Mac Pro Arrived! Pics Included

[Fadl]

The Apple engineer also mentioned that you no longer need special mac firmware on the graphics cards, so you can use any generic PCI Express card! This has not been verified though, but should give you some hope at least 🙂

That would be great if it's true.

 

[damado]

It would be excellent if I could use my 7800GTX, I'm just worried about that power connector. I guess the only way to get one is to order the Mac Pro already with the X1900XT?

 

[adamfilip]

what about the real question that everyone is dying to know the answer too

if the mic port powered 🙂
can you use a regular mic

(powermac g5 mic port is not)

 

[devmage]

What a nonsense: you can just buy your Ram from Kingston!
I'ts like 25% cheaper.

Be careful with third party memory orders at this point. Crucial pulled their ram because they were having heat problems. I have a BTO on the way and figure Crucial will have it worked out before September and I'll order my RAM then.

 

[devmage]

what about the real question that everyone is dying to know the answer too

if the mic port powered 🙂
can you use a regular mic

(powermac g5 mic port is not)

Its not a mic port its a line in port so it probably isn't powered either like the G5s. Just buy a little USB mic input.

 

[MacMartino]

Careful for Ram?? No way

Be careful with third party memory orders at this point. Crucial pulled their ram because they were having heat problems. I have a BTO on the way and figure Crucial will have it worked out before September and I'll order my RAM then.

No way. Just go to th etop of the line manufacturer: Kingston.
They actually list their memory : choose : Mac Pro (up to date!)
en you can choose for a 1GB or 2GB version. Ships in a week!

 

[devmage]

No way. Just go to th etop of the line manufacturer: Kingston.
They actually list their memory : choose : Mac Pro (up to date!)
en you can choose for a 1GB or 2GB version. Ships in a week!

As I do so in this moment.

"We're sorry, but no parts are available for this system/device."

I'm guessing they found out what Crucial found out. You really do need the massive heat sinks Apple is putting on theirs.

 

[MacMartino]

Memory

Ok, yesterday there seemed to be no problem!
Well, let's wait a while...

 

[devmage]

Ok, yesterday there seemed to be no problem!
Well, let's wait a while...

What Crucial told me was they found out over time they had problems.

I am in no hurry since Apple is making me wait for mine. I'm sure they'll have it worke dout before Sept 12th, my ship date. Mean while my Rev A Dual 2Ghz G5 will have to suit me 🙂

 

[Multimedia]

ACD FireWire Hub Would Connect Camera & Mic To Macs • Lots Older Macs Only Have USB 1

I think you could use the standard USB 2.0 for that.
The ACD now also have a USB-hub built in, and thus requires you to hook a USB cable to the computer, so it won't look like they had to fix an extra cable.

They also have a Two Port FireWire Hub in them which would probably be the way video would be connected rather than through the USB 2 hub. IE it would be a 4 port FW Hub with Audio & Video going through the FW line as well as any two other things you want to hook to the dedicated FW Ports on the back.

Or Audio might go down the USB 2 line. Since Video has always been coming into the Macs via FireWire 400, there's no logic to it suddenly coming in through USB 2 now. Especially when you remember there are still a ton of USB 1.1 only Macs out there that can hook up to new ACDs - Millions - especially these new lower priced ones. 🙂

 

[adamfilip]

Its not a mic port its a line in port so it probably isn't powered either like the G5s. Just buy a little USB mic input.

ive been looking for something like that without luck
any suggestions (links?)

 

[Fadl]

It would be excellent if I could use my 7800GTX, I'm just worried about that power connector. I guess the only way to get one is to order the Mac Pro already with the X1900XT?

The power connector looks like a normal PCIe connector for cards like X1900XT.

 

[devmage]

ive been looking for something like that without luck
any suggestions (links?)

I have the iMic from Griffin Technology. They make great products and this device works perfectly in both PC's and Mac's.

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/

 

[satzzz]

What a nonsense: you can just buy your Ram from Kingston!
I'ts like 25% cheaper.

Yah, Kingston Confirms that is works fine..
Just buy some extra heatsinks and you've got memory thats 25% cheaper..

 

[devmage]

Yah, Kingston Confirms that is works fine..
Just buy some extra heatsinks and you've got memory thats 25% cheaper..

