MP 7,1 7,1 Bros: We're headed into 2025. How are we feeling?

[StuAff]

The slow tasks I do have always been "get a cup of coffee" slow, like rendering 4TB+ panoramic images - but that's doing the work once it's queued up, not the experiential quality of using the machine. Realistically I've never upgraded to do work faster, but to stay compatible with all the devices I do work upon (or because a device physically died).

This is what's always bugged me about claims for the awesomeness of AS GPU power - I don't care how fast it can do GPGPU stuff, AS GPUs are in most cases behind the curve on practical realtime stuff, like multiple display support. Why do I have to buy an Ultra edition Mac, just to support 6 displays, which *any* (intel) Mac with a PCI slot can do.

I'd rather a broader capability that's a bit slower, than a narrower capability that's faster.

4TB panorama? You only need one cup of coffee for that? And is that a synthetic benchmark or a practical unit of measurement (depends how far away the coffee is, what & who is making it...)?

Yup. AS is behind indeed on multiple displays. It's not like you can drop in a GT 120 any more. Apple used to sell those purely on the basis of it being able to drive four displays. Paperweight or doorstop otherwise of course...

 

[mattspace]

4TB panorama? You only need one cup of coffee for that? And is that a synthetic benchmark or a practical unit of measurement (depends how far away the coffee is, what & who is making it...)?

142 36MP images input, queue it up, and go make a cup of coffee "naah I can't do that for you, computer's working, sorry"

Yup. AS is behind indeed on multiple displays. It's not like you can drop in a GT 120 any more. Apple used to sell those purely on the basis of it being able to drive four displays. Paperweight or doorstop otherwise of course...

Even with intel Macbooks, you could plug in an eGPU with multiple displays

 

[StuAff]

142 36MP images input, queue it up, and go make a cup of coffee "naah I can't do that for you, computer's working, sorry"



Even with intel Macbooks, you could plug in an eGPU with multiple displays

How many for a lunch break?

Indeed. There would still be a use case for eGPU- and PCIe video in the MP of course- purely for additional display support, even if there was absolutely no performance benefit, or that benefit was massively reduced compared to Intel macOS (and alternatives). How many displays do you use?

 

[mattspace]

Indeed. There would still be a use case for eGPU- and PCIe video in the MP of course- purely for additional display support, even if there was absolutely no performance benefit, or that benefit was massively reduced compared to Intel macOS (and alternatives). How many displays do you use?

Normally, 3-4, but I'm not going to invest any significant capital in any system without capability headroom, and 4 displays is where Max variants "max" out.

 

[avro707]

What do you reckon causes the performance advantage over Apple silicon here- is it software optimisation, GPU (if applicable

Definitely not GPU, probably the multi cores. But for whatever reason a lot faster. I don’t suppose the SSDs are any different for speed. I don’t have my colleagues’ machine so cannot test.

I usually also have multiple other apps open on the 7,1 as well when those tasks are running. It never has an issue.

 

[thefredelement]

A colleague has a high spec M1 Macbook Pro laptop and my 7,1 is much faster starting up the local development environment of the app we are running. We've both got the same instance running, but mine takes about 1 minute less even just running the startup command from terminal.

Running build commands are much faster on mine as well. The other bit that takes a long time is the initial setup of the environment if you need to setup from scratch, the very first start does a heck of a lot of background preparation work - the 7,1 is much faster for that. You see it running all the cores doing that, same when running build commands.

The only M series Mac I have here is an M2 Macbook Air 15", it can run the same applications we use but it is too slow for that. Once it is running it isn't too bad but starting/stopping the instance or running build commands is far too slow. Expected, but not terrible for what it is (M2, 16gb RAM).

I haven't tried running the 5,1 x5690 for those purposes.

The same work can be done on windows, but it is more clunky. But the hardware in the windows world has the benefit that you aren't locked down to whatever you selected at purchase time. The drawback is the same as for the 7,1, the prices of PC workstations are equally hefty. At most, you can spec a Lenovo PX at AUD$200,000. But that's a crazy specification, dual 60 core Xeons with enormous ram and storage, multiple GPUs as well.

Interesting, is it rebuilding for native arch on each machine?

 

[smckenzie]

So I have 7,1 with two 6800x Duos. Primary use was for 3d modeling and rendering via Cinema 4d. Overtime I compared it directly to a M2 Ultra Studio which I borrowed from Apple and a PC I built with a I9 14999kf and RTX 4070 Ti Super.

When switching views in C4D there is always a lag on the 7,1. On the Ultra and PC it’s instant. Loading up a scene C4D will have to generate material previews. Depending on the amount of materials this can take some time. This process is always slowest on the 7,1.

