There are a total of 4 full length slots, one double width 16 lanes slot is occupied by the graphics card. The remaining three slots seem to support configurable lanes. But, I couldn't seem to find any info on the total number of lanes.
The Mac Pro doesn't seem to have an IR sensor \ . It pretty much means either
1. New Cinema Displays with IR (and iSight) are coming, or
2. Separate IR accessory (USB/IR and Apple Remote) that can be used with older Macs as well
I don't think it means much of anything. These are pro machines. Very few will be sitting around long enough, idle, for someone to be watching a movie on it, though I might.
I don't think it means much of anything. These are pro machines. Very few will be sitting around long enough, idle, for someone to be watching a movie on it, though I might.
One might use it to demo the media (movies, pictures etc) that they have been working on. The remote, and navigation is always helpful.
There are a total of 4 full length slots, one double width 16 lanes slot is occupied by the graphics card. The remaining three slots seem to support configurable lanes. But, I couldn't seem to find any info on the total number of lanes.
I'm betting x8, x4, x4. x8 is needed for the Fibre Channel card, IIRC, and x4 is good for the dual-monitor 7300GTs, and it's what they had last time.
One might use it to demo the media (movies, pictures etc) that they have been working on. The remote, and navigation is always helpful.
I suppose.
What would have been nicer though, is something I just noticed the possibility of, when taking another look at a pic of an opened machine.
The four drives, being installed in removable sleeves, with a push-to-release button overhead, could have been given to us as hot-mount drives.
All they needed to do, would have been to put a lock on each ($2), and put a proper size open slot on the cover, and let the drive bays peek out the side.
What would have been nicer though, is something I just noticed the possibility of, when taking another look at a pic of an opened machine.
The four drives, being installed in removable sleeves, with a push-to-release button overhead, could have been given to us as hot-mount drives.
All they needed to do, would have been to put a lock on each ($2), and put a proper size open slot on the cover, and let the drive bays peek out the side.
Now, THAT would have been something!
Agree with that! Hot plug-ability (which of course requires providing easy access to the drives) was one of the features I was really hoping for. But, I always visualized the more traditional design with access from the front, next to the ports.
It's more than plenty for my use. I plan to deploy 4GB (8x512MB), as I remember reading somewhere in Intel documentation that you get best performance (on Bensley) with all slots occupied.
Other Woodcrest workstations are being offered at 32 and 64GB. I wonder if there is a 16GB limitation in Tiger. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Thanks!
Apple doesn't officially bless 4GB DIMMs. but they exist, and will work, I bet. That gets you the 32 GB.
And some companies (Dell) use risers to fit two DIMMs in a slot, at a cost of speed/bandwidth.
Dempsey is quad-channel. That means you get extra bandwidth if you have 4 consecutive RAM slots filled with the same RAM (like dual-channel). I'm not sure if it also can be dual-channel, or dual-dual channel.
Agree with that! Hot plug-ability (which of course requires providing easy access to the drives) was one of the features I was really hoping for. But, I always visualized the more traditional design with access from the front, next to the ports.
I'll take it where I can get it. I've got 4 external drive boxes now.
Apple doesn't officially bless 4GB DIMMs. but they exist, and will work, I bet. That gets you the 32 GB.
This goes back to my earlier post about Apple, memory, and HD's. I wouldn't be too surprised if the extra traces were there. But, I haven't looked at the cost of the things. Anyone happen to know without bothering to look it up?
Quote:
And some companies (Dell) use risers to fit two DIMMs in a slot, at a cost of speed/bandwidth.
Dempsey is quad-channel. That means you get extra bandwidth if you have 4 consecutive RAM slots filled with the same RAM (like dual-channel). I'm not sure if it also can be dual-channel, or dual-dual channel.
Really frakking expensive. 1 GB FB-DIMMS are $150 each, and 512 MB ones are $80. So upwards of $500 for 4 GB DIMM. I've never seen one on newegg, they only go to 2 GB for $300ish.
Really frakking expensive. 1 GB FB-DIMMS are $150 each, and 512 MB ones are $80. So upwards of $500 for 4 GB DIMM. I've never seen one on newegg, they only go to 2 GB for $300ish.
You can't extrapolate to 4 that way. 4 could cost $1,000, or 2, or even more. They are very new, and won't be found outside of the commercial computing markets for now.
I remember when the 2GB DIMMS cost $2,000. The 1's cost less than $400 at the time.
Going even further back, when the 64MB DIMMS cost $750, the brand new 128's cost $10,000. I first saw them, under glass, at one of the commercial trade show. It had its own guard.
I never said it'd cost $500, I said upwards. As in "way the heck out of my price range" was all I meant by that. I recognize what you're saying, and I didn't mean to imply that they cost $500, just that they cost a lot.
