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8-Core Mac Pros have arrived.

SiliconAddict said:
So who here still thinks Apple made a horrid mistake by switching to Intel? I ask this because there are A LOT of fanbois out there eating their words. (Those words being DOOMED, JOBS IS AN IDIOT, MORE DOOMED, and WE ARE DOOMED.) I HIGHLY doubt we would be seeing quad core G5's right now. At least not outside of a lab that has the entire chassis bathed in liquid Oxygen. :p
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I see this as further proof that the G5's were great chips, and still is! This isn't blowing the old stuff out of the water. (The G5's are pretty old now.)
And, these are brand new chips, why do you assume there would be no successor for the G5 had Apple stayed with PPC? I personally loved what IBM did when it came to great chips for the pro towers. It was still the right descision though, because now I have a 2,33 C2D in my MBP, and IBM obviously couldn't provide that. THAT is what is better now (The laptops), not these new MacPro's, that are a little bit better than several years old machines. At least that's how I see things, and I have always been neutral on this issue, seeing how things played out.
 
THAT is what is better now (The laptops), not these new MacPro's, that are a little bit better than several years old machines. At least that's how I see things, and I have always been neutral on this issue, seeing how things played out.
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Mac Pro are cheaper and have a better case because not wasting 70% of the room for cooling the processors.
Adding that gcc is highly optimised for x86 making Mac OS X just fly on intel processors.
 
Reach said:
THAT is what is better now (The laptops), not these new MacPro's, that are a little bit better than several years old machines.
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For my works load I wouldn't call nearly a 2x - 2.5x improvement from my 3GHz Quad Core Mac Pro over my last generation 2.5GHz Quad Core G5 system "a little bit better". Of course folks work loads vary and G5 / Core 2 have different strengths and not all software is equally coded to those strengths, etc.

I do of course love the PPC ISA...
 
It's rediculous they didnt add a decent graphics card option, I've been holding out for an update for far too long.
This is the one big thing that is pissing me off at the moment as a mac user. Seeing my PC buddies with 8800s and not being able to have a decent card myself is just sad.
After this long price drops on the older chips are in order as well. :(
 
Interesting little quote from Apple about the new systems
"The 8-core Mac Pro gives pro software developers a platform to prepare new versions of their applications for the future, when 8-core technology is more prevalent on the desktop," an Apple spokesperson told Macworld.
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This seems to imply this is mostly targeted at developers so they can validate/develope software against an 8 core system. Of course by Apple making it available to others they also feel that some number of non-developers may have a use for it.
 
wildmac said:
You mean that directX mess?.. You really want something 50% or more of the games don't support yet?.. Ask someone with Vista and a DirectX card about their framerates in WoW.

The ATI card is fine... the hardcore gamers already have a PC, AND use a bunch of other custom peripherals that aren't available for the Mac either.
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I totally agree with you.
 
shawnce said:
For my works load I wouldn't call nearly a 2x - 2.5x improvement from my 3GHz Quad Core Mac Pro over my last generation 2.5GHz Quad Core G5 system "a little bit better". Of course folks work loads vary and G5 / Core 2 have different strengths and not all software is equally coded to those strengths, etc.

I do of course love the PPC ISA...
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True, I do know there are people that will love this, but for most people that do design etc like me it's not that much pushing us (I should say "me" as many will probably disagree) over to Intel on the stationary side just yet.
My Dual G5 with enough ram is still fine for doing pretty heavy things in PS, some video-stuff and other design/layout work. At least now that CS3 is coming I'll be able to put my MBP17 C2d to good use too finally. :)
And in 6-12 months I'll probably get the next generation of the MacPro, I don't dislike them, I just think they're that revolutionary over what I have just now. (For my work yes :))

Apple releases an eight core machine and people are rating it negative??
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I think this has to do with the fact that it doesn't feel like an update. They just introduced a new top model with a hefty premium, when I think a lot were expecting the old machines to be updated to Dual-Quads with little or no increase in price. Now it's just as it was before for those that can't afford/don't need the new top model, and I can understand that being a disappointment for those that have waited to purchase etc.
 
Apple releases an eight core machine and people are rating it negative??
 
too expensive here in australia

Amount ex GST A$ 6,786.36
GST A$ 678.64
Subtotal A$ 7,465.00
Estimated Ship:
2-4 bus. days
Free Shipping
Specifications

Two 3GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
2GB (4 x 512MB)
250GB Serial ATA 3GB/s drive - 7200rpm
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB SDRAM
1 x SuperDrive
Airport Extreme & Bluetooth 2.0+ERD
Apple Keyboard & Mighty Mouse

---------------------------------------------------------
great to see that apple has released this model but at $7.5 au for a decent config - i'll pass.....
 
I think people who decided to buy first generation macpro did the best choice.
It's like their mac won't move for almost 1 year ! Nothing new ! still the same Mac ! I can't believe woodcrest macpros price stay the same.
There's something wrong ! Hey Steve what's goin on ?
 
skoorbevad said:
Not by a long shot.
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Who else is shipping a 2 socket 3.0 GHz Quad-Core Xeon system?

