Best New Mac Pro Configuration

[Eleggua]

I'm thinking about getting a new Mac computer. I've got an older iMac, but would like something a bit more powerful.

So, the Mac Pro (garbage can - lol) is my next step.

Wondering what you folks think is the best configuration. How many cores. I can get 4, 6, 8 or 12.

As you go up in cores, the speed of the processor seems to drop some.

I am doing pretty much only audio, not much video.

How many cores would be most advantageous?

Thanks

[twinstates]

I just looked at them, as was thinking about getting a new machine.

The price is CRAZY.

What about a hackintosh. If they were a couple of grand it would be doable but for a decent number of cores it's insane money, plus (i might be wrong here) no pci graphics cards so no good for video or 3d work...

I think I am going to use the lifehacker guide and build one...

[beats me]

so no good for video or 3d work...

Yes, nobody is using Mac Pros for video or 3d work.

[dewaldo]

it is a lot of bones but i am absolutely in love with mine... i got this one from BHphotovideo (no sales tax for CA customers) after much research into the different components. 6 cores is the best mix of core count and processor speed. the key to bringing the price down a little was getting the lowest level graphics card (which on the mac site is only available if you start from the 4 core model and then move up to 6 core from the next page, really weird).

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1 ... puter.html
3.5 GHz Intel Xeon E5 Six-Core
16GB of 1866 MHz DDR3 ECC RAMpeed
1TB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Dual AMD FirePro D500 GPUs (2 x 3GB)

the things screams. never have to worry about buffering, latency, freezing, you name it

[studiojohnny]

You want the 12 core.