Newest Purchases: Mac Pro 1.1 and eMac

[Johnny365]

eMac was $30, works great. Have to upgrade the ram and add an Airport Extreme card (only came with 128MB).

Mac Pro 1.1 was $100. It is the 2006 model with 2 Dual Core 2.66GHz Xeon CPU's and stock Geforce GT 7300 graphics card. It does have 9GB of RAM, running OSX Lion 10.7.5. Has 3 HDDs, 1TB, 500GB, and 200GB. Seems plenty fast for Youtube HD and Netflix, with web surfing on the side.

Good deals? I plan to (slowly) upgrade the Mac Pro components.

 

[pastrychef]

Personally, I wouldn't put much money in to upgrading either.

I don't know what you intend to do with the eMac, but the fact that it is PowerPC based means that even finding a modern web browser would be challenging. I remember when I tried to play a 1080p video on my last PowerPC based PowerMac. It had dual 1.42GHz CPUs and the 1080p video was like a slide show. Meanwhile, a Raspberry Pi can play 1080p videos without issues.

While the Mac Pro will be more capable and can run modern software, it is still a decade old computer.

 

[Johnny365]

Yeah, I'm aware PowerPC support was abandoned after 10.5.8 and that it can't do **** for modern web browsing or video playback, but 1GB stick is like $5, same with the wireless card.

 

[pastrychef]

What would you do with it after upgrading RAM and Airport card? Put the $10 towards a Raspberry Pi that can do more stuff and use a fraction of the electricity the eMac will.

 

[Johnny365]

I have several PowerPCs that I max out the RAM and such on. It's not about using it on a daily basis, but to know that it is maxed out.

 

[redheeler]

Mac Pro 1.1 was $100. It is the 2006 model with 2 Dual Core 2.66GHz Xeon CPU's and stock Geforce GT 7300 graphics card. It does have 9GB of RAM, running OSX Lion 10.7.5. Has 3 HDDs, 1TB, 500GB, and 200GB. Seems plenty fast for Youtube HD and Netflix, with web surfing on the side.

Good deals? I plan to (slowly) upgrade the Mac Pro components.

$100 for a Mac Pro isn't bad at all. The 2006 Mac Pros are still very capable, and with a GPU upgrade you can modify versions of OS X up to El Capitan and they'll run just fine. There's quite an extensive thread here on it.

Mine started out similarly to yours, but is now a 2007 8-core 2.66 GHz with a Radeon HD 5770, 13 GB RAM, and 512 GB SSD as a boot drive. It feels a lot quicker running Mavericks/El Capitan unsupported than many brand new base-model Macs being sold with 5400 RPM HDDs.

Yeah, I'm aware PowerPC support was abandoned after 10.5.8 and that it can't do **** for modern web browsing or video playback, but 1GB stick is like $5, same with the wireless card.

You can still browse the web on a PowerPC Mac running 10.4.11 or later using TenFourFox. I have it installed on my eMac, a little slow but works fine on most sites. I recommend you upgrade the RAM first though.
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I have several PowerPCs that I max out the RAM and such on. It's not about using it on a daily basis, but to know that it is maxed out.

You should ask questions related to PowerPC Macs in that area of the site. People here tend to dismiss them as being obsolete.

 

[pastrychef]

The only brand new Mac that you can get with 5400 RPM hard drive is the iMac. I have a hard time believing a 1,1 will feel quicker than that.

 

[redheeler]

The only brand new Mac that you can get with 5400 RPM hard drive is the iMac. I have a hard time believing a 1,1 will feel quicker than that.

21.5" iMacs and Mac minis are still sold with 5400 RPM HDDs. A 1,1 with an SSD and GPU upgrade does feel quicker, which definitely proves Apple should not be selling Macs with 5400 RPM HDDs in 2016.

 

[pastrychef]

Still hard to believe especially when considering how using an SSD as a boot drive in a 1,1 is saddled with SATA 2 speeds.

 

[Johnny365]

Is this normal for the drive tray to be not jut out as much? Loads and ejects discs just fine. Kind of odd.

 

[redheeler]

Still hard to believe especially when considering how using an SSD as a boot drive in a 1,1 is saddled with SATA 2 speeds.

An SSD on SATA 2 is still a lot faster than a 5400 RPM HDD.

Is this normal for the drive tray to be not jut out as much? Loads and ejects discs just fine. Kind of odd.

Looks normal to me, the drive is just recessed in the case.

 

[pastrychef]

An SSD on SATA 2 is still a lot faster than a 5400 RPM HDD.

Of course it is, but everything else about the machine is so much slower.

