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Still Waiting for Mac Pro Updates, Suitable Intel Processors Due in Q4
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I lean toward nVidia cards personally. Though for more instant gratification, HD 7000 is rumored to be released later this year instead of 2012.Yeah, that seems likely. nVidia's Kepler BBQs (600 series) will likely follow
They make decent cards but ATI/AMD won the 40nm round. Especially the first gen Fermis were pretty bad (excluding the GTX 460, which was a great deal) in terms of heat and noise. Of course, the situation may be the vice versa with 28nm, it wouldn't be the first time. At least nVidia is promising a lot about Kepler (again).
I reiterate:
What is the point in designing a Mac Pro for it to be changed again in three months????
People looking at buying the SP systems is pointless, because the 2600K is just as quick and much cheaper. So 0 sales here.
People looking at buying the DP systems are so loaded anyway that either they don't care and will buy one now or will wait or will buy now and buy again. Small sales here.
Motherboard makers make loads of boards because they make profit on them, simple as that. The Mac Pro market is MUCH MUCH MUCH smaller than that of the Enthusiast market, hence R&D costs are significant.
Google the SR-2 and you will see what I mean.
So for the third time.
Absolutely no point in releasing a design for it to be out-of-date immediately.
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Well, that might well be true about Apple trying to drive down sales to kill it. But I do think that's overly Machiavellian--it's not like Apple would have to justify the decision to anyone save Steve.
And IIRC, you yourself have pointed out (and apologies if my memory is not correct) that it's not as simple as simply replacing the motherboard, et al--it takes significant engineering and programming skill to do it and to insure everything will work as it is supposed to.
I worked in the silly expensive high end audio industry, and when dealing with such densely surface mounted components as are on a MP motherboard, it was almost as expensive (roughly 80%) to engineer relatively small changes to an existing product as it was to engineer a new product. Granted, that may not directly transfer, but I do think it's a bigger resource demand than many think.
I do think that the MP is not seen as a top priority within Apple, which is unfortunate, and, I think, shortsighted. But I also don't have access to sales figures, margins, any clue of what Apple plans to do in the future, etc.
The point is that incremental upgrades bring new features to the users faster than waiting a long time for a "big bang" upgrade.
Too bad that Apple hides their unit sales numbers, because I would bet that more Mac Pro systems are sold than most models of motherboards. The design tools and manufacturing are mostly automated.
I agree that now is not a good time to upgrade the Mac Pro. It hasn't changed since July 2009 though, and an interim upgrade would have made sense.
Prepare for the worst, and you won't be disappointed.
Tell that to Apple. They have never been into incremental upgrades (at least not during the Intel era).
But would the update boost the sales enough to bring more profit? For example, if Apple sells 100,000 Mac Pros before the update and 150,000 after the update (e.g. quarterly sales). Would those 50,000 extra units' profits cover the R&D costs? Because that is what Apple cares about - maximizing the profits.
The point is that incremental upgrades bring new features to the users faster than waiting a long time for a "big bang" upgrade.
Too bad that Apple hides their unit sales numbers, because I would bet that more Mac Pro systems are sold than most models of motherboards. The design tools and manufacturing are mostly automated.
I agree that now is not a good time to upgrade the Mac Pro. It hasn't changed since July 2009 though, and an interim upgrade would have made sense.
Prepare for the worst, and you won't be disappointed.
Given I'm waiting for a new Mac Pro, what would tempt me with a incremental update?
Nothing. Because everyone is waiting for new CPUs.
I really don't think there is a point to Apple updating the Mac Pro here and now with no new CPUs.
There's been a lot of comments in this thread accusing Mac Pro owners of whinging too much about more frequent and/or better updates because the Mac Pro is built for longevity and is very upgradable.
I own a 2006 Mac Pro, and I love it. It still does run quite well for it's age BUT, sometimes it does chug along and I think about upgrading it. But what really are my options?
The only processors which will work in my motherboard are 3.0ghz Clovertowns which are still expensive and hard to come by.
I have a ATI 4870 graphics card, which I would love to upgrade too, but according to Barefeats, there's not much to upgrade to as the CPU starts to become a bottleneck. Has anyone been able to test various graphics cards and come up with the one that is better than the 4870/5770 and yet doesn't get bottlenecked?
I would really just like to gut the whole thing and buy a new motherboard, ram etc, but as far as I know, you cannot replace the motherboard as it's a custom design.
I guess i'll buy a boot drive SSD soon, but apart from that, i'm stumped for upgrades. Suggestions welcome.
I own a 2006 Mac Pro, and I love it. It still does run quite well for it's age BUT, sometimes it does chug along and I think about upgrading it. But what really are my options?
The only processors which will work in my motherboard are 3.0ghz Clovertowns which are still expensive and hard to come by.
I have a ATI 4870 graphics card, which I would love to upgrade too, but according to Barefeats, there's not much to upgrade to as the CPU starts to become a bottleneck. Has anyone been able to test various graphics cards and come up with the one that is better than the 4870/5770 and yet doesn't get bottlenecked?
I would really just like to gut the whole thing and buy a new motherboard, ram etc, but as far as I know, you cannot replace the motherboard as it's a custom design.
I guess i'll buy a boot drive SSD soon, but apart from that, i'm stumped for upgrades. Suggestions welcome.
A 2009/2010 Mac Pro when the 2011 MP comes out.
Not much point otherwise, that tech is 4-5 years old now...