saiz66 Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 (edited) Hi guys, I have a few year old Mac Pro. Please see spec below. I do a lot of programming, listening to music, playing videos at the same time. It is starting to feel a bit slow. I want to know what you guys think I should upgrade just to make it a bit more snappy. Thanks. Hardware Overview: Model Name: Mac Pro Model Identifier: MacPro1,1 Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz Number Of Processors: 2 Total Number Of Cores: 4 L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB Memory: 3 GB Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz Edited January 23, 2010 by saiz66 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shivs Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Definitely upgrade the memory. And perhaps get a decent SSD if you've got the money? saiz66 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luis Mazza Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Try reinstalling the os... format and go. Or buy a new one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Helix Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Those Specs are better than my Early 2009 iMac and I do all that and more. Do a clean up of you files, backup everything you want to keep and Install SL fresh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Memory for sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyCypherz Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 +1 for the memory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jamesyfx Subscriber² Posted January 24, 2010 Subscriber² Share Posted January 24, 2010 If it feels sluggish, I would back up your data and install a fresh copy of OS X. If you don't want to do that, running a tool like OnyX could help speed things up a little if you've not used it. I only suggest this because even with the specs you have currently, it shouldn't feel slow doing what you are doing. Might as well upgrade the memory as well just to keep it up to date, and if you want to throw some money at it. That machine can take up to 32GB of RAM, but 8GB should be a nice amount. Apple-compatible memory is priiicey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.Neo Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Apple-compatible memory is priiicey. There is no such thing as "Apple-compatible memory". Macs use the same cards as any other PC would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jamesyfx Subscriber² Posted January 24, 2010 Subscriber² Share Posted January 24, 2010 There is no such thing as "Apple-compatible memory". Macs use the same cards as any other PC would. Having done that myself, I wouldn't recommend it. Using any third party brands does work, but I would rather get something which is certified to work with best performance. I put some Corsair ValueSelect in an old MacBook 08 and occasionally it would fail to boot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saiz66 Posted January 24, 2010 Author Share Posted January 24, 2010 Great advice guys! Looks like I'll be throwing in some more RAM. I am looking at SSD. Do you think they are worth it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.Neo Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 (edited) Beyond improved boot times and initial application startup times the advantage of having a SSDs basically stops. Not sure if that's really worth the money. Having done that myself, I wouldn't recommend it. Using any third party brands does work, but I would rather get something which is certified to work with best performance. I put some Corsair ValueSelect in an old MacBook 08 and occasionally it would fail to boot. Bad memory happens. I never bought additional memory directly from Apple and never experienced any issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jamesyfx Subscriber² Posted January 25, 2010 Subscriber² Share Posted January 25, 2010 I thought it was bad memory too, but it wasn't. I put that memory into a Dell laptop instead and it works fine. Even passes memory diagnostics. Must've been some weird incompatibility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evo0o Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 i'd definitely get a memory upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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