My nMP Review (vs my old 4,1 Mac Pro)

[sirio76]

I think he's comparing space efficiency.

Well even if Aiden was talking about space efficiency he was comparing apples vs oranges, you can fit about 8 nMP in the volume occupied by that server(he was honest enough to post only the smallest dimension but according to HP that thing measure ~17x45x90, it's huge....and hugely expensive). That being said I agree with him that the best form factor for rackable systems it's still the "box", but that doesn't mean that the nMP is not extremely space efficient as a standalone workstation.
About the thermal core, nobody is saying this is some kind of magic, and nobody ignore the limits of this particular architecture, at least not me... This design it's brilliant but comes with some few compromises, the all point is if you can live with that, I personally do. Seems that you and your workflow(whatever it is) do not fit in this architecture, that's fine.. but you can't ignore that for many other people this is a very capable system and reasonably pricied, so there's no good reason to repeatedly and insistently reporting about his overhyped and overestimated weakness(well, mostly presumed weakness) while negating any benefits of this new machine.
Sorry for the off topic, I hope VirtualRain keeps alive this informative post(one of the few here on macrumors)

 

[AidenShaw]

Well even if Aiden was talking about space efficiency he was comparing apples vs oranges, you can fit about 8 nMP in the volume occupied by that server(he was honest enough to post only the smallest dimension but according to HP that thing measure ~17x45x90, it's huge....and hugely expensive

Sorry, I wasn't trying to mislead by only quoting one dimension.

Almost all rack systems are about 45cm wide by 90cm deep - so giving the 17cm height is really all that's necessary. And the SL270 is half-width - two of them fit in that 45cm wide shelf.

As far as how many new Mini Pros would fit in a given volume, that's an interesting question and needs to consider cooling and cable routing in addition to simple dimensions.

The Tesla cards in the SL270 are fanless.

They depend on the system fans to cool them, but that's reasonable because the SL270 system is designed to be a thermal core. The back ("hot aisle") side of the system is all fans (see attachment). Everything is about moving air from the front ("cold aisle") side of the system and exhausting it into the hot aisle. The air moving through the thermal core of the rectangular box cools the GPUs and the CPUs.

Even though 80 new Mini Pro systems might be able to fit volume-wise into a rack, how are you going to cable them up and deal with the cooling issues? Eighty of Apple's "thermal cores" will cook unless you put some serious external air movement solution in place.

The #2 supercomputer on the current list is the Titan, with 261K CUDA cores (18,688 Nvidia Tesla K20X GPGPUs). Nobody is going to build a supercomputer with tubes.

 

[slughead]

I've been looking for someone to run a specviewperf 11 and or 12 test and look how long I've been waiting 🙄

Any word on this? I'd look for your thread but it's been buried.

 

[wheelhot]

Any word on this? I'd look for your thread but it's been buried.

bumped it back up.

Nope, so far nothing, even the guy who posted about Solidworks never replied

 

[VirtualRain]

bumped it back up.

Nope, so far nothing, even the guy who posted about Solidworks never replied

Good lord, this is getting ludicrous!

 

[BJonson]

We are gathered here today to sing praises for Apple's new Mac Pro. Nobody wants to hear anything different. This is not a place for discussion, just an echo-chamber for Apple computer.

People want vindication for their decision to buy this thing, not be confronted by the realities of competing products (though they make blind jabs at them, like strawmen in the dark). I think a lot of people bought this having assured themselves that it was simply the fastest thing ever with the most workstationiness.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle

LOL. So true.

 

[Tutor]

... .
Many ultra top end power users like yourself and tutor

Thanks for the compliment.

have outgrown any Mac Pro apple could have possibly released,

Hold on there! Now you've overrun your headlights. I haven't outgrown my Ataris, my Commodores, and especially my PowerPC 8100s to 9500s, my G3s, my G4s, my G5s, my 2007 Mac Pros, my 2009 Mac Pro, my iMacs or my portable Macs. Applications rule. Not hardware standing alone. When hardware is upgraded by newer models, sometimes some great applications don't follow suit. Do I use my older hardware less than I did when it was all that I had? Certainly. But to say that I've "outgrown any Mac Pro [A]pple could have possibly released," is completely incorrect. Apple could have possibly not taken a frightening hiatus from upgrading the Mac Pro line while it contemplated its demise, but Apple didn't. If it hadn't played possum, I'd probably be able to add a Sandy Bridge Mac Pro to my list, but I can't sit still just because of what Apple determines is in the best interest of its shareholders (and that includes me - I bought thousands of shares in the early 2000s). My needs for computing power are not singular. I use Mac OS, Windows and Linux, as well as the ancient ones relied upon by Commodore, Atari and others. I don't outgrow things just for a change, but only for reason. In sum, if you really knew me, then you wouldn't have made that statement.

