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

[Multimedia]

First 8 Core MP Appears To Be A Stopgap Model For Developers

I read the Bare Feats article yesterday on the bottlenecks in the 8-core. I look at it as a positive thing, that it puts pressure on apple to update their hardware top to bottom. To have advanced multi-threading in 10.5. And with the OpenGL improvement rumor, the Rev2 Macpro should be pretty sweet assuming it has a new motherboard for dealing with 4-16? cores, running an OS built for intel-macs and multi-core from the ground up. And new GPU options to compliment the improved openGL.

Agreed. I don't think I can rationalize buying one until it has a 2007 motherboard inside with new graphics card options as well.

Whoa, I am glad I did not sell the two Quad G5's last week! Almost did. Almost went for Octo. Would not have built up my workflow at all, only drained the bank.

Well that may change a lot with Leopard. But I agree it looks fairly bleek to date.

The problem with a second half 2007 release date is that Mac Pro probably won't get it until MWSF 2008. That seems like a long time to wait.

Especially since Leopard might possibly allow as much as a 50 - 75% performance improvement for the Octo over the Quad.

That along with a known price drop of the quad chip once it reaches production quantities might make the Octo look pretty sweet early June.

True. Main thing I'm looking for is a 2007 Stoakley-Seaburg motherboard more than Penryn.

It would still be faster than your G5s, especially with Universal apps, just not much faster than the previous gen high end Mac Pro.

This is hardly a second generation MP. Everything is the same as last September except the Dual Clovertowns. No, it's still a first gen Mac Pro. Even Leopard won't change that.

So here's my question: Is this Mac Pro pretty much dead in the water? I mean if there's barely any performance gain right now, and maybe a small speed boost with Leopard...what's the point?

Everyday it's looking more and more like the best bang for my buck is a quad-core machine--8-core barely offers any speed increase and it will be almost a year before Intel solves the memory problems.


Or am I wrong and Leopard will offer a big increase in speed for these 8-core machines?

I think you have to look at this release as something developers need desperately to figure out how to write their code so their apps will be able to take advantage of all those cores, either as something that needs to stay on one core without straying among the others or as one that needs to know how to use more cores but only as many as make it faster before using more is counter productive.

It's no wonder Adobe's Master Collection won't ship until July. There's still a lot of tweaking that needs to happen with these 8 core MPs becoming a reality now. No doubt the SF WWDC June 11-15 will help developers get a better handle on what they need to do next a lot. This is really uncharted territory everyone is learning to write code for among those veteran Mac programmers who haven't had to deal with so many cores in one Mac before.

 

[Glenn Wolsey]

Based on the roadmap, when are we realistically looking at for new Mac Pro's? Are we going to see something radical this year, or not until Macworld?

 

[Multimedia]

Let Us Pray It's This Summer

Based on the roadmap, when are we realistically looking at for new Mac Pro's? Are we going to see something radical this year, or not until Macworld?

Not radical, evolved. September worst case? Maybe June. I don't know. Let us Pray.

 

[dartzorichalcos]

Based on the roadmap, when are we realistically looking at for new Mac Pro's? Are we going to see something radical this year, or not until Macworld?

I think WWDC because it's a pro event and Apple released a lot of good stuff in previous WWDC events.

 

[SaxPlayer]

I got fed up with all the waiting so am of this week a proud owner of a Mac Pro 2.66 Quad. Adding 2GB of extra RAM myself (to give 3GB total) and two 500GB RAIDed hard drives. I do a little video editing, but mainly (as a keen amateur photographer) photo manipulation. Although I'm still setting things up at the moment it's such an improvement over my old Mac Mini G4 (well it would be, wouldn't it!! ) and I can't believe I waited so long before upgrading!!

All I can say to those who are holding out for an improved 8-core... stop and think what you really want your computer to do for you. The current Mac Pro line up rocks! (Even the bottom of the range unit.) As has been stated elsewhere here you can easily add HD-DVD or Blu Ray in the future, throw in some more RAM and hard drives and even up the video card later on if you really want to. There's no need to wait, IMHO, unless you're already pushing the boundaries with professional real-time video production or some other highly hardware intensive activity. If this isn't you, then your computer is going to spend most of its time idle anyway.

Just get your credit card out and buy. I did and I feel great! Spent nearly (UK pound) £2,000 and so I'll have to spend out on Leopard in a couple of months but that's the only (very small) downside. Guess I'll get a family pack anyway so I can upgrade my MacBook and keep the Mac Mini up to date...

 

[OT2000]

I got fed up with all the waiting so am of this week a proud owner of a Mac Pro 2.66 Quad. Adding 2GB of extra RAM myself (to give 3GB total) and two 500GB RAIDed hard drives. I do a little video editing, but mainly (as a keen amateur photographer) photo manipulation. Although I'm still setting things up at the moment it's such an improvement over my old Mac Mini G4 (well it would be, wouldn't it!! ) and I can't believe I waited so long before upgrading!!

