Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Macadvo · Sep 1, 2007, 05:32 PM

It's more definite now than ever, how do I know?

I just bought one. They're bound to do it.

Just bought myself a quad 2.66 with a 23 inch Cinema display. I bought it from the Applestore so when I asked for an X1900XT they added it in WITH the 7300GT which means I now have two graphics cards in the beast, will this be ok?

I'm still running with 1gig of memory which just as soon as I get some time off work will be upgraded to 5gigs. Hopefully that will be enough to get Aperture running at a decent speed.

Also hoping to pick up a couple of extra 250gig HDD's, maybe even three so I can have a 500gig mirrored RAID for added security.

I have to say, the guys in the Applestore at the Trafford centre were excellent and nothing was too much trouble. I even got my NHS discount in there!

Anyone have any tips for me and the beast or programs that I should be installing/running?

TIA

Alistair

MacosNerd · Sep 1, 2007, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by Macadvo

It's more definite now than ever, how do I know?

I just bought one. They're bound to do it.

Just bought myself a quad 2.66 with a 23 inch Cinema display. I bought it from the Applestore so when I asked for an X1900XT they added it in WITH the 7300GT which means I now have two graphics cards in the beast, will this be ok?

They're going to sooner or later.

Just enjoy what you bought. Some people get all worked up about the fact that they don't have the latest and greats. Be content, enjoy a great computer, its not like the computer suddenly got slower once Apple releases a new revision.

You have an awesome setup, enjoy the beast

Simon · Sep 2, 2007, 02:45 AM

Originally Posted by Macadvo

Just bought myself a quad 2.66 with a 23 inch Cinema display. I bought it from the Applestore so when I asked for an X1900XT they added it in WITH the 7300GT which means I now have two graphics cards in the beast, will this be ok?

Yeah it will. You can use both too. Use Expansion Slot Utility to change the number of PCIe lanes used by those two slots.

I'm still running with 1gig of memory which just as soon as I get some time off work will be upgraded to 5gigs. Hopefully that will be enough to get Aperture running at a decent speed.

It's no surprise Aperture on a MP is terribly slow with just 1 GB RAM. As soon as you get 5 GB you should be perfectly fine.

Oh BTW, thanks for buying a new MP so Apple can finally upgrade the line next week..

mduell · Sep 2, 2007, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by Macadvo

Just bought myself a quad 2.66 with a 23 inch Cinema display. I bought it from the Applestore so when I asked for an X1900XT they added it in WITH the 7300GT which means I now have two graphics cards in the beast, will this be ok?

Yes, but if you're only going to use two monitors you just wasted $150.

Macadvo · Sep 2, 2007, 03:35 PM

Damn I wish real life would stop interfering with me playing with my new beast of a toy

I have to say even with only 1gig memory this thing flies in everything compared to my old Rev A iMac core duo. I spent some time last night rearranging the graphics cards so that the Radeon was using the 16 lane PCI-E slot and the 7300GT an 8 lane slot. That in itself resulted in what seemed like a huge speedup in Aperture, can't wait to get the memory!!

I was a bit annoyed by the fact that a) the Apple Store guys didn't configure tha gfx cards in the fastest configuration and b) I was hearing a constant buzzing from the MP, after a bit of googling, followed by a swift pullout of the optical drive bay and rearranging of the ribbon cable the buzzing has been banished, YAY!!

I have a feeling this MP will last me a LONG time, something I never said about the iMac.

/me is a very happy bunny.

[EDIT] Forgot to say I'll be quite happy "only" running two displays in this config as I hate the way OS X splits the card memory in half when using two displays on one card. Though when and IF I do get another 23 inch CD I'll be testing it connected to both the Radeon with the first display and then connected to the 7300GT[/EDIT]

mduell · Sep 2, 2007, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by Macadvo

[EDIT] Forgot to say I'll be quite happy "only" running two displays in this config as I hate the way OS X splits the card memory in half when using two displays on one card. Though when and IF I do get another 23 inch CD I'll be testing it connected to both the Radeon with the first display and then connected to the 7300GT[/EDIT]

What makes you think it does that instead of a logical dynamic sharing?

Macadvo · Sep 3, 2007, 05:01 AM

Originally Posted by mduell

What makes you think it does that instead of a logical dynamic sharing?

I've read it in a number of places including here (5th post down). I thought it was common knowledge that was how OS X worked

Once I get the extra memory in I am going to try it with both displays connected to the X1900XT to see if that's faster than using the 7300GT for the 2nd display. If so I'll ebay the 7300GT

mduell · Sep 3, 2007, 09:37 AM

Huh, looks like an ATi driver limitation, since he doesn't see the same thing with the nVidia card.

Macadvo · Sep 3, 2007, 05:41 PM

I've always understood it to be an OS thing rather than a driver thing but that may just be me making (wrong) assumptions. I'll see what I can dig up and post back here when (if) I do.

EricTheRed · Sep 3, 2007, 11:30 PM

You'll be fine with the two cards. In my Mac Pro I run an XT1900 with a 7300GT. So I can drive three monitors.

Macadvo · Sep 4, 2007, 07:44 PM

Cheers Eric, how much memory are you running with? I've got the stock 1gig at the minute and notice a lot of hard drice thrashing, I'm hoping that'll clear up tomorrow when my 4gig Crucial kit is added.

Simon · Sep 5, 2007, 04:30 AM

Originally Posted by Macadvo

I've got the stock 1gig at the minute and notice a lot of hard drice thrashing, I'm hoping that'll clear up tomorrow when my 4gig Crucial kit is added.

