Imagine a Mac Pro configuration that is a 3U wide (high) and comes with a tower stand base and handles on top that are installed at the factory. Single power supply and a state of the art GPU.
GPU. Like this? Because that's all you're getting in a 3U case. And no other PCIe slots.
GPU. Like this? Because that's all you're getting in a 3U case. And no other PCIe slots.
Not necessary. You can place 3 PCI-E slots on a riser card and have them placed parallel to the height (when in tower mode) of the Mac Pro. They sort of already do that right now.
90 degree riser cards was how they got PCI cards into the xServe units, which were 1U high (aka 1.75")?
Most likely in a year or two discrete GPU's will be a very high end solution. On die GPU's will win in the long run. In fact if one looks closely at the great strides AMD has made with Fusion we may not have to wait two years to see a transition to on die GPU's in midrange desktop systems. Intel should be worried as AMD has really pulled out all stops to make the merging of the CPU and GPU on one die less of regression than some seem to think it is.
Right now of course that isn't the solution for a high end Mac Pro. However for a Mac Pro with midrange performance it might be just the nuts.
Define "custom CPU". A SKU from Intel that isn't available in retail yet? That's been done before and may well happen again.
An Apple-designed CPU in the Mac Pro? An ARM? No fargin' way.
This is just my interpretation, but I imagine the part will be almost identical to what Intel will have available later this year, but with a custom speed rating for Apple. First run, non-retail Apple exclusive speeds. Or they could be chips without the GPU. Mostly speculation at this point.
Mainly I hope the new Mac Pro base configuration will represent good value because I've decided my next computer is not going to be a Mac Mini. I've been using Minis since 2006 but this latest Mini has been having so many issues, mainly in regards to accessing external drives, that I figure it's time to step up and opt instead for a Mac Pro. Given a choice between overkill and not quite good enough, now I'm ready to try overkill.
So as soon as Apple unveils the new Mac Pro, I'll be placing a order for the base configuration. At the very least the new version should come with comparable pricing to the US. Here in Canada at the moment, the base Mac Pro is $100 more expensive here in Canada. Based on how Apple has been trending, that's likely to change. More processing power is inevitable. I hope the HDD capacity will increase (it usually does) and I wouldn't mind a boost to system RAM.
My thought now is that the Mac Pro is more likely to be troublefree and for quite a long time. Certainly there will be enough power under the hood to meet my needs for the next six, seven, eight years. HDD expansion is easy and far more convenient without the clutter of so many external peripherals.
I do have a question. What has Apple's track record been like in terms of reliability for brand new case designs. One rumour is that the new model will get a revised case and I don't want to be one of the first to buy if there's much risk of early design flaws.
Comments
Imagine a Mac Pro configuration that is a 3U wide (high) and comes with a tower stand base and handles on top that are installed at the factory. Single power supply and a state of the art GPU.
GPU. Like this? Because that's all you're getting in a 3U case. And no other PCIe slots.
GPU. Like this? Because that's all you're getting in a 3U case. And no other PCIe slots.
Not necessary. You can place 3 PCI-E slots on a riser card and have them placed parallel to the height (when in tower mode) of the Mac Pro. They sort of already do that right now.
An Apple-designed CPU in the Mac Pro? An ARM? No fargin' way.
90 degree riser cards was how they got PCI cards into the xServe units, which were 1U high (aka 1.75")?
Most likely in a year or two discrete GPU's will be a very high end solution. On die GPU's will win in the long run. In fact if one looks closely at the great strides AMD has made with Fusion we may not have to wait two years to see a transition to on die GPU's in midrange desktop systems. Intel should be worried as AMD has really pulled out all stops to make the merging of the CPU and GPU on one die less of regression than some seem to think it is.
Right now of course that isn't the solution for a high end Mac Pro. However for a Mac Pro with midrange performance it might be just the nuts.
Teradata?s ?Extreme Data Appliance? boxes and iSilon storage.
Define "custom CPU". A SKU from Intel that isn't available in retail yet? That's been done before and may well happen again.
An Apple-designed CPU in the Mac Pro? An ARM? No fargin' way.
This is just my interpretation, but I imagine the part will be almost identical to what Intel will have available later this year, but with a custom speed rating for Apple. First run, non-retail Apple exclusive speeds. Or they could be chips without the GPU. Mostly speculation at this point.
So as soon as Apple unveils the new Mac Pro, I'll be placing a order for the base configuration. At the very least the new version should come with comparable pricing to the US. Here in Canada at the moment, the base Mac Pro is $100 more expensive here in Canada. Based on how Apple has been trending, that's likely to change. More processing power is inevitable. I hope the HDD capacity will increase (it usually does) and I wouldn't mind a boost to system RAM.
My thought now is that the Mac Pro is more likely to be troublefree and for quite a long time. Certainly there will be enough power under the hood to meet my needs for the next six, seven, eight years. HDD expansion is easy and far more convenient without the clutter of so many external peripherals.
I do have a question. What has Apple's track record been like in terms of reliability for brand new case designs. One rumour is that the new model will get a revised case and I don't want to be one of the first to buy if there's much risk of early design flaws.