# Advice Wanted: Selling/Upgrading Mac Pro (late) 2013.



## RRBE Sound (Aug 7, 2018)

Hi all! 

So last year I bought a used Mac Pro (Late) 2013 model for a great price, and I have been very happy with it.

These are the specs: 

32GB RAM

4-Core Xeon 3.7Ghz processor
4GB Dual AMD Fire Pro D300 2GB video cards
256GB Apple SSD
However, I am now considering this: upgrading my Mac Pro with 8 or 12 cores, 64 GB RAM and 2 TB SSD. For the parts I have been looking at this upgrade will be approx. $1611.

The second option I am considering is to sell my Mac Pro, while I might still be able to get a reasonable price for it, and then buy an iMac (not the iMac Pro, as I can not afford this model). Optimistic I might be able to get $2330 for it. And in Denmark, a new base iMac 5K is approx. $2170, and then I would need to upgrade the RAM (+$200), so around $2370. And this is not checking the used market.

I know that I might be giving up great hardware for something less good, but I will also be getting 5 years newer hardware. 

So the advice I am seeking is whether any of you have been in the same situation and opted for the upgrade or selling...? Or what? 

Thanks in advance! 

All the best
Rune


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## Jeremy Spencer (Aug 7, 2018)

RRBE Sound said:


> I have been very happy with it




Do you feel an itch to upgrade, or do you feel you actually NEED the upgrade? If it's a necessity, I would personally hold out and see what happens with the new Mac Pro's that are rumoured for release in the next year or so. You could probably pick up a newer Mac Pro from people selling them for the brand new models.


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## Symfoniq (Aug 7, 2018)

Wolfie2112 said:


> You could probably pick up a newer Mac Pro from people selling them for the brand new models.



Sadly, his 2013 _is_ the newest Mac Pro.


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## Prockamanisc (Aug 7, 2018)

The thing with Mac Pros, is that "new" isn't really the issue with them- they're built to last, and if you are getting the performance out of it that you need, then don't bother upgrading. I would definitely wait and see what the new Mac Pros are gonna do, at the very least.

FYI, I bought a 2013 Mac Pro (6-core, 64gb ram, 512gb ssd) for $2200.


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## Bear Market (Aug 7, 2018)

Hi my Scandinavian amigo!

I was in a similar position a few months ago. I had a 4-core trash can with 32 gbs of ram. My primary issue was with the cpu, as heavy projects tended to overload it on a regular basis. (I should perhaps mention that I use Logic. My cpu performance was much, much worse on Cubase) 

I went for the upgrade route. I got my hands on a pre-owned Xeon 8-core and even though the single core speed is slightly lower than on the quad-core, I have experienced a remarkable performance improvement. Projects that would easily overload the old quad-core runs like a charm on the new processor. I'm yet to even come close to straining it. 

The pre-owned Xeon 8-core cpu together with a new set of DDR3 16 gb ECC ram set me back around USD 700. That's including the installation of the new processor (which I didn't dare to attempt on my own). I've not for a second regretted the decision to upgrade. Everything just works and I don't have to mess around with freeze tracks or printing certain tracks to audio.


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## galactic orange (Aug 7, 2018)

If you’re thinking of going the iMac route, consider waiting a couple more months for likely newer models with faster processors (6-core) or pick up an “older” 2017 iMac even cheaper if their prices drop... unless Apple makes the RAM not easily upgradable by the user like they did with the iMac Pro!

If I had your system, I’d go the upgrade route. In fact, if I found a good deal on a system with your exact specs I’d buy it today. Unfortunately those deals seem very few and far between where I live.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Aug 7, 2018)

Symfoniq said:


> Sadly, his 2013 _is_ the newest Mac Pro.



Errrr, no it isn’t. He has the first generation of the trash can, there have been upgrades since. The “new and improved” model is rumoured to be introduced sometime over the next year.


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## Symfoniq (Aug 7, 2018)

Wolfie2112 said:


> Errrr, no it isn’t. He has the first generation of the trash can, there have been upgrades since. The “new and improved” model is rumoured to be introduced sometime over the next year.



This is incorrect. The Mac Pro 6,1 was released in 2013, and has never been updated. Apple bumped the configuration price points down last year, but none of the hardware was changed.

See: https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_pro/index-macpro.html


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## Jeremy Spencer (Aug 7, 2018)

My bad, I thought there were some improvements made to the trash can, but it looks like that wasn't the case at all.


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## Symfoniq (Aug 7, 2018)

Wolfie2112 said:


> My bad, I thought there were some improvements made to the trash can, but it looks like that wasn't the case at all.



No worries. I remember when it was inconceivable that Apple would go 5 years without updating a Mac.

I'm really hoping they hit the 2019 Mac Pro out of the ballpark. And then keep updating it.


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## RRBE Sound (Aug 9, 2018)

Hey! - Thank you all for your great replies! 

I am considering the upgrade route. - Also as I do realize that the machine still has some years of working if I pump the RAM and CPU. Also if/when a new iMac comes out, it will properly cost more than what my current budget can do...

However, the CPU's I have found seems to be somewhat expensive..?


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## Bear Market (Aug 9, 2018)

RRBE Sound said:


> However, the CPU's I have found seems to be somewhat expensive..?



Where are you looking? I got mine from here: https://www.ebay.com/sch/CPUs-Processors/164/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=&_ssn=mac-factory


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## samphony (Aug 9, 2018)

I paid 500€ for a used 12 core Xeon plus shipping from Los Angeles. Upgrade was done in about 30min. The performance improvements from 6 to 12 were huge to me.


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## RRBE Sound (Aug 15, 2018)

Oh waou! - Well I will be searching for one! :D 

Thanks everyone! - Great help


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