Cloverton MacPro at MWSF?

[daneoni]

I'm interested in getting a MacPro but i'll need a few months to come up with the money for it. However since it'll take a few month i'm thinking maybe i should wait till MWSF before plunging since intel is supposedly slated to release Cloverton (8 Core Chips) chips by the end of the year/early next year. Plus i'll get iLife 07 and maybe even Leopard i know Steve likes beating deadlines as much as possible

What do you guys think....anyone else here waiting for Cloverton?

 

[glassbathroom]

I'm interested in getting a MacPro but i'll need a few months to come up with the money for it. However since it'll take a few month i'm thinking maybe i should wait till MWSF before plunging since intel is supposedly slated to release Cloverton (8 Core Chips) chips by the end of the year/early next year. Plus i'll get iLife 07 and maybe even Leopard i know Steve likes beating deadlines as much as possible

What do you guys think....anyone else here waiting for Cloverton?

This is a tough one. I am sure there are lots of people out there waiting for the next Mac Pros. I am sure Multimedia will post, he is probably waiting. I am not waiting because I need to upgrade now. I have already sold my G5. I guess it comes down to whether you are able to wait or you need a new Mac now.

Its worth remembering that there will always be something new on the horizon. You don't want to wait for ever. Personally I would be surprised if Apple are shipping the 8 core chips before February. I don't think it will be much later though. 6 months is a long time to wait.

 

[FleurDuMal]

I'm interested in getting a MacPro but i'll need a few months to come up with the money for it. However since it'll take a few month i'm thinking maybe i should wait till MWSF before plunging since intel is supposedly slated to release Cloverton (8 Core Chips) chips by the end of the year/early next year. Plus i'll get iLife 07 and maybe even Leopard i know Steve likes beating deadlines as much as possible

What do you guys think....anyone else here waiting for Cloverton?

Well, after the 8 core comes out, there'll be a 16 core in the pipeline. After that there'll be a 32 core, etc, etc.

OK, maybe that's not an accurate or informed summary of the Apple/Intel roadmap, but there'll always be technology just around the corner that'll supposedly blow the current lot out of the water. If you have the money go for it. You can't spend your life waiting. Regardless of whether you wait or not, a Mac Pro is going to keep you running apps very adequately probably for half a decade (given it's amazing potential to be upgraded).

 

[daneoni]

I know something new is always around the corner i'm just thinking when i have the money and there is less than 2 months left for an update i should just wait it out instead of buying and later lamenting.

Kinda like we know MBP/MB/Mini?iMac are definately due for an upgrade anytime now.

 

[macdaddy121]

I think they will do it next Tuesday....be looking for it.

 

[glassbathroom]

I know something new is always around the corner i'm just thinking when i have the money and there is less than 2 months left for an update i should just wait it out instead of buying and later lamenting.

They are not going to go to 8 cores in two months. December at the earliest and I can't see them appearing in Mac Pro until a bit later.

 

[~Shard~]

Clovertown? If you're waiting for that, might as well wait for Tigerton or Dunnington...

 

[daneoni]

I think they will do it next Tuesday....be looking for it.

Saw your Sig. I also intend to buy the following

Bose Headphones (mine are broken and out of warranty)
New workstation chair (broken by my brother (a few pounds))
New Display
New Desktop (MacPro)
New mobile bag

 

[daneoni]

They are not going to go to 8 cores in two months. December at the earliest and I can't see them appearing in Mac Pro until a bit later.

Obviously not i was just citing as an example

 

[ksz]

The MacPro is very well priced and has been free of problems so far, although it has only been 3 weeks. Clovertown will use a slower bus and there is concern that 4 cores sharing a single slower-running FSB will constrain performance. One bus feeding four cores is less efficient than 2 busses each feeding 2 cores as in the current MacPro. If Apple puts two Clovertowns on the motherboard, then it's just a matter of 2 busses feeding 4 cores each.

So it remains to be seen how real-world performance scales from 2x2x4 (2 busses, 2 sockets, 4 total cores) to 1x1x4 or 2x2x8.

As for me, 4 cores is enough, judging by the Athlon dual core PC I put together earlier this year. Of course, that PC also has external SATA (eSATA), hardware RAID set up in RAID-0 for maximum I/O, nVidia nForce4 SLI chipset, and a (single) nVidia 7800GTX.

eSATA drives are turning out to be just as fast as internal SATA drives, so I'd like to see this added to the next MacPro. I would also like to see hardware RAID supporting modes 0, 1, and 5 at the very least.