All I can say to those who are holding out for an improved 8-core... stop and think what you really want your computer to do for you. The current Mac Pro line up rocks! (Even the bottom of the range unit.) As has been stated elsewhere here you can easily add HD-DVD or Blu Ray in the future, throw in some more RAM and hard drives and even up the video card later on if you really want to. There's no need to wait, IMHO, unless you're already pushing the boundaries with professional real-time video production or some other highly hardware intensive activity. If this isn't you, then your computer is going to spend most of its time idle anyway.

Just get your credit card out and buy. I did and I feel great! Spent nearly (UK pound) £2,000 and so I'll have to spend out on Leopard in a couple of months but that's the only (very small) downside. Guess I'll get a family pack anyway so I can upgrade my MacBook and keep the Mac Mini up to date...

Grats AJC I won't be far behind you.

 

[twoodcc]

I got fed up with all the waiting so am of this week a proud owner of a Mac Pro 2.66 Quad. Adding 2GB of extra RAM myself (to give 3GB total) and two 500GB RAIDed hard drives. I do a little video editing, but mainly (as a keen amateur photographer) photo manipulation. Although I'm still setting things up at the moment it's such an improvement over my old Mac Mini G4 (well it would be, wouldn't it!! ) and I can't believe I waited so long before upgrading!!

All I can say to those who are holding out for an improved 8-core... stop and think what you really want your computer to do for you. The current Mac Pro line up rocks! (Even the bottom of the range unit.) As has been stated elsewhere here you can easily add HD-DVD or Blu Ray in the future, throw in some more RAM and hard drives and even up the video card later on if you really want to. There's no need to wait, IMHO, unless you're already pushing the boundaries with professional real-time video production or some other highly hardware intensive activity. If this isn't you, then your computer is going to spend most of its time idle anyway.

Just get your credit card out and buy. I did and I feel great! Spent nearly (UK pound) £2,000 and so I'll have to spend out on Leopard in a couple of months but that's the only (very small) downside. Guess I'll get a family pack anyway so I can upgrade my MacBook and keep the Mac Mini up to date...

yeah congrats on your purchase. i'm loving my 2.66 quad mac pro as we speak

 

[pseudobrit]

Based on the roadmap, when are we realistically looking at for new Mac Pro's? Are we going to see something radical this year, or not until Macworld?

I'd buy one on any update to the line. I have cash in hand but can't justify dropping pro level cash on a 9-month-old machine. A graphics card update would trigger me.

 

[Lycanthrope]

I'd buy one on any update to the line. I have cash in hand but can't justify dropping pro level cash on a 9-month-old machine. A graphics card update would trigger me.

I'm with you there. A 4-core 2.66 will suit me but I expect something over and above what was released last year. Even a price drop of a couple of hundred dollars/pounds/euros would be satisfactory...

 

[Multimedia]

Leopard Delayed 'Til October Bodes Badly For This 8 Core Mac Pro

Apple delays Leopard release until October

Without a brain, this 8 Core is really on the yellow brick road to Oz. Leopard's Wizzard won't be around to help it and without a significant 8 Core update for Tiger, the niche market for the 8 core Mac Pro is ultra slim. All the more reason for a much longer wait than any of us anticipated. Almost makes me want to grab a 2.66 Quad refurb just for fun - almost.

So I guess we're on the right track to wait for new hardware that may help overcome Tiger's 8 core management defencies.

 

[Umbongo]

Based on the roadmap, when are we realistically looking at for new Mac Pro's? Are we going to see something radical this year, or not until Macworld?

I'm sure there will be something this year. Logically, I'd say an update around the July Intel price cuts, assuming SS is shipping. Then another at the tail end of the year after Penryn comes out, or maybe if it isn't out until very late november or december, Apple will wait until 2008. That is when other vendors will do major updates to their lines, but we should all be well aware that Apple can take there time, their business model isn't the same as other such vendors, but that is all we really have to go on.

 

[dartzorichalcos]

Apple delays Leopard release until October

Without a brain, this 8 Core is really on the yellow brick road to Oz. Leopard's Wizzard won't be around to help it and without a significant 8 Core update for Tiger, the niche market for the 8 core Mac Pro is ultra slim. All the more reason for a much longer wait than any of us anticipated. Almost makes me want to grab a 2.66 Quad refurb just for fun - almost.

So I guess we're on the right track to wait for new hardware that may help overcome Tiger's 8 core management defencies.

Do you think that the next Mac Pros might be all 8 core and Apple will will discontinue quad core?

 

[mavherzog]

All I know is that I'm glad I'm not in the market till end of this year or early next year.

 

[solvs]

No, it's still a first gen Mac Pro.

Well you know what I meant. The previous high end Intel Mac Pro. It's only a little faster than the dual 3. It's still faster than any G5.