When doing interactive rendering in Cinema 4D using Redshift, realtime updates are slower on the 7,1. I think this is in part because Redshift has to update 4 gpus, where on the PC it’s just one which is PCIe 5.

The studio for the brief time I had it was great. Processor was the same performance wise as the I9 but without the noise in a much smaller package.

I’ve reluctantly moved over to the PC I built. You just can’t beat the performance of it in this particular area. That’s mainly down to the use of RTX cards with hardware ray tracing. If your creating an interior scene the use of Optix denoising from Nvidia is a game changer as you can actually see what your doing lol. On a Mac you can use Odin Denise by Intel which is really good, but it’s hampered on the 7.1 by the slower cpu.

It’s a shame. If the single core speed of the 16 core Xeon had been just a little faster things would be better, but newer chips single core are over as twice as fast. This makes a huge difference in tasks that rely on it. In Cinema 4d that’s pretty much everything from the viewport updates, to simulation calculations (although that can be done on GPU now) etc etc.

I’ve been a Mac user for 25+ years and the 7,1 was the most expensive computer I had ever invested in. It’s also the one that’s left the bitter taste in the mouth from Apple. As much as I missed MacOs, I’m tired of the Apple merry go round and always waiting for the next thing because what they’ve offered has never been quite there.

Sorry for the ramble. But yeah, there is a big working difference between the 7,1 and current hardware, depending on your use case of course

 

[avro707]

Processor was the same performance wise as the I9 but without the noise in a much smaller package.

Can you try bigger low RPM fans for the PC - assuming the case supports it, and if not, try a different case?

In the old days I used to run 120mm fans at low speed, they weren't too audible - but still louder than the 7,1. No matter how much I loaded up the 7,1 it was always silent.

I’ve been a Mac user for 25+ years and the 7,1 was the most expensive computer I had ever invested in. It’s also the one that’s left the bitter taste in the mouth from Apple. As much as I missed MacOs, I’m tired of the Apple merry go round and always waiting for the next thing because what they’ve offered has never been quite there.

The 7,1 machines I have are also the most expensive machines I've purchased - I have two of them. Still love them dearly, but just very annoyed to be stuck with AMD 6000 series GPUs in MacOS because of Apple recalcitrance. if we'd had the option to use newer GPUs we might have been able to see what's coming and make a decision - but the guessing game and inevitable half-baked workstation they come up with is not worth it.

Apple has burned bridges with some high paying customers. I'm sure someone will be along to say "good, Apple doesn't want you lot, haha" etc.

 

[ArtRev]

A few observations from using Mac Pro 7.1 (Xeon 16-core + 2 x Rx 6900 XT) vs. Mac Studio M2 Ultra

1. Work Environment

• I work in a small film post-production studio, focusing mainly on feature films (fiction and documentaries), many of which have won awards at festivals like Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, etc., as well as series for platforms like Netflix, HBO, Prime, and Canal+.

• Software: DaVinci Resolve Studio, Adobe Premiere, AfterEffects, Nuke, Fusion, Avid, etc.

• I don’t handle sound or 3D work.

• All machines are connected to a NAS server via a 100Gb/s backbone network.

• Each computer has two fast NVMe arrays: a 4x2TB stripe for certain media and a 2x2TB stripe for cache.

2. The Transition to Mac Studio

• About two years ago, I bought a Mac Studio as a secondary machine for a colorist. It was meant to be an auxiliary setup to complement the main Mac Pro 7.1 and Windows workstations. Interestingly, as the lead colorist, I had to move my work from the Mac Pro to the Mac Studio for one day, and… this small “toy-like” box performed brilliantly! It became my primary tool. I was genuinely surprised — even after a few weeks of working on it, I was still impressed. Working on the Mac Studio proved much more enjoyable, thanks to the responsiveness of this machine, which costs only one-third the price of the Mac Pro 7.1 setup.

3. Performance Tests

After completing several important projects, I decided to run performance tests. Here’s what I found:

• Denoising: Mac Studio was 25-30% faster than Mac Pro.

• AI-powered effects: Mac Studio was 25-80% faster than Mac Pro.

• Color grading (ARRI RAW, Sony RAW, BM RAW): A tie.

• Color grading (RED RAW): Mac Pro was 5-10% faster.

• Workflow smoothness: I prefer Mac Studio.

• Rendering: Mac Studio was 10-60% faster than Mac Pro (yes, 60% in extreme cases!).

4. Conclusions

• For my tasks, the Apple Silicon platform works exceptionally well.

• I’m eagerly waiting for the Mac Studio M4 to replace the last remaining Mac Pro 7.1 unit.



