Mac Pro 6,1 (2013) in 2021?

[Zeebedy]

Hey guys,

I’m just reading around, how would this stack up against a M1 mini in 2021? Just weighing up my options in case of some of the horror stories from the early M1 chips continue to persist for a fair period of time..

can pick up in similar price bracket to my 16gb mini on order, plus I must say I love the “trash can” engineering too.

 

[MagicBoy]

It's an Ivy Bridge Xeon from 2013, with a pair of AMD Radeon 7xxx cards from the era for OpenCL grunt. So probably not so well.

What are the horror stories with the M1? I'm not aware of any issues.

 

[Zeebedy]

It's an Ivy Bridge Xeon from 2013, with a pair of AMD Radeon 7xxx cards from the era for OpenCL grunt. So probably not so well.

What are the horror stories with the M1? I'm not aware of any issues.

yeah, just looking at YouTube on them atm

I’m probably playing up the problems more than they are tbh..but, the monitor when sleep, Bluetooth connectivity and the RAM / SSD swap..

 

[MagicBoy]

I'm sure they'll fix the monitor and bluetooth issues if they have't already. Some of it's Big Sur related not the hardware.

The longer answer on MP6,1 vs M1 is ... it depends on your usage.

I've never been convinced the trashcan was a good buy. Even in 2013. CPU to CPU the M1 likely matches the 8 core version, and that was the expensive one. Trashcan will take more RAM, and is a beast if your app supports OpenCL. The cheaper kit from 2013 would thump it in certain applications - eg Final Cut Pro as the Mac Mini quad, MacBook Pros and iMacs had Quicksync for video transcoding where the workstation Xeons in the Mac Pro doesn't as there's no iGPU.

 

[Spleen Sauce]

Having owned the MP6,1 I can absolutely tell you it's not worth it. It doesn't perform anywhere near as well as you'd hope in something that was so expensive back in the day. It actually forced me to move away from the Mac back to Windows back then. I've since returned and have an M1 MBA - and I can tell you that there's no way I'd be swapping even that for the old Mac Pro.

 

[Feek]

The trash can Mac Pro was just that - Garbage! I'd much rather have an M1 based Mac now. The Bluetooth issues have been fixed with a Big Sur update and if you get 16Gb RAM then it seems that there is no real problem with the SSD. I'd even suggest that with 8Gb RAM, there isn't really a problem as I'm sure I saw a post on Macrumors where someone had calculated that the SSD would last something like 32 years, even at the higher data rate.

 

[Zeebedy]

Thanks for the replies guys!

think if most of the issues have been resolved I will give the mini a good go when it’s here on Monday!

And will update accordingly.

 

[fez]

If the M1 macs are killing thier SSDs in record time there will be some kind of recall program. Apple are pretty good a denying a problem for a long time but they usually accept that they need to make good on a flaw of their own making.

 

[Zeebedy]

If the M1 macs are killing thier SSDs in record time there will be some kind of recall program. Apple are pretty good a denying a problem for a long time but they usually accept that they need to make good on a flaw of their own making.

yeah, good point fez, hopefully won’t come to that though..

 

[MagicBoy]

Could be the stats are miscounted?

SSD wear isn't usually a problem for Apple. My 7 year old retina 15" which was my daily until a couple of weeks ago is still showing 94% life left. It's had a fair hammering with VMs in that time, and ran a Boot Camp Windows 7.

 

[233]

If the M1 isn’t for you what about a 12 core 5.1?

got 2 here that I absolutely refuse to part with gpu wise they are easy upgraded although if your software is cpu bound it could be a problem

 

[Zeebedy]

If the M1 isn’t for you what about a 12 core 5.1?

got 2 here that I absolutely refuse to part with gpu wise they are easy upgraded although if your software is cpu bound it could be a problem

yeah, my concern there (also a bit with the trash can) is software support, e.g. future renditions of macOS?

 

[Zeebedy]

Must say though, having a quick peek at 5,1 and are some pretty decked out machines on the bay!

 

[Feek]

I had a 5,1 which I bought from @Talbs13 and it was fantastic. The USB ports on the logic board were destroyed by a near lightning strike and so it was effectively trash. The insurance paid out and I still sold it for £500!

 

[Zeebedy]

@Feek

would you choose a decked out 5,1 or a M1 mini? How is upgrading the OS though on a 2009/2010?

 

[Feek]

M1 every time. The 5,1 was a beast in its time but won’t run Big Sur without serious hacking.

 

[Zeebedy]

Hmm, think I will give a miss then..

I would have considered a trash can, but

1. You said it isn’t great
2. Os upgrade path probably won’t be supported much longer

 

[233]

5.1 running big sur here

not at all difficult and plenty of step by
Step guides out there, whilst not as east as firing Catalina on (dosdude patcher thank you) it’s not out with the realms of anyone who is comfortable installing any other os


Got 2 5.1s myself one still on Catalina that is my work machine 12 core 3.33ghz 96gb or ram and a 5700xt and a 6 core 3.46 ghz with 48gb ram and a Vega 56 on sur as a pled server
both running ssds

both fully capable machines that handle anything I throw at them neither were cheap to put together but I prefer working in OS X to windows and love the 5.1 looks and definitely can’t justify a 7.1

 

[AyeAyeAhoy!]

What is it you're looking to use it for?