MacPro 08 vs New iMac Quad?

[justit]

If you're that interested in the monitor the iMac has, go out and buy one. It's an hp panel I believe so hp should sell something very similiar.

Apple is using an HP panel?

I hope you don't think it's this http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/...C9whD3bGMbGrXnQntQQ9bv5KzSGkk7qJjl!-743783937

I can't find anyone other than apple that has a 27" backlit LCD that runs at 2560 by 1440 pixels natively. Gloss or no gloss, it's one of the best displays out there, hence all the renewed interest in the iMac 27".

 

[TMRaven]

LG panel my mistake.

 

[Transporteur]

What I don't get is why you're using only 2 gigs of ram for your mac pro. The xeons use triple channel memory bandwidth, so you'll get the most out of them with 3 parallel sticks of ram at the same speed! The least you could do for your mac pro is to go out and buy a triple channel set for around 200 usd.

Dual channel, not triple channel. RAM in the 08 MacPro in pairs of two, not three!


And just because LG or HP or whoever the manufacturer of the panel is, does not mean that they come up with a standalone display using that panel in the near future.

It took Samsung 3 years till they came up with a 30" screen, even if they were producing the panel for the 30" Apple screen which was released in 2004.

 

[Techhie]

An i7 iMac won't even come close to the amount of performance a dual xeon processor mac pro spits out. Xeon processors are server grade chips and should be on par or higher than the performance of a Lynnfield 860.

What I don't get is why you're using only 2 gigs of ram for your mac pro. The xeons use triple channel memory bandwidth, so you'll get the most out of them with 3 parallel sticks of ram at the same speed! The least you could do for your mac pro is to go out and buy a triple channel set for around 200 usd.

First of all, the only difference in recent Xeon chips is the ability to accept ECC RAM; the quad core MP actually has the socket to accept a Core i7 extreme. With its overhauled architecture, the Core i7 chip in the iMac could destroy an '08 Mac Pro in single threaded performance, and be comparable in multi-theraded applications because of hyperthreading.

About the RAM, it's already been said that the '08 MP uses a dual channel setup. Even if it did take triple channel, my Mac Pro (and it's benchmarks) show that running dual channel with 4 modules on even an '09 MP does not hinder performance even a negligible amount.

 

[TMRaven]

Yes, it appears I've been dwelling on the early '09 model mac pro-- the one with the X5570 chip, it seems like it's been out forever now.

Regardless if it's an '08 model mac pro or not, I think the possibility of spending 2000 usd on an iMac is a little absurd. The '08 line of mac pros are still powerful machines, and can very well last you another couple of years. The easiest thing you can do to upgrade your machine's power is to put another 2 gigs of ram in it.

LG makes the panel for the new iMacs, but is most likely a specialized panel they only sell to apple in agreement.

 

[umbilical]

I just upgraded my '08 MP to 14 gb RAM from 6. It is much more responsive -- and when I have 6 or 7 programs open seems to use most of the 14 gb. A MP with only 2 GB is only functioning at a small fraction of its potential, since it's spending a lot of time writing and reading its memory from disk. If you spend $250 for 8 gb RAM from OWC, you'll have a computer that I suspect is somewhat faster than the new 4-core iMacs.

thants sound nice! I keep my macpro

 

[Stevep67]

iMac i7 for 3D/video

I do a lot Cinema 4D and Afert Effects, Final Cut work... Currently using G5 quad 2.5GHz (non Intel) with 5.5Mb RAM. It's getting clunky.

I'm concerned about the iMac 27" processor and especially the graphics card being able to handle 3D and video editing. On the fence between MP and iMac quad. All of this info is a lot to chew on. Price is a big factor. Loaded i7 iMac for $2,500 over MP for $3,400. It's a pretty big price difference.

Anyone else looking at an i7 iMac 27" for 3D/video?

 

[TMRaven]

I got my eyes set on the 27 inch iMac with 860. I'm only going to configure it with the stock 1 tb hd and 4 gigs of ram though, apple wants too much for those upgrades. I can just as easily upgrade ram for cheaper from newegg or something.

Also since the 860 accepts 1333 ram it would be nice to see if the new iMac can do so as well.