Buying a 8 core trash can, should I wait for the stock 8 core ?

[Rockman413]

I'm buying a trash can 8 core, should I wait for the $3999 8 core stock version or I can just go with the $2999 and configure it to 8 core?
Will the stock 8 core version with $3999 be better than the configured 8 core from $2999 because it's from stock and it offers a better thermal design, so maybe a lower chance of getting into trouble because of the heat?

By the way, have Apple totally fixed the heat problem so I don't need to worry about the thermal/heat problem of nMP? If Apple have fixed this problem, then if I buy the trash can now in USA or in another country like China, am I likely to get a problematic one/before fixed nMP in China because China has less nMP than USA so probably I got an old nMP with the heat problem?
Is there a way to see the SN number to identify if it's a before heat problem fixed machine or after heat problem machine?

Thank you guys!

 

[now i see it]

This site has the info you're looking for

http://hothardware.com/news/apple-quietly-recalls-2013-mac-pros-due-to-defective-amd-firepro-gpus

 

[chrfr]

I'm buying a trash can 8 core, should I wait for the $3999 8 core stock version or I can just go with the $2999 and configure it to 8 core?
Will the stock 8 core version with $3999 be better than the configured 8 core from $2999 because it's from stock and it offers a better thermal design, so maybe a lower chance of getting into trouble because of the heat?

There's no difference between the custom configuration and the upcoming standard one. Apple has not changed the internals of these since they were released, so I'm not sure what you mean when you mention fixing the heat problem.

 

[Rockman413]

They launched the recall program and they didn't do anything to improve the newly made one? So the newly made one have exactly the same problem with the graphics like the old made ones, meaning if I buy one now I'll possibly have to send it back to factory to repair and possibly pay that myself?????

There's no difference between the custom configuration and the upcoming standard one. Apple has not changed the internals of these since they were released, so I'm not sure what you mean when you mention fixing the heat problem.

 

[pat500000]

Gpu problem atill exist?

 

[Yahooligan]

They launched the recall program and they didn't do anything to improve the newly made one? So the newly made one have exactly the same problem with the graphics like the old made ones, meaning if I buy one now I'll possibly have to send it back to factory to repair and possibly pay that myself?????

There is no "newly launched" one, it's the same hardware with a different price and different standard configs. The new Mac Pro won't be out for another 1-2 years.

Gpu problem atill exist?

I had my D700s replaced a little over a year ago due to the defect (Which showed up about 5 months after I received it and it was within the window affected), I've had zero hardware or thermal problems other than that. There have been some complaints from others about GPU issues but that seems to be from people that run the GPUs hard and often.

Heck, my nMP actually seems to run cooler under heavy loads than the cMP in my sig.

 

[pat500000]

There is no "newly launched" one, it's the same hardware with a different price and different standard configs. The new Mac Pro won't be out for another 1-2 years.



I had my D700s replaced a little over a year ago due to the defect (Which showed up about 5 months after I received it and it was within the window affected), I've had zero hardware or thermal problems other than that. There have been some complaints from others about GPU issues but that seems to be from people that run the GPUs hard and often.

Heck, my nMP actually seems to run cooler under heavy loads than the cMP in my sig.

Well then...what gives? I wonder why some people are having trouble then.

 

[Rockman413]

There is no "newly launched" one, it's the same hardware with a different price and different standard configs. The new Mac Pro won't be out for another 1-2 years.

Wait a second, yes there are no launches, but since because of the thermal/GPU problem, any chance Apple has upgraded the MANUFACTURE process for the after 2016 manufactured mac pros, so these after 2016 manufactured mac pros will less likely to have the therma/gpu problem?

 

[Yahooligan]

Wait a second, yes there are no launches, but since because of the thermal/GPU problem, any chance Apple has upgraded the MANUFACTURE process for the after 2016 manufactured mac pros, so these after 2016 manufactured mac pros will less likely to have the therma/gpu problem?

