Which Mac Pro Will Do It?

Hi,
I'll be looking to purchase a well maintained use or refurbished Mac Pro. My goal is to get one with 6gb of ram and add my 2 1gb stick to make 8gb of ram total.
My concern is running a stable Pro Tools LE system (with several other apps open)... so video and graphics bells and whistles are not priority here.
Any recommendations that would be a cost effective solution for me (which Mac Pro and reliable retailers)?
Thanks!

Just showed up first time today after a very long hiatus, the single cpu 4-core 2.8 from 2008, for $2K.
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/mac_pro
Not bad for someone that wants a full tower but doesn't need 8-core or want to spend more.

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2009 Mac Pro will not boot up under Windows

I have an Early 2009 Mac Pro system (Mac Pro 4,1) and I've had this system for 3 years already and have been working under OS X with this system ever since I purchased it.
However, when I tried to boot off my Windows disk, something very interesting happens. The Mac Pro WILL NOT boot up off the Windows disk or a known working Windows partition if two monitors are connected. Upon holding down the option key and selecting the Windows partition, I will get a black screen on one monitor (the one connected via Mini Displayport) and the other screen receives no signal and will enter standby and the system is halted. It does not respond to keystrokes, there is no hard drive activity, no measured power increase on the UPS, no apparent network activity, nothing. The only way to exit this scenario (from what I can tell) is to power off the machine, disconnect the display on DVI, power on the machine again, select the Windows partition wait for the system to reach the login window and reconnect the DVI monitor (at which time Windows recognizes it immediately and the system works fine again).
My question to the community is, does anybody know why this is happening and is there a known fix for this? Quite frankly, having to disconnect a monitor just to restart is very tedious and frustrating.
I have two Samsung P2350 monitors attached to an ATI Radeon HD 4870 (512MB, from Apple). One is monitor is connected via directly DVI and the other is using a Mini Displayport to DVI adapter. Both monitors work fine under OS X with no issue. At first, I thought that this may be a driver issue on the Windows side and after installing all the latest updates and drivers the issue is still apparent. From what I can tell, this doesn't seem like a software issue but rather a firmware or EFI issue as this happens before Windows even loads.
If anyone knows of a fix or what to do in this situation, or if you are also having this issue, I would love to hear your input!
Thank you!
For the record, I am running all the latest software builds on the OS X side (10.7.4, not that it would really matter at this point). I have also disconnected all unnecessary equipment in a trial and error scenario but the results are still the same.
The system passes all ASD testing.
The full specification of the computer and all connected equipment are as follows:
2009 Mac Pro (4,1) 8-Core
2x Intel Xeon Nehalem 2.66GHz Quad-Core CPUs
16GB DDR3 ECC 1066MHz RAM (Apple Branded)
Two OWC 120GB SSDs (One for OS X, the other for Windows 7 x64) - These are in place of my optical drives.
4x 2TB WD Black Hard drives for storage.
Two Samsung P2350 Monitors connected via DVI. (One using a Mini Displayport to DVI adapter).

In Windows I am using the latest (12.4) Catalyst Software Suite, 64 bit of course, downloaded directly from AMD's site after installing the drivers from Boot Camp.
As for installing Windows I used an original (not burned) installation media (Disk is in a pristine condition). And yes, Windows is fine, the problem just seems to be getting the system to boot up Windows with that second monitor. However if the "problem monitor" is disconnected the system boots fine 100% of the time and connecting it later after booting the system will still operate properly.
For the sake of arguement I swapped monitor cables and connected the "second" monitor to the mini displayport adapter to verify that it wasn't a cabling issue and I'm still yielding the same issues.
As for GPU testing, I've played games (Crysis, Grand Theft Auto IV, Battlefield 3, etc.) and I've had no issues with the card or stability.
You would think that Apple would try to find a fix for this, especially considering the caliber of this machine.

Which Mac Pro? More cores=slower speeds? And most of us know the speed matters or FPU for music and I don't understand the faster is for the least amount of procs. And while I get the whole rendering thing and why it makes sense.

