new mac pros

[bio_hazard]

May the force be with you, Beamup!

I filed about a year ago, believe it or not Berkeley doesn't have a disertation defense! Somehow it still took me 7 + years...

 

[Beamup]

Thanks for the good wishes. I'll be sure to let everyone know how it goes...

 

[JoAT]

I got Parallels Desktop running and added two virtual machines loaded up with Ubuntu Linux and Windows 98se...

I had no idea you could run win98 under Parallels. Very nice setup Alan.

JoAT

 

[Kamaru]

You can run just about any OS under Parallels..

 

[gfeier]

Just fired up the new Mac Pro. It took less than an hour to set up and move all my files and settings (except X11 which I had to install from the install disk) thanks to Setup Assistant. I opened the game I was running on my wife's MacBook and cranked the graphics way up. It really does look better, but, except for the faster operation, plays pretty much the same. There's still a noticeable lag opening the city window, but I have a LOT of cities. This just confirms what I was saying all along, which is that the MacBook is entirely adequate for the single-user mode. I won't have to worry about that any more, though, since my wife says that now that I have the new machine, the MacBook is hers!

 

[promethean_beta]

I just put in my order for a new Mac Pro!
Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
2GB (4 x 512MB)
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI)
250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
One 16x SuperDrive
Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse - U.S. English

Hooray for me!

 

[gfeier]

I just put in my order for a new Mac Pro!
Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
2GB (4 x 512MB)
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI)
250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
One 16x SuperDrive
Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse - U.S. English

Hooray for me!

Looks awful familiar. You're going to LOVE it!

Tip: make sure you have a firewire cable handy to run Setup Assistant right away if you have a current Mac it will work with. Also, remember that X11 is an optional install from the included media.

Congrats!

 

[Balton]

Huurray!!
MacPro's finally available here in Istanbul (so is Harvey Nics )
Here is the dilemma:
2.66 comes with 256MB Nvidia 7300
3.00 comes with 512 MB ATI X1900XT

There is a 1200 euro difference between the two. Is the 3.0 worth the difference? Do I bite the bullet (is it worth it? to those who already have a MacPro)??? or shall I take it step by step? (easier and sensible approach)

Looking forward to your replies,

cheers

 

[AlanH]

My 2.66GHz with Nvidia 7300 works fine. There are a couple of very minor limitations when running Civ4 that hte higher spec video card would possibly solve:

1. When scrolling the map I see some flashing pixels around the edges of city images.

2. The globe view cloud animation is smoother if I turn off city details in globe view.

3. A small amount of tearing during scrolling.

I think they are purely down to the video card, and the CPU speed is almost certainly fast enough. Frankly, I wouldn't consider those to be worth €1200, but maybe I'm not fussy enough. Of course, it depends on what else you want to use the Mac for.

I posted a video replay of a late-game interturn sequence running on my Mac here.

 

[gfeier]

Huurray!!
MacPro's finally available here in Istanbul (so is Harvey Nics )
Here is the dilemma:
2.66 comes with 256MB Nvidia 7300
3.00 comes with 512 MB ATI X1900XT

There is a 1200 euro difference between the two. Is the 3.0 worth the difference? Do I bite the bullet (is it worth it? to those who already have a MacPro)??? or shall I take it step by step? (easier and sensible approach)

Looking forward to your replies,

cheers

I'm running the 2.66 with the X1900 XT and it's great. I assume you can't special order that configuration, so I'd recommend going for the stock 2.66 and get the X1900 XT later. For 1200 euros, you could pick it up from an Apple Store in Europe and still come out ahead.

 

[AlanH]

so I'd recommend going for the stock 2.66 and get the X1900 XT later

That's certainly my game plan. Higher spec video may one day be required, but if and when I need one I should be able to pick one up at a reasonable price. Higher speed CPUs will also be more affordable upgrades as time goes on. Future-proofing via expandability is the key reason for buying a tower IMHO.

 

[OscarWildebeest]

I've had my 3GHz Mac Pro with the X1900 for nearly two weeks and everything works like a dream (except the Bluetooth mouse, but I think that's because of general interference). Civ4 works wonderfully well as far as I can tell (barring the small problems I noted on the 'Patch' thread).

I just received the upgrade to Final Cut Studio today (the main reason I bought the machine). Looks exactly the same as the old Final Cut in terms of interface, but it should do things a darn sight quicker.

 

[Balton]

Thanks for the feedback AlanH & Gfeier. So 2.66 it is!!
I wonder if the Regent's Street Store sell the XT1900XT??? (I have some 50K airmiles that will be void if I don't use them by the end of 2006)
What shall I do with memory? The standard is 1 GB. Is it necessary to go up to 2 GB?

 

[AlanH]

I bought mine with 2 GBytes, as I previously had 1.12 GBytes on a single CPU G4 and I was pretty sure four cores would need more to be able to function effectively. With 2 GBytes I can still get spinning rainbows when I switch between applications.

I know the theory is that Apple memory is expensive, but I didn't see it as a big difference and I was concerned that the machine was a very new model with fully-buffered memory technology, third party memory was not very available, and the memory is, in many ways, critical to the reliability of the system. I wanted Apple to be responsble for it.

 

[OscarWildebeest]

I notice that Crucial are offering the FB-DIMM modules, cheaper than Apple (as usual). However, for the reasons Alan states, I had Apple pre-install the modules. Luckily, I can claim it all back against tax.

 

[AlanH]

Yes, third party RAM modules are available now. I did say "third party memory was not very available". I ordered my Mac Pro the day after it was released, and wanted to get working with it asap. It was delivered two months ago today. That was another reason for getting the 7300 graphics, as the higher spec cards were on a five week lead time.

 

[gfeier]

Thanks for the feedback AlanH & Gfeier. So 2.66 it is!!
I wonder if the Regent's Street Store sell the XT1900XT??? (I have some 50K airmiles that will be void if I don't use them by the end of 2006)
What shall I do with memory? The standard is 1 GB. Is it necessary to go up to 2 GB?

Absolutely! The machine will choke with only 1GB.

 

[Beamup]

Future-proofing via expandability is the key reason for buying a tower IMHO.

That's also why I used to buy towers. Then I realized that I could get an iMac for half the price or less, so that I can buy them twice as often and still spend less money.

For me, the upshot is that I could buy a tower, and it will probably last 6-8 years with upgrades. Or I could buy an iMac every 3-4 years, about when the tower would start needing upgrades. Not that much difference in capability, and a substantial one in price.

It works for me, anyway.

 

[AlanH]

I agree, the iMacs are awsome value. I wanted 64 bit capability, and that also swayed me towards the Mac Pro at the time. Of course, that argument has disappeared now.

 

[mickeymoose]

Do you reckon the new 24" iMac (with the 256MB graphics) could run Civ IV at maxes no probs? I'm currently the owner of a no-hoper iMac (800MHz G4, 1GB, 32MB MX440) which is competent at running Civ III. I'm gonna be sitting on the refresh button on the Apple store come the January Expo, hoping for the next rev of iMacs or a non-Xeon Mac Pro. The current ones are too expensive for me to justify, since the only reason I need power is for games, and Xeons are workstation CPUs. Apple! Make a £1000 Mac Slacker, for us non-professional types.