but I reckon within 5 years you two will be considering options for mobo, CPU and GPU with this thermal core ripped off by the market at its heart. Probably expanded to 6, 9, dozen, more slots around the core to host your cards. If you scale up the kind of savings this design permits to one of your top end rigs or right past you to the large render farms and even supercomputers the market will no doubt head in this direction.

And this little tube will be the daddy of all of them!

Although I'd probably be better off if your futuretelling were 100% correct; however, my 30 years of being an Apple customer and follower tells me otherwise. Any if you were to ask me point blank can I rule out ever buying a 2013/2014 nMP, even as a refurb, so long as you add the last clause, my response would most certainly be "No." So slow down - there're curves ahead.

 

[wildmac]

Oh please... the whole nMP design precludes rack-mounting it, as there will not be sufficient airflow around the base.

Apple left the rack-mount market when they killed the Xserve. Let it rest in peace.

 

[Gav Mack]

Oh please... the whole nMP design precludes rack-mounting it, as there will not be sufficient airflow around the base.

Apple left the rack-mount market when they killed the Xserve. Let it rest in peace.

Will reply to tutor bumping my old thermodynamics thread to keep this thread on topic. Apple's horizontal mount advice issued recently said to leave 1 inch air gaps between cans at the bottom and the exhaust clear so placing them on a colander shelf upright is feasible! On the other thread though 😀

 

[VirtualRain]

Will reply to tutor bumping my old thermodynamics thread to keep this thread on topic. Apple's horizontal mount advice issued recently said to leave 1 inch air gaps between cans at the bottom and the exhaust clear so placing them on a colander shelf upright is feasible! On the other thread though 😀

LOL... It's a bit late for that 😀 (Honestly, this tangential conversation is great, I don't have much to add to this thread and by keeping it alive, it ensures others will find it high on the page and hopefully help them out, so by all means, carry on as it were!)


These guys don't seem to think racking it in what is effectively an expanded wine rack is a problem if you direct cool air to the back side of the rack...

http://blog.infinityhosting.org/macstadium-round-mac-pros-in-datacenter-wine-rack/

 

[Gav Mack]

LOL... It's a bit late for that 😀 (Honestly, this tangential conversation is great, I don't have much to add to this thread and by keeping it alive, it ensures others will find it high on the page and hopefully help them out, so by all means, carry on as it were!)


These guys don't seem to think racking it in what is effectively an expanded wine rack is a problem if you direct cool air to the back side of the rack...
Image

http://blog.infinityhosting.org/macstadium-round-mac-pros-in-datacenter-wine-rack/

Well you were the thread starter and said so so I won't, Tutor's reply will come later! 😀

Bit daft that idea methinks blowing air down and heat going sideways unless the data centre has this kind of design required. Reminds me a bit of the Chicago pile from the Manhattan Project or the Windscale piles here that caught fire and nearly irradiated half of Europe in 1957 if it wasn't for Cockroft's folly. (Yes nuclear physics and reactor designs is my kind of physics but thermodynamics is universal!)

My pal outside the PC industry has meshed shelving in mind for a thermal core design in the middle of the box for his product but his particular product he has in mind generates far more heat than computers per box (don't ask cos I won't tell lol)

Perhaps for the can and a single rack configuration which would be most likely for all bar the top end colander type steel shelves will suffice with convection and a top exhaust fan plate giving physics a hand sucking the heat out. Give 6 inches gap for exhaust at the top and one inch gaps between the cans on the shelf itself. A full length 19 inch sliding shelf setup may have much less cans in total than Mac Pro vino, for say a 40 or 44U inch rack size but I would much rather have them upright if there isn't some kind of convection system already in place, plus the spaghetti can be much easier to manage and replace than pulling the cans (or slugs/rods) out. A pebble bed nMP reactor 🙂

Story time has put this post on pause will work out rough numbers later!

