Will there be a refresh update for Mac Pro 7,1 such as next generation of xeon processors (ice lake or cooper lake), faster ram speed, video card, etc later this year?
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MP 7,1 Mac Pro 7,1 refresh?
- Thread starter rolltide4life
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My guess is that we will have to wait for a dedicated Apple CPU for a refresh. I agree that some parts(GPU and storage) will be updated regularly before that. Ther’s still no replacement for the top end Xeon W and even if available it would be just a mild spec bumb(still 28core with slightly better frequency). Because of the lack of a proper Intel CPU Apple will be in no hurry to update the machine this year, next year probably Intel will have something to offer(but still nothing significantly faster) at that point it will be more convenient to non invest in a revision(change of socket, PCI lanes, ecc) and wait for an Apple CPU.
Pci4/5 is probably not coming out any time soon with a Xeon bump, so my sense is I agee. Maybe a speed bump to current gen processors. Juggling the price per core. And the big refresh is 2 years off with Apple hardware. Would love to be wrong, but the 7,1 has a decent chance of being the last intel Mac Pro.
I think you are correct. Apple will keep the 8,1 designation for the Apple Silicon version of Mac Pro.
I believe people who bought the 7,1 did so with the feeling it was going to a closed ecosystem and not much benefit to waiting for minimal upgrades like RAM and SSD and possibly one more GPU... Maybe some people were saving their money and wanted another year for 7,1 problems being ironed out before buying.
I do not think they'll update any parts except for a new Big Navi (RDNA2) offering (AMD RX6000, 6700, 6900). If you look at the per part pricing of some of the components of the Mac Pro (2019) on Amazon(.de), you see ±30% discounts on for example the Apple Afterburner or Vega II (Duo). Other parts remain priced the same. This would indicate of lowering inventory ahead of a new launch.
The announcement for the new Big Navi cards are rumoured to be on the 7th of October. So an update around that time for at least the graphics options wouldn't be too much to ask.
The announcement for the new Big Navi cards are rumoured to be on the 7th of October. So an update around that time for at least the graphics options wouldn't be too much to ask.
So in line with this question, would you wait one more month or buy the Mac Pro now with a 580X as a videocard and upgrade later?
Could really use the Mac Pro right now for digital marketing & content creation (already bought the Afterburner for a ProRes RAW video workflow + eight Samsung 970 Pro 1tb MLC nvme's), but should be able survive 30 days(?)
Appreciate your views.
Could really use the Mac Pro right now for digital marketing & content creation (already bought the Afterburner for a ProRes RAW video workflow + eight Samsung 970 Pro 1tb MLC nvme's), but should be able survive 30 days(?)
Appreciate your views.
So in line with this question, would you wait one more month or buy the Mac Pro now with a 580X as a videocard and upgrade later?
Could really use the Mac Pro right now for digital marketing & content creation (already bought the Afterburner for a ProRes RAW video workflow + eight Samsung 970 Pro 1tb MLC nvme's), but should be able survive 30 days(?)
Regardless the time of purchase of a new MP, you want to avoid the 580X at all costs. The Radeon 5500 is the new standard already, because of the integrated decoders. Don't get three years old GPU tech with that price tag, make sure to at least get the 5500.
If you can benefit from a new Mac Pro right now then you should purchase one now. I really don't see Apple making any significant, if any, improvements within the next 30 days. Going off the 6,1 they never did actually improve it. The only thing they did, once, was eliminate the four core offering and adjust the price. I don't see even that happening within the next 30 days.So in line with this question, would you wait one more month or buy the Mac Pro now with a 580X as a videocard and upgrade later?
Could really use the Mac Pro right now for digital marketing & content creation (already bought the Afterburner for a ProRes RAW video workflow + eight Samsung 970 Pro 1tb MLC nvme's), but should be able survive 30 days(?)
This computer is very versitle and stable in the configuration I ordered. My team uses, on occasion, ProRes Raw at 4k. The afterburner card handles multiple streams with no hiccups . In fact, in January 2021, we will add another Afterburner Card. The Pro Vega Duo is enough GPU for FCPX and Adobe CC. The 16 core has been flawless. The additional RAM has been a must. I chose this configuration after many days of research and very sound advice from forum members. No regrets.So in line with this question, would you wait one more month or buy the Mac Pro now with a 580X as a videocard and upgrade later?
