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I think a better question is what does a Xeon/Threadripper do that an Ultra does not. And the answer is PCIe lanes and other forms of external connectivity.
The OP is postulating that the apple needs a mac pro computer in the line up, and my question pertains to that. Apple is not returning to x86, so a comparison to xeon/threadripper only makes sense imo, is that apple comes out an Extreme version of the apple silicon which they were rumored to have been working on a few years ago, and that silicon has an architecture more suited for workstation usage.
 
They are. ECC RAM, workstation GPU, Xeon CPU are great examples. Servers are just a bigger version of workstations with more parts.


Apple Silicon chips cant provide faster GPU like RTX 5090 or workstation GPU. Are you gonna say Apple is the best even if 4070TI is what they can do at max? Dont forget how much cheaper is 4070TI compared to Mac Studio with Ultra.
This is wrong on so many levels it will take a day to explain. How much GPU RAM does 4070 or 5090 support compared to Apple silicon Mac Studio? Apple isn’t going to go after high end Nvidia data center chips. It’s well placed in the workstation place that needs lot of GPU memory. And if Apple does need to compete in workstation markets, 5090 or even 4070 are’nt really workstation class GPUs according to Nvidia.
 
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This is wrong on so many levels it will take a day to explain. How much GPU RAM does 4070 or 5090 support compared to Apple silicon Mac Studio? Apple isn’t going to go after high end Nvidia data center chips. It’s well placed in the workstation place that needs lot of GPU memory. And if Apple does need to compete in workstation markets, 5090 or even 4070 are’nt really workstation class GPUs according to Nvidia.
So wrong.

GPU uses VRAM, not RAM. While it is an advantage over PC, does it really gives advantage for workstation? No. Besides, despite having a lot of space, the bandwidth is slower than RTX high-end GPU and workstations. The space is not everything.

How does Mac Studio compare to RTX 5090? It only performs up to RTX 4070TI mate. By your logic, how will it replace workstations when the GPU level isn't even near RTX 5090? How ironic.
 
So wrong.

GPU uses VRAM, not RAM. While it is an advantage over PC, does it really gives advantage for workstation?
So wrong

There's a number of GPUs that use dram, including apple. Also people can use the term ram, to mean either dram, or vram, depending on the context. You missed that, I guess
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I think a better question is what does a Xeon/Threadripper do that an Ultra does not. And the answer is PCIe lanes and other forms of external connectivity.

As far as I know, the Max has roughly the same external bandwidth as Intel/AMD consumer chips, and the Ultra has twice as much. (But I haven't seen concrete numbers for the recent chips.) That means the Ultra has around half the bandwidth of a proper workstation chip. If you have a setup with multiple high-resolution monitors, a lot of local storage, and a fast network, a Mac Studio may run out of bandwidth before a proper workstation.
Storage extension is a big plus for Mac Pro if you need high end local storage. But then AMD intel provide more bang for the buck if storage is main criteria.
So wrong.

GPU uses VRAM, not RAM. While it is an advantage over PC, does it really gives advantage for workstation? No. Besides, despite having a lot of space, the bandwidth is slower than RTX high-end GPU and workstations. The space is not everything.

How does Mac Studio compare to RTX 5090? It only performs up to RTX 4070TI mate. By your logic, how will it replace workstations when the GPU level isn't even near RTX 5090? How ironic.
carry on! Ignorance is bliss. Good luck running models that need more than 32 GB on GPU. 5090x is useless when it runs out of memory.
Unfortunately there are no mid tier workstation solutions, and Nvidia gets crazy expensive as you start pushing higher memory requirements. I wanted to like spark, but it is like a beta product. Mac Pro is not gonna make AS faster at fp8.
 
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Storage extension is a big plus for Mac Pro if you need high end local storage. But then AMD intel provide more bang for the buck if storage is main criteria.

carry on! Ignorance is bliss. Good luck running models that need more than 32 GB on GPU. 5090x is useless when it runs out of memory.
Unfortunately there are no mid tier workstation solutions, and Nvidia gets crazy expensive as you start pushing higher memory requirements. I wanted to like spark, but it is like a beta product. Mac Pro is not gonna make AS faster at fp8.
There are many tasks for GPU and yet, you only picked LLM and then say Apple is the best. Since when Apple is well known for AI? Ironic.
 
There are many tasks for GPU and yet, you only picked LLM and then say Apple is the best. Since when Apple is well known for AI? Ironic.
That’s your problem, I don’t even use it for LLMs. If you wnat to run LLM they are much cheaper cloud options than blowing money on Apple silicon or Nvidia.
 
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That’s your problem, I don’t even use it for LLMs. If you wnat to run LLM they are much cheaper cloud options than blowing money on Apple silicon or Nvidia.
If so, why not make Mac Pro then? You are justifying the current situation as if 512GB is the biggest that LLM can go. You logically failed.
 
If so, why not make Mac Pro then? You are justifying the current situation as if 512GB is the biggest that LLM can go. You logically failed.
I don’t care about LLM. Not sure what logic you are talking, it makes no sense when LLM is not even in the conversation nor I use them on MBP. Mac Pro outside of extending storage or additional Video cards isn’t any different than Mac Studio. honestly that market has moved on long time ago. My last Mac Pro was 2012, trash can might have just killed Mac Pro.
 
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