You're not getting it. There are NO hardware or manufacturing differences with the nMP as part of the recent price and base config changes. Any nMP ordered today will STILL be a "late-2013" Mac Pro. The changes announced are only to address the fact that the nMP hardware is old and not worth what they were priced at before and they won't have anything new for a while. There won't be any hardware or manufacturing changes until the new modular Mac Pro is launched in 1-2 years.

 

[F1Mac]

You're not getting it. There are NO hardware or manufacturing differences with the nMP as part of the recent price and base config changes. Any nMP ordered today will STILL be a "late-2013" Mac Pro.

And the About This Mac dialog even says so

But it only affect Mac Pros manufactured between february and april 2015 no?

 

[Rockman413]

I'm not saying the change of manufacture relates to the recent price change news. The price change is another different thing.

Just wondering if Apple have improved anything regarding manufacture the mac pro to avoid the GPU thermall problem, ever after they found out this problem?

You're not getting it. There are NO hardware or manufacturing differences with the nMP as part of the recent price and base config changes. Any nMP ordered today will STILL be a "late-2013" Mac Pro. The changes announced are only to address the fact that the nMP hardware is old and not worth what they were priced at before and they won't have anything new for a while. There won't be any hardware or manufacturing changes until the new modular Mac Pro is launched in 1-2 years.

 

[Yahooligan]

I'm not saying the change of manufacture relates to the recent price change news. The price change is another different thing.

Just wondering if Apple have improved anything regarding manufacture the mac pro to avoid the GPU thermall problem, ever after they found out this problem?

No. I'm not sure how many different ways I can say that there are and have been NO changes with the nMP since it was introduced. The issue in early 2015 was a manufacturing defect.

 

[chrfr]

Just wondering if Apple have improved anything regarding manufacture the mac pro to avoid the GPU thermall problem, ever after they found out this problem?

There was a defective batch of graphics cards. Apple hasn't changed anything with the design of the computer but presumably AMD and Apple worked to resolve whatever the manufacturing defects were with the faulty graphics cards.

 

[tomvos]

Just wondering if Apple have improved anything regarding manufacture the mac pro to avoid the GPU thermal problem, ever after they found out this problem?

Apple is very tight lipped about this. But I'm quite sure they improve their production process whenever they see a good reason to do so.

Having several revisions of the same hardware is a common thing in the industry. One reason lies in the fact, that big companies like to make deals like this: "We buy a certain amount of component X each year for the next Y years from you. We expect you to lower the price of X by Z% each year because your production process gets more efficient."
Suppliers are forced to lower the prices and one method to reach this is making a more efficient design that still fullfils the original design specs.

So there may be small changes in the Mac Pro produced in 2013 compared to the Mac Pro produced in 2017. But you would need two machines from 2013 and 2017 to determine if this was true with the Mac Pro 6,1. Perhaps they did improve the thermal component between the triangular core and the GPUs? Unless someone takes a look, we can only guess.

 

[edanuff]

Some people have claimed that there was a silent upgrade on the SSDs in the nMP. To the best of my knowledge, no one has posted any concrete proof like either pictures of the SSD blades or something from System Information that shows new parts. Same thing for the GPUs, except IIRC, I think people with D300's were posting different ROM revisions, but D500s and D700s stayed the same. The last OSX update flashed the GPU firmware. It does appear that Apple has increasingly done a full machine swap in response to GPU problems rather than swapping GPUs, which might mean that there were other defective parts. I personally suspect there have been changes made to the builds over time, especially if they're now pushing users to use the build to order tool.

 

[Yahooligan]

Well, here's my 1TB SSD part info, early-2015 build. If someone bought/ordered an nMP recently with the 1TB SSD then feel free to compare/post.

