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  3. New Mac Pros announced...

  • New Mac Pros announced...

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    Shipping supposedly in August. 12 core 2.93 Ghz is the top configuration. Faster graphics. Not too many other surprises. No USB 3.0, no SATA 3.0, no Blu-Ray, no faster FW, no 10 Gb/s ethernet. Maximum memory is 32 Gb (although companies like OWC are selling 64 Gb kits for the 2009 Macs, so maybe that would be possible for these new ones, too). I didn't see any mention of whether the memory was triple channel or not. 512 Gb SSD drives are an option. Didn't see a price on those, though.

    Would love to see VSL people weigh in with their opinions of these new machines.
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    Lee,

    I would love to be able to afford a new MacPro, but I think the reality is I will be building a Win7 machine (as VEPro slave).

    The ram appears to NOT be triple channel -- still 8 slots, by pairs.

    I like that Apple is offering a wide choice of BTO options of single/dual processors, and 4 and 6 cores. 

    But it comes at a price. The bare-bones 12-core is $5000. Eeks. + ram, + hard drives

    For half that, one could build a fast dual 4-core with 24gb ram and 4tb of storage, USB3, SATA 3, Blu-Ray, etc. and basically get anything you wanted... except it's not a mac.

    But the build quality of the macpro can't be argued. It is a very high quality product at a premium price.

    I wish I could simply just spec one and take one home. But i may have to build my own. Are you building a Win7 box soon? Have you selected a mobo?

    Thx

    J
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    Hi Jeremy,

    Well, I run Logic and use MH interfaces, so I will be buying at least one of the fastest 12 core Macs as my main machine. My dream would be to just be able to run with a single machine (rather than the 6 aging computers I'm now using). I think it would also be nice to have mostly SSDs, but that's probably going to be too expensive.

    I'm disappointed about the 32 Gb RAM limit, although maybe that's just because 8 Gb DDR3 1333 sticks are not yet widely available.

    I also wonder if in these new Mac Pros, running 24GB of memory would be faster that 32Gb (as it apparently was for the early 2009 machines).

    If it was powerful enough, I think a single machine system would be a dream.

    If I do need additional power, I would strongly consider building another PC. That EVGA SR-2 board looks interesting, but you'd sure need a big case for it.
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     The RAM on both the current and new Macs is triple channel, as long as you don't use more than 6 slots.

    DG
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    Good to know. I notice the RAM on the new, higher-end machines is DDR3 1333 now. Do you think that 24Gb is the best way to go? Also, any opinion on whether 8Gb sticks will be practical? I'm thinking that maybe Apple didn't make that an option because there aren't many DDR3 1333 8Gb stick options out there yet.
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    @Lee Blaske said:

    Good to know. I notice the RAM on the new, higher-end machines is DDR3 1333 now. Do you think that 24Gb is the best way to go? Also, any opinion on whether 8Gb sticks will be practical? I'm thinking that maybe Apple didn't make that an option because there aren't many DDR3 1333 8Gb stick options out there yet.

     

     Does the RAM actually work at 1333? It always should have done for 3 slots, but if you use 6 it would go down to 1066 anyway.

    DG
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    @jeremyroberts said:

    But it comes at a price. The bare-bones 12-core is $5000. Eeks. + ram, + hard drives

    For half that, one could build a fast dual 4-core with 24gb ram and 4tb of storage, USB3, SATA 3, Blu-Ray, etc. and basically get anything you wanted... except it's not a mac.

    Well, of course you can build a quad for way cheaper than a 12 core machine, that's because the six core xeons are really expensive regardless of platform.  If you spec a 12 core machine from any of the PC companies it will probably be in the same ballpark if not more.

    Personally I find the update disappointing, other than the 6 and 12 core options there's not much of an improvement to the base models at all.  And the price went up on the eight core by $200 without adding much to that model.  And the quad is again a terrible deal compared to the i7 options on the PC (and hackintosh) side.
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    Well, if you look at this page...

    http://www.apple.com/macpro/specs.html

    They specify 1333 Mhz memory for the 2.66 and 2.93 dual CPU hex machines.

    If when using 6 sticks it wouldn't run at that speed, though, it would be a waste of money.
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    @mike connelly said:

    Well, of course you can build a quad for way cheaper than a 12 core machine, that's because the six core xeons are really expensive regardless of platform.

    Yes, the 2.93Ghz six core Westmere chips are $1,495 ea. at NewEgg at the moment. So, that's about $3k in processor chips right off the bat.
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    the update is very disappointing. the basic model just a tad faster, but not really a difference... 3GB Ram standard??? give me a break!!! that is ridiculous...

    the only thing apple did well concerning this update is that airport is now built in by default... it was about time...

    if you only have money for a quad, you better go for the imac... more bang for the buck there...