Wishing everyone a fantastic 2025! 😊

 

[smckenzie]

Can you try bigger low RPM fans for the PC - assuming the case supports it, and if not, try a different case?

So I have an ASUS ProArt case along with a good ProArt motherboard with Thunderbolt. The case has large fans so its near silent most of the time. At full blast its not terrible, but not near silent like the Studio was.

 

[avro707]

If you haven't already done so, have a look at the Noctua fans:

Noctua

Noctua's premium fans are internationally renowned for their superb quietness, exceptional performance and thoroughgoing quality.

noctua.at

They are very quiet. The GPU on the other hand you can't do a lot about.

I just had a look at the Asus ProArt case, that's quite a nice one.

 

[Boil]

So I have an ASUS ProArt case along with a good ProArt motherboard with Thunderbolt. The case has large fans so its near silent most of the time. At full blast its not terrible, but not near silent like the Studio was.

If you haven't already done so, have a look at the Noctua fans:

Noctua

Noctua's premium fans are internationally renowned for their superb quietness, exceptional performance and thoroughgoing quality.

noctua.at

They are very quiet. The GPU on the other hand you can't do a lot about.

I just had a look at the Asus ProArt case, that's quite a nice one.

Remove the shroud and stock fans, use a mini 4-pin to dual 4-pin fan cable & a pair of NF-A12x25 fans; that will help noise & performance with the GPU...

 

[smckenzie]

Remove the shroud and stock fans, use a mini 4-pin to dual 4-pin fan cable & a pair of NF-A12x25 fans; that will help noise & performance with the GPU...

Thanks for the suggestion. The gpu is actually really quiet, it’s an asus tuf version. It’s the stock fans on the case which are huge and look a pain to remove due to the integrated cabling. Anyway, I don’t want to annoy anyone by hijacking the thread

If anything it demonstrates how good the studio is with its size, thermals and performance.

 

[avro707]

I would do a reddit search related to the case and see if others have done any more.

This is valuable for anyone who is going down this path. I am, but dread building PCs because almost all I see don't have the quality of the 7,1 design and construction.

 

[smckenzie]

I did but couldn't find anything. The fans can be replaced though.

Nothing will match the build quality of the 7,1 or Studio, but it isn't terrible either. Cable management is still a chore.

The motherboard I got was the ProArt Z790 as it has two thunderbolt ports. The interesting thing is it comes with a DisplayPort loop back cable in the box, so if you have a Studio Display you can plug one end in your GPU, the other in a dedicated port on the back of the motherboard IO panel. Lastly your thunderbolt cable from the IO to your display. This setup enables the display + sound + the displays i/o ports. If you just need the display, just hook it up via a DP to TB cable.

Apart from the CPU fan noise when rendering, I've had 0 issues. No BSOD's. Apple TV, iTunes, iCloud are all available on Windows. I miss MacOS Finder though. I miss hitting Return to rename a folder. I miss replying to text messages. And Outlook is horrible lol.

As for performance:

Cinebench 2024
16c Xeon = 1100 or so
14900KF Not OC = 1900+
14900KF OC = 2041

Redshift Benchmark

2x 6800X Duo = 2m:13
1x RTX 4070 Ti Super = 1m:33

 

[mode11]

I did but couldn't find anything. The fans can be replaced though.

Nothing will match the build quality of the 7,1 or Studio, but it isn't terrible either. Cable management is still a chore.

The motherboard I got was the ProArt Z790 as it has two thunderbolt ports. The interesting thing is it comes with a DisplayPort loop back cable in the box, so if you have a Studio Display you can plug one end in your GPU, the other in a dedicated port on the back of the motherboard IO panel. Lastly your thunderbolt cable from the IO to your display. This setup enables the display + sound + the displays i/o ports. If you just need the display, just hook it up via a DP to TB cable.

Apart from the CPU fan noise when rendering, I've had 0 issues. No BSOD's. Apple TV, iTunes, iCloud are all available on Windows. I miss MacOS Finder though. I miss hitting Return to rename a folder. I miss replying to text messages. And Outlook is horrible lol.

As for performance:

Cinebench 2024
16c Xeon = 1100 or so
14900KF Not OC = 1900+
14900KF OC = 2041

Redshift Benchmark

2x 6800X Duo = 2m:13
1x RTX 4070 Ti Super = 1m:33

I find eM Client to be a great replacement for macOS Mail. MS PhoneLink will let you send and receive text Messages from Windows OK, though doesn’t retain its history.

 

[avro707]

Just noticed RAM is getting quite cheaper, so I will probably bump up the ram in my two 2019s.