 

[Tutor]

Will reply to tutor bumping my old thermodynamics thread to keep this thread on topic. Apple's horizontal mount advice issued recently said to leave 1 inch air gaps between cans at the bottom and the exhaust clear so placing them on a colander shelf upright is feasible! On the other thread though 😀

Well you were the thread starter and said so so I won't, Tutor's reply will come later!

If this is the thread [ https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1684859/ ] to which you refer, I don't recall ever viewing it before today and I don't recall that I've ever bumped it, unless "bumped" means "missed." However, I do apologize for having missed it, for the topic seems very informative. Moreover, I'm always open to having my 60 year old memory refreshed; so show me evidence of my having had a senior moment. For as it currently stands, you're still incorrect that " ... Tutor [has] outgrown any Mac Pro apple could have possibly released." {Emphasis added.} And directly related to this topic, my old 4,1 Mac Pro, as do my 2,1 Mac Pros, still plays an important role in my work. So I don't favor the "versus" in the thread title because, for me, my systems are all additive and I'll try to get the most from all of them until the earlier of my leaving this shell or their becoming unrepairable.

Update: Using the search function, getting to all of your threads [ https://forums.macrumors.com/search/?searchid=37691214 ], this is the first time that I've read any of them; so I certainly haven't bumped any of your threads. But if "bumped" means "missed," then I plead guilty as charged - mea culpa. Or was this a trick to get me to boost the view count of your threads up? If so, I don't appreciate such trickery.

Maybe, you're misconstruing statements that I may have made to the effect, because I certainly feel, that this particular Mac Pro (unlike any Mac Pro that Apple could have released or the earlier Mac Pros) isn't setting my pockets ablaze, with the only way to quenched the flames is pull out some cash or a credit card to buy a nMP immediately for the full retail price. But if that's the case, then the statement that you made earlier about me, is still completely incorrect. I'm awaiting your evidence, correction (silent of otherwise) or your "Mea Culpa." The fact is that if Apple had released the nMP in the form of a 24-core Ivy Bridge beast (dual 12-core), with at least the number of PCIe slots that it had in the past (but if with more then I'd be drooling), and followed the same timetable, I would have been one of the first ones in line and we wouldn't be having this discussion.

 

[Gav Mack]

If this is the thread [ https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1684859/ ] to which you refer, I don't recall ever viewing it before today and I don't recall that I've ever bumped it, unless "bumped" means "missed." However, I do apologize for having missed it, for the topic seems very informative. Moreover, I'm always open to having my 60 year old memory refreshed; so show me evidence of my having had a senior moment. For as it currently stands, you're still incorrect that " ... Tutor [has] outgrown any Mac Pro apple could have possibly released." {Emphasis added.} And directly related to this topic, my old 4,1 Mac Pro, as do my 2,1 Mac Pros, still plays an important role in my work. So I don't favor the "versus" in the thread title because for me my systems are all additive and I'll try to get the most from all of them until I leave this shell.

Yes you've got me totally on the spot with that bold bit for sure! They could have released a dual or quad core xeon e5 box with lots of ram and PCIe slots but they decided to take another path, one which I didn't really understand why on earth they did when they first announced it as I prefer a single box solution too.

It took a while for it to sink in and then only hit home after speaking to my friend outside the industry while explaining this design. He got very enthusiastic about this 'core' for his equipment, with excellent heat transfer and just the single moving part - the fan. He has 5/6 fans like many rack mount servers have, cooling dead spots etc and would like to banish as many as possible as by far they are the biggest culprit of failures of his boxes. He hasn't placed a nMP order to use it, only to strip and study it. I would describe him too as a 'Tutor' much like yourself in his line of work, I absorb technical information like a sponge so it's never dull and boring and I always come away having learned something new. It was very nice to pass him the light bulb and give him the idea to explore this concept for his business. In your case I have read your main thread from beginning to end and that's a complement!