Kingston pulled their ram too. At least the officially endorsed Mac Pro DIMMS. For me I'll wait till someone works out the RAM with the right heat sinks. I'm not going to chance that I will choose the right combo myself.

 

[chiamon]

Be careful with third party memory orders at this point. Crucial pulled their ram because they were having heat problems. I have a BTO on the way and figure Crucial will have it worked out before September and I'll order my RAM then.

Yea, seems like the large heat sinks by apple for Mac Pro is really needed. However, the new Xserves do not need the large heat sinks for the rams, why is it so? Isn't air flow and heat dissipation even worse in the cramped internal of the Xserve?

 

[satzzz]

About the Intel Clovertown processors, are they comming next year to the Mac? If so, Will the price be the same as the Mac Pro's Now, or will it be way higher?
And the performance is that with an Clovertown much faster than an Xenon?

 

[ampd]

About the Intel Clovertown processors, are they comming next year to the Mac? If so, Will the price be the same as the Mac Pro's Now, or will it be way higher?

All i have heard is that the Clovertowns are going to be really expensive chips, $1000+ per so im guessing that a Mac Pro with these chips would be quite a bit more expensive. But then again, we don't know until they are released...

 

[Multimedia]

How To Install & Run Front Row On Any Mac & Add A USB IR Receiver

Hmm, I would understand the lack for front row more if the MacBook Pro did not have it, but since it does and this doesn't I'm a tad confused. Most people who need this machine probably wouldn't see the lack of Front Row as a deal breaker though, so it's sort of a non-issue.

Well they did say it will be there in Leopard, and if you are desperate there are directions on the interweb to put Front Row on a Mac that didn't have it manually -- I have Front Row running on my G4 mini, for example.

OK I've been reading a lot of complaints on here about no Front Row on the Mac Pro. It surprises me how so many of you are unaware of the hacks for installing and running Front Row on any Mac without the Apple Remote and IR sensor that have been on the Web since about two days after Front Row was introduced last October 2005. 😱 🙄

[jsw: we don't allow illegal software links, and it was determined that Front Row installation violates the license agreement]

Everybody happy now? 😛

 

[gravygraphics]

Re: FB-DIMM information

Quote:
Originally Posted by Multimedia
Thank you for all that detailed report on FB-DIMMS.

So what's the downside to buying non-ECC FB-DIMMs? Are they much less expensive? Will the Mac Pro still perform very well with non-ECC FB-DIMMs?

Quote:
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I do not believe non-ECC FB-DIMMS exist.


The AMB specification allows ECC and non-ECC configurations. As AMB was designed for workstation/server use, the assumption by the vendors is that everyone is going to want ECC versions of the DIMM. Besides, you really do want ECC versions of your memory. If you get a kernel panic, wouldn't you really feel more comfortable that it wasn't a problem with your DIMM's.

I would be careful of the vendors of FB-DIMMs for a bit. I have no specific information regarding any vendors chips or DIMM boards, but this is very new technology using high frequencies to drive into very new chips. I am not sure what speed DDR2 they have in there, but if they are using 333/667 memories, than the AMB channel is running at about 4Gbs per lane. Yes the signals are easier to route as you don't have to do length matching, but keeping a 4Gbs signal clean is not trivial.

What I would really like to see is the ability to gather CRC data back from the Mac. Even if the communication path is marginal, the FB-DIMM can detect the error and the controller can retry the transaction. This way the system has to pause for a retry (assuming something is waiting on the transaction), but it doesn't throw a kernel panic. I would love to be able to get a count of CRC errors per DIMM.

One of the better public sources of information I have found on FB-DIMM is the following thesis: http://www.eng.umd.edu/~blj/papers/thesis-MS-nasr--FBDIMM.pdf

 

[Multimedia]

Dual Clovertown Mac Pro January 9, 2007 SteveNote - Under $4k

About the Intel Clovertown processors, are they comming next year to the Mac? If so, Will the price be the same as the Mac Pro's Now, or will it be way higher?

All i have heard is that the Clovertowns are going to be really expensive chips, $1000+ per so im guessing that a Mac Pro with these chips would be quite a bit more expensive. But then again, we don't know until they are released...

