Mac Pro Arrived! Pics Included

[Grimace]

I believe Apple said that you could have multiple cards from one brand or the other - but NOT both. It popped up in another MR thread too. Bueller?

 

[Eidorian]

I believe Apple said that you could have multiple cards from one brand or the other - but NOT both. It popped up in another MR thread too. Bueller?

I read that on Apple.com as well. I forget where though. It might have been the developer notes.

 

[Haoshiro]

I got 259.8 on my Quad G5. Not too shabby. Certainly not being "Crushed" by the Mac Pro's small increase in speed.

You also had 6X as much RAM...

 

[RichP]

Geeze, I dunno, maybe it does.

How did you order the Mac Pro with the two different graphics cards? I couldn't find a way to do that. Or are the Mac versions of the x1900 on the market already?

The question is: wil there even be a mac version?

 

[yellow]

The question is: wil there even be a mac version?

A Mac version of the X1900? I suspect so..

 

[JRM PowerPod]

A Mac version of the X1900? I suspect so..

That looks a pretty definitive answer.

 

[JRM PowerPod]

You also had 6X as much RAM...

Always helps i guess, lol

 

[JRM PowerPod]

I read that on Apple.com as well. I forget where though. It might have been the developer notes.

I also read somewhere that power may become an issue, thats why you can't have more than one X1900, but the compatibility could also be an issue between ATI and Nvidia,

thats probably the reason why you can't configure them together

 

[ampd]

ok so what is the benefit of having 4 7300s in your mac pro besides the capability to have a rediculous amount of monitors? Will programs/games be able to use multiple at the same time?

 

[cjkihlbom]

Geeze, I dunno, maybe it does.

How did you order the Mac Pro with the two different graphics cards? I couldn't find a way to do that. Or are the Mac versions of the x1900 on the market already?

I configured the Mac Pro with the standard Geforce 7300, and then ordered the Radeon X1900 separately here.

 

[pilotError]

Video Cards

what is the benefit to having 4 7300s in your mac pro

Its my understanding that the cards talk to each other and do cooperative processing of video. Both ATI and NVidia do this but using different methods. I don't think it has anything to do with running multiple monitors.

The same restriction applies in the PC world.

Combine this with the Core Animation technology and you may just see some cool stuff coming out for gaming as well as for 10.5...

 

[britishempire]

Sorry if this has been asked, I read most of the first 8 pages and no one was talking about it... so...

Is it easy to get at the CPUs, and if so... Are they soldered?

Not a big deal really, as if I buy a 3.0 then I doubt I'll need a faster machine for years, but it'd be great to be able to keep on top of CPU updates without having to buy whole new machines each time.

 

[Glen Quagmire]

Sorry if this has been asked, I read the first 8 pages and no one was talking about it... so...

Is it easy to get at the CPUs, and if so... Are they soldered?

Not a big deal really, as if I buy a 3.0 then I doubt I'll need a faster machine for years, but it'd be great to be able to keep on top of CPU updates without having to buy whole new machines each time.

You can get at the CPUs and they are installed in LGA 771s, so you can take off the heatsinks and replace the CPUs.

There are pictures of a disassembly floating around on the web, I forget the URL.

 

[britishempire]

awesome. hopefully whatever comes next for the Mac Pro will be backward compatible

 

[Multimedia]

Both Toast 7 & Handbrake Can Use 3 Cores

But, since programs do not use more then 1 (or 2) cores, that will not do any difference.

Sun has had its niagara processor for over a year now. 32 threads at 1.2ghz.

A great great processor for server, but not for mail, games, and single user enviroments.

Since I have used dual processors since 1999 on both Windows and Mac.
On mac, most of the programs I use, can use 2 processors. Often like compressor, that one processor uses the sound, and the other the video.

On PC, well... it do not work. Almost no programs are dual aware.
Off cource pro apps like 3D rendering is it, but not to many ordinary program.