And with Leopard delayed, God I wish I hadn't been right about that (installing the new dev build tomorrow, we'll see what happens), I guess I'll be getting a new Santa Rosa iMac to play around with and hope work upgrades my G4 laptop eventually. Just can't see going all out like that. Still want a new Mac Pro. But I don't need it yet, so I can wait.

 

[Lord Nerdos]

Cursed on Friday the 13th???

OK, so after all the waiting and waiting and then waiting more I ran out of patience. I jumped on the train and took myself to the Apple store and picked up a brand new mac pro, the standard configuration.

Got it home (the brute is heavy) and connected it to me trusty powerbook. I tried to connect using target mode but the transffer was cut due to errors on my powerbook...

After reinstalling with the OS installation disks I used software update to download and install the current 10.4.9...

The display tells me that the computer is in sleep mode, but nothing will wake it up...

HAVE I BEEN CURSED ON FRIDAY THE 13TH???

 

[Redneck1089]

So, isn't Intel supposed to drop the prices of their chips on April 22? Could that mean a reduction in price for the current Mac Pros?

 

[Umbongo]

So, isn't Intel supposed to drop the prices of their chips on April 22? Could that mean a reduction in price for the current Mac Pros?

There are two price cuts that the media have been indicating. One on April the 22nd/23rd (many sources cant make up their minds on the actual date), and another comming in July. There haven't really been any indications that the April price drops will effect Xeon pricing, July price drops will bring Quad core chips inline with the current pricing on dual core chips at the same speed on the 2.66Ghz and 2.00Ghz chips (more for 3Ghz).

 

[pseudobrit]

Apple obviously refuses to update the Mac Pro until two weeks after I buy one of the current ones.

I apologise to everyone else waiting.

 

[MacCoaster]

Apple delays Leopard release until October

Without a brain, this 8 Core is really on the yellow brick road to Oz. Leopard's Wizzard won't be around to help it and without a significant 8 Core update for Tiger, the niche market for the 8 core Mac Pro is ultra slim. All the more reason for a much longer wait than any of us anticipated. Almost makes me want to grab a 2.66 Quad refurb just for fun - almost.

So I guess we're on the right track to wait for new hardware that may help overcome Tiger's 8 core management defencies.

I don't see why Tiger would have "8 core management defencies"? The Mac OS X kernel handles multithreading very well. I doubt Leopard would have huge improvements in this area. FCS 2, compiling, multitasking, etc. will benefit from 8 core, even on Tiger.

So tell me, why would Leopard have better core management? The only reason would be if FreeBSD SMPng has improved (I haven't tracked it) and thus will be merged into the Mac OS X kernel.

 

[Eidorian]

I don't see why Tiger would have "8 core management defencies"? The Mac OS X kernel handles multithreading very well. I doubt Leopard would have huge improvements in this area. FCS 2, compiling, multitasking, etc. will benefit from 8 core, even on Tiger.

So tell me, why would Leopard have better core management? The only reason would be if FreeBSD SMPng has improved (I haven't tracked it) and thus will be merged into the Mac OS X kernel.

This is something that I've been asking about as well. What magical solution does Leopard have for managing processors over Tiger. The only answer that I've gotten is that Leopard will just be better.

 

[mason.kramer]

I registered just to vote

I sure am disappointed with this update. These mac pros are getting long in the tooth and really need a new mobo chipset. These guys are...only useful in an extremely limited context.

 

[ktlx]

Based on the roadmap, when are we realistically looking at for new Mac Pro's?

Assuming Apple uses the Seaburg/Stoakley chipsets and associated Xeons for its next Mac Pro rev, you're probably looking at Q4 2007 or early Q1 2008. So far all of the dates I've seen indicate that Intel will release the platform update in Q3 2007 but not ship in quantity until Q4 2007. But all of this is speculation right now since Intel hasn't announced anything.

Given the fact Intel announced ship dates for its other Core platform refreshes some time ago, I'm skeptical we'll see something this summer. Intel doesn't seem to give a hoot about Steve Jobs' secretive nature. They aren't hiding their roadmaps from anyone. If S/S were ready to ship this summer, I think we'd know about it by now.

 

[ktlx]

These mac pros are getting long in the tooth and really need a new mobo chipset.

This is an incredibly bizarre comment. The Mac Pro is using the best dual socket Intel processor and chipset available. What the heck is Apple supposed to do?

 

[AidenShaw]

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/3554585/

Speaking of which, Intel is demoing SS motherboards at this week's IDF in China, with at least some of them running 3.2 GHz quad-core Penryns.

 

[AidenShaw]

http://pda.tweakers.net/?reviews/661

A wide range of benchmarks comparing Woodcrest and Clovertown - SPEC, MySQL, Postgres,...

The relatively poor showing of the octo on SPECfp_rate does point to memory saturation (SPECfp is as much a memory bandwidth test as a computation test).

...