Of course it will. That thrashing is your system paging out contents from memory to disk. You can watch it do that here: Activity Monitor > System Memory > Page outs. Apple shouldn't sell these Mac Pros with just 1 GB. You can barely use them with 2 GB. If you do any serious calculations (as these machines are likely intended to) you'll need even more.

Macadvo · Sep 5, 2007, 05:55 AM

Just installed the 4gig crucial memory kit, which I believe is dual rank. Didn't feel THAT much faster tbh, maybe I need to dump the single rank Apple modules and buy another 4gig dual rank kit from Crucial?

Yesterday I installed 2 x 500Gb HDD's in a striped array. Did the whole reinstall of OS X thing then migration assistant wouldn't work properly on me (it just hangs, frustrating) so I copied everything over by hand. Big mistake.

I'm now copying my 300gigs of data to backup drives (again!) to do another reinstall. This time I'm just going to install everything from scratch, do the updates then copy my data back over to the boot RAID. Sigh I will get it right soon lol.

mduell · Sep 5, 2007, 07:41 AM

You can determine if the mixed rank performance hit is what's hurting you by removing the single ranked modules. If performance doesn't improve with only dual ranked modules installed, the mix penalty isn't your biggest problem.

imitchellg5 · Sep 5, 2007, 09:19 AM

I think the next update will be later than that, in November or December, so don't worry.

Fred33 · Sep 5, 2007, 09:23 AM

Yea I think the next update would come around Christmas or before the kids go back to college.

MallyMal · Sep 5, 2007, 10:01 AM

Well, Intel has released the Tigerton MacWorld Tigerton Article. But I'm sure Apple will ignore that and continue to let the Mac Pro stagnate.

mduell · Sep 5, 2007, 05:42 PM

Tigerton is way above the Mac Pro market, in terms of price and performance. Four $900-2300 chips isn't going to sell in any significant volume.

awcopus · Sep 7, 2007, 09:30 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

Tigerton is way above the Mac Pro market, in terms of price and performance. Four $900-2300 chips isn't going to sell in any significant volume.

But those prices don't apply if Apple gets a discount on a bulk purchase. There are at least 300-400 Mac Pro users. Food for thought!

mduell · Sep 8, 2007, 11:52 AM

Originally Posted by awcopus

But those prices don't apply if Apple gets a discount on a bulk purchase. There are at least 300-400 Mac Pro users. Food for thought!

Those prices are 1000 unit prices.
iSuppli thinks Apple gets a 13% discount from 1kU prices, but that would remain constant so the comparisons are still valid.

mduell · Sep 11, 2007, 07:18 AM

Originally Posted by mduell

Tigerton is way above the Mac Pro market, in terms of price and performance. Four $900-2300 chips isn't going to sell in any significant volume.

Originally Posted by keviesten

Tigerton is way above the Mac Pro market, in terms of price and performance. Four $900-2300 chips isn't going to sell in any significant volume.

Is there an echo in here?
Did you really need 3 short posts in a row?

Peter · Sep 11, 2007, 08:12 AM

Tigerton is way above the Mac Pro market, in terms of price and performance. Four $900-2300 chips isn't going to sell in any significant volume.

Reggie Fowler · Sep 13, 2007, 10:17 PM

This thread was suppose to speculate on when the new MacPro's will be released.
So here is my prediction.
January 2008

CheesePuff · Sep 13, 2007, 10:57 PM

Originally Posted by Reggie Fowler

This thread was suppose to speculate on when the new MacPro's will be released.
So here is my prediction.
January 2008

No it wasn't. He had questions about his new Mac Pro.

EricTheRed · Sep 14, 2007, 02:12 AM

Originally Posted by Macadvo

Cheers Eric, how much memory are you running with? I've got the stock 1gig at the minute and notice a lot of hard drice thrashing, I'm hoping that'll clear up tomorrow when my 4gig Crucial kit is added.

I have 6 GB of RAM.

motoxpress · Sep 14, 2007, 04:35 PM

Originally Posted by Macadvo

Just bought myself a quad 2.66 with a 23 inch Cinema display. I bought it from the Applestore so when I asked for an X1900XT they added it in WITH the 7300GT which means I now have two graphics cards in the beast, will this be ok?

So, did you buy it at a local Apple store or online? I thought they replaced the 7300GT with the x1900 when you upgraded? I just ordered mine yesterday with the ATI and expected them to replace not add the additional card.

-mx

Macadvo · Sep 15, 2007, 05:45 AM

Eric, since upgrading to 5gigs it's as smooth as butter

moto, yeah I bought it at an Apple store, excellent service and very friendly

SierraDragon · Sep 16, 2007, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

Yes, but if you're only going to use two monitors you just wasted $150.

Running Aperture it is definitely not a waste to add the X1900XT but my guess is that the 7300 card is redundant.

-Allen Wicks

dantewaters · Sep 17, 2007, 12:05 AM

Originally Posted by MacosNerd

They're going to sooner or later.

Just enjoy what you bought. Some people get all worked up about the fact that they don't have the latest and greats. Be content, enjoy a great computer, its not like the computer suddenly got slower once Apple releases a new revision.

You have an awesome setup, enjoy the beast

Wait a minute apple rep (at 5th ave. store) told me I can only get the graphics card when I order online, only ram can be added at the store... That's strange.

Macadvo · Sep 19, 2007, 04:14 AM

Originally Posted by dantewaters

Wait a minute apple rep (at 5th ave. store) told me I can only get the graphics card when I order online, only ram can be added at the store... That's strange.

I think it probably depends on whether the store has the X1900 in stock or not. Luckily the Manchester (UK) store did, though initially they said I'd have to install myself but when I then asked for the wireless/bluetooth module (which apparently they have to install) they did my X1900 as well.

I had to rearrange the gfx cards anyway when I got home but that's another story