Yes 2.66 GHz systems have existed for a while now but not 3.0 GHz systems ... not that I think claiming first for something that Intel makes is of much importance.

(again assuming it is not some overclock that Apple is doing)
 
Schut said:
It's rediculous they didnt add a decent graphics card option, I've been holding out for an update for far too long.
This is the one big thing that is pissing me off at the moment as a mac user. Seeing my PC buddies with 8800s and not being able to have a decent card myself is just sad.
After this long price drops on the older chips are in order as well. :(
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Think about this mate. Today's Tiger has OpenGL 1.4 for the graphics backbone. Leopard has OpenGL 2.1 which is lightyears

shawnce said:
Interesting little quote from Apple about the new systems http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/04/04/eightcore/index.php
This seems to imply this is mostly targeted at developers so they can validate/develope software against an 8 core system. Of course by Apple making it available to others they also feel that some number of non-developers may have a use for it.
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milo said:
Apple releases an eight core machine and people are rating it negative??
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For some the natural human condition is to complain.
 
psycho bob said:
Well the UK gets cinema display price drops!

30in = £1199
23in = £599
20in = £399

8 Core is coming to the UK just no prices up yet but we're getting there!
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Having only just bought a pair of 23" last week, I wonder if I can claim a discount or ask for them to be taken back and replaced with the cheaper pair!? - that's quite a saving.

Adam
 
milo said:
Apple releases an eight core machine and people are rating it negative??
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I think it's a reaction due to the fact the Mac Pro product hasn't been updated in 8-9 months, and when it finally is, it's the addition of one premium BTO option. No speed bumps for the 2x2 core machines, no price drops (though Intel hasn't dropped their chip pricing, yet, so that could be reciprocal, and to be fair there was a very minor price drop for RAM -- however market-wise, the Apple BTO RAM is still way overpriced), no updated video hardware, no PCI-express bandwidth improvements, etc.

Essentially it's going on a 1 year old machine with the option of putting a new processor in, which only affects real-world professional usage by a small segment of users.

I'd have been happy to see that SOMETHING was done besides dropping in 2x4 core processors. Hell, there was nothing stopping anybody from doing that on their own months ago when Intel released the first Quad-core Xeons -- of course, that voids warranties, most likely.
 
shawnce said:
Who else is shipping a 2 socket 3.0 GHz Quad-Core Xeon system?

Yes 2.66 GHz systems have existed for a while now but not 3.0 GHz systems ... not that I think claiming first for something that Intel makes is of much importance.

(again assuming it is not some overclock that Apple is doing)
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In all fairness he didn't say 2-socket before.... :p
 
shawnce said:
Who else is shipping a 2 socket 3.0 GHz Quad-Core Xeon system?

Yes 2.66 GHz systems have existed for a while now but not 3.0 GHz systems ... not that I think claiming first for something that Intel makes is of much importance.

(again assuming it is not some overclock that Apple is doing)
Click to expand...

No one (that I'm aware of -- I haven't really checked too deeply) is shipping a 2 socket 3.0GHz Quad-Core Xeon machine except Apple at this point.

However, that wasn't the question that was asked. He asked if it was the first 8-core Intel Xeon computer. It isn't.

I highly doubt Apple is overclocking, that would be somewhat unorthodox for an OEM builder to do and still honor the kinds of warranties they do. Of course, it's also strange to me that Apple would be the first to get 3.0GHz QC Xeons from Intel, since from a market segment Apple makes up a very small percentage of the total amount of processors Intel ships. You'd think they'd be made available first to larger buyers.
 
skoorbevad said:
I highly doubt Apple is overclocking, that would be somewhat unorthodox for an OEM builder to do and still honor the kinds of warranties they do. Of course, it's also strange to me that Apple would be the first to get 3.0GHz QC Xeons from Intel, since from a market segment Apple makes up a very, very, very small percentage of the total amount of processors Intel ships.
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overclock.jpg


A challenger appears.​
 
skoorbevad said:
No one (that I'm aware of -- I haven't really checked too deeply) is shipping a 2 socket 3.0GHz Quad-Core Xeon machine except Apple at this point.

However, that wasn't the question that was asked. He asked if it was the first 8-core Intel Xeon computer. It isn't.
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I think it is obvious, given the context of this thread, that he meant an 8-core Intel Xeon based system using Core 2 based chips... not prior generation Xeons. Those only come in 2 socket flavors.
 
Macworld Review

The best thing is to wait until there is a review from Macworld to see what is the real performance benefits in this beast. Also they can disect the hardware too. I would like to know what chip it has and does it have any updated technology.
 
skoorbevad said:
No speed bumps for the 2x2 core machines
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Has Intel release up-clocked Dual-Core Xeons?

skoorbevad said:
no PCI-express bandwidth improvements, etc.
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Did Intel release an updated chip-set recently that would allow Apple to do something like that?

The answer to both are no, not at this time.

In other words people seem to be expecting Apple to do things that they cannot do given what Intel has released.

I will agree having more video options would be great.
 
It's time to wonder:

Real Mac Pro upgrade In January? Displays Too? :D

Serioulsy, do you think we'll have a real macpro upgrade one day ? with bus speed improvement, redesign, price drop, etc...
 
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