 

[Ultracyclist]

I have several PowerPCs that I max out the RAM and such on. It's not about using it on a daily basis, but to know that it is maxed out.

As an 1,1 Owner I love the wat you think (max it out to the fullest!)

Just do the firmware upgrade to 2,1 (free)
Upgrade the CPU to 2x quadcore X5365 3.0Ghz or X5355 2.66Ghz ($80/$40)
Get an SSD (for OS and Apps) Samsung evo 250gb ($90)
Get a new GPU Sapphire Radeon 7950 3GB flased ($225)
Optional pci USB 3.0 card ($25)


Is it worth it to max it out? I believe so! My Mac Pro 2006 now has a geekbenche multicore score of 12000, more then twice the score my MacBook Pro 2011 i5 16gb at 5000! I just love working on my cMP and its stil stronger then the latest Mac mini.

 

[Johnny365]

So when it comes to graphics cards, does it matter if it's PC or Mac in the listing? Does Mac specific cards differ only in the showing of the Apple boot logo on startup, and nothing else? Is the Sapphire Radeon 7950 3GB you mention work with the stock Power Supply?

 

[Ultracyclist]

So when it comes to graphics cards, does it matter if it's PC or Mac in the listing? Does Mac specific cards differ only in the showing of the Apple boot logo on startup, and nothing else? Is the Sapphire Radeon 7950 3GB you mention work with the stock Power Supply?

A Mac card is fully supported, but a Hoof flased card wont give any issues.
It does work in my cMP 1,1

 

[dfritchie]

I got a PC 7950 and flashed it myself for $90. Upgraded to 3.0 Ghz quad cores for $90. Still my main computer, depending on what you need it for I say upgrade all you want. Some will tell you that its a waste of money, but I think I can still get a few more years out of this beast. Not everybody needs a 5,1 or a 6,1 Mac Pro.
Not everybody can afford to spend $2000 for a new computer, but $200 to upgrade is doable for most.

 

[Johnny365]

How is gaming performance? Are those the top of the line cards for Mac Pro's interface or are cards being made today that have the same connectors? I'm not much into gaming standards so I don't know.

 

[Ultracyclist]

As the cMP 1,1 only has PCI-e 1 slots so the card will be the max you can get, and still the system won't use the cards full potential.

I don't game on my cMP that much but the games I've played run fine. God 4 MW and tomb raider anniversary. I run them at the highest res and settings.

I mainly use mine for video editing and studying. I like working on papers having al lot of screen space. 2x 2560x1440.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/show-your-setup-and-benchmarks.1959872/

 

[killawat]

I have a Mac Pro 1,1 but im migrating off of it. I was using it as a server but its just too much of an energy hog to justify running. 170 watts idle, no thanks. I replaced it with a dual core pentium running @ 55 watts.

 

[Ultracyclist]

I have a Mac Pro 1,1 but im migrating off of it. I was using it as a server but its just too much of an energy hog to justify running. 170 watts idle, no thanks. I replaced it with a dual core pentium running @ 55 watts.

I understand you do, as an server its an old machine running at to much watt, but as a operational workstation is justifiable to use if you look at performance. Any Mac mini capable of running El Cap is enough to be running as a server.

 

[Johnny365]

So with the upgrade of CPU to 3GHz Quad Core, I have to update the firmware from 1,1 to 2,2 right? Does that change the max ram allowed in the system or is it still 32GB?

 

[Ultracyclist]

You can max it up to 64 GB

 

[pat500000]

eMac was $30, works great. Have to upgrade the ram and add an Airport Extreme card (only came with 128MB).

Mac Pro 1.1 was $100. It is the 2006 model with 2 Dual Core 2.66GHz Xeon CPU's and stock Geforce GT 7300 graphics card. It does have 9GB of RAM, running OSX Lion 10.7.5. Has 3 HDDs, 1TB, 500GB, and 200GB. Seems plenty fast for Youtube HD and Netflix, with web surfing on the side.

Good deals? I plan to (slowly) upgrade the Mac Pro components.

You could play Diablo 2.

 

[ssgbryan]

Still hard to believe especially when considering how using an SSD as a boot drive in a 1,1 is saddled with SATA 2 speeds.

Fortunately, your beliefs on this don't matter - the difference between a spinner and a SSD are immediately noticeable. I couldn't go back.

 

[Johnny365]

Another question...

What's the highest wifi and bluetooth Versions that can be installed?
[doublepost=1461093436][/doublepost]And with the mechanical hdd right now, my system boots in 25 seconds, so I'm anxious to see the ssd boot times