With today's news about Kentsfield (a quad-core intel desktop processor) and Cloverton (a quad core xeon-class processor) being released soon (i.e. hopefully before the end of the year), I wonder if a 16 core Mac Pro is in the works for early next year.
That'd be 4 Xeon processors with 4 cores each.
As you all know, the last high-end G5 was a very hot beast and Apple sure learned a lot about thermal management from that. A quad-core Xeon would put out similar wattage, so probably not an insurmountable problem.
16 x 3ghz cores is definitely high-end, and one that justifies the name 'Mac Pro'
Huge amounts of FB-DIMM would suit that down to the ground.
The dual core G5 quad was introduced in October 2005, and a 16-core Mac Pro in early 2006 would represent a tripling of power in about 18 months ...
MacRumours on cloverton: https://www.macrumors.com/pages/2006/07/20060720090504.shtml
A preview of a 4-way 2-core Xeon motherboard (possibly 4-core compatible) - notice it has 16 RAM slots(!):
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=1211&redirect=yes
EDIT: mistake re the G5
That'd be 4 Xeon processors with 4 cores each.
As you all know, the last high-end G5 was a very hot beast and Apple sure learned a lot about thermal management from that. A quad-core Xeon would put out similar wattage, so probably not an insurmountable problem.
16 x 3ghz cores is definitely high-end, and one that justifies the name 'Mac Pro'
Huge amounts of FB-DIMM would suit that down to the ground. The dual core G5 quad was introduced in October 2005, and a 16-core Mac Pro in early 2006 would represent a tripling of power in about 18 months ...
MacRumours on cloverton: https://www.macrumors.com/pages/2006/07/20060720090504.shtml
A preview of a 4-way 2-core Xeon motherboard (possibly 4-core compatible) - notice it has 16 RAM slots(!):
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=1211&redirect=yes
EDIT: mistake re the G5
