access to an external box that can have either Sata or PCIe expansion for whatever storage you can afford.
As I said earlier, right now I am going cheap and using Apples Thunderbolt to firewire cable, which is allowing me to run my existing Lacie firewire drives in a daisy chain just as I did on the old MP.
Upgrading the ram at purchase or later is your choice, there are certainly less expensive options but with only 4 slots you have to weigh the cost of discarding or trading in the original Apple ram when you decide to swap it out for bigger modules. Plus not all ram can be mixed and matched, you may have to remove all the existing ram in order to add just a single high capacity (16gb or larger) module.
Again, hope I have helped more than adding to your confusion.

CS 5.5 and the new Mac Pro (April 2014)

Does anyone know if Creative Suite 5.5 will be compatible with the upcoming Mac Pro (April 2014)--Intel Xeon E5?
Thanks!

Thanks for your input! Appreciate it. I'll look into this--
Just called Apple. I was told I should check online to see if Mac Pro (Late 2013, Jan 2014) owners had issues with Adobe CS 5.5. Both Mac Pros have the same OS [Maverick 10.9].
Would appreciate it if any Maverick 10.9 folks using CS 5.5 would share any problems/lack of problems.
Thanks!

Should I bother yet? - G4-933 Mac Pro

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for