keithw

blastdoor said:

Good comments discussion of GPU performance. 

In order for the Mac Pro to compete with 'pro' level Windows/Linux systems using high-end discrete GPUs, I wonder if Apple needs to either (1) continue to include high-end discrete GPUs in the Mac Pro (which kind of runs contrary to Apple's strongly expressed preference for sharing memory between CPU and GPU cores, but perhaps so be it) or (2) reconfigure Apple Silicon so that CPU and GPU cores sit on different pieces of silicon and are linked together via 'UltraFusion', thereby perhaps improving chip yields since CPU and GPU cores could be on separate cores. 

I'm inclined to think that option 2 is more appealing technically, but I'm not sure about the business/economics side. If Apple puts CPU and GPU on different dies linked by UltraFusion (or whatever they want to call their 'glue'), they would likely need to do that across more product lines than just the Mac Pro. Maybe only integrate CPU and GPU on a single piece of silicon for the generic M#, but for Pro, Max, Ultra, etc, put CPU and GPU on different dies linked. That would allow independent scaling of CPU and GPU power to better target the needs of users who either need more CPU or more GPU (or both).