t0mat0, it seems v4 (Broadwell) was DOA, cancelled by Intel.
Next nMP will be v3 (Haswell) based.
Confirmation from Intel is still absent but all points in that direction it seems.
Skylake (v5) is still far from being launched.
Intel roadmaps are changing a lot lately, we can't really rely on it very much now.
I guess Apple was notified of those changes, maybe when it's officially confirmed a new model will come.
Still, my guess is either October or early 2016, most likely the latter.
And Purley seems to be directed for servers only now, the nMP at the time will be based on the 1600 family most certainly, for 1S workstations. Apple won't do 2S or more workstation anymore, apparently.
Forget about dual CPU and single card dual Fiji, guess that won't happen ever. Possible, but unlikely.
They would have to lower GPU speeds a lot, to fit the available power. Another CPU could be another up to 160W or so, depending on CPU model.
And otherwise one side of the triangle would be unbalanced with more heat, from the GPUs, even if more power was available 🙂
We've seen big gaps between updates from Apple before but this would be a big one. What Intel is planning for v4 isn't yet clear - if they've cut v4 out - the attached roadmap seems like it'll have a
year and a half hole in it. Even if they could bring Purley forward - when was the last time Intel was early for a release vs delays for the next product to be launched delaying future products down the line too?
From the roadmap - the 1S for Skylake is in planning and separate form the Purley platform. If Intel didn't complete stop E5-1600 v4 product family, couldn't Apple use those? A lot of the Purley features don't seem as relevant to a 1S workstation, but that is 2+ years out.
The nMac Pro cut out a specific niche (and due to being 1xCPU, 2xGPU vs dual CPU they were less appealing to certain other markets). The update will be more telling as to where they want to take the Mac Pro. (Intel's Purley plans loom in the future - they're going to be wrestling with the Altera deal for a while). Do they stay with the current CPU GPU combo that caters best for video workstation work? Only now can the Mac Pro in Metal actually resolve/identify between the 2 GPUs, so they've got a way to go. With 1x CPU, the Mac Pro isn't on a par with other rival workstations for CPU intensive/bound work (3d rendering, visual effects work for example).* They're passing OpenCL, and pushing Metal, at least that direction is clear.
Apple selling newer (FirePro?) GPU cards that could swap out the current ones would be another indication they mean business.
With HMB version of FirePro cards, would they be able to put 2 on one slot? It'd be nerfed for performance from the TDP limit for one slot - but it could free up a slot for another CPU?
Say the CPU and each FirePro GPU can have a TDP of ~130W per slot, could you get 2x 1/2 sized GPU both running up to 60-70W each, and then have 2x 130W CPU? The Mac Pro can already manage power draw by throttling (
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7603/mac-pro-review-late-2013/14) but in the Anandtech review - it took a decent workload on both GPU and CPU to see throttling. Does seem that thermal core can take 130W from each of the three sides at maximum, and so should be able to deal with a 2S version, where the dual GPU are both on one slot. It'd nerf the GPU performance, as the TDP for both GPU would be up to 130W where before it was 130W for each card, but if you were doing CPU work it's less likely you'd be stressing both CPU and GPU at max?
You'd hope Apple has a fairly good relationship with Intel - good enough to get some advance notice of things going DOA, or their future plans (Apple pushing Crystalwell seems to indicate some levarage with Intel). Assuming they got a heads up in advance that v4 was DOA, maybe they adjusted plans accordingly. They dance to Intel's tune to a great extent (which has delayed and changed the launches of prior Apple Macs (Mac Mini's CPU choice, MBPs CPU etc).
*Cribbing from
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/01/two-steps-forward-a-review-of-the-2013-mac-pro/7
D300 ~W700 with half the VRAM - superseded by W7100
D500 ~W7000/8000 hybrid with some more VRAM - superseded by W8100
D700 ~W9000 at a lower clock (seeing as the TDP for W9000 is 270W) - superseded by W9100 (with 16GB VRAM and a 275W TDP)
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7901/amd-announces-firepro-w9100
In a few years, wouldn't AMD have HBM 2 on their FirePros?
