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8-Core Mac Pro Tomorrow? Doubtful.

ok, so I have a questions given all of this speculation on possible/probable specs.

if they majority of my work is in 2D imaging in photoshop (photography) - will 8 cores mean anything to me? if the octo comes out at 8 x 2.66, will that actually be slower for my needs than 4 x 3.0?

I'm in fairly desperate need of some upgraded systems here at the studio, and I've been trying to hold out, but some of the earlier posts have gotten me thinking if it would even matter. I know therer will most likely be a price drop with the 2x3.0 dropping to the middle of the range. how is apple on refunding those differences if they change prices within say 30 days?

what else might they bump in an upgrade that would make me want to wait? different kind of ram? graphics cards?
 
bonk said:
ok, so I have a questions given all of this speculation on possible/probable specs.

if they majority of my work is in 2D imaging in photoshop (photography) - will 8 cores mean anything to me? if the octo comes out at 8 x 2.66, will that actually be slower for my needs than 4 x 3.0?

I'm in fairly desperate need of some upgraded systems here at the studio, and I've been trying to hold out, but some of the earlier posts have gotten me thinking if it would even matter. I know therer will most likely be a price drop with the 2x3.0 dropping to the middle of the range. how is apple on refunding those differences if they change prices within say 30 days?

what else might they bump in an upgrade that would make me want to wait? different kind of ram? graphics cards?
Click to expand...

If you are a Photoshop guy the 4x3.0 is the right machine for you, the extra dough should go towards more RAM, that is your best tool for Photoshop. Don't start with anything less than 4 gigs.
 
bonk said:
ok, so I have a questions given all of this speculation on possible/probable specs.

if they majority of my work is in 2D imaging in photoshop (photography) - will 8 cores mean anything to me? if the octo comes out at 8 x 2.66, will that actually be slower for my needs than 4 x 3.0?

I'm in fairly desperate need of some upgraded systems here at the studio, and I've been trying to hold out, but some of the earlier posts have gotten me thinking if it would even matter. I know therer will most likely be a price drop with the 2x3.0 dropping to the middle of the range. how is apple on refunding those differences if they change prices within say 30 days?

what else might they bump in an upgrade that would make me want to wait? different kind of ram? graphics cards?
Click to expand...

well you've waited this long....you might as well wait til June if you can
 
Rocketman said:
Well, it's Tuesday after 10:15am pacific. Where's the beef?

Rocketman
Click to expand...

Next Tuesday! :D

It is kind of fun watching people twitching like brain-dead monekys (since November) over upgraded Mac Pros. :p

Meanwhile I've had the pleasure of owning a Mac Pro and getting six months of very productive use out of it. I'll laugh insanely if Apple anounce that the "standard" Mac Pro will be "upgraded" to use one quad core CPU while the monster 8 core machine can only be purchased as part of the very special ultra-pro Final Cut software/hardware deal that was rumored to be on the way. Just imagine the whining from the "Prosumers" (aka Posers)! Music to the ears! ;)

8 Core Mac Pro - If you can't afford one, you don't need one :D

Meanwhile Adobe CS3 will give my Mac pro a nice little performance boost. Leopard may provide some more (still have to wait and see about that), and for 70% of my work the quad will be just as good as a octo anyway. Now if commision that needs the extra power comes my way I'd buy one. But for now the machine I've got isn't going to be beat for some time to come. 8 cores! Piffil! I'm waiting for one of thise 80 core CPUs Intel were showing off. Why buy an 8 core machine when something like that is just around the corner????? :eek:
 
Would it make sense to release before new OS?

It won't make sense to release such a powerful workstation until the new OS comes out. I don't know how many of you have owned a quad or the MacPro, but neither of them were that much faster than my dual 2.5 G5, simply cause the processors were never running at 100%. I'm assuming they're going to hold off until they can utilize firstly all 4 cores, secondly, all 8 cores.

I guess from a marketing perspective it would make sense to release the fastest they could, but from our perspective, it doesn't matter that much, might as well get a MacBook, cause in real world applications such as Photoshop, (I'm a photographer) it just doesn't even make sense.
 
Mark Kuroda said:
It won't make sense to release such a powerful workstation until the new OS comes out. I don't know how many of you have owned a quad or the MacPro, but neither of them were that much faster than my dual 2.5 G5, simply cause the processors were never running at 100%. I'm assuming they're going to hold off until they can utilize firstly all 4 cores, secondly, all 8 cores.

I guess from a marketing perspective it would make sense to release the fastest they could, but from our perspective, it doesn't matter that much, might as well get a MacBook, cause in real world applications such as Photoshop, (I'm a photographer) it just doesn't even make sense.
Click to expand...


And as long as I switched back to Apple, it's also unsual for them to go the first 6 months without at least 1-2 product updates, with/without a new OS release. There is always going to be hardware improvements, so now Apple is going to release their next major hardware update always with a new OS? In this case, the next gen Macs, we will have to wait till the next major OS 2 years from now in June..LOL
 
Long wait for Leopard

You know I think that it's taken so long, in order that Leopard will have built in support for newer hardware technologies (as some of the "top secret" features).

