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A couple things I want to know.

We know from teardowns that there are 2 NVMe slots and it uses the same bespoke modules as the iMac Pro.

1) Is the 8TB option a pair of 4TB NVMe drives (as opposed to 1 8TB module)? and if so, is it running in RAID 0? If so, then I can see having 8TB of SSD running at near PCIe 4.0 speeds (~5GB/sec) for a main work partition as desirable for heaving duty processing.

2) Are these NVMe SSD drives using MLC or TLC NAND cahips? Right now, only Samsung's 9x0 Pro drives are left using MLC NAND chips, which have more durability and are correspondingly more expensive. Given the "PRO" focus, I would hope so.

Right now, the only 4TB M.2 NVMe drive I can find retails around $700. If Samsung made an 970 Evo 4TB version, it would retail around $1000.

That makes the "Apple Tax" not too bad IMHO. Using MLC NAND is more expensive (because it needs more NAND chips), so if is this a "PRO" drive and uses MLC, the cost of 8TB becomes downright reasonable.

This is very true. There are SO many things that go into how this stuff is made and how it's priced, and looking at Chinese brands on Amazon is not necessarily a good comparison.
 
A couple things I want to know.

We know from teardowns that there are 2 NVMe slots and it uses the same bespoke modules as the iMac Pro.

1) Is the 8TB option a pair of 4TB NVMe drives (as opposed to 1 8TB module)? and if so, is it running in RAID 0? If so, then I can see having 8TB of SSD running at near PCIe 4.0 speeds (~5GB/sec) for a main work partition as desirable for heaving duty processing.

2) Are these NVMe SSD drives using MLC or TLC NAND cahips? Right now, only Samsung's 9x0 Pro drives are left using MLC NAND chips, which have more durability and are correspondingly more expensive. Given the "PRO" focus, I would hope so.

Right now, the only 4TB M.2 NVMe drive I can find retails around $700. If Samsung made an 970 Evo 4TB version, it would retail around $1000.

That makes the "Apple Tax" not too bad IMHO. Using MLC NAND is more expensive (because it needs more NAND chips), so if is this a "PRO" drive and uses MLC, the cost of 8TB becomes downright reasonable.
Previous Macs used MLC, at least on the smaller sizes. But it’s my understanding that higher capacities use 3D NAND, e.g. 64/96/128 layers, which is typically TLC.

But they’re not NVMe drives at all, those have integrated disk controllers. Apple uses raw NAND chips on the module, but the controller is located on the T2 chip.

[edits re: MLC/TLC]
 
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It’s MLC but they’re not NVMe drives at all; those have integrated disk controllers. Apple uses NAND chips on the module, but the controller is located on the T2 chip.

True. I guess we should think of them as 3/4 of a traditional NVMe drive. I would assume most everything from the controller to the drive module is similar or the same as on NVMe boards in terms of connections and accessing.
 
Now, this is not entirely on topic, but sort of, it's about Apples SSD options.
One thing that bothers me to bits is that Apple only offers high performance SSDs, regardless of model.
Like, if you're shopping for a MacBook Air, you are probably not bothered wether the drive delivers 2GB/s or "just" 600MB, or even 300MB. BUT, you will probably have quite a lot of pictures/music/videos/iPhone backups that you want to store on your computer, so 128GB storage isn't really gonna cut it. $600 to go to 1TB storage, which frankly is barely enough if you want to back up your 512GB iPhone... is just too much, when a Samsung 860 SSD with 1TB is around $110.
Why, oh why is there only storage sizes-options and no speed-choices?
I mean, even in the Mac Pro it could make sense to equip one NVMe slot with something insanely fast but not very spacious, and the other with something "ggod enough" but with loads of storage.
 
Somewhere in Apple Towers you have the bean counters sitting around the table thinking up new ways to mug the punters. Sure, the see-no-evil crowd will take a bullet for Apple but rational thinkers know the company is ripping the consumer off to new levels. The brass neck Tim Cook must have to sanction these numbers are outrageous.
 
