2007 Harpertown Stoakley-Seaburg Motherboard With New Graphics Cards 8-Core Mac Pro

[jrichman63]

Could someone enlighten me? Whats the difference between Penryn and Harpertown?

Thanks

 

[Eidorian]

who cares about gaming.

i want a card in my machine that isn't a year and a half old.

apple, if you're going to put a 1 1/2 year old card in your 'pro workstation', then at least don't charge top-dollar for it.

oh, and while you're at it, why don't you put more than 1GB of ram in your 'pro workstation', so i can actually run professional video and 3d apps?

oh yeah, that's right - i'm supposed to buy additional ram immediately after dropping $4300 for a mac pro. that's right... what was i thinking?

*golf clap*

Once again Apple decides to give great hardware when it comes to the processor but shafts us when it comes to RAM and video card options.

 

[Umbongo]

Could someone enlighten me? Whats the difference between Penryn and Harpertown?

Thanks

Penryn is the codename for 45nm core 2 duo processors. Harpertown are the Quad Core Xeon versions of these. Clovertown being the Quad Core versions of 65nm C2D Xeons and Woodcrest being the Dual Core that Mac Pros use.

 

[Wild-Bill]

Well with the front page news about Apple inviting the press on August 7th. I hope, I REALLY hope they give us a much overdue Mac Pro update next Tuesday!

Come on Apple DO IT !

 

[Zwhaler]

Wirelessly posted (LGE-VX9900/1.0 UP.Browser/6.2.3.2 (GUI) MMP/2.0)

If the rumors are true, maybe there will finally be a Mac Pro update on the 7th.

 

[solvs]

my x1900 is linked to my tv via a dvi to hdmi adaptor , s-video is an out of date interconnect imo , maybe you should upgrade your telly ?

I use composite and s-video to view on an NTSC monitor to see what the stuff I make will look like on other people's TVs. Most of the recipients of my exports have older, standard def midrange TVs. I have a 1080p monitor to output hi def too via DVI. I can do this with a $20 cable on my iMac, and could use another $20 cable with my PowerMac. My new Mac Pro can't do it with it's 7300 for some reason.

Plus, sometimes I like outputting presentations and low def compressed downloads to my TV while I surf the net, which look fine on my CRT.

 

[Multimedia]

Anyone Think We'll Get A Bone Tuesday?

Wondering if Steve will even mention the Mac Pro is 1 year old Tuesday.

 

[Eidorian]

Wondering if Steve will even mention the Mac Pro is 1 year old Tuesday.

I think that he should. That and how well it's selling.

 

[ThinkingMac]

ATI Radeon X1900 XT 7-10 WEEKS!!

Why the long delay...?

The ATI Radeon X1900 XT is even longer on the UK store (10-12 weeks)

 

[Wild-Bill]

Why the long delay...?

The ATI Radeon X1900 XT is even longer on the UK store (10-12 weeks)

Because ATI doesn't even make the card anymore it's so old. Apple contracted out Foxconn to produce the cards. I imagine Apple waits until they have so many x1900 orders in queue and then places a bulk order with Foxconn to "bring back the dead" so to speak.

 

[Umbongo]

Daily tech have some nice information on Penryn, some rehashed from what we already knew though. It'll be interesting to see what Apple does in regards to the expected shift from 1333MHZ FSB to 1600MHz FSB next year, perhaps they will skip 1333MHz Penryn all together *stirs the pot*

There's more to Intel's next-generation processor family than the 45nm process node

Intel plans to unleash its Penryn family processors next quarter, shortly after AMD releases Barcelona. Penryn is the umbrella for all 45nm Core 2 micro architecture products, including quad-core Xeon Harpertown, quad-core Core 2 Yorkfield and dual-core Xeon, Core 2 Wolfdale processors.

On the surface, Penryn looks like die shrink of last year’s Conroe micro architecture, but Intel sought additional tweaks to the micro architecture to achieve greater performance at the same clock speeds as Conroe processors.

Intel improves existing Wide Dynamic Execution, Advanced Smart Cache, Advanced Digital Media Boost and Intelligent Power Capability, technologies that previously made its debut with Conroe and Merom.

Penryn enhances Wide Dynamic Execution technology with a fast radix-16 divider and improved Virtualization technology. With a fast radix-16 divider, the processor can process 4-bits per cycle instead of the 2-bits per cycle of Conroe – doubling the divide instruction capabilities. Intel VT technology receives enhancements that reduce virtual machine transition latencies by 25-to-75%.

Intel Advanced Smart Cache technology receives additional enhancements, besides the increased L2 cache. Penryn-based quad and dual-core processors will have up to 12MB and 6MB L2 cache, respectively. Intel reduces cache latency in addition to the larger sizes. Penryn features a 24-way associative cache, an upgrade from Conroe’s 16-way associative cache.

New to the Advanced Digital Media Boost technology is the inclusion of a new Intel SSE4 instruction set. SSE4 introduces 47 new instructions to improve performance of video accelerators, graphics building blocks and streaming load. Intel claims a 2x performance gain in video acceleration tasks. There are 14 new instructions for video accelerator performance enhancement. Intel improves compiler auto-vectorization performance with 32 new instructions.

Intel expects SSE4 optimizations to deliver performance improvements in video authoring, imagine, graphics, video search, off-chip accelerators, gaming and physics applications. Also new to Advanced Digital Media Boost is the Super Shuffle Engine. Intel’s Super Shuffle Engine allows for shuffling unpacking, packing, align concatenated sources, wide shifts, insertion and extraction, and setup for horizontal arithmetic functions. Intel claims a “2x faster SSE shuffle instruction execution,” according to briefing documents.

