When the Mac Pro 6,1 'Trashcan' appeared on the market it was seen by many as a closed system and therefore some were not sure about its suitability as a Pro Tools computer. Mac users were used to the nice aluminium tower which was easy to add extra memory, drives and 3rd party cards to - so the idea of hanging most of the peripherals off cables left many Pro Tools users cold and unimpressed - sticking to the 'better the devil you know' thinking of the older Mac Pro.
All of the above concerns were true, when the Mac Pro 6,1 shipped in late 2013 you buyers were given the option of having the drive and memory installed before it shipped or live with what you've got.
Can I upgrade RAM on late 2013 retina Mac Book Pro? Ask Question Asked 6 years, 2 months ago. Active 4 years, 10 months ago. Viewed 138k times 15. Do the late 2013 models (13' - (ME864, ME865, ME866), 15' - (ME293, ME294)) support RAM upgrades? Upgrade macbook-pro memory. Apple continues to offer the Mac Pro 'Twelve Core' 2.7 as a custom configuration, but it now is available as a US$2000 upgrade for the Mac Pro 'Six Core' 3.5 and a US$1200 upgrade for the Mac Pro 'Eight Core' 3.0. Precisely, Intel documents each of these four processors accordingly. Mac Pro 2013 Upgrade Cpu
There's no disputing the power of the Mac Pro 6,1, especially when running software that has been optimised to take advantage of the power but being stuck with the factory options can be a pain as you consider a long term investment.
However over time more and more 3rd party manufacturers have found ways to allow owners of the Mac Pro 6.1 Late 2013 to upgrade parts. One caveat is that it still remains far more costly than other alternatives either on an older Mac or a Windows PC. Upgrading Memory
RAM Memory upgrades are available from 3rd parties, for example 16gb of memory from Crucial is around 100. However the downside is that many Mac Pro 6,1 shipped with 4 modules making up the 16gb of memory so any thoughts of adding a single stick of 16gb RAM to double your memory are dead in the water, Crucial actually state 'Installation of 16GB modules requires all previous lower density modules to be removed. You cannot mix Registered and Unbuffered memory in the same system' So it you want 32gb of RAM in your Mac Pro then you need to buy 32gb and start from scratch. Upgrading The Internal Flash Storage
If upgrading the RAM is making your eyes water then you may want to stop reading if you are thinking about upgrading the internal Flash Storage. My Mac Pro shipped with a 256gb internal flash storage. For a long time upgrading this was out of the question, now there are companies such as OWC and Create Pro who offer a solution. However the OWC options are 800 for 1TB and 1200 for 2TB. The kit also includes a case to use for the drive you are pulling out, but that's still a lot of money.
I took a different route and purchased a Drobo Mini Drive, which I put Crucial SSDs into, which can grow with your needs. It connects by either USB3 or Thunderbolt and I use that for all my day-to-day storage. The only thing my internal drive is for is OS and Applications. This also means I can take all my documents with me when I move around.
I've been tempted a couple of times to get the internal solution but then I think about what I could do with 800 and change my mind. Upgrading The Processor
As pointed out in the comments - it's also possible to upgrade the processor, here is one of the many videos on how to do it. n','url':'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJX5YQY_4LI','width':854,'height':480,'providerName':'YouTube','thumbnailUrl':'https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wJX5YQY_4LI/hqdefault.jpg','resolvedBy':'youtube'' Apple Vs Windows Pros And Cons Summary
There's not doubt that investment is a Mac Pro 6,1 is not cheap and if nothing else, whilst it goes against all our normal advice when buying a computer, it may pay to get the extra memory and storage when you order one from Apple. Memory Upgrade For Mac Pro 2013
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Maximizing your 2013 Mac Pro until the 2018 version shows.
Posted April 7th, 2017 by rob-ART morgan, mad scientist
By now you must have heard that Apple lifted the curtain on the future of the Mac Pro. Very encouraging. But what can do you do in the meantime to boost the performance of the 2013 Mac Pro 'Turbo Tube' you have now?
UPGRADES FOR THE 2013 MAC PRO 'TURBO TUBE'
Memory - If you ordered your Mac Pro with 12 or 16GB of RAM, you can't buy any more from Apple. But you can buy memory expansion from TransIntl.com and MacSales.com. Plus it is easy to install. No tools required.