Which Mac Pro? More cores=slower speeds? And most of us know the speed matters or FPU for music and I don't understand the faster is for the least amount of procs. And while I get the whole rendering thing and why it makes sense.
The above is what the bar says. It's been a while and wondered, maybe Apple changed the format for forums. Then got this nice big blank canvas to air my concerns. Went to school for Computer Science, BSEE, even worked at Analog Devices in Newton Massachusetts, where they make something for apple.
The bottom line is fast CPU = more FPU = more headroom and still can't figure out why the more cores= the slower it gets unless it's to get us in to a 6 core then come out with faster cores down the road or a newer Mac that uses the GPU. Also. Few. I'm the guy who said a few years ago Mac has an FCP that looks like iMovie on Steroids. Having said that I called the campus one day to ask them something and while I used to work for Apple, I think she thought I still did as she asked me, "HOW ARE THE 32 CORES/1DYE COMING ALONG? Not wanting to embarrass her I said fine, fine and then hung up. Makes the most sense as I never quite got the 2,6,12 cores when for years everything from memory to CPU's have been, in sets of 2 to the 2nd power. 2,4,8,16,32,64,120,256,512, 1024, 2048,4196,8192, 72,768. Wow. W-O-W and will be using whatever I get with Apollo Quad.
Peace to all and hope someone can point us in THE RIGHT DIRECTION. THANK YOU

Thanks for your reply via email/msg. He wrote:
If you are interested in the actual design data for the Xeon processor, go to the Intel site and the actual CPU part numbers are:
Xeon 4 core - E5.1620v2
Xeon 6 core - E5.1650v2
Xeon 8 core - E5.1680v2
Xeon 12 core - E5.2697v2
I read that the CPU is easy to swap out but am sure something goes wrong at a certain point - even if solderedon they make material to absorb the solder, making your work area VERY clean.
My Question now is this, get an 8 core, then replace with 2 3.7 QUAD CHIPS, what would happen?
I also noticed that the 8 core Mac Pro is 3.0 when in fact they do have a 3.4 8 core chip, so 2 =16? Or if correct, wouldn't you be able to replace a QUAD CHIP WITH THAT? I;M SURE THEY ARE UO TO SOMETHING AS 1) WE HAVE SEEN NO AUDIO FPU OR PERHAPS I SHOULD CHECK OUT PC MAKERS WINDOWS machines for Sisoft Sandra "B-E-N-C-H-M-A-R-K-S" -
SOMETHINGS UP AND AM SURE WE'LL ALL BE PLEASED, AS the mac pro was announced Last year, barely made the December mark, then pushed to January, then February and now April.
Would rather wait and have it done correct than released to early only to have it benchmarked in audio and found to be slower in a few areas- - - the logical part of my brain is wondering what else I would have to swap out as I am sure it would run, and fine for a while, then, poof....
PEACE===AM SURE APPLE WILL BLOW US AWAY - they have to figure out how to increase the power for 150 watts or make the GPU work which in regard to FPU, I thought was NVIDIA?

Help! My Mac Pro will not boot up

I knew I shouldn't try to use the Boot Camp on my MP, but I thought it would work.
I have three HD in my MP and followed the instructions for the installtion of WIN XP on Mac drive 3, but when I was faced with the formatting choices in the Win setup I got confused with all the drive letters (I have two CD drives and three HDs), and must have formatted my Mac OS drive and partially drive 3.
My Mac Pro will no longer boot to the Mac OSX, even with the "option" key held down. All I get is a black screen that says: "NTLDR is maissing. (press CRTL-ALT-DEL to reboot).
Is there any hope of a recovery?
Thanks,
Tony

Wow...this is good to know! After many years with PCs I "assumed" that it would name the 1st drive "C" and then each one after that in order.
My problem was that I have three identical drives, all 250 GBs, so it was confusing, but that is exactly what the instructions said. So, with your encouragement and a little bit of faith, I will try this one more time. At least I learned how to recover after deleting my boot drive.
Thanks so much...
Tony
Tony,
If I remember right from my boot camp / xp
installation, boot camp aliases the drives, and when
it tells you to format C: for windows, that's the one
to select from the screen.
I panicked when I saw that, but then I realized that
the C: drive shown on the installation screen was
actually my secondary drive (and that boot camp had
shuffled the drive letters around). If you notice,
C: is actually not the top of the list, and in my
case I had two different drive sizes and so I could
reason that C: matched my secondary drive's size.
In short, pick C: for installation, as the program
says...
I thought for sure it nuked my OSX installation at
first, when it didn't seem that I could boot back to
OSX, but in the Control Panel of Windows (or in your
System Properties on OSX) you'll see an icon called
"Startup Disk" which will also allow you to pick OSX
or Windows and then restart.
Mac Pro 2.66, 3 GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Which MAC Pro graphics card and how much RAM for FCE HD usage?

