Penryn Based Mac Pros Soon?

MacRumors · Oct 18, 2007, 11:16 AM

AppleInsider reports that Apple is about to unleash Penryn-based Mac Pros as soon as Intel can provide the new chips to Apple.

Quote:

They'll also be amongst the first machines from any PC manufacturer to employ chips from Intel's upcoming Penryn family of 45-nanometer (nm) microprocessors -- specifically the upcoming Hi-k Xeons, which will be available in dual- and quad-core variants for workstations with front-side bus speeds of either 1333MHz or 1600MHz.

This article corroborates an Inquirer report which claimed that Apple was buying up high end (3.2GHz) Penryn processors this year, leaving little supply for other PC manufacturers.

AppleInsider believes that the new Mac Pro will top with an 8-core model utilizing two of these new 3.2GHz "Harpertown" 45-nm quad-core Xeons which offer a faster 1600MHz bus and 12MB of L2 cache. The new processor could offer up to 45% speed increases over existing Mac Pro processors for bandwidth-intensive applications.

The fate of the remainder of the Mac Pro line remains less certain, but Apple appears to have the option of a number of dual-core Penryn ("Wolfdale") processors that could find their way into the lower-end Mac Pros.

Article Link

TheSpecialist · Oct 18, 2007, 11:17 AM

FINALLY!!!! Good news there is finally an update coming.

twoodcc · Oct 18, 2007, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSpecialist

FINALLY!!!! Good news there is finally an update coming.

yep. this is very good news. now let's hope this is true

weblogik · Oct 18, 2007, 04:30 PM

Question
I'm going to be using my new macpro 85% of the time in Adobe CS3 (photoshop mainly_my work) and 10% of the time in Logic studio purely for fun

Is it worth for me to get a top of the line octo? will cs3 even be able to take advantage of the top of the line processor or will a low-mid model do the same ?

I can afford it but i dotn want to spend the money and maybe use the saved money for ram and some peripherals...

CalfCanuck · Oct 18, 2007, 11:19 AM

Excellent - I'm ordering one as soon as it is launched. Along with the list of other MR folks in another thread.

We really need to update the ancient MP line!

Digital Skunk · Oct 18, 2007, 11:19 AM

I will order one as soon as they are made available. I just hope that it stops becoming a rumor and becomes a fact.

And I would love to see the base price of the MP to come down to $2000, for those that can't save the money and instead whine about how Apple needs to cater to them.

rediffusion · Oct 18, 2007, 11:20 AM

Any idea when this will happen?

Konradx · Oct 18, 2007, 12:15 PM

lets hope they upgrade the video cards aswell. 8800 GTX please.

ok13 · Oct 18, 2007, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Konradx

lets hope they upgrade the video cards as well. 8800 GTX please.

either that or the HD 2900 XT, i always felt apple was more ATI that nVidia.

chameleon · Oct 18, 2007, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digital Skunk

And I would love to see the base price of the MP to come down to $2000, for those that can't save the money and instead whine about how Apple needs to cater to them.

I'd like to see them do better than that. If Dell can sell a machine with a base Dual Core Xeon for $1,400, Apple should at least be able to hit $1,750.

Eidorian · Oct 18, 2007, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chameleon

I'd like to see them do better than that. If Dell can sell a machine with a base Dual Core Xeon for $1,400, Apple should at least be able to hit $1,750.

You should see how low a Q6600 based machine can go.

CWallace · Oct 18, 2007, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chameleon

I'd like to see them do better than that. If Dell can sell a machine with a base Dual Core Xeon for $1,400, Apple should at least be able to hit $1,750.

I'm using an HP xw6400 right now which, for about $2300, has two Intel Xeon 5110s, 4GB of RAM, 2x160GB HDDs, 2xDVD Burners, and an nVidia Quadro NVS285.

I don't expect Apple to be as inexpensive as PC makers because they historically have not been. But the gap between the iMac and the Mac Pro in price is just enormous.

If you only want to restrict sales of the Pro to "Professionals" whose workload pays for the machine (as my HP does), then okay. Charge the Moon and the Stars.

But would it kill them to offer something a little less dear?

BenRoethig · Oct 18, 2007, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chameleon

I'd like to see them do better than that. If Dell can sell a machine with a base Dual Core Xeon for $1,400, Apple should at least be able to hit $1,750.

That's a 1.6ghz Xeon in basically a barebones configuration. If anything, it shows how much of a waste a xeon/5000x setup is a single CPU setup.

