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i7 coming to mac pros?

nick9191 said:
No its not at all.

An 8 core system for 2800 dollars is pretty cheap from where I am standing, especially in comparison to any other OEM, or indeed DIY.
Click to expand...

Yeah the Mac Pro has always been value for what you get. I actually just had a look at component prices and found the following interesting. The rough numbers were before I added the total up! Obviously you can build a better/cheaper system using Skulltrail and overclocking or a socket 775 or i7 system if you don't need 8 cores.

Intel E5462 x 2 - $1,662.98 (buy.com)
Super Micro X7DWA-N - $419.99 (buy.com)
2x1GB 800MHz FB-DIMM - $71.99 (OWC)
256MB 2600XT - $49.99 (newegg)
320GB Drive - $49.99 (newegg)
Optical Drive - ~$25
Silverstone Temjin TJ05S-X Case - $159.99 (xoxide.com)
1000W PSU - ~$200
Mouse - ~$15
Keyboard - ~$15
OSX Leopard - $129

Total: $2798.93
 
Umbongo said:
Yeah the Mac Pro has always been value for what you get. I actually just had a look at component prices and found the following interesting. The rough numbers were before I added the total up! Obviously you can build a better/cheaper system using Skulltrail and overclocking or a socket 775 or i7 system if you don't need 8 cores.

Intel E5462 x 2 - $1,662.98 (buy.com)
Super Micro X7DWA-N - $419.99 (buy.com)
2x1GB 800MHz FB-DIMM - $71.99 (OWC)
256MB 2600XT - $49.99 (newegg)
320GB Drive - $49.99 (newegg)
Optical Drive - ~$25
Silverstone Temjin TJ05S-X Case - $159.99 (xoxide.com)
1000W PSU - ~$200
Mouse - ~$15
Keyboard - ~$15
OSX Leopard - $129

Total: $2798.93
Click to expand...
You don't need a $160 case and or a 1000w psu maybe cut about $150-200 there.
You can get better video cards at $50 and bigger hd's at $50 - $60.
You can up the ram for way less then what apple wants as well.
 
Joe The Dragon said:
You don't need a $160 case
Click to expand...

I'd be interested in seeing a decent eATX case for under $150.

or a 1000W psu
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I was showing the value in the components being used. You'd probably be fine with a 650W PSU if you only planned on having a single GPU and 2.8GHz processors. Apple needed to offer a 1000W PSU though.

You can get better video cards at $50 and bigger hd's at $50 - $60.
You can up the ram for way less then what apple wants as well.
Click to expand...

Yes at the low to mid range those components go up in power and capacity for minimal financial increases which helps make the Mac Pro seem overpriced. Hence the "$50 graphics card / 2GB of memory / 320GB drive in a $3000 machine?" comments that often get aired.
 
nick9191 said:
No its not at all.

An 8 core system for 2800 dollars is pretty cheap from where I am standing, especially in comparison to any other OEM, or indeed DIY.
Click to expand...

You need to look harder. I can find systems almost identically configured for prices starting at 500 less then what Apple is charging.

I don't mind paying more for Apple hardware I just want to buy current tech not stuff that's years old.
 
lostngone said:
You need to look harder. I can find systems almost identically configured for prices starting at 500 less then what Apple is charging.

I don't mind paying more for Apple hardware I just want to buy current tech not stuff that's years old.
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From which vendors?
 
Mac Pro Prices

Compared to Dell New prices, in the UK at least, Apple are cheaper (especially with the student discount, but even without it). But Dell outlet prices are cheaper than Apple (cheaper than the student discount price as well) but the choice of systems is very limited. (I'm talking about workstations not desktops.)

But it is very difficult to feel happy about paying the same price for hardware that is unchanged for a year and is likely to be replaced shortly so I keep waiting.

The more I wait, the more I learn to live with the rather feeble dual core desktop I now have and the harder it is to justify an expensive new purchase (I'm a PhD student in Computer Science not someone who directly earns money from his computer.)
 
I'll PM you where to send my $50.

I seriously doubt they will downgrade from 8 cores to 4 and server quality components to desktop grade.
 
acquinn said:
Apple will obviously move to the I-7 architecture--and I bet any member here $50 that'll happen in January.
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I'm assuming you mean Nehalem because Core i7 is one specific CPU (that most likely won't end up in the Mac Pro).

