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The 2009 (Gainestown) Mac Pro: Everything We Know

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sidewinder said:
You really need to stop with this attitude that Apple is out to "shaft" anyone. Your posts are permeated with the idea that Apple consciously makes decisions to negatively affect your and everyone's computer experience. That's just not the case.

It's clear you don't understand how new products go from being ideas to product on the shelves. Nor how existing products are updated.

S-
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Really? TS seems like one of the more accurate posters around here. Kinda have to disagree on that one.

I really need a new mac desktop but am still not sure if I should wait or get a current mac pro. The iMac's just don't cut it. Now if there was a core i7 iMac...

But for me the memory pricing issue is huge for these new Mac Pro's. The prices are going to be higher, period. Higher base price and much higher memory costs. Performance increases should be anywhere from 10%-40% or so depending on what type of apps you run. I'm thinking for the price/performance ratio differences, it would be wiser to get the current model and fill it with quite a bit of "cheap" ram. Now the video card is another issue entirely...

Sometimes I wish Apple would just license out their OS to whatever hardware you want to use.
 
sidewinder said:
Your posts are permeated with the idea that Apple consciously makes decisions to negatively affect your and everyone's computer experience. That's just not the case.
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So they took out FireWire because that was a GOOD idea? And it wasn't a conscious decision to use EFI64 ROM on the Penryn 8800 GT, rendering it incompatible with the other Mac Pro? What about the Mini DisplayPort on the new MacBook family? I'm pretty sure it was a conscious decision to NOT include adapters for compatibility with every fricking display on the market.

It's clear you don't understand how new products go from being ideas to product on the shelves. Nor how existing products are updated.
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Could you tell me what they do, then?

No, they don't sit in a room and say, "What can't we give them," but don't for a moment think that they don't know they're "forcing" upgrades in some respects.

Apple has undershot my predictions in the last two updates, as well, so that gives you an idea of how pessimistic you need to be.
 
Well, hopefully firewire 800 will still be on the Nehalem Mac Pros while they keep the prices the same.

3215805597_3ed43ebaec_o.jpg
Somebody's Watching mE~!
 
I wouldn't worry about FireWire ;)

How did Apple let down your predictions? 9600GT, expected. DDR3, expected. Etc.
 
Tallest Skil said:
Do you mean mine? Um... fewer/worse BTO options than I expected, slower clocks on the MacBooks than I expected, removal of FireWire...

I think that I expected the 9650M, too, but I don't remember.
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Removal of firewire wasn't on the radar. As far as the clock speeds, it makes no difference to the end user. You can't tell The difference between 2.1Ghz and 2.4Ghz. The 9650 was a silly guess IMO, why would Apple decide to move up in the graphics card rankings? Do they ever decide to bump it? No, they don't.
 
When apple comes out with the new mac pro with the i7 processor, am assuming it will have two socketed processors as the current ones. Am I correct assuming 2 quad cores running a total of 16 cores with virtualization? I am tempted to build my own at a cost of around 1600 bucks but without OS X and only 1 processor running a total of 8 cores with virtualization. I hate winblows and not fond of linux for lack of software. What can I say, I love OS X and believe its the best OS and don't mind paying a higher cost for apple products. Any insight out there on this?
 
bearcatrp said:
When apple comes out with the new mac pro with the i7 processor, am assuming it will have two socketed processors as the current ones. Am I correct assuming 2 quad cores running a total of 16 cores with virtualization? I am tempted to build my own at a cost of around 1600 bucks but without OS X and only 1 processor running a total of 8 cores with virtualization. I hate winblows and not fond of linux for lack of software. What can I say, I love OS X and believe its the best OS and don't mind paying a higher cost for apple products. Any insight out there on this?
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On what, other than we've covered the fact that they won't be Core i7 chips, you didn't really ask any questions.

Yes, there will be 8 physical cores, and yes, there will therefore be 16 logical ones.
 
TennisandMusic said:
Really? TS seems like one of the more accurate posters around here. Kinda have to disagree on that one.

I really need a new mac desktop but am still not sure if I should wait or get a current mac pro. The iMac's just don't cut it. Now if there was a core i7 iMac...

But for me the memory pricing issue is huge for these new Mac Pro's. The prices are going to be higher, period. Higher base price and much higher memory costs. Performance increases should be anywhere from 10%-40% or so depending on what type of apps you run. I'm thinking for the price/performance ratio differences, it would be wiser to get the current model and fill it with quite a bit of "cheap" ram. Now the video card is another issue entirely...

