Would you like to see a new water-cooled Mac cube with a HEDT CPU?

[orbita]

I sure would.

I'd love to see a Mac Maxi - like a bigger Mac mini but with:

- Intel 14-18 core X chip for top performance without the Xeon cost
- Water-cooled so it's quiet and without thermal throttling
- Replaceable Ram
- 2 Replaceable hard disks (nmve/ssd)
- Built in Graphics with option for eGPU
- at reasonable pricing!

 

[redheeler]

Apple tried liquid cooling with the Power Mac G5. Those were and still are notoriously unreliable.

However, Apple could pack an air-cooled 8-core i9 and dedicated graphics into an enclosure the size of the old G4 Cube or 2013 Mac Pro. This is the modern iteration of the xMac concept, and it'd be great to have at the right price point - more than a mini, but way less than that new outrageously-expensive Mac Pro. Problem is, Apple has shown little interest in producing reasonably-priced and upgradable standalone desktop Macs, so we'll probably never see one.

 

[robbieduncan]

Define reasonable pricing. You are talking about a $1000 CPU on it’s own!

 

[orbita]

Around $2k for 16gb, 18core, 512gb ssd would be good. I don’t think it would need to be any more upgradeable beyond what current iMac is (ram and disk).

That would make a great system for music production.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Liquid + electronics is a poor mixture as redheeler points out.

 

[robbieduncan]

Around $2k for 16gb, 18core, 512gb ssd would be good. I don’t think it would need to be any more upgradeable beyond what current iMac is (ram and disk).

That would make a great system for music production.

I think you are a long, long way out. Retail price of an Intel Core i9 Skylake-Z X Refresh CPU is currently £1,849.98. So that's basically the entire price you are willing to pay for the system on CPU alone. Realistically there is no saving over a low-end Xeon in the 18 core i9...

 

[orbita]

Tbh Air cooled is fine so long as it’s quiet and cool enough. Those trash cans were not.

I think you are a long, long way out. Retail price of an Intel Core i9 Skylake-Z X Refresh CPU is currently £1,849.98. So that's basically the entire price you are willing to pay for the system on CPU alone. Realistically there is no saving over a low-end Xeon in the 18 core i9...

I was thinking of the new 18c i9, which is $979. Alternatively the 16 core thread ripper at ~$800.

Core i9-10980XE

18C / 36T

3.0

3.8

4.6

4.8

165 W

$979

That leaves $1000 for case, ram, disk, fan, lower/mid tier graphics. Doesn't seem too unreasonable. Or do the 14 core at ~$2k and the 18core at ~$2400. It would still be a nice machine at a decent price point.

 

[robbieduncan]

Tbh Air cooled is fine so long as it’s quiet and cool enough. Those trash cans were not.



I was thinking of the new 18c i9, which is $979. Alternatively the 16 core thread ripper at ~$800.

Core i9-10980XE

18C / 36T

3.0

3.8

4.6

4.8

165 W

$979

That leaves $1000 for case, ram, disk, fan, lower/mid tier graphics. Doesn't seem too unreasonable. Or do the 14 core at ~$2k and the 18core at ~$2400. It would still be a nice machine at a decent price point.

For Apple to sell you something for $2000 they probably need to buy the components for $1000. Add assembly, R&D, cost of sales etc and their profit margin (40%?) and you get to $2000. So if we say:

CPU: $1000
Motherboard: $200 ?
Case/PSU/Fans etc: $300?
16Gb RAM: $150 ?
SSD: $200 ?
Graphics: $200 ?

Total: $2050.

Even assuming some volume discount for Apple and buying trade rather than retail there is no way that Apple would sell this for less than $3500.

 

[orbita]

Maybe you're right. Although I suspect the motherboard and case would not cost that much considering Mac mini pricing. For those Ram/disk prices I think you could expect 32gb ram and 1tb disk.

But anyway, even at $3500, I think it would still be faster, cheaper and quieter than an iMac pro/Mac pro and allow your own choice of monitor. That makes it attractive for me and I suspect many other hobbyist/creative users.

 

[Fishrrman]

Not likely.
Not ever.

 

[redheeler]

Tbh Air cooled is fine so long as it’s quiet and cool enough. Those trash cans were not.



I was thinking of the new 18c i9, which is $979. Alternatively the 16 core thread ripper at ~$800.

Core i9-10980XE

18C / 36T

3.0

3.8

4.6

4.8

165 W

$979

That leaves $1000 for case, ram, disk, fan, lower/mid tier graphics. Doesn't seem too unreasonable. Or do the 14 core at ~$2k and the 18core at ~$2400. It would still be a nice machine at a decent price point.

This is Apple you're talking about. A $1,000 CPU means a $3,500 Mac (at a minimum). A third of that will be profit (before R&D, MacOS software development, and other expenses eat into it).

If you're talking about $1,999, I'd optimistically expect nothing more than a desktop Core i9 as found in the high-end iMac, AMD dedicated graphics, 512 GB SSD, 16 GB RAM. Again, we have to assume a third of the price is profit before other expenses.

This is cheaper than the speced-up 27" iMac, but realistically the price point is close enough that there's going to be some overlap. The 5K display offers excellent value that almost makes up for the shortcomings in upgradability and thermal performance.