Next-Generation Mac Pro to Receive Temporary Exclusive of Six-Core 'Gulftown' Processor?

[*LTD*]

Not that any of this affects me just now, my "Early 2008" MacPro will have to continue to do for me, as I don't have the income for more shiny, shiny computing hardware for the moment.

My question would be: How would a 2 x 3.2ghz Quad-Core Xeons, 10gb DDR2 800mhz ECC RAM, 4 x 750gb hard-drives (striped), NVidia GeForce 8800GT (512mb) not be enough for a long time to come?

 

[Shivetya]

My question would be: How would a 2 x 3.2ghz Quad-Core Xeons, 10gb DDR2 800mhz ECC RAM, 4 x 750gb hard-drives (striped), NVidia GeForce 8800GT (512mb) not be enough for a long time to come?

That is like asking an owner of a 911GT3 who drives only the road why.

Somethings don't make sense.

 

[9822737]

Its getting old. There is nothing wrong with a refresh now and again.

To be fair I don't think everyone does know it's a Mac. To everyday people who aren't into computers as much as a lot on this board they wouldn't give it a second look never mind know it's a Mac.

AnDy

 

[LEStudios]

A Dual Six-Core Mac Pro with 128GB Memory! I will put four 1TB OCZ SSD in if cost isn't a issue to make this the fastest Mac Pro ever!

 

[DoFoT9]

A Dual Six-Core Mac Pro with 128GB Memory! I will put four 1TB OCZ SSD in if cost isn't a issue to make this the fastest Mac Pro ever!

in RAID0 then the bottleneck wouldnt be the HDDs for once!

 

[twoodcc]

aw man. now this would be a smoking machine! 10 gigabit ethernet!? but where will we be able to take advantage of that? and 128 GB of RAM! wow

 

[AidenShaw]

No SLI remember, the only people left in the Chipset market now is AMD and Intel. Best you could hope for is CrossfireX.

I think that you are simply wrong here, please check your facts.

Intel X58 and P55 motherboards (for example the Asus P6T6) support dual, triple or even quad SLI. Up to quad CUDA is also supported (one Quadro plus three Teslas).


Here's an Nvidia link to SLI-qualified Intel motherboards...

http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_mobo.html​

 

[SimonTheSoundMa]

Logic does. And I could sure use the extra firepower.

If you haven’t got a Mac Pro then fair enough. If you have already, look at buying hardware accelerators.

 

[Umbongo]

as i have learnt from others on MR, ECC RAM is beyond useless and is probably only really needed by about 0.000001% of the population (that's not an exaggeration).

Your number would mean only 300 Americans need ECC memory which is definatly an exaggeration .

ECC is vital for many computational uses. Probably less so on a Mac Pro as they seem to be mostly used for digital content creation but there are still systems being used for mathematics and sciences. The fact is cosmic rays do flip bits and flipped bits can cause unexpected errors or results. While these can be overcome by paying a small fee for ECC memory then companies will.

Unless they come up with some amazing shielding system for memory modules then ECC is here to stay and becomes even more important as we move to larger arrays and capacities.

 

[Palestrina]

No BluRay

That's great, Apple. Why no BluRay?

 

[Schizoid]

HEXACORE! that's brilliant.
Two of those and I'll have a DODECACORE MAC!!

 

[DoFoT9]

Your number would mean only 300 Americans need ECC memory which is definatly an exaggeration .

300 american organisations then? it is most certainly not an exaggeration, there may be people that THINK they need it but in reality there are only a few military uses for it (or maybe for anal retentive ones haha).

ECC is vital for many computational uses. Probably less so on a Mac Pro as they seem to be mostly used for digital content creation but there are still systems being used for mathematics and sciences. The fact is cosmic rays do flip bits and flipped bits can cause unexpected errors or results. While these can be overcome by paying a small fee for ECC memory then companies will.

Unless they come up with some amazing shielding system for memory modules then ECC is here to stay and becomes even more important as we move to larger arrays and capacities.

im well aware of the cosmic rays. im also aware that they only hit earth every what.. 1,000 years or so?? most probably even less then that, so its hardly an issue.

and a small fee for ECC memory? a 667MHz 4GB pack costs $490 Aus. the equivalent 'normal' RAM costs $100 Aus at most. small fee? if you have hundreds of servers then that will pretty much double your costs when trying to prevent the unlikely.

i am off to bed, will be back in the morning to debate more

 

[ericinboston]

A Poll?

It would be interesting to poll all the contributors on this thread:

Do you *personally* buy the Mac Pro line...or does your company pay for it?

