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New Mac Pro To Use 7400 Xenon?

B

bradleykavin

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 16, 2008
47
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I was looking over intels website and on the workstation/server side of processors, nothing is mentioned of the i7. Would it be possible for the new mac pros to have the 7400 series xenon processors and not the i7 like everyone has been saying? I am currently selling my mac pro (2008 8 core 2.8) in order to purchase the new mac pros coming out soon.


Do you think apple will likely re-vamp the computers enclosure as well?


Also, if I were to max out the ram in my computer (32gigs) how fast would my computer be in contrast to a new mac pro with these new processors and memory. How fast is the mac pro fully maxed out on memory?
 
Core i7 is desktop only, they were never intended for Mac Pros.
As far as followed the reports you should get a performance gain of 10 - 20% compared to the early 2008.
 
bradleykavin said:
I was looking over intels website and on the workstation/server side of processors, nothing is mentioned of the i7. Would it be possible for the new mac pros to have the 7400 series xenon processors and not the i7 like everyone has been saying? I am currently selling my mac pro (2008 8 core 2.8) in order to purchase the new mac pros coming out soon.


Do you think apple will likely re-vamp the computers enclosure as well?


Also, if I were to max out the ram in my computer (32gigs) how fast would my computer be in contrast to a new mac pro with these new processors and memory. How fast is the mac pro fully maxed out on memory?
Click to expand...

No one has been saying Core i7. We have been saying Gainestown Xeon. Not the six-core Penryn Xeon, Nehalem Gainestown Xeon.

New enclosure? Why? Give me one reason they need to change the enclosure.

Nehalem would beat out your maxed RAM. It's true.
 
bradleykavin said:
I am currently selling my mac pro (2008 8 core 2.8) in order to purchase the new mac pros coming out soon.
Click to expand...

Be aware new Mac Pros may not arrive until early June.

Do you think apple will likely re-vamp the computers enclosure as well?
Click to expand...

It's possible.

Also, if I were to max out the ram in my computer (32gigs) how fast would my computer be in contrast to a new mac pro with these new processors and memory. How fast is the mac pro fully maxed out on memory?
Click to expand...

More memory is only going to help you if you can use it. If you aren't currently running out of memory then having more isn't going to do anything for you. Memory doesn't improve performance the same way faster processors do.
 
They aren't going to use the 7400 series Xeon. Price alone would prevent it. Something like $2700USD per processor. :eek:

The next Mac Pro will use the Xeon 5500 series parts (Gainestown), and they are based on the Nehalem architecture. They differ slightly from the Core i7 parts, as it adds a second QPI (Quick Path Interconnect). This is needed to communicate to the second processor on the board (both connections then allow for full duplex communication).
 
you really think the update could be as late as june? the average mac pro update is like 220 days and we are almost over a year now..

i would think they will be updating the body style of the mac pro to fit the look of the new macbook, and macbook pro
 
also, how fast is the 7400 series processor?

so your saying the new mac pros will be 10%-20% faster? thats it? I keep reading these new mac pros are going to be unbelievably fast due to the new quickpath technology and what not..

20% doesnt justify me selling my current computer and paying the difference for this new mac pro. I was reading somewhere 30%-80% performance increase
 
bradleykavin said:
you really think the update could be as late as june? the average mac pro update is like 220 days and we are almost over a year now..

i would think they will be updating the body style of the mac pro to fit the look of the new macbook, and macbook pro
Click to expand...

No, the Mac Pro has been updated once. It took 518 days. That schedule is left over from the PowerPC days and is completely and utterly irrelevant now.

Yeah. Black glass. On a workstation computer. Why? It's not supposed to be pretty. Most of the people who buy a Mac Pro that NEED the power of a Mac Pro tuck it away never to be seen again.

Nehalem–and more importantly, Nehalem and Snow Leopard–will bring FAR greater speed bumps than 10-20%.
 
bradleykavin said:
you really think the update could be as late as june? the average mac pro update is like 220 days and we are almost over a year now..
Click to expand...