I predict:

1) SLI or Crossfire support for multiple GPU's ( probably first on the MacPro's, as Apples own pro Apps are increasingly dependent on the GPU for performance) as well as 8 core processing.

2) Bluray or HD DVD support; this is a no brainer.

3) Amazing integration with the iPhone; again a no brainer.

4) Much better integration with (the now dog tired) dot mac (.mac) services. Double no brainer.

5) Increased integration with Google Apps and Apples (new) hardware.

6) 1080i/p AppleTV support

Just my 2 cents,

-Robert


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you know, it just occured to me that there is usually a price drop on Mac desktops before a new one comes out and I don't recall any price deduction on any of the Mac Pros.
Have there been any price drops on the Mac Pros?
 
Whattttt

It's not true , no new mac's today ???
How is that possible:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: , lol, come on now.
 
Dumb question

hmm, like others have said, I think if they had this type of announcement that it will be at NAB or WWDC, quietly updating to 2x the amount of cores just doesn't seem Apple's Style, when we can have a cool Quick Time stream of Steve saying 'Oh and one more thing..." :D

I do have a DUMB QUESTION, does Santa Rosa affect anything in the desktop world or is it intended just for the portable/Laptop realm, if it's just for the portables then is there some sort of Desktop equivalent for things like the flash storage for faster booting etc. ?

part of why I'm asking, is if there's a desktop equivalent of "better technologies" that could be released around when Santa Rosa is, perhaps Apple would wait until then and put the 8-core specials on the new mobo's and specs. I know if I purchased an expensive 8-Core mac that was just released, then a month later it was surpassed by better stuff, I'd feel disappointed and perhaps a little cheated. maybe Apple wants to package lots of goodness all together at once ?

Feel free to blow away my thoughts or laugh at my question... I'll take my meds then be OK :p
 
that's not what i meant.

digiguy23 said:
And as long as I switched back to Apple, it's also unsual for them to go the first 6 months without at least 1-2 product updates, with/without a new OS release. There is always going to be hardware improvements, so now Apple is going to release their next major hardware update always with a new OS? In this case, the next gen Macs, we will have to wait till the next major OS 2 years from now in June..LOL
Click to expand...

from here on out, the operating systems will of course be more multi processor (more than 2) aware. that's all i was saying. is to truly kick some butt, the operating system needs to be able to utilize them. that's why i believe they are waiting. if not, then the could have dropped them in as a BTO when the chips came out.
 
Desktop CPU improvements

arkmannj said:
I do have a DUMB QUESTION, does Santa Rosa affect anything in the desktop world or is it intended just for the portable/Laptop realm, if it's just for the portables then is there some sort of Desktop equivalent for things like the flash storage for faster booting etc. ?
Click to expand...

Good question. Intel are supposedly updating a few things with their "desktop" chips, like a faster FSB (current I think is up to 1066MHz, new should be 1133 or 1333 or something). Not exactly a mind-blowing improvement (not like, say, when they went from 133MHz to 533MHz FSB). Then later in the year or early next they should shrink the processors down from the current 65nm to 45nm which will reduce energy use and potentially improve performance at the same clock speeds.
 
Anything uses 8 cores?

I've never been one of those less is more types. More is more, duh! So, 8 cores is great, 16 will be sweeter but just one thought, does anything take advantage of this many cores right now? I can just hear the engineers at Adobe..... "Oh ****! HOW many CPUs??".....

Symmetric bliss!
 
Clovertown CPU's

An interesting article about the Clovertown CPU's can be found on WikiPedia.

Here it is:

5300-series "Clovertown"
A quad-core successor of Woodcrest for DP segment, consisting of two Woodcrest dies on a multi-chip module, with 8 MiB of L2 cache (4 MiB per die). Like Woodcrest, lower models use a 1066 MT/s FSB, and higher models use a 1333 MT/s FSB. Intel released Clovertown, product code 80563, on 14 November 2006 [6] with models E5310, E5320, E5335, E5345, and X5355, ranging from 1.6 to 2.66 GHz. The E and X designations are borrowed from Intel's Core 2 model numbering scheme; an ending of -0 implies a 1066 MT/s FSB, and an ending of -5 implies a 1333 MT/s FSB [7]. All but the X5355 have a TDP of 80 W. It has a TDP of 120 W. A low-voltage version of Clovertown with a TDP of 50 W has a model numbers L5310 and L5320 (1.6 and 1.86 GHz respectively). The 3.0 GHz X5365 is expected in July 2007.


So if 3Ghz are not expected until july, we could probably be waiting for that model for a bit, they could be announced at WWDC, with the lowerspeeds shipping "TODAY", and the 3Ghz available in July...

That would work for them I guess....
 
Getting Impatient

Nearly 8 months since an upgrade is outrageous. If nothing else, they should do a GPU upgrade change. The 7300 GT is a joke... $250 extra for a X1900 is a ripoff.

I think they are at a crossroads... w/ the release of Vista. I can get the Dell quad core right now w/ a current GPU. Making customers wait is so lame and its possibly going to alienate their "fan base". My patience runs out on the 15th. I will not get ripped off.
 
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