Miracles happens, more likely tomorrow we will see the mba15, if no Mac Pro, then chances are higher it to be shaped as a trashcan or big cube without PCIe modularity.
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MP All Models 40 core ASI with PCI-E slot is around the corner!!
- Thread starter Amethyst
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As someone who does a lot of CG rendering (mainly using Redshift) the hardware raytracing on RTX NVIDIA cards gives a huge boost in rendering speeds. Redshift also has a a seperate 'RT' version that can preview and render in almost realtime. As someone who currently uses a combination of Apple silicon and AMD cards i'd love this speed increase and functionality. Harware raytracing isn't just for gaming.
Additonally, with the imminent release of an Apple headset, I imagine ray tracing would be useful in creating real time dynamic content to display on the headset?
Sure. And there's a chance the Mac Pro is introduced by the reanimated corpse of Steve Jobs.
M2 can't do "classic multi CPU." "Classic multi CPU" is a bunch of CPUs that support SMP all sharing a single bank of memory. M2 does not support SMP. M2 does not support off chip memory managed by a single bank of memory. That would require very significant design changes to not only the CPU, but the GPU. Remember each GPU is designed around sharing memory with its CPU. The GPU now having to share memory with multiple other CPUs off die is not a minor change.
If Apple wants the Mac Pro to have a performance boost - it's way more likely they take whatever 3nm production they have sourced and try to launch M3 on Mac Pro. Maybe even something M2-ish on a 3 nm node.
If M2 Ultra, then it best show up tomorrow...
If WWDC 2023, then it has to be M3 Ultra & M3 Extreme...
I have spoken...
If WWDC 2023, then it has to be M3 Ultra & M3 Extreme...
I have spoken...
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I haven't read this entire thread so sorry if this has been addressed, but while PCIe slots are a necessity imo, if we can't use an off the shelf nvidia or amd gpu......whats the point?
Count yourself, Lucky!
Thanks, edited my post appropriately...!
Yup, those are the only two things that have ever gone into a PCIe expansion slot, AMD & Nvidia GPUs...
I feel as if the machining needed for a Trashcan ][ would be either cost or process prohibitive, if not both...
As I am currently (re)watching Star Trek: Enterprise (watched the originals as they aired), it made me think of this:
While I still think Apple needs a tower form-factor ASi Mac Pro for those who need PCIe slots, I would love to see a new Mac Cube...
Same footprint as the Mac mini & Mac Studio, just taller; 7.7" in height would be purrfect, so it is an actual cube in bounding-box dimensions...
Asymmetrical M3 Extreme-X SoC, two "regular" dies & two "GPU/Neural Engine-specific" dies...
As I am currently (re)watching Star Trek: Enterprise (watched the originals as they aired), it made me think of this:
While I still think Apple needs a tower form-factor ASi Mac Pro for those who need PCIe slots, I would love to see a new Mac Cube...
Same footprint as the Mac mini & Mac Studio, just taller; 7.7" in height would be purrfect, so it is an actual cube in bounding-box dimensions...
Asymmetrical M3 Extreme-X SoC, two "regular" dies & two "GPU/Neural Engine-specific" dies...
- 32-core CPU (24P/8E)
- 240-core GPU (with hardware ray-tracing)
- 96-core Neural Engine
- 512GB LPDDR5X RAM
- 2.16TB/s UMA bandwidth
Lol, they never stated it was baked into the silicon. The unified part refers to the fact it is shared between the CPU and GPU not that it is inside either of them.
I´d love an black cube like jobs NeXT computer
Lol, ok point taken; but still I would assume drivers for other cards like audio etc would have to be arm? any reason to believe that these will be supported?
There are a plethora of audio/video/networking/RAID cards that are already supported on ASi Macs...
Ok, so today might be the last chance for any release before WWDC I guess. I am actually quite surprised that it hast taken this long for apple do release a Mac Pro. Would absolutely have expected the first release under 2022. And when that didn't happen, a spring release was almost "a given". Now when the WWDC is the likely candidate, one wonders what kind of issues apple encountered along the way...
I guess the idea always was to release a 4x1 m1max (you know the old JADE etc rumors that turned out correct for up to 2 dies) This aligns with the "but that is for another day" line given last spring. I really think they thought they had a Mac Pro to release at WWDC last year but had to cancel it due to bad perf scaling. The 4Die solution simple didn't scale well for GPU so we would have been stranded with a 40 core, really nice CPU, paired with a 128 Core GPU performing like a very weak competitor in all but some specific loads. And with nvidias ADA release it became obvious how embarrassing that situation would have been.