AidenShaw · Oct 19, 2007, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chameleon

I'd like to see them do better than that. If Dell can sell a machine with a base Dual Core Xeon for $1,400, Apple should at least be able to hit $1,750.

Forget the Xeon for the low end - go for Conroe/Kentsfield and the Penryn followons.

E.g. an HP9040N with quad core, 3 GiB RAM, 640 GB disk, 16X DL Super-multi-drive, TV tuner, FM tuner, PVR, ... for $1150.

And it's 60% of the size of the Mac Pro Maxi-tower.

Eidorian · Oct 19, 2007, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AidenShaw

Forget the Xeon for the low end - go for Conroe/Kentsfield and the Penryn followons.

E.g. an HP9040N with quad core, 3 GiB RAM, 640 GB disk, 16X DL Super-multi-drive, TV tuner, FM tuner, PVR, ... for $1150.

And it's 60% of the size of the Mac Pro Maxi-tower.

RAID 0? Yikes...

I'm still looking at building my own tower if it comes to it.

Ctrl2k · Oct 21, 2007, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AidenShaw

Forget the Xeon for the low end - go for Conroe/Kentsfield and the Penryn followons.

E.g. an HP9040N with quad core, 3 GiB RAM, 640 GB disk, 16X DL Super-multi-drive, TV tuner, FM tuner, PVR, ... for $1150.

And it's 60% of the size of the Mac Pro Maxi-tower.

Damn. They are giving these things away.

That said, if you want 3.0GHz or even 2.66GHz, the prices go significantly higher. But yes, Apple can be more competitive as they were when the Mac Pro was originally released. I think the next round will go all 8-core (with perhaps a low end 4 core one processor variant) as a result with at least 2GB of RAM standard. I don't see the high end 3/3.2GHz 8-core machine being any cheaper than today's 3.0 8-core model, however. The chip prices are the same.

RAM and HD are cheaper these days, of course, but Apple loves increased margins!

Multimedia · Oct 18, 2007, 11:21 AM

Finally was already taken.

I beat Arn by 4 minutes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rediffusion

Any idea when this will happen?

Announce next week. Ship November 12.

longofest · Oct 18, 2007, 11:23 AM

They should definitely still offer affordable (relatively speaking) 4-core options. Not everyone shopping for a Mac Pro needs the top of the line 8 core machine, but it would be nice if they dropped the entry barrier a bit.

gugy · Oct 18, 2007, 11:26 AM

I hope it comes soon.

It is time to upgrade my Quad G5. I need to sell it while has Applecare and still a great machine. Do it Apple, Do it!

TantalizedMind · Oct 18, 2007, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gugy

I hope it comes soon.

It is time to upgrade my Quad G5. I need to sell it while has Applecare and still a great machine. Do it Apple, Do it!

Hmm... if you MUST upgrade your Quad G5, then I NEED to upgrade my Single 1.8Ghz G5. I think a new Quad Mac Pro will fill the spot. No way I need/afford an Octo.

SirOmega · 11:38 AM

In terms of what will happen to the rest of the MacPro line, if you look at the expected prices of the dual and quad core parts, there is no good reason for Apple to use any of the dual core parts.

Intel is pricing their quad core Xeons extremely agressively. Compared to the current dual core Xeons being used in the Mac Pro, similarly priced quad core Penryn Xeons are as follows...

$316: Current 2.0Ghz DC -> 2.5Ghz QC Penryn
$744: Current 2.66Ghz DC -> 2.8Ghz QC Penryn
$1172: Current 3GHz DC -> 3.2Ghz QC Penryn

You can see why above that I think Apple will go all quad core for the next revision of the Mac Pro lineup.

The only reason i could think of for Apple to not go all quad core would be to purposefully segment (and IMO, hobble) their lineup, to really extract a premium for those who want quad core.

Edit: for price info, check out this post and remember that post only has prices and info for the 133MHz FSB Penryn Xeons - the 3.2Ghz and 2.8GHz chips are likely to be 1600MHz FSB parts.

darthraige · Oct 18, 2007, 11:33 AM

There better be an announcement NEXT WEEK! Come on Apple! DO NOT WAIT UNTIL 2008 for these!

4God · Oct 18, 2007, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darthraige

There better be an announcement NEXT WEEK! Come on Apple! DO NOT WAIT UNTIL 2008 for these!

Ditto. I'm hoping for an announcement next tuesday, 10/30/07.