Could really use the Mac Pro right now for digital marketing & content creation (already bought the Afterburner for a ProRes RAW video workflow + eight Samsung 970 Pro 1tb MLC nvme's), but should be able survive 30 days(?)
So in line with this question, would you wait one more month or buy the Mac Pro now with a 580X as a videocard and upgrade later?
Could really use the Mac Pro right now for digital marketing & content creation (already bought the Afterburner for a ProRes RAW video workflow + eight Samsung 970 Pro 1tb MLC nvme's), but should be able survive 30 days(?)
I was in the same boat as your but I’m thinking about returning my Mac Pro and waiting a month or so for the new gfx cards as opposed. Tempted to wait till December asif there is a speed bump it would likely be around that time I would have thought. As it will have been a year.
December would be too late for me personally, but waiting until the 8th of October wouldn't be such a stretch. Big Sur already has multiple Big Navi (RDNA2 and even RDNA3) baked into it's code. A reason to buy now regardless of any future card would be the issues that a lot of Mac Pro owners seem to have with the drivers of the new Navi-based graphic cards (to do with the Display Stream Compression, DSC, feature?). The Vega II card does not use DSC and seems to be stable. Also, prices of the Vega II (DUO) MPX modules are coming down on Amazon.
I would like to see an half height MPX gpu module better than the W5700X. I don't need 4 extra tb3 ports, also a 4 slots heat sink is ok also for 2 gpus, I don't understand why the W5700X occupies 4 slots.
Or...an Arm based gpu powered by Nvidia would be nice...
Or...an Arm based gpu powered by Nvidia would be nice...
Put me in the "minor refresh only" camp (new GPUs, etc.) Given the timetable for the new Xeons, the rather minor updates those Xeons bring, and the timetable Apple has for switching over its offerings to ARM, I can't see most likely scenarios aligning with Apple deciding to do another significant revision. Especially in Tim Cook's Apple, I think you're more likely to just see a "legacy" Mac Pro sold for a bit longer (and cheaper) once the ARM models arrive.
That is very interesting thought. It seems to my thinking that the new AS Mac Pro will be cheaper than the 7,1 and that they will not reduce the price of the 7,1 much if any as it is a legacy computer capable of bimodal operating system function. No reason to drop the price of the 7,1. If you want cheaper Mac Pro, buy 8,1. It is really interesting to think about.
The price is definitely an open question. I have no doubt from a very macro perspective the ARM Mac Pro will be cheaper (ain't no price gouging like Intel's price gouging) but I dunno how that will translate to entry-level prices. I guess the big question is whether or not they're going to keep the iMac Pro around, because that presumably partially factors into the Mac Pro pricing.
I'd love for it to be cheaper, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Things will get interesting, since it sounds like Nvidia will own some of the Apple Silicon IP....
Apple purchased all the necessary IP permanently from ARM a few years back. Nvidia has no direct influence over Apple Silicon. Buyout is a wee bit too late for that.
Nvidia will have to come back with new IP to tempt Apple to buy.
There is absolutely no reason to think we'll see ARM CPUs with Nvidia GPUs from Apple. Nvidia cannot force Apple to do so, and so far Apple has shown no interest in taking Nvidia designs over their own.
Apple didn't buy the ARM IP. They purchased a license to use the IP. Nvidia will eventually own it. There are two parts to the license. One is the design use and the second is per chip made fee. That latter is small but if Nvidia mucks with that substantially over time then could drift into similar 'dust up' Apple is having with Qualcomm ( 'don't want to pay). There is probably some cap in the fee increase, but probably some periodic adjustment allowed (.e.g, inflation , etc. which may be a tool for Nvidia. )
Even at the architecture license level , Apple will still stumble over some ARM patents. The per chip fee is much smaller then if slightly tweaking a design that ARM had fully scoped out.
There may be a window if Apple didn't already buy ARM 'v9' design. Not sure how Apple could buy 'v9' a few years back when it didn't exist yet. Nvidia probably isn't going to actually buy ARM for 12-24 months ( approval process is going to be a slog. Even Nvidia indirectly mentions this in the initial press release. ). The window that Apple was going to complete buying 'v9' is probably before Nvidia would close.
Yeah.
Apple didn't take ARM's GPU , if Nvidia threw their's on the pile (and perhaps take the ARM one away), then Apple won't budge. There is absolutely zero leverage there. Nvidia could try to make all smartphone license take their GPU if they modified ARM's open licensing model. They could shift to a more tightly bundled groupings of the subcomponents. For example, the latest CPU+Chipset that Intel provided Apple for the four port MBP 13" has SATA and WiFi support in the chip. Apple isn't using it but it comes bundled (so paid for most of it even if don't use it).