Capacity: 1 TB (1,000,555,581,440 bytes)
Model: APPLE SSD SM1024F
Revision: UXM8JA1Q

 

[poematik13]

these are the "silent" changes we KNOW on the 2013 mac pro:
-Manufacturing and supply of AMD GPU's should be fixed, the bad batch was spring 2015. Mine was part of that, got it replaced and it works fine since. There is still an internal "quality program" for affects GPU's meaning you can get it replaced outside of warranty

-the GPU EFI/driver has been updated with macOS 10.12.4. It also adds a boot screen (logo + progress bar) on 4K displays.

-SSD's have been upgraded to newer models which are faster. I believe 1500/read and write is the new norm. The prices for SSD upgrades are also lowered, happened a few months ago.

Whatever else has been changed we will find out when somebody unboxes one of the new configs and runs system information to compare. It will definitely still be a 6,1, no change in that. And the year on the "about this mac" will likely still be "late 2013".

 

[magic carpet]

Well, here's my 1TB SSD part info, early-2015 build.
Capacity: 1 TB (1,000,555,581,440 bytes)
Model: APPLE SSD SM1024F
Revision: UXM8JA1Q

I have a nMP with 1TB flash on order, should be here in 1-2weeks. I will check it out.
For, lets say esoteric reasons, I hope that I will get a newly build machine, not a machine from some left behind stock.

-SSD's have been upgraded to newer models which are faster. I believe 1500/read and write is the new norm. The prices for SSD upgrades are also lowered, happened a few months ago.

I have read this before. Someone with a more recent machine should be able to confirm this. However, we don't know when the SSD got upgraded, if this ever happened at all.

 

[ColdCase]

Well, here's my 1TB SSD part info, early-2015 build. If someone bought/ordered an nMP recently with the 1TB SSD then feel free to compare/post.

Capacity: 1 TB (1,000,555,581,440 bytes)
Model: APPLE SSD SM1024F
Revision: UXM8JA1Q

I have a SM1024G model revision BXW8SA0Q in my July 2016 shipped BTO 8 core. I read somewhere at the time that these had a speed bump.

 

[poematik13]

I have a nMP with 1TB flash on order, should be here in 1-2weeks. I will check it out.

Looking forward to your speed tests, if possible.

 

[Rockman413]

No. I'm not sure how many different ways I can say that there are and have been NO changes with the nMP since it was introduced. The issue in early 2015 was a manufacturing defect.

I'm going to buy 2 nMP, just want to make sure I'm not getting the bad 2015 batch. I can buy the 2 nMP in US or China, any possibility I can buy and end up getting that bad 2015 batch with the thermal GPU problem?

 

[H2SO4]

Make sure you have a good look at the prices before you order. I’ve just seen that a refurb;

can cost more, yes MORE than a new model;

 

[Yahooligan]

I'm going to buy 2 nMP, just want to make sure I'm not getting the bad 2015 batch. I can buy the 2 nMP in US or China, any possibility I can buy and end up getting that bad 2015 batch with the thermal GPU problem?

It's 2017 now, pretty sure any from 2015 are long gone. Apple isn't going to build tons of nMPs and have them sit in warehouses for years. That would hurt their bottom-line to have that much unsold inventory.

Order away, don't worry about it. If you have an issue then that's what the warranty is for. There is no way to guarantee that you get a freshly-built machine unless you do BTO. Ordering a standard config that's in-stock could be freshly built or built weeks ago, no way to know.

 

[CWallace]

I'm going to buy 2 nMP, just want to make sure I'm not getting the bad 2015 batch. I can buy the 2 nMP in US or China, any possibility I can buy and end up getting that bad 2015 batch with the thermal GPU problem?

AMD would know what units were in the bad production run and communicated that to Apple, who would have pulled all the bad stock and sent it back to AMD. So the GPUs in any currently shipping Mac Pro would not be from that defective production run.

 

[Chicane-UK]

Won't the higher spec 'refreshed' Mac Pro, once it becomes available, ship with D800 GPU's instead of D700's? So good possibility that issue being discussed doesn't exist on those GPU's?