I plan on purchasing a MAC Pro afer MacWorld Expo next month. Any recommendations for a specific graphics card that would complement my usage of Final Cut Express HD 3.5?
Also, should I increase my RAM? I currently use 2 gb of RAM on my G4. Will I see greater productivity if I bump it up to 4gb of RAM on the MAC Pro or will 2gb suffice which I had planned to increase it to from the standard 1gb supplied?
PowerMAC G4 dual 1.42ghz Mac OS X (10.4.7) 2gb RAM, 3-LaCie FW800 external drives
PowerMAC G4 dual 1.42ghz Mac OS X (10.4.7) 2gb RAM, 3-LaCie FW800 external drives

Any of the graphics cards that Apple sells for the Mac Pro will be fine. Personally, I'd suggest choosing one with at least 128MB video RAM, 256MB would be better.
2GB RAM in your Mac Pro will be more than enough for general purpose video editing. Going to 4GB will give you more oomph for RealTime effects and somewhat for rendering but you won't see a big difference in regard to capturing or general editing in the timeline.

Which Mac Pro to buy for Studio 3

Guys, I'm in the process of upgrading my trusted Power Mac G5 Quad to a Mac Pro.
I will also upgrade to FCS 3.
My question is, which Mac Pro to buy? Quad 2.93 OR Octo 2.26?
Will FCS 3 along with Snow Leopard utilise ALL the Octo's processors? Or am I better off saving the money and sticking with a Quad?

If your income depends on this work, then buy the biggest, baddest, most RAM-filled Mac Pro you can.
At least get the octo 2.66. Put 12GB RAM in it, if you can, but put a minimum of 6GB in there. The concept is that as a professional editor, editing for clients, you must be as time efficient as you can afford to be.
Compressor will use that RAM to compress your stuff a lot faster. Also, Motion can make use of as much RAM as you throw in there. Final Cut Pro itself, not yet.

Mac Pro will not shut down

As the subject line says, my "early 2008" Mac Pro will not shut down. I have let it set overnight and it will not shut down or restart. I also installed an update which required a restart, selected to restart and the computer would not. Also, whenever I boot up, the computer hangs and will not load the finder. I have to do a "hard" restart and after a couple tries it eventually works...should I just call Apple?

Forced shutdowns tend to cause more directory errors.
How many drives?
Any green version?
Did you disable "allow disks to spindown"?
Possible it is an external USB printer or device, or cable?
I'd boot from another hard drive and do system repair and maintenance.
Create another boot volume if need be.
Startup with using Disk utility but also Disk Warrior.
And when it is working, make backups with CCC or SuperDuper.
Lacking that, boot from OS X DVD and go to Utility menu and access Disk Utility.

Mac Pro will boot but won't restart.

When waking up or doing a soft boot my Mac Pro will chime and sound like it's booting but the display will never come on.
If I do a cold boot, or even hold down the power button to force it off and then boot it's fine. I've tried turning on and off and plugging and unplugging the monitor. I've repaired permissions and reset the SMC and PRAM. It's been happening for a while, but now I want to install MacFUSE and it requires a restart to finish installing.

Which model Mac Pro? GHz?
How much RAM?
What display card? What display?
What USB devices (these have a strong reputation for interfering with sleep)
What FireWire devices?
Have you run the diagnostic on the Installer DVD to rule out Hardware problems? Instructions are on the face of the DVD.

Mac Pro will not restart after installation of Lion. Help!

Mac Pro will not restart after installation of Lion. Help

Reinstalling Lion Without the Installer
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alterhatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You can also re-download the Lion installer by opening the App Store application. Hold down the OPTION key and click on the Purchases icon in the toolbar. You should now see an active Install button to the right of your Lion purchase entry. There are situations in which this will not work. For example, if you are already booted into the Lion you originally purchased with your Apple ID or if an instance of the Lion installer is located anywhere on your computer.

