Upgrading? 3 year-old Mac Pro 3.1 with 8 GB RAM

I have a 3-year old Mac Pro (model 3.1) with 8 GB RAM and 2 Quad Core Intel Xeon processors. The RAM consists of 8 x 1 GB 800 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM
Two questions:
1) I need tp upgrade my RAM to 16 GB or more to run a new software (memory intensive application). I'm wondering if it's worthwhile to upgrade this system for ~$500 or just buy a new system with newer components. Also, whether the system can effectively use 16 GB of memory
2) Recently my Mac Pro has been very slow and jittery e.g. when I switch between applications. I've already tried things like cleaning up the hard drive / repairing disk permissions with little improvement. The only other thing I can think of doing is wiping the system clean and reinstalling everything. I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar experience, and if there is asomething to do to prevent this from happening in the future.
Thanks!
-H

you can max out at 32GB
An SSD can make a difference also
Hang in for what/when/if the MacPro6,1
Memory bandwidth OWC
I would add 4 x 4GB to get to 20GB and see how that goes.
Upgrade the hard drive: SSD or 10K WD VR 600GB or something.
Off load your home media data and such to another drive, and go for a lean-mean OS/Apps only boot drive.
Buyer's Guide: Hard Drives for Mac Pro
How To clone

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Thanks John.
I have a Mac OS X vers 10.4.11 with 4 x 2.5 GHz PowerPC G5; Memory 4.5 GB DDR2 SDRAM
I do not have Intels.
When you go to a person to ask for investment capital, they want to know everything you need to create a successful business. Couches, chairs, office rental, electricity, gas, cell phones, land line, fey boards, fax machines, microphone mixers, sound samplers, speakers, CRT monitors, printers, audio boards, microphones, cameras, advertising, transportation, including computers.
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Repair my mac witch it the least expensive solution, but do I put £650 into an older machine?
Sell it for parts and buy a 6 month - a year old mac pro
Sell it for parts and buy a top spec Imac
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The last time I had an Imac (8 year +) it was not nearly good enough for the applications I was using and was way to slow. However I know they have improved dramatically and look like a better spec than what im currently using anyway, so I was wondering if I should be considering this?
The current iMacs are much faster than your current machine.
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Mac Pro 2.66 GHz 5202
Mac Pro 3.0 GHz    5801
iMac (2011) i7 3.4 GHz   11609
iMac (2011) i5 3.1 GHz    8379
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I think that you are correct.

HT202159 I bought the UnZipper, vV1.0.00 (4+) , couldn't download (it reported an error in the end), didn't install it but still, I was charged by you. Also I can't update "The Unarchiver", could I have any problems with my Mac? It's a one-year-old Mac P

I bought the UnZipper, vV1.0.00 (4+) , couldn't download (it reported an error in the end), didn't install it but still, I was charged by you. Also I can't update "The Unarchiver", could I have any problems with my Mac? It's a one-year-old Mac Pro Laptop. Could you help me please?

Check under App Store/Purchases for your purchase. Install it from there again. ... Hopefully you did buy this from Apple's App Store, right!

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It does not. First things first have you tried restarting?
Try restting PRAM
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
Try booting up in Safe Mode
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455
Also open "activity monitor" and look and see what is using a lot of processing power.

I have a 3 year old MacBook Pro with MAC OSX 10.6.8, iPhoto '09 version 8.1.2 and have downloaded two software programs: one is Aperture 3.2 and the other is Photoshop Elements 9 (which I got from a friend who didn't need it). I am totally happy with the

I have a 3 year old MacBook Pro with MAC OSX 10.6.8, iPhoto ’09 version 8.1.2 and have downloaded two software programs: one is Aperture 3.2 and the other is Photoshop Elements 9 (which I got from a friend who didn’t need it).
I am totally happy with the way iPhoto organizes my photos and how I can work with iMovie to create slide shows with music from iTunes, etc.
I have been shooting mostly high resolution jpegs and I continue to learn more and more about photography, post processing etc. I realize that the small adjustments I can make in iPhoto are good, and are adequate most of the time. However, a have started to experiment with shooting RAW images and would like to go the next step, ie. post processing.I am totally technically challenged and need SIMPLE, INTUITIVE programs and am certainly NOT anywhere ready for Photoshop CS whatever!
After having these programs sit on my computer, I decided to try to see if I could figure them out. When I opened Aperture, this is what first comes up.
“Welcome to Aperture 3.2
Your library needs to be upgraded to work with this version of Aperture. Once upgraded, you will not be able to use this library with previous versions of Aperture.
Upgrading a library from previous versions of Aperture 3 generally takes a few minutes or less, though larger libraries will take longer. After that, Aperture 3.2 will upgrade your library's thumbnails, but you can use the application during that time.
Tip: To open a different library, quit Aperture and hold the Option key down while starting Aperture
Current Library Location:
Jadzia (home) -----Pictures------Aperture Library
QUIT UPGRADE”
I have heard horror stories about moving your entire library to Aperture, ending up with 2 libraries, etc. etc. hence my previous reluctance in attempting Aperture. In addition, many of my photography friends are saying: Go with Lightroom 3.....you’ll love it!
So here is my dilemma. I don’t want to mess around with my iPhoto library. All I want to be able to do, is to isolate a few photos, export them to Aperture, Elements, and work on them there, then bring them back into iPhoto.
Can I do this? Should I forget about Aperture and Elements and look at purchasing yet another program like Lightroom?

Export those few photos via the File ➙ Export ➙ File Export menu option with Kind = Original to the Desktop. Then import them into the Aperture library. That would keep one copy in your iPhoto library and another in your Aperture library to edit, etc.
You can use Photoshop Elements 9 from within iPhoto as your editor of choice. However, if you edit a raw file in iPhoto with PSE9 the resulting edited version must be saved outside the iPhoto Library and imported back in as a new file. For editing jpegs just do a Save (not a Save As) and it all will be kept within iPhoto.
Using Photoshop or Photoshop Elements as Your Editor of Choice in iPhoto.
1 - select Photoshop or Photoshop Elememts as your editor of choice in iPhoto's General Preference Section's under the "Edit photo:" menu.
2 - double click on the thumbnail in iPhoto to open it in Photoshop. When you're finished editing click on the Save button. If you immediately get the JPEG Options window make your selection (Baseline standard seems to be the most compatible jpeg format) and click on the OK button. Your done.
3 - however, if you get the navigation window
that indicates that PS wants to save it as a PS formatted file. You'll need to either select JPEG from the menu and save (top image) or click on the desktop in the Navigation window (bottom image) and save it to the desktop for importing as a new photo.
This method will let iPhoto know that the photo has been editied and will update the thumbnail file to reflect the edit..
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I also suggest the Maximize PSD File Compatabilty be set to Always. In PSE’s General preference pane set the Color Picker to Apple as shown:
Note: to switch between iPhoto and PS or PSE as the editor of choice Control (right)-click on the thumbnail and select either Edit in iPhoto or Edit in External Editor from the contextual menu. If you use iPhoto to edit more than PSE re-select iPhoto in the iPhoto General preference pane. Then iPhoto will be the default editor and you can use the contextual menu to select PSE for your editor when desired.
OT

Upgrading? 3 year-old Mac Pro 3.1 with 8 GB RAM

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