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It won't be too long before someone comes out with an adapter similar to this one that fits in the new MacPro's internal SSD slot enabling you to use off-the-shelf SSDs. I've used these before on the 2013 MacPro with no issues.
 
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Thanks, Apple, but the Radeon Pro 5700X is infinitely more important for those who need more than a 580X and would rather spend +$800 on the 5700X and use the extra $2K on an Afterburner than option out the Vega II. Just sayin’. 8TB on a single SSD makes me nervous anyways. 2TB system drive and separate drives for Library and Media make me happier.
 
8K video cameras are more common now and the bit rates are insane. For most editing tasks you’ll be throttled by how quickly you can access the disk instead of processing performance.

That YouTube review with 16 4K videos merged into a single video and played in real time? You’re not going to pull that off with a $500 SSD.

These drives are 3x faster than 10GbE so network storage can’t compete. Other internal drives with similar speeds might actually be more expensive - though it’s hard to tell because everyone advertises their write cache buffer speed instead of their sustained write speed - the buffer typically typically fills up in a couple seconds of sustained write activity.

Regardless of price, if you need 8TB you are much better off not configuring your boot drive that large. Keep your data drive separate from your boot drive.
 
Apple 2TB SSD. Read/Write speed 2800/2500 MB/s. $800 upgrade on top of the 256GB SSD they will not subtract the value of when it is replaced. So about $900 for 2TB.

WD SN750 2TB SSD. Read/Write speeds 3500/2900 MB/s. Bought one for $270 new.

Not even going to mention those cRaZy PCIE 4.0 drives.

Did not check if what I say is true, I doubt (actually pretty sure) it's an MLC drive, most likely TLC /QLC
Apples...Oranges.

Bigger capacities sell. SSD manufacturers are increasing storage capacities while keeping costs down—but this is bad for performance and endurance. ... We're currently seeing the rise of Quad Level Cell (QLC) SSDs, which can store 4 bits of information per memory cell.
 
That YouTube review with 16 4K videos merged into a single video and played in real time? You’re not going to pull that off with a $500 SSD.

The Afterburner card is good for that, but it is just a substitute for having a lack of GPU choices. PCs can and have had accelerator cards too. TARGA cards in the early 90s, ICE cards in the late 90s.

Guess what the bit rate is for RED RAW footage? It's much less than you think. Go on their website and check the speed of their flash mags. The most intensive part of editing is the filters and grading which is helped by the graphics/video accelerator primarily.

Literally every PCIE NVME SSD that costs $500 is faster than the one in the Mac Pro, some of them are twice as fast. That's not even news. The cognitive dissonance in Macland is outstanding. Makes me feel embarrassed sometimes. Actually a lot more than sometimes lol
 
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The Apple Accelerator card is good for that.

Literally every PCIE NVME SSD that costs $500 is faster than the one in the Mac Pro, some of them are twice as fast. That's not even news. The cognitive dissonance in Macland is outstanding. Makes me feel embarrassed sometimes. Actually a lot more than sometimes lol

Guess what the bit rate is for RED RAW footage? It's much less than you think. Go on their website and check the speed of their flash mags. The most intensive part of editing is the filters and grading, not the disk throughput.
Can you prove that - sounds like a lot of blah blah?

There are a lot of good articles on SSD technology and most of the ones I've read don't agree with you. There are actually many ways to measure speed, some drives manufacturers brag about their specs, but they aren't the same specs. The Apple specs are "Up to 3.4GB/s sequential read and 3.4GB/s sequential write performance" which are right up there on speed.
 
$53,948.00....not bad for a full loaded Mac Pro. No AppleCare+ or FCP/LPX.
Well you could save like $4000 if you bought your 1.5TB or ram sticks from OWC
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A couple things I want to know.

We know from teardowns that there are 2 NVMe slots and it uses the same bespoke modules as the iMac Pro.

1) Is the 8TB option a pair of 4TB NVMe drives (as opposed to 1 8TB module)? and if so, is it running in RAID 0? If so, then I can see having 8TB of SSD running at near PCIe 4.0 speeds (~5GB/sec) for a main work partition as desirable for heaving duty processing.

