Calling Cowasaki...Help with Mac Pro Hardware

Paulmack

Paulmack

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Cowasaki I need your help mate

Following on from this thread, I need some parts for a Mac Pro so hoping you can point me in the direction of the right kit.

I need to get a graphics card and some RAM but not really sure which online retailer will be the best to use, and I need to make sure I get the right kit because if I get it wrong and open the packets I doubt I could return the kit.

The Mac Pro is the 3.0 GHz 8 core 5400 early 2008 model. I am not looking at a top of the range graphics card as I wont be video editing or gaming.
Dont want to be spending a fortune either so 2GB RAM would be enough for now.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers
 
If you buy new and online from the UK you are covered by the Distance selling regulations 2000, which should give you some cover even if you open packets.

I'm fairly sure you only have to take reasonable care not to damage goods and cannot be charged a re-stocking fee, however IANAL so it might be worth reading up on it http://www.out-law.com/page-430#Return.
 
Cheers mate

Think its easier just to make sure I get the right stuff first time round and Cowasaki is the fountain of knowledge when it comes to mac upgrades so hopefully he will surface soon
 
Ram is easy, just go to crucial and pick your model etc. Don't by cheap stuff, false economy.

Graphics is more difficult, I want to upgrade my '08 2.8 Mac Pro but there are limited options that are Mac compatible. :(

Pete
 
Cowasaki, any chance you can point out a decent graphics card to buy?
 
What RAM has it got in it at the moment? 2x1Gb or 4x512Mb ?

Maximum speed is created by 4 matching modules with nearly the same speed with 2 x sets of 4 matching modules ie

4 x 1Gb = 4Gb is 15% faster than 2 x 2Gb and about 5% faster than 8 x 512Mb

BUT if you have 4 x 512Mb now the computer will clearly be faster with another 4 x 512Mb or 4 x 1Gb due to the increase in total RAM.

As for graphics cards......

You didn't say what you had at the moment.

You have a variant 2 Macpro ie it's model designation should be "macpro3.1". (macpro1.1 and macpro2.1 are variant 1 machines) This gives you the faster PCIe interface so you get full speed from ANY graphics card you stick in it. Apple lied about the variant 2/3 cards not working in variant 1 machines as they actually do but as the are the earlier PCIe standard you get a 10%ish drop in performance.

With this in mind you could pretty well stick ANY PCIe Apple graphics card in it but it depends on WHAT you are running and what you have NOW.

SO......


Go to the APPLE icon in the top left and click on it then click on "About this Mac" then click "More Info".

In the left pane click on "Hardware" and let me have:

Model Identifier (just to be certain).


In the left pane click on "Memory" and let me have:

Everything it says in the top part of the right window ie BANK0/DIMM0... BANK1/DIMM1 etc


In the left pane click on "Garphics/Displays" and let me have:

Chipset Model.


Once you have done that I can give you a specific idea.....
 
Darren,

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.
Unfortunately the machine has no RAM or Graphics card at the moment as per the thread I linked to in my original post. Therefore I am unable to boot the machine up to get the info you want but I did put the serial number into Apple to check the warranty etc and it says it is an Early 2008 model. I could try sticking the RAM and graphics card out of my Mac Pro in to get it running to see if this helps though.

The RAM is simple enough, as per Crucial 4GB will cost me £140 or searching on Ebay I can see it for £99 so thats that sorted. Its just the Graphics I am unsure of now.

Anyway will try and get it fired up a little later and see what info I can get from it.

Cheers
 
Paulmack said:
Darren,

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.
Unfortunately the machine has no RAM or Graphics card at the moment as per the thread I linked to in my original post. Therefore I am unable to boot the machine up to get the info you want but I did put the serial number into Apple to check the warranty etc and it says it is an Early 2008 model. I could try sticking the RAM and graphics card out of my Mac Pro in to get it running to see if this helps though.

The RAM is simple enough, as per Crucial 4GB will cost me £140 or searching on Ebay I can see it for £99 so thats that sorted. Its just the Graphics I am unsure of now.

Anyway will try and get it fired up a little later and see what info I can get from it.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Sorry, missed the RAM bit. Make sure any RAM you buy is the right type, for you this is:

800MHz FB-DIMMS (the earlier variant 1 uses 667MHz)

You could probably work out what the graphics card is by looking at it but you could just wait for the RAM to turn up. Is the 4Gb being sold as 4 x 1Gb?
 
cowasaki said:
Yes that'll do it, I'd be tempted to stick 8gb in it.
Click to expand...

Would love to but already spent a few quid getting the machine so when I have bought the bits I need I will be seriously out of pocket for a little while.
Will still need a keyboard, mouse and screen but not desperate so they will have to wait a little while.....

But the upshot is that I will have 2 Mac Pro's, so if and when I do decide to go down the studio route then I can stick one in there and keep one at home :)
 
well I wont be running any video editing or gaming etc so doesnt need to be top of the range. Only using CS4 or Lightroom so that should be ok shouldn't it?
 
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