Clovertown does not interest me that much.

 

[daneoni]

The MacPro is very well priced and has been free of problems so far, although it has only been 3 weeks. Clovertown will use a slower bus and there is concern that 4 cores sharing a single slower-running FSB will constrain performance. One bus feeding four cores is less efficient than 2 busses each feeding 2 cores as in the current MacPro. If Apple puts two Clovertowns on the motherboard, then it's just a matter of 2 busses feeding 4 cores each.

So it remains to be seen how real-world performance scales from 2x2x4 (2 busses, 2 sockets, 4 total cores) to 1x1x4 or 2x2x8.

As for me, 4 cores is enough, judging by the Athlon dual core PC I put together earlier this year. Of course, that PC also has external SATA (eSATA), hardware RAID set up in RAID-0 for maximum I/O, nVidia nForce4 SLI chipset, and a (single) nVidia 7800GTX.

eSATA drives are turning out to be just as fast as internal SATA drives, so I'd like to see this added to the next MacPro. I would also like to see hardware RAID supporting modes 0, 1, and 5 at the very least.

Clovertown does not interest me that much.

Hmm good arguement

 

[YoYoMa]

I think Clovertown is going to be wondeful for video editing and other processor intensive tasks, I just wouldn't expect it to be priced lower than the 3.0 Mac Pro is now. I think if your looking at the 2.66 model, it would probably be a good choice to buy the 2.66 model now, as later in Jan or Feb when the new Mac Pro is announced, you will only have missed out on a small speed bump to 3.0, which is what will prob take the 2.66 place in the Mac Pro lineup.

 

[ricgnzlzcr]

If you can wait, then wait. If your profession depends on you having a workstation, the current mac pro should be more than amazing. Also, in the future you can always upgrade. I'm not sure what's going on with updates to processors, but you see the g4 powermacs having the ability to be upgraded from 400 mhz to 1.8 ghz. Who knows what we'll see in the future. You just have to buy when you need a computer.

As of right now I'm typing on a titanium powerbook. I had money saved up to buy a macbook, but I have no reason to anymore. Now I'm just going to wait till this machine fails on me and then put my money down when I need it.

 

[Silentwave]

Clovertown? If you're waiting for that, might as well wait for Tigerton or Dunnington...

I'd second that actually. Not only does clovertown run at a slower clock and FSB speed than Woodcrest, it uses even slower RAM! (533 FBD)

 

[YoYoMa]

There is a rumor that Clovertown will possibly use the same FSB as Woodcrest upon release. I assume that that would give it the same speed RAM as well.

 

[daneoni]

In other words no real update. Guess i'll just get a 2.66GHz MP and upgrade it to 3.0GHz down the road and whatever cool graphics card is available then. Thanx for all the replies

 

[Demoman]

I am waiting, but without much strategy in place. Since I cannot actually score for 4-8 weeks, it is a fortuitous reason not to make a decision. I am really not pressed to add another PM. I have a 2.0 x 2 and a 6 month old quad. They do the job fine. The last (and final) PM will add additional HP for rendering, compressing video and add potential needed power for the next generation of FCS apps.

I was going to wait for Clovertown, but from what I have read here, this may not be that big a gain due to the bus architecture. Anyone out there who can comment on what is in the near future for taking advantage of these new multi-core processors?

 

[TedSlawski]

future upgrades

There was a guy in another thread who stuffed a Meron chip in his iMac and it worked. I think that we are finally going to have the freedom to upgrade chips as faster, better ones come along that use the same socket. Since the trend is for more bang for the same energy buck, hopefully heat sinks should get smaller and our present ones should be sufficient (these run cool with the heat sinks they have, mine are running at 89F right now with no fan noise, much cooler than my G5). Also from the fact that in system profiler if you look under Serial-ATA it lists the device tree as starting with intel ESB2 AHC1, which would seem to indicate that the MLB is an Intel part, so will probably be upgradable to better chips that use the same socket like most intel boards I imagine are. Aple may ignore this, figuring that their customer base is largely not the kind that are into tearing their computers apart and the few that do won't make a big difference in lost sales. Besides almost every time they have tried to thwart companies from making processor upgrades they've failed. So it will be a question of what else you get with a new box, as to whether I am ripping out processors or trading in my machine.