I think the Mac Pros have great specs (compared to what Apple also offers), but I find it hard to believe individual people (not companies) go out and dump $3000+ on a personal computer. Again, I'm not talking about if you own a home business or if you work at a company...what does Johnny use his Pro for at home?...why does Johnny feel he needs a Pro? It's not web surfing or iTunes or dvd burning or email or iPhoto... The only thing I can think of that comes close to NEEDING Mac Pro power is audio/video authoring/creating/rendering/mastering.

So how 'bout it? How many of you on this thread actually buy a new Pro every few years (or more often) for personal use...and why?

-Eric

 

[Mintin8]

Hopefully they include a new graphics card to avoid bottlenecking (Ati 5870)

 

[gnasher729]

im well aware of the cosmic rays. im also aware that they only hit earth every what.. 1,000 years or so?? most probably even less then that, so its hardly an issue.

and a small fee for ECC memory? a 667MHz 4GB pack costs $490 Aus. the equivalent 'normal' RAM costs $100 Aus at most. small fee? if you have hundreds of servers then that will pretty much double your costs when trying to prevent the unlikely.

Someone with access to the Google server farms wrote a paper about that, and the number of errors they found are quite significant. More like thousands, not one every thousand years. Have a look at the last few weeks on slashdot.

BTW from Wikipedia: "Cosmic rays constitute a fraction of the annual radiation exposure of human beings on earth. For example, the average radiation exposure in Australia is 0.3 mSv due to cosmic rays, out of a total of 2.3 mSv." That's about 0.01% of the lethal dose that hits you every year, not "one hitting earth every thousand years" (3000 mSv = "50% die within 30 days").

 

[KindredMAC]

When you have a Mac Pro, the last thing you care about is the case (even tho I personally like it)

Totally beg to differ.

The fact they are using the PowerMac G5 case still is down and out RETARDED. Yes I used the word "retarded"... sue me... I don't care anymore.

If you are a Designer/Artist of any sorts AND an avid fan of Apple and their designs for the last decade or two, you should be outraged that Apple has given all of us the proverbial middle finger and focused on getting more soccer moms and teenie boppers as their "customer base".

Apple has made the Mac Pro so out of touch in price point that it is hard to get IT departments to justify a base $3000 purchase when all they see are iMacs everywhere with dual core Intels Inside™ for $2000.

Why can the iMac and iPods get a face lift EVERY YEAR, the laptops every couple years and the Mac Pro still looks like a giant cheese grater I can pick up at the kitchen supply story? It is pure laziness with a little sprinkle of FU to the people who kept Apple in business before the Sacred Ascension of the Great iPod.

And YES I am mad as hell..... but I'm just going to have to keep taking it in the @ss anyways because it's Apple.

 

[*LTD*]

It would be interesting to poll all the contributors on this thread:

Do you *personally* buy the Mac Pro line...or does your company pay for it?

I think the Mac Pros have great specs (compared to what Apple also offers), but I find it hard to believe individual people (not companies) go out and dump $3000+ on a personal computer. Again, I'm not talking about if you own a home business or if you work at a company...what does Johnny use his Pro for at home?...why does Johnny feel he needs a Pro? It's not web surfing or iTunes or dvd burning or email or iPhoto... The only thing I can think of that comes close to NEEDING Mac Pro power is audio/video authoring/creating/rendering/mastering.

So how 'bout it? How many of you on this thread actually buy a new Pro every few years (or more often) for personal use...and why?

-Eric

If you're a "Pro" you wouldn't be paying for it out of pocket. In most cases it can also be written off, too, if you can demonstrate it's for work/business/home-as-regular-business-establishment use.

Seems quite a few users around here are not "Pro", but rather hobbyists obsessed with basement bragging rights, and so tears are the inevitable result when Apple releases an expensive machine.

 

[jonnysods]

Oh great, now my quad Nehalem MP is outdated.

 

[Umbongo]

300 american organisations then? it is most certainly not an exaggeration, there may be people that THINK they need it but in reality there are only a few military uses for it (or maybe for anal retentive ones haha).

im well aware of the cosmic rays. im also aware that they only hit earth every what.. 1,000 years or so?? most probably even less then that, so its hardly an issue.

and a small fee for ECC memory? a 667MHz 4GB pack costs $490 Aus. the equivalent 'normal' RAM costs $100 Aus at most. small fee? if you have hundreds of servers then that will pretty much double your costs when trying to prevent the unlikely.

i am off to bed, will be back in the morning to debate more

Well that is pricing in a small market. US, UK and European prices have the addition of ECC as a small percentage of the overall cost on such systems (not just hardware). It may be expensive for an individual over non ECC, but you have that choice. The Mac Pro doesn't require ECC for example.

