Hi

i am planning to buy a new PC/MAC, my budget is around 3000$ can someone give me his opinion on this, i am not a big gamer i play most of my games on a PS3, i recently switched to a mac and i like leopard, however on PC side i will have to use vista which is a bad thing in my opinion, i just need a good computer with lots of power any help?

MAC : 8 core xeon 2.8 , 320 Gb HDD , 2 gb 800 Fully buffered ram
PC : 9800 GX2 , not sure yet of the other part but it should be around 3000$

i looked for benchmarks but didn't find many on MAC Pro, if anyone has any please share them

please if you think your a MAC hater or a fanboy of any sorts just dont comment and confuse me/people we would appreciate it

If you want, you can do the Mac Pro and get windows for it as well. It is capable of running Windows using boot camp. However you will pay more than for a PC. The new iMacs are pretty nice too, maybe save you some money, and they will also run Windows. But the ones with the 24 inch built in screen are sweet.

if you don't do ANY gaming on the PC, i would suppose the mac would be best, but you will be running into problems withtrying to run any games on it, even with windows installed, because they usually come with shiiiiite gfx cards....
and are you sure you don't like vista? have you tried it? its actually (imho) a very good operating system, it just eats your ram, but in a 3000 dollar machine thats not such an issue since 8gb is frankly advised

^+1

The way I look at it, how much is it worth to you to run Leopard as your OS and to have someone else build the system for you?

The Mac Pro lists for about $2800.

If you build a system with the same (perhaps slightly better) specs yourself from the parts, it would cost you about $2150 at newegg (see list below), not including the operating system.

So, you're basically paying $650 (2800 - 2150 cost of parts) for Apple to build the system for you and allow you to run Leopard OS.

Build it yourself and install Vista (cost about $100), and you save yourself $550 dollars.

Just depends on whether you consider that worth it to you or not.

Now, that's just comparing identical hardware setups - most homebuilders would suggest a very different setup usually which would probably save you a lot more money if you build it yourself (a Core2 CPU instead of dual xeon's, a better GPU, bigger HD, would run you a lot less).

Hardware at newegg:

SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B - OEM
Item #: N82E16827151153
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan -- $9.992 Year Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan -- $14.99 -$4.00 Instant
$29.99
$25.99

Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJB 320GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822136109
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy
Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan -- $14.992 Year Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan -- $19.99 $69.99

SAPPHIRE 100208L Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814102700
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan -- $14.992 Year Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan -- $19.99 $66.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817139006
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan -- $29.992 Year Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan -- $39.99 -$50.00 Instant

$10.00 Mail-in Rebate $179.99
$129.99

GeIL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model GX22GB6400DCK= - Retail
Item #: N82E16820144047
Return Policy: Memory (Modules, USB) Return Policy
Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan -- $9.992 Year Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan -- $14.99 $40.99

ASUS DSBF-DE Dual LGA 771 Intel 5000P MCH SSI EEB 3.61 Server Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813131169
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy
Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan -- $39.992 Year Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan -- $69.99 -$15.00 Instant
$319.99
$304.99

2 X Intel Xeon E5440 Harpertown 2.83GHz LGA 771 80W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80574E5440A - Retail
Item #: N82E16819117143
Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy
Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net PC Peripheral Extended Warranty Plan -- $79.992 Year Service Net PC Peripheral Extended Warranty Plan -- $99.993 Year Service Net PC Peripheral Extended Warranty Plan -- $149.99 $1,429.98
($714.99 each)

ARK SR6950BK Black Server Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811128036
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy -$15.00 Instant
$89.99
$74.99
Subtotal: $2,143.91

not actually
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-AP [...] kue/2.?p=0

apple now throws 8800gs's into their imacs for 150 more on the 24 in" but AFAIK its good for games but its still pricey as hell (can build the same of better PC for half)

bootcamp works very well for me but will windows vista/XP be able to use all 8 cores? that is what concerns me

i agree with you on the price issue however my case is a little different, i dont live in the US so the prices here are a little higher locally and newegg does not ship out side of the US.
so it would be something around 250$ on the price tag and i will have a lot of difficulty finding xeons locally this issue aside

there are some things i would like to comment on the hardware you posted, the mother board you suggested runs at 1333 FSB max, the one in the mac runs at 1600, also the ram you suggested does not seem to be fully buffered ram unless i missed something (and the mobo take 667 max) but still apple sells it for much higher than other places

thanks for the help i appreciate it

With your current info it's quite hard to reccomend anything, but to save some money on your PC option as that 9800 GX2 is overkill for a non gamer.
It would help us help you if you would say what kind of tasks the computer will have to do, like mainly web, act as a server, writing, drawing, editing sound/video, what kind of games you plan to play on it ect.

If is the thing turning you off from a PC you could have a look at some of the newer Linux distributions like Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop Edition www.ubuntu.com or PCLinuxOS 2007 www.getpclinuxos.com. I personally think they can compete on equal foot with OSX and Vista in both functionality, usability and design. Only problem is, like with the MAC, that the best solution for playing games is with a Windows installation.

Good points. So, you can add about $100 for fully buffered server RAM and about $200 more for a 1600 FSB 771 dual server MB - so the price differential comes down to about $300 in the US.

Looking more and more worth it all the time if you like that hardward setup and think it'll meet your needs.

If you play games at all though, I would strongly encourage you to upgrade the GPU.

justjc

well i will run it as a local file server and use it for my every day work, word, power point and the normal stuff, i also like to multytask (almost every app on the PC is running) i know the mac might be an over kill for that but i looked for a mac in which i can put my HDDs in and i found MACpro to be the only one, i have a lot of HDDs and they are increasing

modode

i am waiting for WWDC now, if the mac pro will see any change soon it will be in WWDC, about the gaming part will xeon run games as well as other PCs ?
i heard the xeon harpertown is almost identical to 8000 series although i doubt most current games can use all 8 cores it would be nice to be able to know i can game a little ...

thanks for the help people

sorry for the double post

here is the spec for the PC i would build if i chose it over the MAC

Q6700
Nforce 790i
2 x 9800 GTX (might reconsider this since i dont game much and its an over kill)
4Gb 1066
1 Tb HDD
1000W power supply
mouse + keyboard (random)
gigabyte aurora 3d case

Sli is a waste if your not gaming, or doing anything graphics intensive. I'd go for a much cheaper ASUS or Gigibyte p35 mobo.

2 x 9800gtx is also way overkill. Your best off with a 8800GS or maybe a hd 3850. Either one will be more then enough for what you do.

1066mhz ram is also way overkill. There's no point in having your ram faster then your processor fsb. I'd get no faster then 800mhz ram and sync it with your fsb. Also for what your doing, heavy mutlitasking, i'd recommend 8gb.

1000watts!! a tad much. Unless you have like 50 hardrives. Let me suggest a little more conservative PSU. 750w Silverstone DA is still overkill for your system, but it's a great PSU and much less expensive then a 1000watt.

I just did a PSU calculation thing for your rig. In order to hit 1000watts you need over 20 Hardrives, and have everything at 100% usage.

That's including 2 disc drives, some usb devices, and 4 ram modules.

You can inpute your exact config yourself, here http://www.extreme.outervision.com [...] orlite.jsp, or your planned rig to be 100% sure what our power requirements are.