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Good Preview of Sandy Bridge with Benchmarks
- Thread starter VirtualRain
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still no support of USB3 on sandy bridge, may be LIGHTPEAKSandy Bridge looks very interesting. USB 3.0 and PCI-e 3.0 should be coming along with Sandy Bridge making the Mac Pro even more future proof.
its really impressive considering they tested the slowest cpu without turbo. Now imagine what i7 2600 can do with bigger cache/clockspeed/turbo and faster graphics(12u).
Next imac revision will have significant boost in performance. I doubt if apple will introduce any version with just integrated GPU as it does not support openCL.
since all mobile sandy bridge will have 12u graphics, it will kill low/mid end graphics on windows side.
Next imac revision will have significant boost in performance. I doubt if apple will introduce any version with just integrated GPU as it does not support openCL.
since all mobile sandy bridge will have 12u graphics, it will kill low/mid end graphics on windows side.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3876/intels-core-2011-mobile-roadmap-revealed-sandy-bridge-part-ii
That's about mobile Sandys. Interestingly enough, the mobile versions come with 12 EUs instead of 6 EUs like in most desktop models. The IGP tests in that artcle were done with 6 EUs so expect 12 EU GPU to be about twice as fast. That's pretty insane, no need for discrete GPUs in lappies anymore!
That's about mobile Sandys. Interestingly enough, the mobile versions come with 12 EUs instead of 6 EUs like in most desktop models. The IGP tests in that artcle were done with 6 EUs so expect 12 EU GPU to be about twice as fast. That's pretty insane, no need for discrete GPUs in lappies anymore!
Radeon 6000 series isn't going down without a fight
Netkas found references to the Radeon 6000 series in 10.6.5 beta so we might be getting MacBooks updated by the end of the year, maybe with some GDDR5 (pipe dream)
This is a great thread.
My 2007 MBP runs fine but suffers with my LR library. I was thinking about getting a current iMac for performance, but with what these mobile Sandy Bridge CPU's offer I may even consider another MBP. Quad core 17" MBP anyone?
Yeah if you NEED a computer now, get one. But unless your computer is dead or unusably slow, these updates are very useful to know about. For many people, 5-6 months isn't a long time to wait for the next generation in architecture and a MAJOR performance boost. Notebook battery life and performance will increase significantly, Quad desktops will be unreal.
My 2007 MBP runs fine but suffers with my LR library. I was thinking about getting a current iMac for performance, but with what these mobile Sandy Bridge CPU's offer I may even consider another MBP. Quad core 17" MBP anyone?
Yeah if you NEED a computer now, get one. But unless your computer is dead or unusably slow, these updates are very useful to know about. For many people, 5-6 months isn't a long time to wait for the next generation in architecture and a MAJOR performance boost. Notebook battery life and performance will increase significantly, Quad desktops will be unreal.
"The first computer to use Nehalem-based Xeon processors was the Apple Mac Pro workstation announced on March 3, 2009. Nehalem-based Xeon EX processors for larger servers were originally expected in Q4 2009, However, they were released in April 2010."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehalem_(microarchitecture)
What do you know?
But at what price? The faster graphics could come by making the chip bigger ( or by loosing x86 cores. ). If it is bigger then the costs will go up. If loose x86 cores then trading off 4 for 2 cores. Perhaps a possibility that will ship with bum graphics units (one of the two graphic clusters either defective or turned off ) to make 6's, but seems like lots of silicon to blow on that with respect to the whole wafer. If the defect rate is "high" then better chance.
Depends upon the green pitch they want to make. Because the competition with on die IGP is going to get higher the discrete versions are going to run hotter to post "better than IGP" numbers.
If Apple works out kinks in their "auto switch" mode then iMacs could run on IGP most of the time and then only switch on the mid-high discrete graphics when had to. Plugged in so not dramatic effect of system running on battery longer, but you will be pulling less power out of the wall.
OpenCL could be thrown at the discrete chip which is more likely to have more horsepower anyway. The only mode where OpenCL on the IGP has traction is when the discrete GP is fully busy and need more computations done.
It will be 12u, but at a substantially slower clock: around -25%. It is a "more workers moving slower". I wouldn't bet on the numbers being 2x like better. I don't buy the cores turbo completely independently either. If GPU goes up then the CPU probably goes down. They are decoupled, but not pragmatically independent.
O.K., let's say the Sandy-Bridged iMac would smash the current Mac Pro in terms of price/performance... but would it really smash the Mac Pro (let's say the Hex, since you mention it) PURELY in terms of performance?
I'm wondering just how much more Sandy Bridge is going to add to performance, particularly in the Mac Pro lineup. Before every update, it seems, I get excited about how great it's going to be, and then when it comes out, people (who know a lot more than I do) say it's only 10% faster, or 5%, and I'm left wondering why all the excitement.
I'd like to get a better sense of how great/revolutionary/ho-hum Sandy Bridge will be for the Mac Pro.
thanks for any advice,
malch
I seriously doubt that Sandy Bridge is going to be the main feature of the next Mac Pro update.
SATA III
USB3
Lightpeak
(possibly) 6 memory slots per processor
Those are all more likely to be the deciding factors for the Mac Pro.
Of course, USB3 alone on an iMac would still give the Mac Pro a run for its money... but intel says that isnt happening for another 2 years or so. Anyway, the Mac Pro is safe as long as the iMac still has those HDD/expandability limitations.
SATA III
USB3
Lightpeak
(possibly) 6 memory slots per processor
Those are all more likely to be the deciding factors for the Mac Pro.
Of course, USB3 alone on an iMac would still give the Mac Pro a run for its money... but intel says that isnt happening for another 2 years or so. Anyway, the Mac Pro is safe as long as the iMac still has those HDD/expandability limitations.
Doesn't X68 (Or whatever the SB workstation chipset is) not have USB3 STILL?
I don't believe that for a second.
Final spec will have USB 3, SATA 3, I put money on it.
Edit: "Intel X68 processors provide Intel LGA 1366 a more stable footing by bus DMI next generation and support of new standards for data transmission, SATA 6Gbit / s and USB 3.0"
The SB Mac Pro *will* have USB and SATA 3.
the sandy bridges we are going to see in MBP's are most likely just going to be the dual cores, like the current i series.
I am however a lot more excited for the ivy bridge, that is coming out just about the time I'm going to be wanting a new computer, even the baseline has four physical cores.