Storage - If you ordered your Mac Pro with 256 or 512GB flash storage, you may have run out of space long ago. You can't just buy a generic M.2 flash blade to replace it. And Apple's flash blades are proprietary in more ways than just the connector. But there is hope. TransIntl.com offers the Super Blade that is fully compatible including TRIM support. Though not quite as fast as the factory blades, MacSales.com has the Aura SSD for Mac Pro in capacities up to 4TB. Installation is a snap, though you need a T8 Torx bit for your screw driver to remove the T8 Torx screw.
Need even more storage capacity? There are many external options for the six Thunderbolt 2 ports. My favorite 'mad science' experiment was attaching three striped LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2 enclosures on three separate Thunderbolt 2 buses to attain 3740MB/s. One the other end of the scale, the 719MB/S AKiTiO Palm RAID bus-powered Thunderbolt drive is perfect for 'sneaker net' as is the 374MB/S Angelbird SSD2go PKT bus-powered USB3 drive.
CPU - Did you get the 4-core or 6-core but but found your pro apps crave 8, 10, or 12-cores? MacSales.com has you covered with processor upgrades. They even have a Turnkey Processor Upgrade Program so you don't have to get into the guts of your Mac Pro.
GPU - One key reason Apple is re-thinking the Mac Pro is because of the 2013 Cylinder's achilles heel: two mid-level GPUs that were proprietary, non-user serviceable, and non-upgradeable. Even if Apple wanted to upgrade them, the Mac Pro's design created a wattage ceiling.
Even though you can't upgrade the two internal FirePro GPUs, you can now attach an external PCie expansion box (eGPU). As I write this article on our 2013 Mac Pro 8-core, I have an AKiTiO Node eGFX Box with a TITAN X GPU connected to one of the Thunderbolt 2 ports. There is a website (egpu.io) dedicated to telling about the eGPUs available and how to make them work with your Mac. Other eGPUs we've tested with the 2013 Mac Pro include the BizonBOX and Sonnet Breakaway (coming soon).
An eGPU is not a perfect solution with its limited bandwidth and the fact that some apps ignore it. And even when apps don't ignore it, they don't always gain from its existence if they are CPU bound. But it is a way to provide a serious boost in speed to certain CUDA capable, GPU intensive apps like Blender, Octane Render and DaVinci Resolve (Noise Reduction). And NVIDIA GPUs like the GTX 980 Ti run games like Tomb Raider much faster than the built-in AMD FirePros.
FLASH: This was posted yesterday on NVIDIA's site: 'NVIDIA recognizes the desire Mac users have for the greatest functionality and highest performance. Next week, well be posting a new driver that enables Pascal-based graphics cards and allows these users to have a significant increase in both.' We have a GTX 1080 in our inventory that we would love to see humming along connected to our Mac Pro.
OTHER - I am using the black Logitech Illuminated (backlit) K740 keyboard and black Razer DiamondBack mouse as I write this article. Display is the black LG UltraFine 5K Display. These accessories fit well with the Mac Pro's black machined, polished, aluminum enclosure.
UPGRADES FOR THE 2009-2012 MAC PRO TOWER
We have published many articles featuring CPU, GPU, memory, and storage upgrades for the Mac Pro tower. My personal tower is a 2010 Mac Pro with a 3.33GHz 12-core CPU tray, 96GB of RAM, GeForce GTX 980 Ti GPU, 1500MB/s PCie 512G flash storage boot volume, 5900MB/s PCIe flash 2TB RAID storage scratch volume, MCE 12X Blu-ray Recordable Drive (replacing the Super Drive), Razer Black Widow X Chroma mechanical backlit keyboard, and Razer Naga Molten mouse.
We'll catalog some of our favorite tower upgrades in a follow-up article. Suffice to say that there are many options to keep your Mac Pro tower cooking until Apple serves up the next Mac Pro.
Comments? Suggestions? Feel free to email me,
Follow me on Twitter @barefeats
WHERE TO BUY MACS and OTHER APPLE products:
USA readers can help us earn a commission by using this Apple Store USA link or by clicking on any Apple display ad.
Live outside the USA? No problem. We are affiliated with these Apple Stores:
OTHER SOURCES FOR MACS
PowerMax not only sells new and used Macs, but will give you a generous trade-in offer on your old Mac.
Other World Computing has a Used Mac Store.
WHERE TO BUY FACTORY REFURBISHED MACS
Apple Store USA has refurbished Macs with 12 month warranty.