Then I had a nMP on my desk for not even a whole day, it wasn't just what it could do using only 450 watts of energy that impressed me a lot but most was how surreally quiet it was while it was doing it. The heat under load is a gentle breeze and barely audible. For someone who has been in the business since 1988 having a silent workstation under full load designed for video work next to my keyboard simply does not compute - error, they are not supposed to be like this. Although some have derided my comments as a religious epiphany it's no different in my case to when Faraday put an animal in his cage and threw the switch. Perhaps some in the audience in the RI thought it was magic with lack of understanding but for me its scientific reasoning, plain and simple and makes complete and utter sense.

If I could expand this future by a bit of imagination bear with me - it's a total redesign of what we define as a traditional PC and the ripping up of this tradition into something I don't know exactly where it will go but will surely head in the direction I'm thinking of, with twists and turns no doubt!

A larger thermal core like the nMP's guts inside a big rectangular box laid horizontally, with more bays to fit the logic board(s) with PCIe cable interconnects to the other bays which house the GPU's such as the future models you currently use. These would obviously have to be shorter cards than the full length cards you use today else the core will be too high but a lot of these larger cards are so big because of their individual cooling requirements for a standalone card. Longer most likely than the Dx00 models in the nMP though, with the GPU die and the VRAM on the core side of the PCB for binding. The fan less switch mode PSU underneath the core and on top the fan which like the nMP sucks air through the core and the switch, leaving the open space away from the core inside the enclosure to store items which doesn't require such active cooling like SSD and spinning disks.

If you take this concept and apply it to one of your rigs, throw away the superfluous cooling I wonder what efficiencies could be made on a rig built in 2019 using separate logic and GPU cards with this thermal core single fan concept?

I knew this would be a really really long reply as you deserve one and I haven't covered even half what I wanted to (so remind me what else I still have to cover please) but I have to cut it short as it's past midnight here in the UK and I have to get up and get the kids ready for school as the missus has been unwell since the weekend. No rest for the wicked they say but I'm not so bad - bloody knackered more like!

Looking forward writing to another essay sometime tomorrow sir - goodnight! 😀

 

[Derpage]

Yes you've got me totally on the spot with that bold bit for sure! They could have released a dual or quad core xeon e5 box with lots of ram and PCIe slots but they decided to take another path, one which I didn't really understand why on earth they did when they first announced it as I prefer a single box solution too.

It took a while for it to sink in and then only hit home after speaking to my friend outside the industry while explaining this design. He got very enthusiastic about this 'core' for his equipment, with excellent heat transfer and just the single moving part - the fan. He has 5/6 fans like many rack mount servers have, cooling dead spots etc and would like to banish as many as possible as by far they are the biggest culprit of failures of his boxes. He hasn't placed a nMP order to use it, only to strip and study it. I would describe him too as a 'Tutor' much like yourself in his line of work, I absorb technical information like a sponge so it's never dull and boring and I always come away having learned something new. It was very nice to pass him the light bulb and give him the idea to explore this concept for his business. In your case I have read your main thread from beginning to end and that's a complement!

Then I had a nMP on my desk for not even a whole day, it wasn't just what it could do using only 450 watts of energy that impressed me a lot but most was how surreally quiet it was while it was doing it. The heat under load is a gentle breeze and barely audible. For someone who has been in the business since 1988 having a silent workstation under full load designed for video work next to my keyboard simply does not compute - error, they are not supposed to be like this. Although some have derided my comments as a religious epiphany it's no different in my case to when Faraday put an animal in his cage and threw the switch. Perhaps some in the audience in the RI thought it was magic with lack of understanding but for me its scientific reasoning, plain and simple and makes complete and utter sense.

If I could expand this future by a bit of imagination bear with me - it's a total redesign of what we define as a traditional PC and the ripping up of this tradition into something I don't know exactly where it will go but will surely head in the direction I'm thinking of, with twists and turns no doubt!

A larger thermal core like the nMP's guts inside a big rectangular box laid horizontally, with more bays to fit the logic board(s) with PCIe cable interconnects to the other bays which house the GPU's such as the future models you currently use. These would obviously have to be shorter cards than the full length cards you use today else the core will be too high but a lot of these larger cards are so big because of their individual cooling requirements for a standalone card. Longer most likely than the Dx00 models in the nMP though, with the GPU die and the VRAM on the core side of the PCB for binding. The fan less switch mode PSU underneath the core and on top the fan which like the nMP sucks air through the core and the switch, leaving the open space away from the core inside the enclosure to store items which doesn't require such active cooling like SSD and spinning disks.