2) Are these NVMe SSD drives using MLC or TLC NAND cahips? Right now, only Samsung's 9x0 Pro drives are left using MLC NAND chips, which have more durability and are correspondingly more expensive. Given the "PRO" focus, I would hope so.

Right now, the only 4TB M.2 NVMe drive I can find retails around $700. If Samsung made an 970 Evo 4TB version, it would retail around $1000.

That makes the "Apple Tax" not too bad IMHO. Using MLC NAND is more expensive (because it needs more NAND chips), so if is this a "PRO" drive and uses MLC, the cost of 8TB becomes downright reasonable.
oh no! someone who posts on here who actually seems to know what he is talking about. For shame, spaceman, for shame!
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Thanks, Apple, but the Radeon Pro 5700X is infinitely more important for those who need more than a 580X and would rather spend +$800 on the 5700X and use the extra $2K on an Afterburner than option out the Vega II. Just sayin’. 8TB on a single SSD makes me nervous anyways. 2TB system drive and separate drives for Library and Media make me happier.
I assume you are thanking Apple for at least offering it, not necessarily that many people will want it, but good to know it is there if they so?
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Somewhere in Apple Towers you have the bean counters sitting around the table thinking up new ways to mug the punters. Sure, the see-no-evil crowd will take a bullet for Apple but rational thinkers know the company is ripping the consumer off to new levels. The brass neck Tim Cook must have to sanction these numbers are outrageous.
yawn!
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Only double the cost of two 4TB Sabrent Rocket NVMe SSDs so not excruciatingly overpriced.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZQSDQDB

There's an even faster albeit smaller version but 2019 Mac Pro only supports PCIe 3.0 and not 4.0 to fully take advantage of it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TN1MNJ4
last compare I saw so virtually no increase in performance going to PCIe 4 over 3
 
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It won't be too long before someone comes out with an adapter similar to this one that fits in the new MacPro's internal SSD slot enabling you to use off-the-shelf SSDs. I've used these before on the 2013 MacPro with no issues.

That won't work. For several reasons.
 
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Somewhere in Apple Towers you have the bean counters sitting around the table thinking up new ways to mug the punters. Sure, the see-no-evil crowd will take a bullet for Apple but rational thinkers know the company is ripping the consumer off to new levels. The brass neck Tim Cook must have to sanction these numbers are outrageous.

What are you talking about? What price do you get 8 TB SSDs for?
 
Or actual storage space...
Less DRAM, less GPUs and buy a Jellyfish instead...not sure why people keep harping on the top BTO build cost when so few of those will be bought...$12,000-$24,000 is where most people are going to be at with or without an XDR Display and then shopping for storage. Seems like the fixation has still not worn off for many here. Maybe after the holidays.
 
Well now that they're offering 8TB, I guess I can order one now. Just what I was waiting for.

/s
 
Are you saying that you won’t be able to add SSD s internally via PCIe slots, or that particular card won’t work? You could also go TB3

No, I'm responding to: "It won't be too long before someone comes out with an adapter similar to this one that fits in the new MacPro's internal SSD slot enabling you to use off-the-shelf SSDs."

The two factory SSD slots in the MacPro are controlled by Apple's T2 chip, which also provides on-the-fly line-rate encryption. After-market NVMe SSDs have their own PCIe controller built-in and are thus not compatible.

Also, due to Apple's encryption and Secure Boot regimen inside the T2 chip, any SSD not supplied by Apple will not work in the MacPro's two factory SSD slots (assuming it could be controlled by the T2 chip; which it can't).

You can always use after-market NVMe SSD cards situated on a PCIe interface board which would go into one of the MacPro's PCIe slots.
 
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I'm sure they'll sell like hotcakes now...

Seriously, though - get the 1TB model and add NVMe SSD storage capacity via PCIe.

OWC just announced their Acceslior PCIe SSD cards that will hit 6000MB/s - 8TB is $1600.

 
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