Sometimes I wish Apple would just license out their OS to whatever hardware you want to use.
Click to expand...

Exactly how I feel. The jump in performance just might not be worth the wait or price increase. I think Apple will keep the base model below $3000, however. So the "starting from $xxxx" will probably be a lot less, but may start with less ram.

I hope and pray that a new gpu comes out and works in the current Pro which I may order tonight.

Nonetheless, a Gainstown Mac Pro is exciting to think about, and the changes and configurations are something to really think about. Tallest, thanks again for this wonderful thread.
 
Tallest Skil said:
Doesn't really mean much when there are no Gainestown chips out there.

It never really means much, you know? :D
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oh imacs too :D:D

how would one find out if the gainestown chips are being produced??

it sucks to see the refurb models i feel like pulling the trigger but then theres chances of the new one.
and no i dont need a new computer right now but i dont wanna buy one and then a new one comes out :mad:

i would like a imac though with a quad core in it!:)
 
I decided to say screw it and pulled the trigger and snatch a 2.8 refurb octo a little bit ago. Don't think they will be out until close to summer. Since it will be new architecture, I'll wait about 6 months after the release and see how the numbers look with snow leopard installed.
 
DJJONES said:
how would one find out if the gainestown chips are being produced??
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Become an Intel employee, or know someone who does. :eek:

If the latter, get them drunk, and hope they'll spill it! :D :p

Or wait for Methuselah to write the press release... :D
 
nanofrog said:
Become an Intel employee, or know someone who does. :eek:

If the latter, get them drunk, and hope they'll spill it! :D :p

Or wait for Methuselah to write the press release... :D
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I've actually worked at Intel and know someone else who does. I could ask him, though I don't know if he would tell me anything, if he even knows.
 
TennisandMusic said:
I've actually worked at Intel and know someone else who does. I could ask him, though I don't know if he would tell me anything, if he even knows.
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Thats why you have to get him drunk, take him to the strip club and get him a couple of lap dances on you of course and smoke a few bowl of dro too! I'm sure he'll spill his beans!
 
Though if you're going to all that trouble, might as well ask about Larrabee too... hehe
 
TennisandMusic said:
I've actually worked at Intel and know someone else who does. I could ask him, though I don't know if he would tell me anything, if he even knows.
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That's why I mentioned "get them drunk". ;)

A simple, yet highly effective way to get around NDA's. :D :p

The lap dance and other "icing" wouldn't be a bad idea either. :eek: :D
 
Tallest Skil said:
Doesn't do us much good in the six month interim that we'll have our Mac Pros, though... :(
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And Apple most likely won't lower prices after those 6 months. Given the Mac Pro update cycle, we might be stuck with the high RAM prices until early 2011 or so (Sandy Bridge).

TennisandMusic said:
Performance increases should be anywhere from 10%-40% or so depending on what type of apps you run.
Click to expand...
Is this per GHz or per $?

Tallest Skil said:
Apple has undershot my predictions in the last two updates, as well, so that gives you an idea of how pessimistic you need to be.
Click to expand...
They undershot my release date predictions too for most of the recent updates.

t0mat0 said:
Though if you're going to all that trouble, might as well ask about Larrabee too... hehe
Click to expand...
I wonder how that's going... :(
 
iMacmatician said:
Is this per GHz or per $?
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Looking at the nehalem benchmarks performance gains are around 10-40%. The higher end of the gains are in things like video encoding and 3D rendering etc. Fairly "normal" tasks seem to be much less than that, in the 10-15% range. That's why I'm wonder if waiting for an obviously much more expensive mac pro is worth it. I do do video fairly often, but the current mac pro would crush what I use now as it is. 3D work is extremely minimal. Everything else would probably be handled quite well by the current platform, and for similar ram configurations would likely be ~1500 dollars less. Not exactly chump change.
 
TennisandMusic said:
Looking at the nehalem benchmarks performance gains are around 10-40%. The higher end of the gains are in things like video encoding and 3D rendering etc. Fairly "normal" tasks seem to be much less than that, in the 10-15% range.
Click to expand...
The Gainestown CPUs are more expensive per GHz than the Harpertowns though. That might reduce the performance increase of Nehalem, unless those benchmarks account for the increased price.
 
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