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Sandy Bridge E Processors Suitable for Mac Pro Update Due November 15th?

MrCrowbar said:
But what do you need those Pro machines for if there's no more pro software to run on them?
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MrCrowbar, what are you going on about?

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chaosbunny said:
Hope so. Oh wait, I forgot that the iToys are the future of computing. 🙄
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I hear you. Can you believe some people think content creators are going to work on an iPad. And they say that cloud computing will allow it all to happen. Yeah, I want to work on a 5Gig file over the internet. People need to live in the present.
 
AppleDroid said:
And they're going to put 6/12 ram slots on them this time right? Right?
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Probably not since it should be quad channel. But I'd like to see at least 8 on all models, having four on the low end machine (one that's way way way overpriced for what you get) is a joke. Absolutely no reason to only have four on what's hyped as a "pro" machine, and I'm sure the cost savings is negligible.
 
R3k said:
Heart Rate > Moderate Increase 🙂

Also hoping those case re-design rumors pan out.





If that ever happened, then we could run windows.
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Or linux. Mine spends about half its time in Debian anyway (my tesla doesn't work in OSX)
 
EiriasEmrys said:
Lets talk about:

Adobe anything (Master Suite)
Final Cut Pro 7
Motion 5
Maya 2011
Blender
Cinema 4D
ProTools
Logic Pro
DaVinci Resolve
AutoCad
Flame

AND (Most importantly):

StarCraft II
Diablo III
Portal II
Microsoft Word
Click to expand...

tmroper said:
Plus:
Avid Media Composer
Autodesk Smoke
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And:

Nuke
ZBrush
Mudbox
Houdini
Modo
Shake (yes, people still use it)
3D Coat
Lightwave
Corel Painter
Terragen
RealFlow
Pixar’s RenderMan/PRman suite of tools
 
Maybe it's time to sell my 12core. 😱

I would love to see Apple bring a larger than 30" ACD with matte option to complement the new MacPro's.
Please!!!!!
 
EiriasEmrys said:
Lets talk about:

Adobe anything (Master Suite)
Final Cut Pro 7
Motion 5
Maya 2011
Blender
Cinema 4D
ProTools
Logic Pro
DaVinci Resolve
AutoCad
Flame

AND (Most importantly):

StarCraft II
Diablo III
Portal II
Microsoft Word
Click to expand...

The Upcoming Blender 2.6.x trunk series incorporates OpenCL compositing and a lot of other goodies that truly pushes it into the limelight.

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Doc/Projects

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Practically all the tools listed to explain the need for a Mac Pro have been hard at work making their suites build and release with LLVM/Clang Trunk.
 
mdriftmeyer said:
The Upcoming Blender 2.6.x trunk series incorporates OpenCL compositing and a lot of other goodies that truly pushes it into the limelight.

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Doc/Projects

----------

Practically all the tools listed to explain the need for a Mac Pro have been hard at work making their suites build and release with LLVM/Clang Trunk.
Click to expand...



mdrift,

what would be the best 3D app to learn on? I plan to just use if for AfterEffects. I have a 27" iMac 2010 model with 16 gigs of ram. I'd like to learn the best 3D app out there but realistically maybe i should start with one that doesn't have a steep learning curve. Any suggestions?


P.S. User interface in important to me. I do my best with intuitive applications. Frustration sets in otherwise.
 
Last edited:
My Credit Card is at the ready

I have a photo studio - and a large copy camera that makes 600MB images. Also wedding shoots with 2,000 images to edit in Adobe Camera Raw. More power and more speed, Please.

I have been waiting to order a new Mac Pro for many months. One of mine is a 2007 Intel Core Duo that cannot get updated to Lion. I hope that the new one has Thunderbolt - and that TB external bay prices drop drastically - soon. I'll try to start with 24GB of RAM and have an extra hour of free time every day ....No more spinning beach balls.
 
looks like the desktop versions of lag 2011 chipsets are scheduled for november. but servers still says jan of 2012 according to this wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_2011

but, maybe, if apple uses the Core i7 3820, the mac pro might drop below 2 grand and close to $1500, which is my budget territory (if i have any to begin with) to upgrade my mid2010 mbp to a quad core desktop cpu with hyper threading and current open cl capable gpu for fcp x work.

so what is the difference anyway between the xeons and the desktop versions? if both chips have similar speed, are the xeons just inherently faster? or have faster chipsets or something?

and lastly, how does xeon chips affect video editing work?
 
namethisfile said:
so what is the difference anyway between the xeons and the desktop versions? if both chips have similar speed, are the xeons just inherently faster? or have faster chipsets or something?

and lastly, how does xeon chips affect video editing work?
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There is no difference other than Xeons supporting dual CPU configs and ECC memory. On the other hand desktop versions can be overclocked and Xeons can't be. So basically desktop versions are the fastest ones if you can OC on windows but they can't be dual processor and ECC memory is of some use for servers, and of minimal use for workstations. My Mac Pro never gets corrected ECC errors.
 
EiriasEmrys said:
Lets talk about:

Adobe anything (Master Suite)
Final Cut Pro 7
Motion 5
Maya 2011
Blender
Cinema 4D
ProTools
Logic Pro
DaVinci Resolve
AutoCad
Flame

AND (Most importantly):

StarCraft II
Diablo III
Portal II
Microsoft Word
Click to expand...

