For games: 3.33 Westmere 6 core x1 or 2.93 Westmere x2

[slughead]

Just tinkering with the Applestore pricing on Mac Pros and I noticed that it's not possible to get a Dual 3.33ghz Westmere 6 core--that the duals only go up to 2.93.

I'm not sure why this is, but I was kind of wondering if maybe just the single 6 core 3.33 chip might be better for gaming.

I read somewhere that most games still do well on higher clocks regardless of cores.

 

[Eidorian]

Please, please wait for Sandy Bridge-E based Xeons. Otherwise a single hex-core at 3.33 GHz is already overkill for gaming.

 

[thekev]

Gaming won't use anything past a quad core. Those are damn expensive as gaming machines. I'd wait on it. Both of those cpus are kind of overkill, but the new machines should be a nice bump. For gaming updated gpus would be great.

 

[slughead]

Please, please wait for Sandy Bridge-E based Xeons. Otherwise a single hex-core at 3.33 GHz is already overkill for gaming.

I was going to anyway. This MP 1,1 is getting a little long in the tooth though.

 

[Zwhaler]

Best Mac Pro for gaming would be the hex 3.33GHz, HD5870 and 12GB RAM or more.

 

[slughead]

Gaming won't use anything past a quad core. Those are damn expensive as gaming machines. I'd wait on it. Both of those cpus are kind of overkill, but the new machines should be a nice bump. For gaming updated gpus would be great.

That's what I heard as well. I thought things might have changed with so many >4 cores being out for so long. I guess not.

 

[Eidorian]

I was going to anyway.

One can never be too sure.

 

[Redneck1089]

The question is if there will actually be a new Mac Pro to game on...

 

[dh2005]

The question is if there will actually be a new Mac Pro to game on...

Hear, hear.


Come on, Apple. I've been a student for almost seven years. Don't bail on the Pro line just as I'm about to start earning a decent salary. Please...

 

[Hellhammer]

That's what I heard as well. I thought things might have changed with so many >4 cores being out for so long. I guess not.

Software is always behind. The thing is that even if there was better multithreading support, it wouldn't help much. In most cases, GPU is the bottleneck. I have i5-2500K and AMD 6850 in my PC and I have never seen my CPU at 100% usage when gaming.