I would like to get back to a MacPro soon. If I could get an 8 core 3.2 for
under $3900.00, I just might do it.

rickdollar · Oct 18, 2007, 11:44 AM

This may be a silly question but will Leopard, Adobe CS3 and Apple pro products be able to fully utilize these 8 core processors?

darthraige · Oct 18, 2007, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickdollar

This may be a silly question but will Leopard, Adobe CS3 and Apple pro products be able to fully utilize these 8 core processors?

YES! YES! and YES!

Oct 18, 2007, 11:19 AM	#6
Digital Skunk macrumors 68040 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Primarily in my Head	I will order one as soon as they are made available. I just hope that it stops becoming a rumor and becomes a fact. And I would love to see the base price of the MP to come down to $2000, for those that can't save the money and instead whine about how Apple needs to cater to them. __________________ What do I have?, stuff that I actually use for work! Some old, some new, all effective.

Oct 18, 2007, 12:15 PM	#8
Konradx macrumors 6502 Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Toronto, Canada	lets hope they upgrade the video cards aswell. 8800 GTX please. __________________ iPhone 3G 5G iPod 60gig, Black 2009 Mac Min 2.0GHz

Oct 18, 2007, 11:26 AM	#19
gugy macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: La Jolla, CA	I hope it comes soon. It is time to upgrade my Quad G5. I need to sell it while has Applecare and still a great machine. Do it Apple, Do it! __________________ MacPro 2.8 Octo, 30" and 23" Cinema Displays, PB 550,MacBook Pro 2.2, iPod 1G, Shuffle 2G, iPhone 3G

Oct 18, 2007, 11:31 AM	#21
SirOmega macrumors 6502a Join Date: Apr 2006	In terms of what will happen to the rest of the MacPro line, if you look at the expected prices of the dual and quad core parts, there is no good reason for Apple to use any of the dual core parts. Intel is pricing their quad core Xeons extremely agressively. Compared to the current dual core Xeons being used in the Mac Pro, similarly priced quad core Penryn Xeons are as follows... $316: Current 2.0Ghz DC -> 2.5Ghz QC Penryn $744: Current 2.66Ghz DC -> 2.8Ghz QC Penryn $1172: Current 3GHz DC -> 3.2Ghz QC Penryn You can see why above that I think Apple will go all quad core for the next revision of the Mac Pro lineup. The only reason i could think of for Apple to not go all quad core would be to purposefully segment (and IMO, hobble) their lineup, to really extract a premium for those who want quad core. Edit: for price info, check out this post and remember that post only has prices and info for the 133MHz FSB Penryn Xeons - the 3.2Ghz and 2.8GHz chips are likely to be 1600MHz FSB parts. Last edited by SirOmega : Oct 18, 2007 at 11:38 AM.

Oct 18, 2007, 11:33 AM	#22
darthraige macrumors 65816 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Boston, MA	There better be an announcement NEXT WEEK! Come on Apple! DO NOT WAIT UNTIL 2008 for these! __________________ MacPro 2 x 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Harpertown" 6GB RAM, 4TB, 2600XT, 1 SuperDrive, 1 Blu-Ray Burner MacBook 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Oct 18, 2007, 11:17 AM	#2
TheSpecialist macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: The Netherlands, Europe	FINALLY!!!! Good news there is finally an update coming.

Oct 18, 2007, 04:30 PM	#4
weblogik macrumors member Join Date: May 2007	Question I'm going to be using my new macpro 85% of the time in Adobe CS3 (photoshop mainly_my work) and 10% of the time in Logic studio purely for fun Is it worth for me to get a top of the line octo? will cs3 even be able to take advantage of the top of the line processor or will a low-mid model do the same ? I can afford it but i dotn want to spend the money and maybe use the saved money for ram and some peripherals...

Oct 18, 2007, 11:19 AM	#5
CalfCanuck macrumors 6502 Join Date: Nov 2003	Excellent - I'm ordering one as soon as it is launched. Along with the list of other MR folks in another thread. We really need to update the ancient MP line!

Oct 18, 2007, 11:20 AM	#7
rediffusion macrumors member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Brooklyn NY	Any idea when this will happen?

Oct 18, 2007, 11:23 AM	#18
longofest Demi-God (Editor) Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Falls Church, VA	They should definitely still offer affordable (relatively speaking) 4-core options. Not everyone shopping for a Mac Pro needs the top of the line 8 core machine, but it would be nice if they dropped the entry barrier a bit.

Oct 18, 2007, 11:44 AM	#24
rickdollar macrumors member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Los Angeles	As good as it sounds? This may be a silly question but will Leopard, Adobe CS3 and Apple pro products be able to fully utilize these 8 core processors?

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