I never said it'd cost $500, I said upwards. As in "way the heck out of my price range" was all I meant by that. I recognize what you're saying, and I didn't mean to imply that they cost $500, just that they cost a lot.
The difficulty of finding them is why I didn't want anyone to bother trying.
I never said it'd cost $500, I said upwards. As in "way the heck out of my price range" was all I meant by that. I recognize what you're saying, and I didn't mean to imply that they cost $500, just that they cost a lot.
Well, well, I just checked out the X Serve. Guess what? According to Apple, it accepts 512MB, 1GB, 2 GB, AND 4 GB FB DIMMS.
No prices yet, drat, because it won't be available 'till October.
That gives an even better chance that the Mac Pro will also accept them. I figured so.
Somewhere on the developers site might be the specs for the Mac Pro.
There are a total of 4 full length slots, one double width 16 lanes slot is occupied by the graphics card. The remaining three slots seem to support configurable lanes. But, I couldn't seem to find any info on the total number of lanes.
According to the developer notes, here, and here, it's x16, x1, x4, x4. This is the default configuration, it may be changed to x8 x8 x4 x4 or others (Configuration Expansion Slot Utility), if you don't need x16 graphics...
So it's less than the G5, it makes me believe that the Mac Pro uses standard Intel 5000 series chipset. The bridges are linked by ESI x4 and PCIe x8. I guess they had to in order to complete the transition quickly.
According to the developer notes, here, and here, it's x16, x1, x4, x4. This is the default configuration, it may be changed to x8 x8 x4 x4 or others (Configuration Expansion Slot Utility), if you don't need x16 graphics...
So it's less than the G5, it makes me believe that the Mac Pro uses standard Intel 5000 series chipset. The bridges are linked by ESI x4 and PCIe x8. I guess they had to in order to complete the transition quickly.
Thanks for the info and the links. It is a bit of a downer, but for my use it may be ok.
it's x16, x1, x4, x4. This is the default configuration, it may be changed to x8 x8 x4 x4 or others (Configuration Expansion Slot Utility), if you don't need x16 graphics...
So it's less than the G5, it makes me believe that the Mac Pro uses standard Intel 5000 series chipset. The bridges are linked by ESI x4 and PCIe x8. I guess they had to in order to complete the transition quickly.
At least it is somewhat configurable, so you can get a 8844 or 8818 arrangement, which would be plenty fine with me for now.
Comments
The Mac Pro doesn't seem to have an IR sensor
1. New Cinema Displays with IR (and iSight) are coming, or
2. Separate IR accessory (USB/IR and Apple Remote) that can be used with older Macs as well
Or
3. iSight 2.0 with built in IR sensor. The more time I have had to think about it, this seems most likely to me.
The Mac Pro doesn't seem to have an IR sensor
1. New Cinema Displays with IR (and iSight) are coming, or
2. Separate IR accessory (USB/IR and Apple Remote) that can be used with older Macs as well
I don't think it means much of anything. These are pro machines. Very few will be sitting around long enough, idle, for someone to be watching a movie on it, though I might.
I don't think it means much of anything. These are pro machines. Very few will be sitting around long enough, idle, for someone to be watching a movie on it, though I might.
One might use it to demo the media (movies, pictures etc) that they have been working on. The remote, and navigation is always helpful.
There are a total of 4 full length slots, one double width 16 lanes slot is occupied by the graphics card. The remaining three slots seem to support configurable lanes. But, I couldn't seem to find any info on the total number of lanes.
I'm betting x8, x4, x4. x8 is needed for the Fibre Channel card, IIRC, and x4 is good for the dual-monitor 7300GTs, and it's what they had last time.
One might use it to demo the media (movies, pictures etc) that they have been working on. The remote, and navigation is always helpful.
I suppose.
What would have been nicer though, is something I just noticed the possibility of, when taking another look at a pic of an opened machine.
The four drives, being installed in removable sleeves, with a push-to-release button overhead, could have been given to us as hot-mount drives.
All they needed to do, would have been to put a lock on each ($2), and put a proper size open slot on the cover, and let the drive bays peek out the side.
Now, THAT would have been something!
I suppose.
What would have been nicer though, is something I just noticed the possibility of, when taking another look at a pic of an opened machine.
The four drives, being installed in removable sleeves, with a push-to-release button overhead, could have been given to us as hot-mount drives.
All they needed to do, would have been to put a lock on each ($2), and put a proper size open slot on the cover, and let the drive bays peek out the side.
Now, THAT would have been something!
Agree with that! Hot plug-ability (which of course requires providing easy access to the drives) was one of the features I was really hoping for. But, I always visualized the more traditional design with access from the front, next to the ports.
