i don't think anyone is getting this for gaming, some might game on it a little but there not buying it for that reason.
Anyone getting the new Mac Pro for gaming? Will it be able to play games well?
I am an unapologetic mac whore who loves blowing money on high end macs. I never do pro work but I just love Macs and I love gaming, so there you have it. So yes, some people will buy this for gaming.
Lol, I love Macs as well. That's part of what's deterring me from building a stand-alone Windows gaming rig. Despite the form, the new Mac Pro is sure to be a powerhouse. I hate it when people make it seem like getting a Mac Pro for gaming is such a bad idea. These machine sure do have targeted demographics, but what matters is it's your money buying it, therefore how you utilize it is your prerogative.
But that will likely be 2 grand just for the graphics cards, plus any mark-up for getting the "FirePro" label, plus CPU cost, expensive PCI SSD and ECC RAM, etc, etc, etc.
The FirePro S10000 (the most likely candidate given Apple's presentation) goes for $3,100 on Newegg. No way that can be the base video card, at that price. It'll depend on if the lower GPU option is a low-end FirePro (my prediction) or a Radeon.
In any case, I have a separate gaming PC. I can't imagine it any other way; price/performance-wise, it can't be beat. (It also hangs up a lot if I leave it running and isn't as pretty, but that's what my Mac is for )
The FirePro S10000 (the most likely candidate given Apple's presentation) goes for $3,100 on Newegg. No way that can be the base video card, at that price. It'll depend on if the lower GPU option is a low-end FirePro (my prediction) or a Radeon.
In any case, I have a separate gaming PC. I can't imagine it any other way; price/performance-wise, it can't be beat. (It also hangs up a lot if I leave it running and isn't as pretty, but that's what my Mac is for )
I have a 2010 Mac Pro with a 7970 and dual 30's for gaming. I am an unapologetic mac whore who loves blowing money on high end macs. I never do pro work but I just love Macs
Lol, I love Macs as well. That's part of what's deterring me from building a stand-alone Windows gaming rig. Despite the form, the new Mac Pro is sure to be a powerhouse. I hate it when people make it seem like getting a Mac Pro for gaming is such a bad idea. These machine sure do have targeted demographics, but what matters is it's your money buying it, therefore how you utilize it is your prerogative.
Actually, tomshardware did ask (and answer) this question - though from the Windows perspective:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/workstation-graphics-card-gaming,3425.html
Quote from the article:
"Case in point: The FirePro W9000 nearly manages to keep up with AMD's Radeon HD 7970."
Basically one W9000 is actually slightly slower than a GTX680. So it depends a lot on how well Apple implements it's dual GPU optimizations. And I don't even want to think about micro stuttering problems on the Mac Pro with dual GPUs. Even in the windows drivers (which see much more optimization than the OS X drivers) dual GPU gaming has its issues.
Basically a W9000 should be equal to a HD7970 performance wise. The benefit of a dual GPU config depends a lot on the GPU driver optimizations.
Actually, tomshardware did ask (and answer) this question - though from the Windows perspective:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/workstation-graphics-card-gaming,3425.html
Quote from the article:
"Case in point: The FirePro W9000 nearly manages to keep up with AMD's Radeon HD 7970."
Basically one W9000 is actually slightly slower than a GTX680. So it depends a lot on how well Apple implements it's dual GPU optimizations. And I don't even want to think about micro stuttering problems on the Mac Pro with dual GPUs. Even in the windows drivers (which see much more optimization than the OS X drivers) dual GPU gaming has its issues.
Basically a W9000 should be equal to a HD7970 performance wise. The benefit of a dual GPU config depends a lot on the GPU driver optimizations.
The problem with PC is that they are too much work.
I consider myself pretty tech-savvy, I work with web development and use the computer every day. But man has my gaming PC that I built brought me heaps of trouble!
Mac is just so much cleaner and easier. It makes it more of a joy to use the computer. And if you want to have non-mobile GPU's, the Mac Pro is the only way to go (or use external GPU via TB/TB2). So I understand the want for getting a Mac Pro with non-professional GPUs!
I think they will offer some kind of non "workstation" gpu configuration, maybe even a low end version with just one gpu. They put much R&D into this machine, so it makes sense to market it to a wider audience.
A critical point will be if we will be able to upgrade these gpus. I use my Mac Pro for work and gaming, replacing the 5870 with a GTX670 gave this machine many more years of 2560x1440 ultra settings pleasure.