One of the governmental regulatory agencies may push to get Nvidia to contractually commit to not screwing up the ARM open licensing model. Or perhaps put them on a "we'll be watching you" notice. Haggling over which one of those is going to contribute to time to close.
The very top end of the BTO scale of the future Mac Pro. Yes. that probably will drop. Depending upon how much pressure Intel comes under that may drop before Apple retires the current system in about two years. (The transition from W2100 -> W2200 was largely a price drip. That just hasn't Trikledd to the W3200 yet. )
For the next iteration both Intel and AMD are not going to be at the top end of the price scale the > 20 core CPUs packages at . Intel isn't going to have "$3K for > 1TB RAM" tax pricing power anymore. That is going to be all that much more weaker when Zen 3 options start shipping. ( Intel has dropped the pricing a bit in other zones. )
However, at the entry level. Probably not. Intel charges $749 for the W 3223. The Mac Pro costs $6K. Substract that off completely and still have > $5K in pricing. If Apple charged zero for their Mac Pro SoC you'd still be pay9ing > $5K for a Mac Pro. Apple isn't going to charge zero. The Mac Pro SoC would have to be radically different than the rest of the Mac SoC's in terms of I/O throughput if keep the same I/O class requirements. That isn't going to come cheaper. Piled on top of that the Mac Pro has order of magnitude less volume than the other Mac SoCs. So fewer units to spread fixed costs over. The die will be substantive bigger if chasing 20 < x < 36 cores. Perhaps Apple gets some volume bump by doing a iMac Pro with a variant of the Mac Pro SoC that leverages high I/O bandwidth ability., but that is also still relatively low volume.
Low volume , bigger chip is going to lead to substantially more expensive SoC. $750? Perhaps not, but also not even remotely close to zero either. $100-200 shift isn't going to make a big different in Mac Pro system price.
The improvement probably be that the ramp up from that $5-6K 'floor' won't be as bad as it is now at the extremes. But that would have changed even if Apple didn't move off of x86-64 for future options. Especially in the late 2021 to late 2022 time window.
There is no Cooper Lake Xeon W coming at all. Cooper Lake is primarily targeted at 4 socket systems (and some 2 socket systems ). One socket systems are absolutely exactly what Intel terminated with Cooper Lake.
Ice Lake Xeon W probably won't show before 2021 starts. Even if it did it probably also comes with a socket change. Apple isn't going to do a socket change for the Mac Pro in Intel status .
Pretty likely Apple is going to coast not only into 2021 with the current CPU set up but also into 2022 also.
see above . No.
By end of 2020. Maybe. Signs of other, larger newer AMD GPUs in the macOS 11.0 isn't any guarantee at all of a timely update. Just an eventual possibility. Probably a coin flip that any of those make it before the end of the year. December maybe , but if the generic PC add-in-card market is demand constrained then that could easily slide into 2021. very easily.
There is probably not nothing huge coming soon (as in rest of the year) for the Mac Pro.
It takes four because wouldn't thermally fit in two. The 5700X runs substantially hotter than the 580X or 5500
The 5500 runs in the sub 150W . The 580X is probably running in the sub 185W zone. The 5700 is probably running over 245W ( GPU + more VRAM than others + two TB controllers+power (not major contributors but do contribute 6-10W) . If Apple had a 3/4 MPX module width it could perhaps fit in that, but they don't.
May happen elsewhere, but won't happen in a Mac.
There are rumors that Apple has contracted for special variants of the Big Navi. That is quite likely going to make them come out substantively later than the mainstream versions. Throw on top of that the macOS drivers typically taking longer and tightly coupling the arrival with the launch of Big Sir ( macOS 11.0) is dubious. AMD is going to have enough problems satisfying mainstream Big Navi initial demand bubble. If Apple has custom stuff off on the side that probably don't have priority wafer order ( because Apple probably isn't throwing megabucks to jump up to the front of the line. )
Apple macOS builds have AMD APU GPUs in them too. Probably not going to see any Macs with those products soon after launch of macOS 11. What is and isn't redacted from Apple's build stack is not as tight as it once was in terms of GPUs driver stubs. RDNA3 appears is indicative of exactly that.
a new MPX module in 2021 is more likely than one in the rest of 2020.