Tons of folks are using old mac pros, they are solid machines that can take a beating.

The only better CPU you can put in is 3.46GHz so that investment will not yield enough of a performance boost There is lots of info at other sites that go into the nitty gritty of that if you need the details. This means if that mac pro doesn't already have latest version of HS (10.13.4) on it then you need an Mac EFI GPU to get High Sierra. 5,1 model (mid 2012's fall in that category) have that FW natively but if you want to continue updating High Sierra OS there is another new firmware version that will require an Apple GPU like the GT 120. You will need an OEM Apple GPU if you need to update firmware. Install a SSD (cost dependent on storage size) for OS, a and 2nd and or 3rd SSD for sessions and samples if that fits your needs and methods.

If you are still interested and buying used, find one for under $500 and put in USB 3.0 PCIe card (under $50), as much ram as you can afford and fit in the machine ($200-400), likely 48 or 64 GB on single processor or double that for dual processor.

You will need to decide what is a better situation for yourself Then you're looking at hacks and patches to get to latest OS and things of that nature. If you need to be more prepared for future upgrades then the Mac pro mid 2012 will likely only be supported by Apple another year. So it made sense for me to upgrade my old machine rather than buy a new one. I did this professionally for a few years when I was younger so I like having all the newest stuff but in my world as long as I am enjoying my time doing music and audio and not spending more of my time trying to fix bugs, find out what is compatible, doing hacks for upgrades, etc.I just want it to do what I want it to do. I am using a early 2009 model and it does all I need it to do! Specs in my sign for referenceĪnd that should be the question you ask yourself, does it actually meet your needs? I am more of a serious enthusiast/hobby kind of guy at this point in my life.

2012 apple mac pro xeon 6 core 3.33 ghz