I stay by my prediction of WWDC 2009 or slightly earlier for the Mac Pro.

I don't see a cheaper Mac Pro using Core i7 (given the quad-core iMac rumors), a Core i7 iMac (heat), or a mid-tower.
 
The hope is that intel will give Apple some early access to the xeon i7's.

Hopefully January.. but I'm guessing it will be anytime between March and July.
 
Joe The Dragon said:
You don't need a $160 case and or a 1000w psu maybe cut about $150-200 there.
You can get better video cards at $50 and bigger hd's at $50 - $60.
You can up the ram for way less then what apple wants as well.
Click to expand...

You can try, but cheap cases are crap and the 1000W PSU is for expandability, you have to remember you can put multiple graphics cards + drives etc all within the 1000W, so no need to swap/upgrade it in the future (from Apple's standpoint).

Also FB-DIMMs aren't that cheap...
 
dr. shdw said:
You can try, but cheap cases are crap and the 1000W PSU is for expandability, you have to remember you can put multiple graphics cards + drives etc all within the 1000W, so no need to swap/upgrade it in the future (from Apple's standpoint).

Also FB-DIMMs aren't that cheap...
Click to expand...
I definitely agree with the case and PSU argument you made. :D Particularly since I just put slightly over $500 into those two items. :p

Besides, these are the two components of a computer that everything else relys on, and will last much longer than a particular CPU/board architecture. I can get 10 years out of a really good case, and at least 8 from a decent PSU.

FB-DIMM's aren't the cheapest form of memory available, but if you've been tracking the prices over the last year or so, they have come down a noticeable amount recently. And Apple is notorious for overcharging for it as an upgrade from the base model.
 
acquinn said:
Apple will obviously move to the I-7 architecture--and I bet any member here $50 that'll happen in January.
Click to expand...

Apple will almost certainly not move to the i7 at all, as already mentioned. The i7 is a desktop part. It is extremely unlikely that Apple will use desktop processors in a MacPro.

Also, since the processors that Apple almost certainly will use aren't even released yet, it is almost certain that the MacPro will not be updated in January. The processors are supposed to be released in the first quarter of 2009, which means January through March. It typically takes about eight weeks from the availability of the processors until a MacPro release, which means March through May.

It's a good thing we don't have a way to hold you to that $50 wager.

PS The only way you could win that bet would be if Apple were to release an i7 based iMac in January, which is not impossible. This is a MacPro thread, though.
 
acquinn said:
Apple will obviously move to the I-7 architecture--and I bet any member here $50 that'll happen in January.
Click to expand...

It won't.

The history of the mac pro suggests 8 weeks after launch of the intel chips.

They are not launched/shipping yet. January is 4 days away.

Im betting March/April. As long as the chips are released during January!
 
I don't understand why people think that core i7 is a desktop brand. It seems like it's a family name like core and core 2. Just as the core 2 server chips were core 2 xeons, I think we'll be seeing core i7 xeon processors with that branding. Not exactly a leap of faith guess: not only does this sound plausible, it seems obvious.
 
No one said that won't happen.

It's just that they will only start manufacturing those chips in January at best so expecting a new Mac Pro by then is crazy : )
 
m1stake said:
I don't understand why people think that core i7 is a desktop brand. It seems like it's a family name like core and core 2. Just as the core 2 server chips were core 2 xeons, I think we'll be seeing core i7 xeon processors with that branding. Not exactly a leap of faith guess: not only does this sound plausible, it seems obvious.
Click to expand...

Because Intel said it was.
 
Without i7, there is no family or generational name, which doesn't make much sense. Even if Intel has said that, I think it's been misunderstood.
 
m1stake said:
Without i7, there is no family or generational name, which doesn't make much sense. Even if Intel has said that, I think it's been misunderstood.
Click to expand...

This is Intel we are talking about. They are masters of multiple redundant naming schemes. I mean i7 doesn't even make sense. ;)

This is where I read about the issue:
http://techreport.com/discussions.x/15285

Specifically:
This is the first of several new identifiers to come as different products launch over the next year.
Click to expand...
 
Umbongo said:
This is Intel we are talking about. They are masters of multiple redundant naming schemes. I mean i7 doesn't even make sense. ;)
Click to expand...
There's speculation that Lynnfield will be named "Core i5."

(Makes sense since then 32 nm Lynnfield could be called "Core i6" and Westmere could be called "Core i8.")
 
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