If you take this concept and apply it to one of your rigs, throw away the superfluous cooling I wonder what efficiencies could be made on a rig built in 2019 using separate logic and GPU cards with this thermal core single fan concept?

I knew this would be a really really long reply as you deserve one and I haven't covered even half what I wanted to (so remind me what else I still have to cover please) but I have to cut it short as it's past midnight here in the UK and I have to get up and get the kids ready for school as the missus has been unwell since the weekend. No rest for the wicked they say but I'm not so bad - bloody knackered more like!

Looking forward writing to another essay sometime tomorrow sir - goodnight! 😀

So many words. So few apologies for putting words in somebody's mouth and twisting their sentiments. So funny.

 

[Gav Mack]

So many words. So few apologies for putting words in somebody's mouth and twisting their sentiments. So funny.

For a single 'outgrown sentence' I spend over an hour writing a half finished reply to one of the posters who I respect on here the most? You must surely be trolling and not be for real?

If so here in England we have two words to describe your comments - absolute bollocks! Enjoy your meal

 

[Tutor]

Yes you've got me totally on the spot with that bold bit for sure! They could have released a dual or quad core xeon e5 box with lots of ram and PCIe slots but they decided to take another path, one which I didn't really understand why on earth they did when they first announced it as I prefer a single box solution too.

It took a while for it to sink in and then only hit home after speaking to my friend outside the industry while explaining this design. He got very enthusiastic about this 'core' for his equipment, with excellent heat transfer and just the single moving part - the fan. He has 5/6 fans like many rack mount servers have, cooling dead spots etc and would like to banish as many as possible as by far they are the biggest culprit of failures of his boxes. He hasn't placed a nMP order to use it, only to strip and study it. I would describe him too as a 'Tutor' much like yourself in his line of work, I absorb technical information like a sponge so it's never dull and boring and I always come away having learned something new. It was very nice to pass him the light bulb and give him the idea to explore this concept for his business. In your case I have read your main thread from beginning to end and that's a complement!

Then I had a nMP on my desk for not even a whole day, it wasn't just what it could do using only 450 watts of energy that impressed me a lot but most was how surreally quiet it was while it was doing it. The heat under load is a gentle breeze and barely audible. For someone who has been in the business since 1988 having a silent workstation under full load designed for video work next to my keyboard simply does not compute - error, they are not supposed to be like this. Although some have derided my comments as a religious epiphany it's no different in my case to when Faraday put an animal in his cage and threw the switch. Perhaps some in the audience in the RI thought it was magic with lack of understanding but for me its scientific reasoning, plain and simple and makes complete and utter sense.

If I could expand this future by a bit of imagination bear with me - it's a total redesign of what we define as a traditional PC and the ripping up of this tradition into something I don't know exactly where it will go but will surely head in the direction I'm thinking of, with twists and turns no doubt!

A larger thermal core like the nMP's guts inside a big rectangular box laid horizontally, with more bays to fit the logic board(s) with PCIe cable interconnects to the other bays which house the GPU's such as the future models you currently use. These would obviously have to be shorter cards than the full length cards you use today else the core will be too high but a lot of these larger cards are so big because of their individual cooling requirements for a standalone card. Longer most likely than the Dx00 models in the nMP though, with the GPU die and the VRAM on the core side of the PCB for binding. The fan less switch mode PSU underneath the core and on top the fan which like the nMP sucks air through the core and the switch, leaving the open space away from the core inside the enclosure to store items which doesn't require such active cooling like SSD and spinning disks.

If you take this concept and apply it to one of your rigs, throw away the superfluous cooling I wonder what efficiencies could be made on a rig built in 2019 using separate logic and GPU cards with this thermal core single fan concept?

I knew this would be a really really long reply as you deserve one and I haven't covered even half what I wanted to (so remind me what else I still have to cover please) but I have to cut it short as it's past midnight here in the UK and I have to get up and get the kids ready for school as the missus has been unwell since the weekend. No rest for the wicked they say but I'm not so bad - bloody knackered more like!

