I love the MacOS but there are applications that cannot run on this OS. I am considering to buy MacPro or build a PC to run the 64 bit version of Vista and Linux. How a single quad core MacPro performs compared with the fastest Core 2 Duo and similarly configured PCs?
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How the MacPro performs compared with similarly configured PCs?
- Thread starter hajime
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It's the same hardware...
It's not going to perform significantly differently from other Xeon DP workstations.
It's not going to perform significantly differently from other Xeon DP workstations.
Intel sells a motherboard called "Skulltrail" which is essentially a 5400 series motherboard (the same chipset the Mac Pro uses) that you can overclock, if that's your cup of tea. You can reach speeds of 3.8GHz and above, using two Core 2 Extreme QX9775. 
The North and South here are standard from the 5400 workstation chipset ...
The only thing vastly different from the PC Workstation is the FW chip, the non-Intel wireless and ethernet chip.
Since those are not related to performance, so a PC isn't needed.
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If you want the big expensive Intel Skulltrail Game machine, that is basically the same chipset with the Nvidia SLI chip added. And a massive duplication of hardware.
The only thing vastly different from the PC Workstation is the FW chip, the non-Intel wireless and ethernet chip.
Since those are not related to performance, so a PC isn't needed.
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If you want the big expensive Intel Skulltrail Game machine, that is basically the same chipset with the Nvidia SLI chip added. And a massive duplication of hardware.
If you want a true comparison then you have to compare the same hardware. A Core 2 Duo is not even a comparison to the Xeon processor that is in the Mac Pro. They are different class processors aimed at different markets.
The Core 2 Duo is a consumer processor.
The Xeon is a workstation/server processor.
The Core 2 Duo only has 2 processor cores.
The Xeon in the Mac Pro has 4 processor cores.
You should be very careful with what you say. When it comes to UP and DP Xeon workstations you're already treading deep into "desktop" processors.
Keep in mind it's all Core 2 derived anyways. At the same clockspeed you're not going to see much of a difference between Core 2 and Xeon branded processors short of variation due to the memory technology.
Intel sells a motherboard called "Skulltrail" which is essentially a 5400 series motherboard (the same chipset the Mac Pro uses) that you can overclock, if that's your cup of tea. You can reach speeds of 3.8GHz and above, using two Core 2 Extreme QX9775.
Actually 5+GHz if you get uber 1337 cooling (err...freezing?) hardware
Intel sells a motherboard called "Skulltrail" which is essentially a 5400 series motherboard (the same chipset the Mac Pro uses) that you can overclock, if that's your cup of tea. You can reach speeds of 3.8GHz and above, using two Core 2 Extreme QX9775.
Do you know the model number? I can't find it on their website.
I think you should be a little more technically inclined before you go off to spend this sum of money.