MP 7,1 Mac Pro 8.1 - WHAT IF...

[maikerukun]

As you all know, Apple will have to pry my Intel based Mac Pro 7.1 out of my cold dead fingers, because I won't let go. I won't leave behind it's 28 cores, it's 2 w6800x Duos, it's ridiculous GPU power while rendering in Octane and Unreal...and yeah, I'll pick up whatever is coming next with the AS Mac Pro 8.1, and it'll be something I use ALONGSIDE my 7.1

Unless...

And I never thought about this until now, because it seems crazy, and because nobody has ever mentioned it with all the fuss around AS, but...

What if...

Apple has been working on an entirely separate chip very specifically designed just for the current Mac Pro? What if they realized long ago that the M family wouldn't scale and be able to outperform the monster they designed with the current 7.1 Mac Pro?

What if, they keep everything about the current awesome design that is the 7,1 Mac Pro, and just cut out the intel?

64 cores, w7800x duos, still 100% customizable in every way, but running on a brand new custom designed, and for the Mac Pro only CPU and motherboard...

I'll admit, I'm 5 glasses of moscato into my home girls dinner party right now, but it came to mind and so I had to hop on here and just vomit my nonsense all over the message board and see how ya'll responded LOL.

But seriously though..what if...

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

And they drop a lower version of it in a 30" iMac Pro, and a later revision of the studio... You got my vote of 'it's not crazy'.

 

[exoticSpice]

I won't leave behind it's 28 cores

The Intel Xeon in the 7,1 is the only horrible hardware in it. This Xeon is pitiful in a ultra high-end workstation in 2022. That's my only issue. 28 cores is nothing if those cores don't have the latest CPU arch. (Single core speeds will be slower than a Snapdragon/A Series CPU)

BUT other than that the 7,1 is an excellent machine due to its VERY powerful GPUs.

What if, they keep everything about the current awesome design that is the 7,1 Mac Pro, and just cut out the intel?

There's rumours the 8,1 uses the 7,1 as a dev box.

 

[prefuse07]

@maikerukun I like where you're going in your OP above, but also: Check this out

as @exoticSpice mentioned before me, it appears they are using the 7,1 as the test box for it, so your "what if" scenario is definitely interesting!


And actually, on that topic, i'll raise you one even further -- but what if they sold those new M boards as an upgrade to people that currently own 7,1's, so that all they have to do is bring it in to apple, and have them replace the Intel board with the new M board (including the M chip). That would be something, eh?

instead of having to buy a brand new machine... (but c'mon... it's apple, and more importantly Tim Cook we're talking about here -- all he cares about is $$$)

 

[mattspace]

And actually, on that topic, i'll raise you one even further -- but what if they sold those new M boards as an upgrade to people that currently own 7,1's, so that all they have to do is bring it in to apple, and have them replace the Intel board with the new M board (including the M chip). That would be something, eh?

They're literally cheaping out on including power adapters with phones, on the pretext that making the phone's box smaller and lighter has an environmental benefit... you know what weighs a lot, & requires a huge volume of jet fuel to move...

A motherboard in a thin (recycled fibre) package would be a significantly lower impact rather than junking a case, fans etc.

 

[tsialex]

@maikerukun I like where you're going in your OP above, but also: Check this out

as @exoticSpice mentioned before me, it appears they are using the 7,1 as the test box for it, so your "what if" scenario is definitely interesting!


And actually, on that topic, i'll raise you one even further -- but what if they sold those new M boards as an upgrade to people that currently own 7,1's, so that all they have to do is bring it in to apple, and have them replace the Intel board with the new M board (including the M chip). That would be something, eh?

instead of having to buy a brand new machine... (but c'mon... it's apple, and more importantly Tim Cook we're talking about here -- all he cares about is $$$)

Sure, a $5K logic board…

AFAIK, Apple did it exactly one time in the past, 39 years ago with Apple III to Apple III Plus, zero chances that will happen again.

 

[prefuse07]

Hence why in my post I said "what if", and then also added at the end that it IS apple (and tim cook) that we're talking about here, which means the chances of that actually happening are slim to none.

It's pretty obvious that their intent is to have consumers buy a new machine, but I just wanted to entertain the "what if" scenario, jeeze...

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

Sure, a $5K logic board…

AFAIK, Apple did it exactly one time in the past, 39 years ago with Apple III to Apple III Plus, zero chances that will happen again.

NeXT did it with their 030 to 040 upgrade board. Basically a motherboard swap. Was great! And, no, no one is holding their breath.

But you do not always buy a lotto ticket to win. Sometimes it's more about enjoying a day or two daydreaming about winning.

 

[mattspace]

AFAIK, Apple did it exactly one time in the past, 39 years ago with Apple III to Apple III Plus, zero chances that will happen again.

They also did a MessagePad 2000 -> 2100 upgrade programme.

Logic board upgrades were also pretty common in the late 040 / early PowerPC days prior to daughtercard / ZIF CPUs - Apple sold them as standard spare parts IIRC, so it was a DIY thing rather than an advertised "upgrade" service.

 

[lomahs]

My Quadra 840AV was "officially" upgraded to PowerMac 8100 ("died 2020")...

 

[scottrichardson]

NeXT did it with their 030 to 040 upgrade board. Basically a motherboard swap. Was great! And, no, no one is holding their breath.

But you do not always buy a lotto ticket to win. Sometimes it's more about enjoying a day or two daydreaming about winning.

I once upgraded my Macintosh LC575 all-in-one from an LC040 33Mhz processor to a PowerPC 601 66Mhz processor with an official upgrade card from Apple. Cost me about $1000 AUD and it was the most amazing upgrade at the time. Made my machine feel like a super computer back then!

