To buy or not to buy: Mac Pro 8 core (2009)

[cinealta]

It's a fast machine. Just check how much RAM prices are for it. On some machines (2008?) the RAM prices are expensive.

[The Beatsmith]

benchmarks give similar number of *plugins* but 'per core' speed on the 6 core is much faster. so, if you're running a lot of stuff (e.g. kontakt/diva/large live monitored tracking sessions on tracks with lots of plugins) at low latency like 32 or 64 samples, the 6 core will fare much better.

so the per-core speed is a little low but yes, it is a great machine, and you can actually upgrade the CPUs later on if you wish. ram prices are cheap unlike the 2008 model (which i have). you can even flash the motherboard with the firmware for the 2010 models (effectively making it a current model with a slightly slower CPU) and use faster memory!

[KarmaPolice]

Thanks, that sounds good. Yes I checked the ram prices and its really cheap, which is another big plus over the 6 core.

Well, I didn´t think about the live input thing. Thanks for the tip. I do track guitar quite a bit, with plug in monitoring. But my ancient Imac (2006) can handel it, so it shouldnt be a problem I hope.

Ok I think I´m buying the 8 core. I will sleep one more night over it...