Sure they will cost more. But if you need 8 cores, you might need 16. 😛 So what's the big hub-bub Bub? 😕 😱 🙂

Get in line Satzzz. You're behind me. I've been in the Clovertown queue since about a week after I got my G5 Quad in February. I am writing this on my PowerBook because my Quad is busy crushing video and there is still a queue for more crushing after one of the three copies of Handbrake finishes. If I start the 4th copy now, it will slow down the other three such that inefficiency of speed Vs. Core Capacity is overrun by TOO FEW CORES to run Handbrake as fast as it wants to - up to 2.5 Cores. the three that are running are using about 1.25 cores each. And that's just for yesterday's off-air recordings. 😱 😀 NK

Trading off Time Vs. Capacity with only 4 cores is a real pain in the ass Satzzz. My money is definitely on the Dual Clovertown in January - PLUS I may grab another G5 Quad soon as they are very CHEAP for the mean time.

Mac Pro Quad? No help. And VERY Expensive RAM. The problem is a CORE SHORTAGE not a speed deficiency. G5 Quad is only about 15% "slower" than Mac pro with RAM that cost $70/GB IE perceptibly about the same speed. You do the math. Until I can get a Mac with at least 8 Cores I have a bottleneck problem that won't quit.

Keep your powder dry Satzzz. We're gonna get with 8 cores for under $4k in January. It will be worth the wait in GOLD saved now. 😉 😎

 

[shadowfayre]

Temperatures

Ok, so we know it is quiet and limited if any fans, but can I fry my morning breakfast on the case? 🙂

What does CoreTemp say that your CPUs are running at? Any case temperature readings available yet?

Thanks,

 

[satzzz]

I'll will wait..

Hell yah, I'm going to wait untill next year.. Not only because the Clovertown but also because the new OS X.. and maybe the new FinalCut...

 

[hondaboy945]

I hade a friend of mine who's at WWDC ask an Apple engineer about the "Note: The Mac Pro does not simultaneously support an ATI graphics card and an Nvidia graphics card." quote from http://developer.apple.com/document...le_ref/doc/uid/TP40003994-DontLinkElementID_1.

Apparently, that quote only means that you can't run an ATI Radeon X1900 XT and Nvidia Quadro 4500 FX simultaneously. However, they tried putting a Geforce 7300 GT in with the Radeon card, and that worked fine! So the quote is quite misleading, and my setup should work beautifully.

The Apple engineer also mentioned that you no longer need special mac firmware on the graphics cards, so you can use any generic PCI Express card! This has not been verified though, but should give you some hope at least 🙂

I was talking about putting (2) Quadro FX 4500 512's in the Mac Pro. I am not saying that we need to mix video cards because I imagine that would cause problems in the long run. I just think that it would be great to use (2) Quadro FX 4500 X2's for the MP

 

[ricgnzlzcr]

Sure they will cost more. But if you need 8 cores, you might need 16. 😛 So what's the big hub-bub Bub? 😕 😱 🙂

Get in line Satzzz. You're behind me. I've been in the Clovertown queue since about a week after I got my G5 Quad in February. I am writing this on my PowerBook because my Quad is busy crushing video and there is still a queue for more crushing after one of the three copies of Handbrake finishes. If I start the 4th copy now, it will slow down the other three such that inefficiency of speed Vs. Core Capacity is overrun by TOO FEW CORES to run Handbrake as fast as it wants to - up to 2.5 Cores. the three that are running are using about 1.25 cores each. And that's just for yesterday's off-air recordings. 😱 😀 NK

Trading off Time Vs. Capacity with only 4 cores is a real pain in the ass Satzzz. My money is definitely on the Dual Clovertown in January - PLUS I may grab another G5 Quad soon as they are very CHEAP for the mean time.

Mac Pro Quad? No help. And VERY Expensive RAM. The problem is a CORE SHORTAGE not a speed deficiency. G5 Quad is only about 15% "slower" than Mac pro with RAM that cost $70/GB IE perceptibly about the same speed. You do the math. Until I can get a Mac with at least 8 Cores I have a bottleneck problem that won't quit.

Keep your powder dry Satzzz. We're gonna get with 8 cores for under $4k in January. It will be worth the wait in GOLD saved now. 😉 😎

Wow, I just learned a lot. I really had no idea how the multiple cores actually worked but I got my answer. Quad core macbook pro anyone?