Mac Pro will not reboot after Bootcamp attempted installation

I have an older quad-core 2009 Mac Pro. I tried to install Bootcamp before realizing that it's not supported. Now the Mac Pro will not reboot.
It starts up fine. It shuts down fine. But it just will not reboot. When I try to reboot, it just clicks like it's trying to boot to a DVD or a drive that's not there (I have since formatted the drive I was using for Bootcamp and use it for Time Machine now).
This is what I have tried:
- PRAM reset
- SMC reset
What could be keeping my Mac Pro from rebooting properly?? Please help. Thank you!!

So you tried with Mac and Windows on same drive?
And you have Recovery partition.
You made a clone with CCC as well and cloned the Recovery
Paragon makes a couple programs to make life easier.
And, Well, Boot Camp works. There are unwritten rules. There is a forum devoted to it.
2009 is not old. Old is pre-2008 due to UEFI / EFI64 and how Windows 64-bit now looks during install.
It did install but the drivers and updates and such might be an issue.
Apple does not support HFS arrays, not just that Windows won't install but to mount, their Apple HFS driver.
You left out so much and maybe your IT didn't include Windows on Mac.
www.apple.com/support/bootcamp
In general pull all your drives during install except that one Windows will be installed on.
Do get video driver from ATI etc yourself
Tell us what version, I assume Windows 8 which works fine other than a few issues - more with MacBook series and iMac or Mac Mini lines.

Mac Pro will not find boot volume

Hello,
My Mac Pro will not find it's boot volume. Each time the computer is started, the blinking folder with the question mark is the result. A working install of 10.7 does exist on the machine's primary hard drive. If I were to press the option key on boot, I can select the primary hard drive (after entering the password) and everything boots as normal. I have run TechToolPro on the volume with no detected errors, even after a volume rebuild. A Recovery HD partition is not on the boot volume. Should that matter?
I really really do not want to reinstall Mac OS X. I have hundreds of gigabytes of data in question. Any reinstall/reconfig would take days to complete.
Thanks

So you are saying that setting the default in Startup Disk doesn't work?
And you have not got or been using Carbon Copy Cloner or another to provide working bootable backup?
You should have Lion Recovery on one of your drives, do a clean install.,
I assume TTPro media scan turns up no errors.
MOVE all your data OFF the boot drive. Keep the system OS and apps on its own drive.
Clone the system. Use TimeMachine and cloning for backup.
And how is the pram battery?
Any time you zap pram you lose the default and it will look for it like you see starting with SATA0 (bay 1)

16 mo young Mac Pro will not turn on. Dead. Why. No problems ever! Installed Yosemite and did not boot up after. Did that kill it? To young to die. What

16 mo young Mac Pro will not turn on. Dead. Why. No problems ever! Installed Yosemite and did not boot up after. Did that kill it? To young to die. What happened?what do I do now??????? Help!

Note that you don't have a Mac Pro as stated. Your profile says you have a MacBook Pro. Please clarify as they are entirely different computers. If nothing below works for you, then make a Genius Appointment and take it in for service.
Try these in order testing your system after each to see if it's back to normal:
1. a. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
    b. Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
2. Restart the computer in Safe Mode, then restart again, normally. If this doesn't help, then:
     Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the
     COMMAND and R keys until the Utilities menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the
     computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager
     screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
3. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
4. Reinstall Yosemite: Reboot from the Recovery HD. Select Reinstall OS X from the Utilities menu, and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Mac Pro will not start-up.

My Mac Pro will reach the start up screen: Apple logo spinning start up indicator. Then I see a blue screen then a gray screen followed by gray. The multi colored computer busy indicator will appear folloewd by nothing. Would the problem be a faulty processor? Any suggestions?

I spoke to soon...after installing the MAcOSX Snow Leopard software I restarted with no problem. Once I removed the dvd the computer froze! After a restart the drive refused to boot. This time a dark screen. I was able to restart via safe boot and currently downloading updates.

My new Mac Pro will not recognize my old Canon video camera

My new Mac Pro will not recognize my old Canon video camera

We've used the 400 to 800 firewire cables with limited success in the past...dropped frames was the main problem. Only used them until the Sonnet FireWire PCIe Card came in to allow a 400 firewire.

My Mac Pro will not go to Sleep

My Mac Pro will not go to Sleep.
I have it set to 15 Mins in Energy Saver.
After 15 mins no sleep.

Alot of people have had the same problem including me. Here's a link to the thread reguarding this particular issue http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1847877&start=0&tstart=0.

Which Mac Pro Will Do It?

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