It's irrelevent as the timeline is purely on Intel's schedule. Current rumours hint at a late March release of the Xeon 5500 series that the next Mac Pros will use. History has shown that Apple ship Mac Pros 6-8 weeks after processor releases.

i would think they will be updating the body style of the mac pro to fit the look of the new macbook, and macbook pro
Click to expand...

Again, it's certainly possible, but not guaranteed. I wouldn't be suprised if they continue to look like they do on the outside. It's not really a selling point of the Mac Pro.
 
so in other words, will this new mac pro be substantially faster than mine? does it justify the cost to sell my computer now and pay the difference, as well as wait?

i need to sell my computer now to get the best value for it, so i need to make this decision quick
 
true but with this economy and its slow but steady progression downward, i have someone willing to spend 2500 on my computer right now which i think is a good deal..unless any of you can think of a place i could get more?


also, so how would our mac pros (8 cores) compare to an i7 desktop computer currently sold?

is it true in all honesty our mac pros are really the fastest personal desktop computers available out there?
 
bradleykavin said:
is it true in all honesty our mac pros are really the fastest personal desktop computers available out there?
Click to expand...

No, because that isn't their category.

They're marketed as workstations, and they are still one of the fastest workstations out there. Others have a little bit of an advantage now, due to Apple's refusal to provide us with decent GPUs.
 
i also wonder what the max amount of memory will be with the next mac pros, 64 gigs lol?

ive noticed that even though i only have 2 gigs of memory, i have never seen my processors use more than 20% in activity monitor, even when i have 20 megs of memory left to use
 
The maximum RAM right now is in the petabytes, but no FB-DIMMS exist, nor will there be DDR3 sticks that exist, larger than 4GB right now.

They just don't make them, and it would be four times as much as the cost of the computer itself to buy just one 8GB stick of DDR3.
 
bradleykavin said:
i also wonder what the max amount of memory will be with the next mac pros, 64 gigs lol?

ive noticed that even though i only have 2 gigs of memory, i have never seen my processors use more than 20% in activity monitor, even when i have 20 megs of memory left to use
Click to expand...

Apple will probably support upto 48GB (12x4GB), but 8GB (96GB) and 16GB (192 GB) DDR3 EC DIMMs will be available according to Intel. You might also want to consider the new Mac Pros will probably start at $3,000.
 
bradleykavin said:
true but with this economy and its slow but steady progression downward, i have someone willing to spend 2500 on my computer right now which i think is a good deal..unless any of you can think of a place i could get more?
Click to expand...


judging from your sig, i can get a brand new octo core 2.8 mac pro for the same price (if not lower) using student discount... so its pretty much the same thing other than yours being a used machine.
 
true but your not including tax. with tax, the brand new machine stock is 3k out the door (no student discount)
 
still havent gotten an answer though..

does anyone know or have any idea the possibly percentage increase in speed with this new mac pro?
 
bradleykavin said:
still havent gotten an answer though..

does anyone know or have any idea the possibly percentage increase in speed with this new mac pro?
Click to expand...

Nope. None of us work for Intel, so we can't tell you Gainestown speed boosts when used with Leopard and none of us work for Apple, so we can't tell you speed boosts when Gainestown is used with Snow Leopard.

I'll throw a number out there: 30% with Leopard, 45% with Snow Leopard

We'll see how people take that. :p
 
Unlike Windows 7 which has been used by various gadget blogs and journalists, Snow Leopard is just more marketing until proven otherwise. I am unconvinced of its supposed messiah.
 
bradleykavin said:
true but with this economy and its slow but steady progression downward, i have someone willing to spend 2500 on my computer right now which i think is a good deal..unless any of you can think of a place i could get more?
Click to expand...

If you've got someone ready to give you $2,500 for your baseline workstation now I would sell it. You'll be hard pressed to get that much for it in the future in my opinion
 
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