First Benchmark Result Surfaces for Mac Pro With M2 Ultra Chip

[Ethosik]

Which software encoder did you use? Which codec? Which Profile? Settings?

If you just used a mediocre to poor software encoder (Adobe, Apple, etc.), that may be. With a very good software encoder, like x265, this contradicts my own experience and those I've read about (e.g. here, Handbrake forum, etc.).

I have tried many programs and configurations. It’s pretty common that file sizes are about the same with single pass software encoding.

Like I said, it really doesn’t matter. It’s not like the file size is 100MB with software encoding but 700GB with hardware encoding. The best difference I have seen in my workload is when I configure it for multi pass and very slow software encoding. But that makes my export take two days. Yes 48 hours for ONE PROJECT. Compared to 5 hours hardware.

I have 150TB NAS. Getting a second one. Storage is relatively cheap these days. I would rather use hardware encoding than software when I can’t even tell the difference visually.

 

[DeepIn2U]

And with that, any reason to get this over the Mac Studio is now gone. There is now ZERO reason at all to buy a giant Mac Pro over the smaller Studio

"But the Mac Pro can be rack mountable!"

So can the Mac Studio, even moreso since it's considerably smaller so you can mount a lot more

"But I need the Mac Pro for the PCIE to put my BlackMagic cards in!"

Do you? Do you really? Because BlackMagic PCIE is slowly on it's way out as there's external rack mounted boxes that are performing better than the PCIE cards did.

Even Neil Parfitt, the audio studio pro who famously unboxed a fully specced Rack Mount Mac Pro, is saying the M2 Ultra Mac Pro is kinda redundant

I don't see a future for the Mac Pro anymore.

5:11 ... WHY is this guy talking about swapping out his entire motherboard as something modular?!
Even 15yrs ago moving out your entire motherboard was NOT something users even on Windows PC's thought as something modular (essentially buying a new CASE). Sure a that would occur if a case offered you something unique but its NOT something one would consider as modular as some cases would not align port holes etc properly. Different cases for different use cases.

 

[enb141]

5:11 ... WHY is this guy talking about swapping out his entire motherboard as something modular?!
Even 15yrs ago moving out your entire motherboard was NOT something users even on Windows PC's thought as something modular (essentially buying a new CASE). Sure a that would occur if a case offered you something unique but its NOT something one would consider as modular as some cases would not align port holes etc properly. Different cases for different use cases.

Agreed with you. Reusing case, even in the PC world is very hard, I had to retire my old good Antec P180 because that case only had USB 1.1 Front Panel (not even 2.0) and because there were no space for radiators.

In apple world, this is even way no to, they won't sell you parts, apple only sells complete products, this has always be their way of doing business.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Agreed with you. Reusing case, even in the PC world is very hard, I had to retire my old good Antec P180 because that case only had USB 1.1 Front Panel (not even 2.0) and because there were no space for radiators.

In apple world, this is even way no to, they won't sell you parts, apple only sells complete products, this has always be their way of doing business.

I can appreciate the need to upgrade from USB 1.1 ports ... but most likely that was the motherboard or the case daughter board - which could have been replaced and for a LOT cheaper than purchasing and less time consuming moving the entire computer platform components to a new case no?

 

[enb141]

I can appreciate the need to upgrade from USB 1.1 ports ... but most likely that was the motherboard or the case daughter board - which could have been replaced and for a LOT cheaper than purchasing and less time consuming moving the entire computer platform components to a new case no?

No, there was no way to upgrade the front panel of the case, if there were a way to buy those parts to upgrade I would buy them instead but there were no options for that.

Also as I said, that case wasn't designed to handle 3x120 radiators/fans, which is very common now days, that case only supports 1x120 radiators/fans.

 

[AmitSinha]

I also had an optane 900p, now I have an optane dc p5810x, those optanes smokes whatever the competition gives, It's a shame that intel abandoned that technology.

I also have a studio sound card, a RME AIO Pro, of course on my PC but those two devices could live in a mac too.

Are Intel Optane 900/905P and P4800X/5800X/P5810X supported on macOS?

 

[enb141]

Are Intel Optane 900/905P and P4800X/5800X/P5810X supported on macOS?

You won't get MacOS drivers for those, but they will work just fine because are PCI express based cards (900/905P), on the other side P4800X/5800X/P5810X you will need U.2 to PCI express adapter.

Obviously they will only work on a Mac Pro, if you need them externally then you will need an enclosure PCI express to USB.

 

[AmitSinha]

You won't get MacOS drivers for those, but they will work just fine because are PCI express based cards (900/905P), on the other side P4800X/5800X/P5810X you will need U.2 to PCI express adapter.

Yes, aware as the drivers are already present in macOS. However, have you tested any of these models or have a 100% working report (no crashing or kernel panics)? I'm planning to get one soon but need a working confirmation before spending so much on it.

Obviously they will only work on a Mac Pro, if you need them externally then you will need an enclosure PCI express to USB.

Yes, going to use it in a MacPro. Which of these drives do you have? Do you have the benchmarks and file copy speed reports?

 

[enb141]

Yes, aware as the drivers are already present in macOS. However, have you tested any of these models or have a 100% working report (no crashing or kernel panics)? I'm planning to get one soon but need a working confirmation before spending so much on it.

