vga256

i suspect very few folks have had the pleasure of seeing the innards of a 2013 Mac Pro trashcan.

it is one of the most repairable macs i've ever dealt with (the only one better being the 2010 cheese grater). no glue. no hidden components. just remove about a dozen screws to get to the cpu.

it's built like a bmw or volkswagen engine. lots of small components, very delicate, but very high quality machining. it rewards patience and care.

pic 1: the outer case removed. the big prism hulk of metal at the centre is the heat sink. on each of its sides are the main components. nearest to the camera is the power supply board and external usb/power/ethernet ports.

pic2: the power supply removed. you can see the back side of the cpu. on the opposite sides, out of view, are two GPUs.

for $25 on aliexpress, i went from 4-cores to 12-cores with less energy consumption/heat. it's a xeon e5-2695v2.

used 2013 mac pros can be purchased for about $200 USD now. it's hard to think of anything with this build quality made now.

#macintosh #macos #apple

Jun 8 at 5:29pmWeb
Show threadbrendan (ジャンク品)1d ago
@vga256 i've wanted to pick one up for a while now...which gpus are the most reliable?
Show threadSn4ptr4n1d ago
@vga256 I still want one of those; I should make an effort at some point :P
Show threadwordsmith‽ ⁂1d ago
@vga256 That looks beautiful! They sure seemed to pack a lot in, from that component shot.
Show threadvga2561d ago
@wordsmith yes. it's incredibly dense - everything built around the heatsink. but modular and rational.
Show threadblturner1d ago
@vga256 Phil Schiller's ears tingling
Show threadbri1d ago
@vga256 i still have mine; it’s the last mac i bought. glad to know there are parts floating around, maybe i can make some use of it still. i’d forgotten how long ago that was… hate to think what i spent on that thing new 😬
Show threadvga2561d ago
@brhfl it's never been cheaper to upgrade!
Show threadGames That I Missed1d ago
@vga256 Someone at the MIT Swapfest last year had an entire table of these. I had no idea they were easily serviceable and upgradable, I'd have been more interested had I known.
Show threadvga2561d ago
@GamesMissed thankfully, there are only going to be more around over the next year or two as offices dump their machines. (and then they'll become collectables, as speculators drive up the prices sigh)
Show threadmirth1d ago
@vga256 Every day I am tempted. From a software compatibility perspective it's kind of a tragedy they never made a Haswell or newer version.
Show threadÖlbaum1d ago
@vga256 The PowerMacs G3 and G4 “pillow” were nice to service too: pull the latch and the side opens flat on the desk with the motherboard. Not as compact, though.
Show thread🇺🇦 haxadecimal 🚫👑23h ago
@vga256
The Macintosh II, IIx, IIcx, IIci, Quadra 900 seem more easily repairable to me. And, for that matter, the Macintosh XL.