So there is a software to run on Mac Pro. The real question though is whether Mac Pro is the right machine for this software. With FCP gone, what's left that is OS/X exclusive? If all (most) of this software may be used on PC (and some of it actually runs better on PC) would not PC be a better solution? On PC one can get Mac Pro performance for iMac price.
 
They probably make a lot fewer Xeon chips than the desktop chips. The Xeons are supposedly more robust for 24/7 operation, they have more robust communication and memory bandwidth. They are generally sold to enterprise users which tend to have higher budgets and require more dependability...so they cost a lot! Not sure if they truly are any more robust, but its been what i've been told.

In all honesty though, I think its pretty ridiculous how much they cost. I mean PowerPC chips weren't even close to those costs when they were state of the art. I think the high end mac pros topped out around $4000 years ago, so why all of a sudden are they $6000+?

I think part of the high cost is the chips, but also that Apple is proud to charge a premium. Read some article about Steve and the new guy, saying that Apple is happy to keep a high profit margin on its products. I guess that's why we never see price drops every few months like we used to see on the computers. Because anyone know if the 6 core Xeon chips have dropped in price over the past year...probably...so Apple is eating up that extra profit instead of cutting us a break.
 
I don't want to start a flame war or anything.

But maybe (just maybe) Apple is waiting on both Sandy Bridge E and Bulldozer (just began shipping for servers) to put them head to head and see which will deliver the desired performance.
That would be so great!

Aside from that I'm more inclined to wait for Ivy-bridge vs. Trinity
Next Year >: )
 
lilo777 said:
On PC one can get Mac Pro performance for iMac price.
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Well you can get close to Mac Pro performance but it's not really a Mac Pro. When building out a Mac Pro, be sure to put in all the comparable things a Mac Pro has including dual cpus (xeons not core) dual ethernet, 1000w power supply, 4 sata HDs + 2 optical bays, nice riser cards, all in a user serviceable, silent case. Go ahead, jump on newegg and you can hit that $4000 mark pretty quickly. A big part of it is the xeons. If you want a PC workstation that's comparable to a Mac Pro, HP's Z series comes closest but you'll find they're priced very similar.

And let's not forget about Mac OS X. It doesn't come free. When people price out windows vs mac, be sure to add on at least $300 because Apple is really subsidizing OS X development.
 
Desperately needed Mac Pro

Some of us need more power and upgradeability than an iMac.
It bothers me, as a real pro power user, that consumer iMacs and
MacBook Pros have more power and options than basic Mac Pros.
For example, iMacs have a 2GB video Card option and mac book pros come with 6g sata interfaces, whereas the mac pro is
Half That at only 3G...
I really need to upgrade my 12-core 2.66 2010 mac pro ASAP.
 
MacRumors said:
Several rumors had suggested that updated Mac Pro models might arrive in early August, despite that fact that no suitable processors were publicly known to be available for such a refresh. We noted last month that the rumored timeframe had come and gone without a release and reviewed Intel's roadmap that pegged suitable processors for a release during the fourth quarter of this year.

A November 15th launch for the processors certainly fits within that window, and opens the door for Apple to introduce new Mac Pros, which have been eagerly anticipated given that the line was last updated in July 2010.
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Considering that I, and other users have been hammering the forums, apparently to deaf ears, that with no new Xeon class processors from Intel, Apple has hardly any motivation to release any update of the Mac Pro. Apple surely does not plan on updating the Mac Pros till they can be tricked out with Thunderbolt, and that requires the Sandy Bridge chips.

However, unless Apple has literally everything else in the production pipeline primed to go, I am STILL not realistically expecting new Mac Pros before Q1 of 2012. Apple's focus is still on it's consumer/prosumer market, and the Mac Pro is just not a priority for them. I expect that the heavily rumored anticipated release of the iPhone 5 in October will claim the majority of Apple's attention. And seriously, when was the last time the Mac Pro got any marketin' luv from da Motha'Ship? Or media attention. Jus' sayin'.

So just wipe off your frothy mouths, dim your wild eyes, cool your credit cards and coax a little more life out of your existing machines, in my case an aging, if pampered, G5 tower, and embrace zen-like patience.

A more interesting question is will the next gen Mac Pros have USB3 - assuming Intel chooses to add the capability, and will they have Optical drives at all? It's pretty clear that optical media on death's row at Apple. As long as there are slots and connectivity options, just like blu-ray, if we want optical, Apple's answer will be to get an external or third party drive. If a new Mac Pro case has no optical drive bays, we'll certainly have our answer to THAT question.
 
I know I'm ready. My 2006 2.66 Original Mac Pro is due to be retired. It's taking me nearly 2 1/2 - 3 hours to compress a blu ray to a 720p AppleTV stream.
 
Don't do it!

DO NOT BUY THIS MACPRO REV!!! Wait just a few months for the Ivy Bridge chipset, a 20% increase in power. That's if this rumor is true, which I doubt. I think Apple will get an early bunch of Ivy chips and smoke the competition. However, even if they don't, you'll still be better off waiting for Ivy, if you can.
 
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