The idea that the only area where easily preventing random errors is miltary use in the world we live in today seems very narrowminded to me. Google and the Univeristy of Toronto did a study that found 8% of Google's DIMMs suffered from memory errors over the two years of study looking at most of Google's systems. There are plenty of other published studies by companies on the error rates of their systems. The don't have a vested interest in promoting something that costs them money yet offers no benefit.

Without ECC you cannot easily detect, correct or prevent further memory errors, be they soft or hard errors.

 

[jonnysods]

It would be interesting to poll all the contributors on this thread:

Do you *personally* buy the Mac Pro line...or does your company pay for it?

I think the Mac Pros have great specs (compared to what Apple also offers), but I find it hard to believe individual people (not companies) go out and dump $3000+ on a personal computer. Again, I'm not talking about if you own a home business or if you work at a company...what does Johnny use his Pro for at home?...why does Johnny feel he needs a Pro? It's not web surfing or iTunes or dvd burning or email or iPhoto... The only thing I can think of that comes close to NEEDING Mac Pro power is audio/video authoring/creating/rendering/mastering.

So how 'bout it? How many of you on this thread actually buy a new Pro every few years (or more often) for personal use...and why?

-Eric

I've read on these forums a few times that guys buy them for gaming on windows, which is just crazy. I'm not a big fan of PC's but for $3K+ you could get a rig that destroys an MP for gaming, and still have money left over to go out and buy dinner.

I use mine for my business - it was a toss up between an iMac and an MP but I knew that the MP has more staying power and upgradability (if I ever get the guts to try to put in a higher clocking CPU).

 

[Umbongo]

If you're a "Pro" you wouldn't be paying for it out of pocket. In most cases it can also be written off, too, if you can demonstrate it's for work/business/home-as-regular-business-establishment use.

Seems quite a few users around here are not "Pro", but rather hobbyists obsessed with basement bragging rights, and so tears are the inevitable result when Apple releases an expensive machine.

This has been the case since the switch to Intel. But let us consider that OS X is being shoved in enthusiasts faces by tech commentators, the tech media and Apple themselves. Apple do not cater to the enthusiast yet they are being marketed to. You also have a large number who are getting Mac laptops, but when it comes to complimenting it with, or replacing an old, desktop the choice is poor.

 

[Lesser Evets]

If this is true, it's cool. Not that cool though.

The speed of a 2006 MacPro is still quite good. Usually in 3 or 4 years Mac would jump enough to make the older models close to ancient crud, but advances these days aren't bringing about any must-have innovation. (Unless you are a hard core gamer or maybe CGI employee)

Unless Apple/industry make function that requires such engineering and speed, the newer computers are just quaint upgrades side from a sliver of professionals who need them.

If the tablet rumors are true, Apple has finally realized there is a huge space in the market for low end computing--99% of computing going on in the world. Our needs are now far more modest than the high end processors allow.

 

[cumanzor]

is he talking HT cores?

No, he means two physical 6-core CPUs, for a total of 12 physical cores, and 24 threads if Hyper Threading is in use.

 

[zorinlynx]

Meanwhile, the laptops and desktops are languishing with last generation tech.

Who really cares about the Mac Pro? (Disclaimer: I own a 2006 Mac Pro). The market of this machine is incredibly small; I think it would benefit Apple a lot more if they had early access to Core i7 and such so they can make their iMacs and laptops the FASTEST machines around before anyone else.

 

[eastcoastsurfer]

It would be interesting to poll all the contributors on this thread:

Do you *personally* buy the Mac Pro line...or does your company pay for it?

I think the Mac Pros have great specs (compared to what Apple also offers), but I find it hard to believe individual people (not companies) go out and dump $3000+ on a personal computer. Again, I'm not talking about if you own a home business or if you work at a company...what does Johnny use his Pro for at home?...why does Johnny feel he needs a Pro? It's not web surfing or iTunes or dvd burning or email or iPhoto... The only thing I can think of that comes close to NEEDING Mac Pro power is audio/video authoring/creating/rendering/mastering.

So how 'bout it? How many of you on this thread actually buy a new Pro every few years (or more often) for personal use...and why?

-Eric

I would never buy a MP. They are nice, but expensive niche machines. Most tasks don't require anything near that kind of power. Even people who think they need that power can often get away with less. The problem is that technology moves so quickly that it's often most price/performance efficient to buy a new $1k computer each year than it is to ever spend $3k on a single computer.