32GB SK-Hynix chips look reasonably priced now.

 

[Mac3Duser]

Reading you, I realize that I like old hardware. In fact, it is enough for what I do, that's what I discovered quite recently.

I don't really care about benchmarks, I never found that their results matched my usage. In fact, I am even able to do good things with an old optiplex and with old quadro graphics cards at 50/100 dollars, because I don't want to do everything on the same machine.

Regarding the Mac Pro 2019, it is the only relatively compact and cheap computer with so many PCIe lanes.

I can put a lot of single slot / dual slot cards in it, which can be used to switch from Mac OS to Windows on the same machine, and all that with the amount of RAM I want, nvidia, lots of storage.

Is the xeon slow? In my case, it doesn't matter. I have a MacBook Pro M2MAX with everything maxed out (96GB RAM). What I will miss with the Apple chip is being able to use NVIDIA cards when I boot into Windows. I need everything.

Nothing can match my MacBook Pro Silicon when I go out, but at home, nothing can match my Mac Pro 2019.

And when the day comes to replace it, I hope as late as possible, it will be with a pc with as many pcie lanes as possible, so I imagine with extremely expensive components too.

Apple may have been wrong not to put NVME on the market for boot and replaceable components in the 7.1 and perhaps wrong for such a machine not to stay on Intel Xeon, only for this machine.

 

[smckenzie]

So quick update here in case you're remotely interested lol.

In the PC I installed an Artic Freezer III 420MM AIO. The PC is very quiet now, even under max load. Cinebench scores got a boost to 2079 for MC. This is with a minor overclock via the Intel XTC utility. Temps are lower to by about 10-15 degrees.

I recently got a Motu M4 USB C audio interface. On Windows the latency is quite high and I can't figure out what's causing it. On the 7,1. the latency is much lower with no issues. So I'm thinking of using the 7,1 for music and the PC just for 3D.


Here's some latency comparisons from Cubase.

PC: 12ms in/14 ms out
7,1: 8.4ms each way
M1 Air: 5.5ms each way

 

[bloomfeld]

Just wondering what other 7,1 users are thinking as we head into a year of pro updates.

As others have mentioned, the 7,1 was a huge money sink for me as well. It's a beautiful machine from an engineering standpoint, and I like my desktop as clean as possible. I am going to use the 7,1 as long as it receives security updates, and as an Windows/Linux machine after that.

Nowadays I do not need to get the shiniest and newest anymore, rather I would spend my money for experiences than for tech. That's the reason why I plan to use my M1 Macbook Pro as long as possible as well, eventually becoming my main machine in case the 7,1 becomes "vintage".

 

[H. Flower]

As others have mentioned, the 7,1 was a huge money sink for me as well. It's a beautiful machine from an engineering standpoint, and I like my desktop as clean as possible. I am going to use the 7,1 as long as it receives security updates, and as an Windows/Linux machine after that.

Nowadays I do not need to get the shiniest and newest anymore, rather I would spend my money for experiences than for tech. That's the reason why I plan to use my M1 Macbook Pro as long as possible as well, eventually becoming my main machine in case the 7,1 becomes "vintage".

I hear you. I have to stay somewhat connected to tech for my job, but in other areas, I'm trying to disconnect more and get back to more sensory and analogue experiences. Being digitally connected is great, but it does come at a cost.

 

[H. Flower]

A few observations from using Mac Pro 7.1 (Xeon 16-core + 2 x Rx 6900 XT) vs. Mac Studio M2 Ultra

1. Work Environment

• I work in a small film post-production studio, focusing mainly on feature films (fiction and documentaries), many of which have won awards at festivals like Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, etc., as well as series for platforms like Netflix, HBO, Prime, and Canal+.

• Software: DaVinci Resolve Studio, Adobe Premiere, AfterEffects, Nuke, Fusion, Avid, etc.

• I don’t handle sound or 3D work.

• All machines are connected to a NAS server via a 100Gb/s backbone network.

• Each computer has two fast NVMe arrays: a 4x2TB stripe for certain media and a 2x2TB stripe for cache.

2. The Transition to Mac Studio

• About two years ago, I bought a Mac Studio as a secondary machine for a colorist. It was meant to be an auxiliary setup to complement the main Mac Pro 7.1 and Windows workstations. Interestingly, as the lead colorist, I had to move my work from the Mac Pro to the Mac Studio for one day, and… this small “toy-like” box performed brilliantly! It became my primary tool. I was genuinely surprised — even after a few weeks of working on it, I was still impressed. Working on the Mac Studio proved much more enjoyable, thanks to the responsiveness of this machine, which costs only one-third the price of the Mac Pro 7.1 setup.