Has Bare Feats helped you? How about helping Bare Feats?
copyright 2017 Rob Art Morgan
'BARE facts on Macintosh speed FEATS'
FEEDBACK or QUESTIONS?
INDEX of
recent articles
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All of the above concerns were true, when the Mac Pro 6,1 shipped in late 2013 you buyers were given the option of having the drive and memory installed before it shipped or live with what you've got.
Can I upgrade RAM on late 2013 retina Mac Book Pro? Ask Question Asked 6 years, 2 months ago. Active 4 years, 10 months ago. Viewed 138k times 15. Do the late 2013 models (13' - (ME864, ME865, ME866), 15' - (ME293, ME294)) support RAM upgrades? Upgrade macbook-pro memory. Apple continues to offer the Mac Pro 'Twelve Core' 2.7 as a custom configuration, but it now is available as a US$2000 upgrade for the Mac Pro 'Six Core' 3.5 and a US$1200 upgrade for the Mac Pro 'Eight Core' 3.0. Precisely, Intel documents each of these four processors accordingly. Mac Pro 2013 Upgrade Cpu
There's no disputing the power of the Mac Pro 6,1, especially when running software that has been optimised to take advantage of the power but being stuck with the factory options can be a pain as you consider a long term investment.
However over time more and more 3rd party manufacturers have found ways to allow owners of the Mac Pro 6.1 Late 2013 to upgrade parts. One caveat is that it still remains far more costly than other alternatives either on an older Mac or a Windows PC. Upgrading Memory
RAM Memory upgrades are available from 3rd parties, for example 16gb of memory from Crucial is around 100. However the downside is that many Mac Pro 6,1 shipped with 4 modules making up the 16gb of memory so any thoughts of adding a single stick of 16gb RAM to double your memory are dead in the water, Crucial actually state 'Installation of 16GB modules requires all previous lower density modules to be removed. You cannot mix Registered and Unbuffered memory in the same system' So it you want 32gb of RAM in your Mac Pro then you need to buy 32gb and start from scratch. Upgrading The Internal Flash Storage
If upgrading the RAM is making your eyes water then you may want to stop reading if you are thinking about upgrading the internal Flash Storage. My Mac Pro shipped with a 256gb internal flash storage. For a long time upgrading this was out of the question, now there are companies such as OWC and Create Pro who offer a solution. However the OWC options are 800 for 1TB and 1200 for 2TB. The kit also includes a case to use for the drive you are pulling out, but that's still a lot of money.
I took a different route and purchased a Drobo Mini Drive, which I put Crucial SSDs into, which can grow with your needs. It connects by either USB3 or Thunderbolt and I use that for all my day-to-day storage. The only thing my internal drive is for is OS and Applications. This also means I can take all my documents with me when I move around.
I've been tempted a couple of times to get the internal solution but then I think about what I could do with 800 and change my mind. Upgrading The Processor
As pointed out in the comments - it's also possible to upgrade the processor, here is one of the many videos on how to do it. n','url':'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJX5YQY_4LI','width':854,'height':480,'providerName':'YouTube','thumbnailUrl':'https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wJX5YQY_4LI/hqdefault.jpg','resolvedBy':'youtube'' Apple Vs Windows Pros And Cons Summary
There's not doubt that investment is a Mac Pro 6,1 is not cheap and if nothing else, whilst it goes against all our normal advice when buying a computer, it may pay to get the extra memory and storage when you order one from Apple. Memory Upgrade For Mac Pro 2013
Has Bare Feats helped you? How about donating to Bare Feats?
feed
Maximizing your 2013 Mac Pro until the 2018 version shows.
Posted April 7th, 2017 by rob-ART morgan, mad scientist
By now you must have heard that Apple lifted the curtain on the future of the Mac Pro. Very encouraging. But what can do you do in the meantime to boost the performance of the 2013 Mac Pro 'Turbo Tube' you have now?
UPGRADES FOR THE 2013 MAC PRO 'TURBO TUBE'
Memory - If you ordered your Mac Pro with 12 or 16GB of RAM, you can't buy any more from Apple. But you can buy memory expansion from TransIntl.com and MacSales.com. Plus it is easy to install. No tools required.
Storage - If you ordered your Mac Pro with 256 or 512GB flash storage, you may have run out of space long ago. You can't just buy a generic M.2 flash blade to replace it. And Apple's flash blades are proprietary in more ways than just the connector. But there is hope. TransIntl.com offers the Super Blade that is fully compatible including TRIM support. Though not quite as fast as the factory blades, MacSales.com has the Aura SSD for Mac Pro in capacities up to 4TB. Installation is a snap, though you need a T8 Torx bit for your screw driver to remove the T8 Torx screw.