Looking forward writing to another essay sometime tomorrow sir - goodnight! 😀

Like you, I believe that family always comes first - so always put the needs and desires of your family first and always get a good night's sleep because your family depends on your being healthy. I wish you and your family a prosperous and happy New Year.

You need go no further, for I was just jesting with you. Again, I truly hope that your view of where this nMP will lead us is 100% spot on. I could be 100% incorrect about the future of power computing and that wouldn't sadden me in the least. As I age more and more, I can better accept my shortcomings and incorrect predictions.

But never forget to try to avoid overstatement. I work daily to do just that. I work hard to be guided by measure and reason, but I'm fallible.

I know that, for some, the nMP as it currently stands, is more than just what the doctor ordered - it is a thing desired by some. I'm completely comfortable with that, for that is how I felt and feel about the cheese graters. Different people have different needs and desires. The need/desire for some is initial system acquisition, others replacement, still others complement, and so on. Also, I recognize that most people would have long ago gotten rid of the old gear that I choose to keep and repair. And I know that most people wouldn't go to the lengths to which I go to save money. But that's me, no matter how peculiar. In sum, just am I'm always trying to figure myself out, I'm still trying to figure out whether, where, when and how the nMP fits within my scheme of things, including how it will aid me in operating the software that I have and may need. Threads like this one are just what my doctor prescribes for me to take daily. Thanks be to the Op.

 

[AidenShaw]

...
Again, I truly hope that your view of where this nMP will lead us is 100% spot on. I could be 100% incorrect about the future of power computing and that wouldn't sadden me in the least.

You could be 100% correct when the future of "power computing" doesn't even mention Apple.

The new Mini Pro is a great machine for running FCPX by all accounts.

As far as "power computing" goes - only 12 cores, no CUDA, only 4 DIMMs, only one proprietary internal SSD, no PCIe slots, ....

However, it certainly is the best system in a 25x17 cm cylinder.

 

[wheelhot]

You could be 100% correct when the future of "power computing" doesn't even mention Apple.

The new Mini Pro is a great machine for running FCPX by all accounts.

As far as "power computing" goes - only 12 cores, no CUDA, only 4 DIMMs, only one proprietary internal SSD, no PCIe slots, ....

However, it certainly is the best system in a 25x17 cm cylinder.

Hmm, regarding the CUDA, there's a few possible reasons I can think of and why Apple will try and avoid it for the time being.
1. CUDA is Nvidia only whereas OpenCL is open with AMD currently doing a better implementation then Nvidia.
2. Nvidia cards is generally more expensive then AMD hence the nMP would be more expensive if it comes with Nvidia GPU
3. Apple want developers to focus into making OpenCL compatible software then just making CUDA softwares which will only work with Nvidia cards. Hence giving Nvidia the monopoly.

 

[Anim]

Are some people calling the New Mac Pro a Mini Pro? or is there a Mac Mini that is going to be a pro? 😕

 

[Frong]

Are some people calling the New Mac Pro a Mini Pro? or is there a Mac Mini that is going to be a pro? 😕

Right my opinion, we got a mini pro instead of a new mac pro. But eventually my main problem about the mini is the GPU and eventually the Mini Pro is solving this problem particularly if you hope/bet that the double GPU will get its usage not only in windows but later in OSX too.

 

[Anim]

Right my opinion, we got a mini pro instead of a new mac pro. But eventually my main problem about the mini is the GPU and eventually the Mini Pro is solving this problem particularly if you hope/bet that the double GPU will get its usage not only in windows but later in OSX too.

Ah ok. It is still confusing because we already have a apple product called a "mini" and had me scooting over to the apple website in hopes of seeing a tiny black cylindrical mac mini 😀

Getting quite a collection of names for the same machine.

6,1
New Mac Pro
nMP
nmpro
Mini Pro
2013 Mac Pro

 

[wheelhot]

Ah ok. It is still confusing because we already have a apple product called a "mini" and had me scooting over to the apple website in hopes of seeing a tiny black cylindrical mac mini 😀

Getting quite a collection of names for the same machine.

6,1
New Mac Pro
nMP
nmpro
Mini Pro
2013 Mac Pro

You forgot a few others
Trash can Pro
Vader Pro

😀

 

[Frong]

No need to go into insults for the new Mac Pro, I let that to frustrated Windows users!

