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Apple Mac Pro: the ultimate workstation - upgraded

by Tarinder Sandhu on 26 February 2008, 08:52

Tags: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qalu6

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We take a look inside. It's rife for upgrading on the cheap



The quality of the chassis is reminiscent of high-end SilverStone's. Detailing is excellent, and the front-mounted ports include a couple of USB2.0, single FireWire400 and 800s, and the always-present microphone socket.

The system is relatively quiet load, a testament to Apple's engineering skills.



The rear features a 120mm exhaust fan and a cornucopia of ports - including a further three USB 2.0, single FireWire400 and 800s, dual GigE networking ports, and optical input/outputs.



The Mac Pro isn't designed as a gaming system, obviously, but all graphics sub-system choices include twin dual-link DVI ports capable of driving a couple of 30in displays - preferably Apple's own, if the company gets its way.

Note, too, that you cannot throw in a regular PCIe graphics card from your PC and expect it to work - the Mac Pro-approved cards use custom BIOSes.



Access to the innards is a simple enough affair; we simply pulled the lever, in the above picture, and the side-panel came off without fuss.



The guts of the Apple Mac Pro are revealed.

The motherboard, based on an Intel 5400-series Seaburg chipset, provides a total of four PCIe expansion slots, split over two PCIe 2.0 and two PCIe 1.1.

The first two slots are both mechanical x16 - ideal for graphics cards - but the latter two are limited to x4. The motherboard possesses 40 PCIe lanes but doesn't support NVIDIA's SLI or ATI's CrossFireX under the native Mac OS X operating system.

The basic specification is good but you don't want to pay Apple's exorbitant pricing for upgrading the hard drive, system RAM, WiFi, and CPUs, right?

Read on to find out just how to do this in a few easy steps, saving you a bundle along the way....


HEXUS Forums :: 12 Comments

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noicee, how much is one of these? 2g+?
I've always liked Mac's designs (particularly the Mac Books) but I've always found this style of case to be pretty fugly and seemingly at odds with their usual high standards of aesthetics. Perhaps it's just me..?
3 weeks until mine arrives..with an 8800GT inside it..i'm counting the seconds lol

Just wish they stocked these with the 8800GT already inside it at the stores, to save having to get BTO :(
Spud1
3 weeks until mine arrives..with an 8800GT inside it..i'm counting the seconds lol

Just wish they stocked these with the 8800GT already inside it at the stores, to save having to get BTO :(

Or you wait until our next piece when you can get an 8800GT in your MacPro for less than the price Apple pay - a quieter card and no compromise!
thats interesting david, got another day or so before apple finish messing around creating our account..i'm intrieged! Its costing £112 to get the 8800GT in my new mac (business discount + no vat) so if its less than or comparable to that i'd be able to pick one up at the end of the week :)