Sorry I don't have a mac to test them.

Yes, going to use it in a MacPro. Which of these drives do you have? Do you have the benchmarks and file copy speed reports?

I have 900 and 5800X.

Those drives drive in multi read write scenarios, if you think this drives are fast because you are going to move one file and want that performance, then you are going to see normal and probably below expectations reports.

This drives thrive when reading and writing lots of files at the same time, common scenarios are database or loading apps which require to load lots of tiny files allocated in random locations of the drive.


I'll take a benchmark later on and show you.

 

[AmitSinha]

Sorry I don't have a mac to test them.

How sad is that. Then, how to confirm the compatibility?

I have 900 and 5800X.

Nice.

Those drives drive in multi read write scenarios, if you think this drives are fast because you are going to move one file and want that performance, then you are going to see normal and probably below expectations reports.

Main is endurance and IOPS and sustained Read/Writes.

This drives thrive when reading and writing lots of files at the same time, common scenarios are database or loading apps which require to load lots of tiny files allocated in random locations of the drive.

Makes sense.

I'll take a benchmark later on and show you.

Thank you. On Windows though?

 

[enb141]

How sad is that. Then, how to confirm the compatibility?

Because on windows works out of the box with windows drivers.

Nice.

👍

Main is endurance and IOPS and sustained Read/Writes.

This drives are the kings of IOPS by far and low latency.

Makes sense.

Thank you. On Windows though?

Yes

Intel 5800X

Samsung 990 Pro (Smokes macs default SSD)

 

[AmitSinha]

Because on windows works out of the box with windows drivers.

True that but how do I confirm the compatibility with Mac? Do you have any Mac Pro to test?

This drives are the kings of IOPS by far and low latency.

Oh, yeah!

Yes

Intel 5800X

The P5800X you have seems to be 800GB and as per the specs, the Sequential Read and Write speeds are 7200MB/s and 6100MB/s. But here its approx 4946MB/s Read and 4456MB/s Write. I wonder why there is less speed than advertised?

The same is with the 990 PRO 1TB you have. May i know what Windows system's specs are?

Thank you for the benchmarks!

 

[enb141]

True that but how do I confirm the compatibility with Mac? Do you have any Mac Pro to test?

I don't have a Mac pro to test. I can't confirm but there's a 99% chances to work on Macs, windows doesn't needs special drivers for this drives to work.

NVMe are standard, no matter what OS you are running.

Oh, yeah!

Yep

The P5800X you have seems to be 800GB and as per the specs, the Sequential Read and Write speeds are 7200MB/s and 6100MB/s. But here its approx 4946MB/s Read and 4456MB/s Write. I wonder why there is less speed than advertised?

Yes I have the one with 800 GB.

Probably bus limited, apparently I'm using the whole bandwidth of the PCI express, my system is PCI express 5.0, I'm gonna check over internet why I'm limited to 5000MB/s.

The same is with the 990 PRO 1TB you have. May i know what Windows system's specs are?

Windows 11 Pro 24H2
13th gen Core i9-13900
64 GB RAM DDR 5

Thank you for the benchmarks!

You are welcome.

 

[AmitSinha]

I don't have a Mac pro to test. I can't confirm but there's a 99% chances to work on Macs, windows doesn't needs special drivers for this drives to work.

NVMe are standard, no matter what OS you are running.

Hmm. I understand but there are reports that newer Micron 9400 series doesn't work. So are some of the Samsung NVMes i tested myself on Mac Pro.

Any other reports that are success for P5800X?

Yes I have the one with 800 GB.

Probably bus limited, apparently I'm using the whole bandwidth of the PCI express, my system is PCI express 5.0, I'm gonna check over internet why I'm limited to 5000MB/s.

Is that over CPU or PCH? Try via CPU lanes and maybe it should be fixed.

Windows 11 Pro 24H2
13th gen Core i9-13900
64 GB RAM DDR 5

Weird that Samsung also has same problems. Ensure you're using Gen5 Slot.

 

[enb141]

Hmm. I understand but there are reports that newer Micron 9400 series doesn't work. So are some of the Samsung NVMes i tested myself on Mac Pro.

Ok I got it, unfortunately I don't have a mac pro to test.

Any other reports that are success for P5800X?

Not that I know.

Is that over CPU or PCH? Try via CPU lanes and maybe it should be fixed.

The P5800X is in the position of the PCIe 16x GPU, so it's supposed to be the Gen 5 NVMe slot.

Weird that Samsung also has same problems. Ensure you're using Gen5 Slot.

As far as I know, I'm using Gen4 slot for the Samsung.

 

[AmitSinha]

Ok I got it, unfortunately I don't have a mac pro to test.

No problem.

Not that I know.

Same here

The P5800X is in the position of the PCIe 16x GPU, so it's supposed to be the Gen 5 NVMe slot.

Electrical or physical only? Could you tell me the Motherboard model?

As far as I know, I'm using Gen4 slot for the Samsung.

Then the limits are fine.

 

[enb141]

Electrical or physical only? Could you tell me the Motherboard model?

It's plugged using M.2 to U.2 adapter, the M.2 is located above the main GPU.

The motherboard is an Asus Z790-PLUS WIFI

Then the limits are fine.

For the Samsung yes, but the other that is supposed to be plugged in the G5 is not.