Mobile Penryn processors receive enhanced power saving technologies. New to the mobile Penryn is a deep power down state. In the deep power down state, the processor lowers the core voltage, more so than in the C4 state, and turns off the L1 and L2 caches. Intel claims significant power savings in idle modes for extended battery life with the new power state.

For servers and workstations, Intel has designed Harpertown with additional headroom for the front-side bus. Intel plans to debut Penryn-based Xeon DP, MP and UP processors with 1333 MHz front-side bus, but the architecture has headroom for up to 1600 MHz front-side bus. Penryn-based quad and dual-core Xeons will have three thermal envelopes. Quad-core Harpertown Xeons will have 50, 80 and 120-watt TDP ratings while dual-core Wolfdale Xeons have 40, 65 and 80-watt ratings.

Desktop Core 2 and Core 2 Extreme processors have less thermal bins. Quad-core Yorkfield models have 95 and 130-watt TDPs while dual-core Wolfdale models have a single 65-watt TDP. Intel hasn’t set thermal ratings for its mobile Penryn processors yet.

Penryn follows Intel’s plans of alternating between new fabrication processes and a completely new core within two years. Intel previously released its 65nm fabrication process with the last of its Netburst Pentium D and Xeon DP processors, with Conroe, a new architecture, following months after. Once again, Penryn is a die shrink of Conroe set to debut Intel’s 45nm fabrication process.

Following Penryn is a new Nehalem architecture, based on 45nm with Intel’s new QuickPath technology, formerly known as common-system interface. Nehalem is set for a 2008 introduction, beginning with the Xeon family for servers and workstations. Intel plans to shrink Nehalem to 32nm with the Westmere core. Following Westmere is Sandy Bridge, a new micro architecture based on 32nm.

Expect Intel to debut Penryn later this year with the Xeon family.

 

[flappo]

from everything i've read Nehalem will be the big advance

but that's over a year off....

 

[Eidorian]

TUAW posts its own rumors.

 

[suneohair]

TUAW posts its own rumors.

Wow! I love them!!!

 

[ironic23]

The TUAW article says that the Woodcrest chips in the MP will be swapped with the Penryn chips. Aren't the Penryn chips like the mobile/desktop chips and not the comparable Xeon/workstation chips?

 

[Eidorian]

The TUAW article said that the Woodcrest chips in the MP will be swapped with the Penryn chips. Aren't the Penryn chips like the mobile/desktop chips and not the comparable Xeon/workstation chips?

Penryn is the codename 45nm Core 2 line and not each iteration of it.

 

[Wild-Bill]

The TUAW article said that the Woodcrest chips in the MP will be swapped with the Penryn chips. Aren't the Penryn chips like the mobile/desktop chips and not the comparable Xeon/workstation chips?

It's an entire family of 45nm processors

Penryn is the umbrella for all 45nm Core 2 micro architecture products, including quad-core Xeon Harpertown, quad-core Core 2 Yorkfield and dual-core Xeon, Core 2 Wolfdale processors.

Multimedia, with this recent rumor of 45nm CPUs in the Mac Pro coming tomorrow, I'd sure like to hear your take on this!

 

[suneohair]

The TUAW article said that the Woodcrest chips in the MP will be swapped with the Penryn chips. Aren't the Penryn chips like the mobile/desktop chips and not the comparable Xeon/workstation chips?

Penryn is a family of chips that will use the 45nm process. The Xeon penryns will be the first to hit, in the form of Harpertown.

 

[ironic23]

Penryn is the codename 45nm Core 2 line and not each iteration of it.

It's an entire family of 45nm processors

Penryn is a family of chips that will use the 45nm process. The Xeon penryns will be the first to hit, in the form of Harpertown.

Ahh... Gotcha, thanks for the clarification. Maybe we'll see something interesting tomorrow. Hopefully my MP won't feel too jealous. Good luck!

 

[Multimedia]

It's All Wild Rumors Now

It's an entire family of 45nm processors

Multimedia, with this recent rumor of 45nm CPUs in the Mac Pro coming tomorrow, I'd sure like to hear your take on this!

My "take" is that this is just a rumor and we know nothing until tomorrow morning - afternoon East. I'd be surprised if Apple can get Harpertowns this soon - particularly with SS LBs, but they are not above announcing a month before they can ship although the Paris Apple Expo Keynote September 25 still looks like a good launch venue to me.

 

[Eidorian]

My "take" is that this is just a rumor and we know nothing until tomorrow morning - afternoon East. I'd be surprised if Apple can get Harpertowns this soon - particularly with SS LBs, but they are not above announcing a month before they can ship although the Paris Apple Expo Keynote September 25 still looks like a good launch venue to me.

I forgot about the Paris Apple Expo.

Might be best just to wait until Leopard for me then.

 

[Wild-Bill]

Great find suneohair!

Please don't say 25 September MM.

At any rate, in 23 hours and 40 minutes we will know for sure.

 

[DZL]

Great find suneohair!

Please don't say 25 September MM.

At any rate, in 23 hours and 40 minutes we will know for sure.

speaking of this, at what exact time will the store be updated tomorrow??

Thanks,

DZL

 

[Eidorian]

speaking of this, at what exact time will the store be updated tomorrow??

Thanks,

DZL

More then likely down from 10 AM PDT / 1 PM EDT for an hour or two.

 

[suneohair]

Great find suneohair!

Please don't say 25 September MM.

At any rate, in 23 hours and 40 minutes we will know for sure.

Credit goes to Eidorian on the TUAW article. But, yeah not much longer.

お願い、アップル！