Need even more storage capacity? There are many external options for the six Thunderbolt 2 ports. My favorite 'mad science' experiment was attaching three striped LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2 enclosures on three separate Thunderbolt 2 buses to attain 3740MB/s. One the other end of the scale, the 719MB/S AKiTiO Palm RAID bus-powered Thunderbolt drive is perfect for 'sneaker net' as is the 374MB/S Angelbird SSD2go PKT bus-powered USB3 drive.
CPU - Did you get the 4-core or 6-core but but found your pro apps crave 8, 10, or 12-cores? MacSales.com has you covered with processor upgrades. They even have a Turnkey Processor Upgrade Program so you don't have to get into the guts of your Mac Pro.
GPU - One key reason Apple is re-thinking the Mac Pro is because of the 2013 Cylinder's achilles heel: two mid-level GPUs that were proprietary, non-user serviceable, and non-upgradeable. Even if Apple wanted to upgrade them, the Mac Pro's design created a wattage ceiling.
Even though you can't upgrade the two internal FirePro GPUs, you can now attach an external PCie expansion box (eGPU). As I write this article on our 2013 Mac Pro 8-core, I have an AKiTiO Node eGFX Box with a TITAN X GPU connected to one of the Thunderbolt 2 ports. There is a website (egpu.io) dedicated to telling about the eGPUs available and how to make them work with your Mac. Other eGPUs we've tested with the 2013 Mac Pro include the BizonBOX and Sonnet Breakaway (coming soon).
An eGPU is not a perfect solution with its limited bandwidth and the fact that some apps ignore it. And even when apps don't ignore it, they don't always gain from its existence if they are CPU bound. But it is a way to provide a serious boost in speed to certain CUDA capable, GPU intensive apps like Blender, Octane Render and DaVinci Resolve (Noise Reduction). And NVIDIA GPUs like the GTX 980 Ti run games like Tomb Raider much faster than the built-in AMD FirePros.
FLASH: This was posted yesterday on NVIDIA's site: 'NVIDIA recognizes the desire Mac users have for the greatest functionality and highest performance. Next week, well be posting a new driver that enables Pascal-based graphics cards and allows these users to have a significant increase in both.' We have a GTX 1080 in our inventory that we would love to see humming along connected to our Mac Pro.
OTHER - I am using the black Logitech Illuminated (backlit) K740 keyboard and black Razer DiamondBack mouse as I write this article. Display is the black LG UltraFine 5K Display. These accessories fit well with the Mac Pro's black machined, polished, aluminum enclosure.
UPGRADES FOR THE 2009-2012 MAC PRO TOWER
We have published many articles featuring CPU, GPU, memory, and storage upgrades for the Mac Pro tower. My personal tower is a 2010 Mac Pro with a 3.33GHz 12-core CPU tray, 96GB of RAM, GeForce GTX 980 Ti GPU, 1500MB/s PCie 512G flash storage boot volume, 5900MB/s PCIe flash 2TB RAID storage scratch volume, MCE 12X Blu-ray Recordable Drive (replacing the Super Drive), Razer Black Widow X Chroma mechanical backlit keyboard, and Razer Naga Molten mouse.
We'll catalog some of our favorite tower upgrades in a follow-up article. Suffice to say that there are many options to keep your Mac Pro tower cooking until Apple serves up the next Mac Pro.
Comments? Suggestions? Feel free to email me,
Follow me on Twitter @barefeats
WHERE TO BUY MACS and OTHER APPLE products:
USA readers can help us earn a commission by using this Apple Store USA link or by clicking on any Apple display ad.
Live outside the USA? No problem. We are affiliated with these Apple Stores:
OTHER SOURCES FOR MACS
PowerMax not only sells new and used Macs, but will give you a generous trade-in offer on your old Mac.
Other World Computing has a Used Mac Store.
WHERE TO BUY FACTORY REFURBISHED MACS
Apple Store USA has refurbished Macs with 12 month warranty.
Has Bare Feats helped you? How about helping Bare Feats?
copyright 2017 Rob Art Morgan
'BARE facts on Macintosh speed FEATS'
FEEDBACK or QUESTIONS?
INDEX of
recent articles
or...
index, sitemap, advanced