3. Performance Tests

After completing several important projects, I decided to run performance tests. Here’s what I found:

• Denoising: Mac Studio was 25-30% faster than Mac Pro.

• AI-powered effects: Mac Studio was 25-80% faster than Mac Pro.

• Color grading (ARRI RAW, Sony RAW, BM RAW): A tie.

• Color grading (RED RAW): Mac Pro was 5-10% faster.

• Workflow smoothness: I prefer Mac Studio.

• Rendering: Mac Studio was 10-60% faster than Mac Pro (yes, 60% in extreme cases!).

4. Conclusions

• For my tasks, the Apple Silicon platform works exceptionally well.

• I’m eagerly waiting for the Mac Studio M4 to replace the last remaining Mac Pro 7.1 unit.



Wishing everyone a fantastic 2025! 😊

Fascinating report, and makes me excited to switch to M chips.


I work in Da Vinci and Premiere, so this is interesting. Most of my work these days is in After Effects, so I'm really curious to see what type of performance bump the new chips provide. Also, very eager to see how CInema 4D performs.

Thanks for the input.

 

[H. Flower]

So I have 7,1 with two 6800x Duos. Primary use was for 3d modeling and rendering via Cinema 4d. Overtime I compared it directly to a M2 Ultra Studio which I borrowed from Apple and a PC I built with a I9 14999kf and RTX 4070 Ti Super.

When switching views in C4D there is always a lag on the 7,1. On the Ultra and PC it’s instant. Loading up a scene C4D will have to generate material previews. Depending on the amount of materials this can take some time. This process is always slowest on the 7,1.

When doing interactive rendering in Cinema 4D using Redshift, realtime updates are slower on the 7,1. I think this is in part because Redshift has to update 4 gpus, where on the PC it’s just one which is PCIe 5.

The studio for the brief time I had it was great. Processor was the same performance wise as the I9 but without the noise in a much smaller package.

I’ve reluctantly moved over to the PC I built. You just can’t beat the performance of it in this particular area. That’s mainly down to the use of RTX cards with hardware ray tracing. If your creating an interior scene the use of Optix denoising from Nvidia is a game changer as you can actually see what your doing lol. On a Mac you can use Odin Denise by Intel which is really good, but it’s hampered on the 7.1 by the slower cpu.

It’s a shame. If the single core speed of the 16 core Xeon had been just a little faster things would be better, but newer chips single core are over as twice as fast. This makes a huge difference in tasks that rely on it. In Cinema 4d that’s pretty much everything from the viewport updates, to simulation calculations (although that can be done on GPU now) etc etc.

I’ve been a Mac user for 25+ years and the 7,1 was the most expensive computer I had ever invested in. It’s also the one that’s left the bitter taste in the mouth from Apple. As much as I missed MacOs, I’m tired of the Apple merry go round and always waiting for the next thing because what they’ve offered has never been quite there.

Sorry for the ramble. But yeah, there is a big working difference between the 7,1 and current hardware, depending on your use case of course

Fascinating, especially since I work in Cinema 4D. The new chips have ray tracing, if I'm not mistaken?

I know Apple hasn't been able to compete in 3D programs since ditching NVDIA, but I was holding out hope that the new chips are going to at least make them a little competitive.

 

[smckenzie]

Also, very eager to see how CInema 4D performs.

Redshift is now the default render engine for C4D. If you're curious about how well this works on AS be sure to head over to the Maxon Redshift forums. A number of studio users over there. They had a number of issues so its not all roses but on the look dev side of the things they are all happy I believe.

A trap that's easily fallen into is blaming hardware when it turns out to be a software issue. One of the things I had noticed on my 7,1 was switching viewports in C4D was laggy. On my PC it wasn't so I assumed it was the difference in hardware. Lo and behold it turns out to be a C4D thing in this particular case, specifically to do with color management. The issue is present on AS to. Just not Windows.

 

[Norbert Mikołajczyk]

Redshift is now the default render engine for C4D. If you're curious about how well this works on AS be sure to head over to the Maxon Redshift forums. A number of studio users over there. They had a number of issues so its not all roses but on the look dev side of the things they are all happy I believe.

A trap that's easily fallen into is blaming hardware when it turns out to be a software issue. One of the things I had noticed on my 7,1 was switching viewports in C4D was laggy. On my PC it wasn't so I assumed it was the difference in hardware. Lo and behold it turns out to be a C4D thing in this particular case, specifically to do with color management. The issue is present on AS to. Just not Windows.

Yeah, working on heavy 3d projects is better under windows than on MacOs overall.