Mac Pro Upgrade Project (MacPro 4,1 circa 2009)
I just won a bid for a 2009 Mac Pro (Quad Core Xeon 2.66). I plan on making this my primary technology project for the summer. It’s got a few dents, dings and scratches on it, but I think I can clean/buff those out. It’s a pretty minimalistic machine as far as it goes, but because it’s an older Mac Pro there are MANY fairly inexpensive opportunities to upgrade this box to a workhorse media machine. This Mac Pro upgrade project should be quite an adventure.
Specs at Purchase
- Mac Pro 4,1 A1289
- Quad Core Xeon @ 2.66ghz
- 7 Gigs RAM
- 250 Gig HD
I’ll be performing some piecemeal repairs and upgrades to this machine as I learn about how these are designed. I’ve only seen the outside of one in person, never the inside. However some of the videos and reviews I’ve been watching sure makes some of the upgrades to appear fairly easy to handle. Again, I’m not a hardware guru, but I do get along quite well with knowing my cabling and specifications.
The biggest problem I foresee is the uncharted territory that I’m entering with a used (and although the description reads fully functional, I get paranoid) Mac Pro. Once the system is on my workbench I’ll be able to give a better analysis and overview.
Intended Upgrades (in order)
- Removing the stock nVidia 160 Video Card and replacing with my (already owned) EVGA GeForce GTX 760
- Replacing the Hard Drive with a 1TB SSD (maybe just a 500MB)
- Replacing the RAM with a 32 Gig kit.
I’ll be posting pics, videos and tutorials on this new project/journey in the coming months.
Thanks for visiting!