If I had to vote, Mini Pro is for me the more descriptive, and nmpro is is the best name until there's a new series with a close design then mp 6.1 will probably works the best.

 

[Gav Mack]

Like you, I believe that family always comes first - so always put the needs and desires of your family first and always get a good night's sleep because your family depends on your being healthy. I wish you and your family a prosperous and happy New Year.

You need go no further, for I was just jesting with you. Again, I truly hope that your view of where this nMP will lead us is 100% spot on. I could be 100% incorrect about the future of power computing and that wouldn't sadden me in the least. As I age more and more, I can better accept my shortcomings and incorrect predictions.

But never forget to try to avoid overstatement. I work daily to do just that. I work hard to be guided by measure and reason, but I'm fallible.

I know that, for some, the nMP as it currently stands, is more than just what the doctor ordered - it is a thing desired by some. I'm completely comfortable with that, for that is how I felt and feel about the cheese graters. Different people have different needs and desires. The need/desire for some is initial system acquisition, others replacement, still others complement, and so on. Also, I recognize that most people would have long ago gotten rid of the old gear that I choose to keep and repair. And I know that most people wouldn't go to the lengths to which I go to save money. But that's me, no matter how peculiar. In sum, just am I'm always trying to figure myself out, I'm still trying to figure out whether, where, when and how the nMP fits within my scheme of things, including how it will aid me in operating the software that I have and may need. Threads like this one are just what my doctor prescribes for me to take daily. Thanks be to the Op.

Indeed they do come first - one recent regret for my business was 18 months ago I had the chance to keep a dual CPU 5,1 for what would have been almost nothing as I bought 3 of them off a debt recovery company and could have sold a pair and kept one easily. Unfortunately the missus was very ill part way through chemo at the time and being the sole breadwinner and dogsbody in the house I chose profit and bank balance over my needs for work. A no-brainer decision yet still with a tinge of regret, I have kicked myself since I got this 3,1 dirt cheap why I didn't buy one sooner for reasons that I will explain now.

Fast forward to today and my current requirements of my main desktop computer in my office. I really wasn't joking when I mentioned in another thread that if I got a nMP it would probably spend most of it's time on the kitchen side, away from the reality TV/soap madness in the living room, it would be a great fast quiet computer I could do the occasional bit of evening work on and some rapid silent transcoding where my MBP sits currently on a Zalman cooling pad! Unfortunately it would be quite useless for a hell of a lot of my work just like the old Mini I was using previously. Currently on my plate for the next few days is:

2x 3.5 inch data drives for data recovery onto fresh spinners, one HFS+ and other NTFS.
Firmware flash 2 M500 SSD's - one to go in a Lenovo laptop the other MBP.
Flash GTX 680 2Gb Reference for a 4,1 client.
Cloning 5TB of data from smaller to larger drives and then that data copied to another pair of 4TB WD Greens.

Reading all that list out you can tell that my venerable yet in Apple's eye almost obsolete old cheese-grater 3,1 on the other hand fits my requirements like a glove. More than enough horsepower than I require now, I will not be without one of the towers from now on until my eventual upgrade to 5,1 and it cannot run Mac OS any longer easily. It's practicality, easy multi OS boot, sleds (I have bought an extra four used on ebay), and add on cards make it my kind of invaluable Mac Pro workhorse and if the day does come to replace it no doubt I will be asking you for options to replace it with a hackintosh build that fits my requirements.

For other peoples uses: as a compact workstation, a silent Mac for audio and video work and are happy with the horsepower and type this nMP provides it will be great for their uses. Me - it's simply an object I desire period for it's astounding thermal and acoustic properties and for what I believe is the shape of computing to come, more than likely not driven by but certainly born out of Apple's innovative design. If had cash to splash I would certainly buy a 4 core D700 model to upgrade myself but I can only but dream, but it's way down on my list past holidays, kids, home improvements and anything else the missus has on her to do or buy list!

Speaking of the to do list - time to go out and see clients and bring in some bacon 😀

 

[SamTheeGeek]

The base model would suit you well. Engadet's review model was the base model if I recall, and it performed extremely well.

thank you 🙂