Store staff told me that there is an option somewhere on the Mac Pro web site to find what stores have Mac Pros on display, with a tagline like "Experience the new Mac Pro ...". Unfortunately I looked and was unable to find the link.
Bummer. I had hoped the Vega cards would be a little bit cheaper. There is really a void here. My configuration is almost $13.000. After Effects is a slouch on an iMac Pro. I really don't know what to do ... The real question is: will AE perform better on a €13.000 bomb?
You don't have to go with Apple's cards.
You don't? I can't seem to de-select the RX 580. Plus, are their MPX form factor cards one can install in this that aren't made by Apple?
You could add a PCIe card instead of MPX, but since Apple's killed Nvidia GPUs by refusing to allow them to write drivers for 10.14+ the highest-performing card you can add is a Radeon VII or a 5700XT. That saves you quite a bit of money over Apple's cards (although they force you to buy their RX 580), but doesn't improve the performance much over Apple's offerings.
It's doesn't improve it at all. The MPX Vega II should walk all over the Radeon VII. The 5700XT is even slower.
Anandtech reported that the Radeon Pro W5700X is an upgrade choice for the new Mac Pro, but I see they meant that it will be an upgrade choice in the future. That card is essentially a workstation version of the Navi 5700XT. I thought they meant the W5700X was the "real" model number of the Vega II Pro.
So you're right that it is Vega II Pro (which given the name did seem quite odd) is Vega of course, and it appears to be a customized Radeon Instinct MI60. So in that case the performance is not such a mystery. Expect Radeon VII levels +7-10%. It's the full version of the same die the Radeon VII is made out of, so 64CU (versus 60CU) and 4096 stream processors (instead of 3840), and 1800Mhz instead of 1700Mhz peak.
Anyway, the bottom line is that the Vega II Pro is a poor GPU compared to Nvidia options. And the "story has been written." Nvidia cancelled their webdriver for MacOS this August while it was in beta, citing that Apple was refusing to negotiate. Who is really at fault? Who knows, but Nvidia isn't coming to the MacPro's rescue.
You don't know how good or bad the Vega is yet. Or rather, you have a pretty good idea of how it is right now, for some workloads. You don't know what it's going to look like in six months. I think there's a good chance that Apple has worked deals with some of the key players at the high end to optimize for metal on Vega, and if so, it's anyone's ball game. The Instinct has a clear advantage over Nvidia in some workloads, and you may well see more of that. On the other hand, if Apple hasn't, and ISVs don't do so independently, Nvidia will maintain its lead (though there's a certain amount of brute force being applied here, with the dual Duo cards).
All in all, it would certainly be better if Apple and NVidia could bury the hatchet. But don't dismiss the Vegas just yet.
Looks awesome. I think it’s so forward thinking of apple to release a machine which doubles as a cheese grater!
That probably sounded very funny in your head.
First two posts are cynically negative. More to come I’m sure. The Morlocks that live under AI’s bridge are starting to stir already.
Jeez it was just a joke!
I’m not cynical and I’m not negative. This is a stunning machine. I just genuinely thought from a certain angle that gril looks like a cheese grater! I’m not a fan of the aesthetics of the machine but you can’t argue with the specs and the power.
I think it’s great!
Not criticizing but just curious, you are aware the Mac Pro prior to the 'Trash Can' was knows 'The Cheese Grater' for many, many years I assume?
No I wasn’t. Only been into apple since iPhone 4S and then first iPad (and every gen since). In terms of computers, though, I only moved over to Macs around three years ago - and before that didn’t follow the Mac line at all. Now have two MacBook Pro’s 2019 in the house, and an iMac. But as i say, never really followed the mac line before that so wasn’t even aware there had been another Mac Pro.
Can't wait to get one and load it up with some sweet NVIDIA RTX GPUs. You can do that, right?
Someone will need to verify but as I understand it, Mac OS no longer supports the Nvidia drivers and Nvidia doesn’t offer any for the latest Mac OS, so I’m not sure where that would leave you if you plugged in an RTX? If you used an AMD card it’ll probably be fine.
Your sarcasm detector needs tuning.
I think your manners need tuning.....
please do enlighten us as to why you considered the post I replied to as being sarcastic? I mean their is no /s on the end or any other indication to imply that, seems it’s based on nothing more then your opinion?
Comments
Store staff told me that there is an option somewhere on the Mac Pro web site to find what stores have Mac Pros on display, with a tagline like "Experience the new Mac Pro ...". Unfortunately I looked and was unable to find the link.
please do enlighten us as to why you considered the post I replied to as being sarcastic? I mean their is no /s on the end or any other indication to imply that, seems it’s based on nothing more then your opinion?