 

[curnalpanic]

Reminds me of that time I upgraded my Powerbook G3 to a G4. Good times.

 

[innerproduct]

Never owned a better Mac than the powermac 7500! Upgraded the CPU two times and had so much RAM (144 MB) that PC people I knew at the time thought I meant HD! Old folks gathering much here lol! Oh, and I used the built in video capture on that machine all the time. Way ahead.

 

[Boil]

If I swap the 7.1 Intel mobo for a 8.1 ASi Mobo, I am left with a 8.1 ASi Mac Pro...

If I buy a new 8.1 ASi Mac Pro, I am left with a 7.1 Intel Mac Pro AND a 8.1 ASi Mac Pro, both fully functional...

 

[rpmurray]

The 8.1 will be as "modular" as the Mac Studio, only twice the size. Essentially I see Apple announcing a new Mac Pro that's basically just two Mac Studios glued together.

 

[chrfr]

Sure, a $5K logic board…

AFAIK, Apple did it exactly one time in the past, 39 years ago with Apple III to Apple III Plus, zero chances that will happen again.

Apple did lots of logic board upgrades in the past. For example: Apple //e to //gs, SE to SE/30, various 68k to PowerPC models, and an assortment in between. They were quite a bit more affordable than buying a new computer but I'm confident Apple will never offer that option again.

 

[profcutter]

Sure, a $5K logic board…

AFAIK, Apple did it exactly one time in the past, 39 years ago with Apple III to Apple III Plus, zero chances that will happen again.

Hmm. And ][e to ][gs, no?

 

[profcutter]

Never owned a better Mac than the powermac 7500! Upgraded the CPU two times and had so much RAM (144 MB) that PC people I knew at the time thought I meant HD! Old folks gathering much here lol! Oh, and I used the built in video capture on that machine all the time. Way ahead.

Lucky! I only had the 7100, it was the first of the PowerPCs and didn’t have any of the good Geegaws.

 

[tsialex]

Apple did lots of logic board upgrades in the past. For example: Apple //e to //gs, SE to SE/30, various 68k to PowerPC models, and an assortment in between. They were quite a bit more affordable than buying a new computer but I'm confident Apple will never offer that option again.

Yes, Apple offered the possibility to buy logic board replacements for various Macs that used the same case, but whole kits with documentation and every part needed like the Apple III to Apple III Plus is a lot more rare.

I remember another kit besides the IIGS one, when Apple documented everything with support docs and parts avaliability, from Quadra 800 to Quadra AWS80 or to Power Macintosh 8500. Quadra 800 was a really interesting Mac, you could upgrade it to Quadra 840AV, AWS80 or Power Macintosh 8500.

 

[maikerukun]

And they drop a lower version of it in a 30" iMac Pro, and a later revision of the studio... You got my vote of 'it's not crazy'.

Bruh...that would be awesome

 

[maikerukun]

The Intel Xeon in the 7,1 is the only horrible hardware in it. This Xeon is pitiful in a ultra high-end workstation in 2022. That's my only issue. 28 cores is nothing if those cores don't have the latest CPU arch. (Single core speeds will be slower than a Snapdragon/A Series CPU)

BUT other than that the 7,1 is an excellent machine due to its VERY powerful GPUs.


There's rumours the 8,1 uses the 7,1 as a dev box.

I LOVE the machine (other than two issues, 1 being the CPU, and 2 being I'd love the M1 decoders in there for FCPX)

And WOAH...that actually kind of gives a little credence to this idea...would be freaking amazing...

 

[maikerukun]

@maikerukun I like where you're going in your OP above, but also: Check this out

as @exoticSpice mentioned before me, it appears they are using the 7,1 as the test box for it, so your "what if" scenario is definitely interesting!


And actually, on that topic, i'll raise you one even further -- but what if they sold those new M boards as an upgrade to people that currently own 7,1's, so that all they have to do is bring it in to apple, and have them replace the Intel board with the new M board (including the M chip). That would be something, eh?

instead of having to buy a brand new machine... (but c'mon... it's apple, and more importantly Tim Cook we're talking about here -- all he cares about is $$$)

OH. MY. GOD. I can't believe I somehow missed that!! But holy hell he basically almost confirming this idea...And as you said over there...dude hasn't missed so, no reason to think he will this time!

 

[maikerukun]

Sure, a $5K logic board…

AFAIK, Apple did it exactly one time in the past, 39 years ago with Apple III to Apple III Plus, zero chances that will happen again.

Well hold on now...If there's anything Apple has been consistently during the reveal of the M series chips...it's NOSTALGIC. EVERYTHING, literally EVERYTHING was a play on what they did when each of these things first came out...so who knows...and I'm sure they won't...but what if isn't fun if we are afraid to day dream about it

 

[maikerukun]

Hence why in my post I said "what if", and then also added at the end that it IS apple (and tim cook) that we're talking about here, which means the chances of that actually happening are slim to none.

It's pretty obvious that their intent is to have consumers buy a new machine, but I just wanted to entertain the "what if" scenario, jeeze...

EXACTLY...that's t he fun of all this. We get to dream and be excited for the POSSIBILITIES, which, until official news exists...ARE ENDLESS

And quite frankly, if almost everything is the exact same, minus that CPU and motherboard, I wouldn't be shocked to see someone take those pieces and Frankenstein an old 7.1 out of curiosity LOL.

 

[maikerukun]

NeXT did it with their 030 to 040 upgrade board. Basically a motherboard swap. Was great! And, no, no one is holding their breath.

But you do not always buy a lotto ticket to win. Sometimes it's more about enjoying a day or two daydreaming about winning.

EXACTLY.