So.... Maybe they had to rethink the Mac Pro since about last WWDC? And I also believe Apple will not release a turd. but that they in that case probably rather not release at all. Or give us another XEON while waiting. So what could they do if they wanted to release a ASi Mac Pro? A multiprocessor solution like many have mentioned? Sure, why not. Or just an extra turbo clocked version?
Thing is that these two solution address two different markets quite well. Most Mac Pro people would probably be happy with a m2ultra overclocked with up to 192 GB RAM and performance in the proximity of a 7900 XTX /3090 which seems to be what a m2 ultra can achieve. But as people have said, this is the Mac Studio update we should expect.
So again, that leaves us with the Mac Pro "Truck" using some exotic solution but still being sane from an economic standpoint.
What can we expect in that case?
1. No special chip that is just for Mac Pro. Doesn't scale economically.
2. That leaves us with a multi processor solution and/or compute cards
3. Maybe replaceable RAM and SSD
4. some PCI slots with limited bandwith
5. it best case, a 4die m2max anyway but at a price
What do you thing at this moment in time?
I guess the idea always was to release a 4x1 m1max (you know the old JADE etc rumors that turned out correct for up to 2 dies) This aligns with the "but that is for another day" line given last spring. I really think they thought they had a Mac Pro to release at WWDC last year but had to cancel it due to bad perf scaling. The 4Die solution simple didn't scale well for GPU so we would have been stranded with a 40 core, really nice CPU, paired with a 128 Core GPU performing like a very weak competitor in all but some specific loads. And with nvidias ADA release it became obvious how embarrassing that situation would have been.
So.... Maybe they had to rethink the Mac Pro since about last WWDC? And I also believe Apple will not release a turd. but that they in that case probably rather not release at all. Or give us another XEON while waiting. So what could they do if they wanted to release a ASi Mac Pro? A multiprocessor solution like many have mentioned? Sure, why not. Or just an extra turbo clocked version?
Thing is that these two solution address two different markets quite well. Most Mac Pro people would probably be happy with a m2ultra overclocked with up to 192 GB RAM and performance in the proximity of a 7900 XTX /3090 which seems to be what a m2 ultra can achieve. But as people have said, this is the Mac Studio update we should expect.
So again, that leaves us with the Mac Pro "Truck" using some exotic solution but still being sane from an economic standpoint.
What can we expect in that case?
1. No special chip that is just for Mac Pro. Doesn't scale economically.
2. That leaves us with a multi processor solution and/or compute cards
3. Maybe replaceable RAM and SSD
4. some PCI slots with limited bandwith
5. it best case, a 4die m2max anyway but at a price
What do you thing at this moment in time?
if the mac Studio has storage card slots then an mac pro with an way to open should as well. But it will be apple only at apples mark up and need an other system to wipe all data and then restore an base os.
I think people are underestimating the factor of the Mac Pro being the last Intel Mac in the lineup. The reason Apple would want to wait for WWDC is so that Apple can do the giant "mission accomplished" moment - at the same event where the Apple Silicon migration was announced. It's a small launch and... not a small launch.
Even though it's late, it's still an important signal to give developers. It's the formal close of the Intel Mac era. It was never a thing Apple was just going to shove out in a press release in the middle of April.
Of course a mere press release wouldn't do it justice, but I guess the rumors of the previous year or so were suggesting a dedicated "pro" event where the Mac Pro is the center piece, this makes sense if the event were to happen months before WWDC which means Apple didn't want to waste time waiting for 2023 June to unveil it. Turns out they would rather wait.
Did you both forget NVME storage? I use that in my 7,1 through a very large PCI-e card with a number of drives on it.
I was being sarcastic...
I am fully aware of things like:
NVMe M.2 RAID cards
Audio I/O & DSP cards
Video I/O cards
Assorted networking cards
Etc. ...
Just a lot of folks around here voicing the opinion that if one is not using PCIe slots for GPUs, then there really is no need for PCIe slots...
Yo, @Amethyst, what's the word on the street?
You got the scoop on the Mac Pro, it's so elite,
We all wanna know what's up with the new desig,
So come on, spill the beans, it's time to shine.
@Amethyst, come on and share the news,
Don't keep us waiting, we've got the blues,
We wanna know what the Mac Pro can do,
So spill the tea, we're counting on you.
We know you're in the know, you're our inside source,
So don't be shy, don't stay on the course,
Share the details, let us in on the scoop,
And we'll be forever grateful, that's the truth.
@Amethyst , come on and share the news,
Don't keep us waiting, we've got the blues,
We wanna know what the Mac Pro can do,
So spill the tea, we're counting on you!
Yo!