It's more than plenty for my use. I plan to deploy 4GB (8x512MB), as I remember reading somewhere in Intel documentation that you get best performance (on Bensley) with all slots occupied.
Other Woodcrest workstations are being offered at 32 and 64GB. I wonder if there is a 16GB limitation in Tiger. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Thanks!
Apple doesn't officially bless 4GB DIMMs. but they exist, and will work, I bet. That gets you the 32 GB.
And some companies (Dell) use risers to fit two DIMMs in a slot, at a cost of speed/bandwidth.
Dempsey is quad-channel. That means you get extra bandwidth if you have 4 consecutive RAM slots filled with the same RAM (like dual-channel). I'm not sure if it also can be dual-channel, or dual-dual channel.
Agree with that! Hot plug-ability (which of course requires providing easy access to the drives) was one of the features I was really hoping for. But, I always visualized the more traditional design with access from the front, next to the ports.
I'll take it where I can get it. I've got 4 external drive boxes now.
Apple doesn't officially bless 4GB DIMMs. but they exist, and will work, I bet. That gets you the 32 GB.
This goes back to my earlier post about Apple, memory, and HD's. I wouldn't be too surprised if the extra traces were there. But, I haven't looked at the cost of the things. Anyone happen to know without bothering to look it up?
And some companies (Dell) use risers to fit two DIMMs in a slot, at a cost of speed/bandwidth.
Dempsey is quad-channel. That means you get extra bandwidth if you have 4 consecutive RAM slots filled with the same RAM (like dual-channel). I'm not sure if it also can be dual-channel, or dual-dual channel.
Really frakking expensive. 1 GB FB-DIMMS are $150 each, and 512 MB ones are $80. So upwards of $500 for 4 GB DIMM. I've never seen one on newegg, they only go to 2 GB for $300ish.
You can't extrapolate to 4 that way. 4 could cost $1,000, or 2, or even more. They are very new, and won't be found outside of the commercial computing markets for now.
I remember when the 2GB DIMMS cost $2,000. The 1's cost less than $400 at the time.
Going even further back, when the 64MB DIMMS cost $750, the brand new 128's cost $10,000. I first saw them, under glass, at one of the commercial trade show. It had its own guard.
I never said it'd cost $500, I said upwards. As in "way the heck out of my price range" was all I meant by that. I recognize what you're saying, and I didn't mean to imply that they cost $500, just that they cost a lot.
The difficulty of finding them is why I didn't want anyone to bother trying.
I never said it'd cost $500, I said upwards. As in "way the heck out of my price range" was all I meant by that. I recognize what you're saying, and I didn't mean to imply that they cost $500, just that they cost a lot.
Well, well, I just checked out the X Serve. Guess what? According to Apple, it accepts 512MB, 1GB, 2 GB, AND 4 GB FB DIMMS.
No prices yet, drat, because it won't be available 'till October.
That gives an even better chance that the Mac Pro will also accept them. I figured so.
Somewhere on the developers site might be the specs for the Mac Pro.
Whatever, here is some new pricing from ATI.
I also am hearing that we may see one or more retail cards for the Mac Pro's from them, so this might be interesting.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3688
There are a total of 4 full length slots, one double width 16 lanes slot is occupied by the graphics card. The remaining three slots seem to support configurable lanes. But, I couldn't seem to find any info on the total number of lanes.
According to the developer notes, here, and here, it's x16, x1, x4, x4. This is the default configuration, it may be changed to x8 x8 x4 x4 or others (Configuration Expansion Slot Utility), if you don't need x16 graphics...
So it's less than the G5, it makes me believe that the Mac Pro uses standard Intel 5000 series chipset. The bridges are linked by ESI x4 and PCIe x8. I guess they had to in order to complete the transition quickly.
According to the developer notes, here, and here, it's x16, x1, x4, x4. This is the default configuration, it may be changed to x8 x8 x4 x4 or others (Configuration Expansion Slot Utility), if you don't need x16 graphics...
So it's less than the G5, it makes me believe that the Mac Pro uses standard Intel 5000 series chipset. The bridges are linked by ESI x4 and PCIe x8. I guess they had to in order to complete the transition quickly.
Thanks for the info and the links. It is a bit of a downer, but for my use it may be ok.
According to the developer notes, here, and here,
it's x16, x1, x4, x4. This is the default configuration, it may be changed to x8 x8 x4 x4 or others (Configuration Expansion Slot Utility), if you don't need x16 graphics...
So it's less than the G5, it makes me believe that the Mac Pro uses standard Intel 5000 series chipset. The bridges are linked by ESI x4 and PCIe x8. I guess they had to in order to complete the transition quickly.
At least it is somewhat configurable, so you can get a 8844 or 8818 arrangement, which would be plenty fine with me for now.