Depending of what you do, the processor is really not the problem.

I, who compress video, uses USENET, torrent and Itunes: My problem is I/O. 50% of my 2ghz dual G5 is on I/O. And I have 5 gig memory

It is better to have many computers instead.
4 macminis would better then one quad woodcrest

I use Toast and Handbrake for Video Compression and both can use 3 cores. So I do not agree with your assumption that everything can't use more than 2.

 

[yellow]

Its my understanding that the cards talk to each other and do cooperative processing of video. Both ATI and NVidia do this but using different methods. I don't think it has anything to do with running multiple monitors.

I don't think so in this case.

In the Windows/PC world, this is called SLI for nVidia, and CrossFire for ATI.

Neither of which is supported by the Apple mobos currently. If they were, I suspect it would be mentioned, which it is not.
(this would be a rather large selling point for 'switchers-in-the-know', I think)

So multiple video cards is strictly for multiple displays (large banks of displays).

 

[cantthinkofone]

I can't see from the photos, do the 7300GT cards have the SLI bridge on them? Even if they don't, the nVidia Windows drivers support SLI without a bridge card which I've tried before to good success. Two 7300GTs >= one 7600GT which would be a good mid-range setup for gaming.

two 7300GTs are better than one 7600GT? 2+2 dose not equal 4 in this case. the 7300 is the base model in the nvidia 7 series. the 7600 was 2nd best until the 7900GTX came out(over rated/priced compaird to the 7800GT). Id take a 7600GT over two 7300GTs in SLI ANY day on any game or app.

 

[Lollypop]

I don't think so in this case.

In the Windows/PC world, this is called SLI for nVidia, and CrossFire for ATI.

Neither of which is supported by the Apple mobos currently. If they were, I suspect it would be mentioned, which it is not.
(this would be a rather large selling point for 'switchers-in-the-know', I think)

So multiple video cards is strictly for multiple displays (large banks of displays).

SLi use to require a physical connector between the two graphics cards, CrossFire's advantage was that it wasnt, bit issue however is driver support, and adequate bandwidth between the Pci express slots. I guess driver support will depend on ATI and NVidia, I would imagine their is a fair amount of work to be done to split up the instructions between the two cards without corrupting the image and still having very little interention from the OS side.

Cant find the specs for the chipset used in the mac pro, I asume the graphics slot is a 16x slot, and the rest? 1,2,4,8???

 

[cjkihlbom]

I believe Apple said that you could have multiple cards from one brand or the other - but NOT both. It popped up in another MR thread too. Bueller?

I just spoke to a representative at Apple Store, and he assured me that there wouldn't be a problem with running an ATI and Nvidia card side by side.

Of course, he might be wrong, but until someone can provide me with a link that specifically states that you can't mix cards from different manufacturers I'm going to trust him.

 

[yellow]

Hmm, the don't appear to say anywhere, even in the tech specs.
I'm working on the asumption that they are all PCIex16.

 

[yellow]

Don't know if anyone posted it, Laslo, but here's an link to a new Parallels beta update.

http://www.parallels.com/en/download/desktop/update/

 

[Lollypop]

I use Toast and Handbrake for Video Compression and both can use 3 cores. So I do not agree with your assumption that everything can't use more than 2.

But both are high end applications that can use a CPU and split up their work load, people are sayings its going to be about the core count and not the clock speeds, what sompa was trying to point out (i think) is that SUN has a 32 core cpu, its great for server work, but will suck in a general desktop, its going to be about cores, clock speeds and IO all put put together, the entire system!

I dont have a quad core mac just lying around, but I suspect in your case that two cores are for video and audio, and the third is for the program itself, mail, safari ect dont have such a incredible load that it even needs a second, nevermind a third core.

 

[Chundles]

Hmm, the don't appear to say anywhere, even in the tech specs.
I'm working on the asumption that they are all PCIex16.

On the "Expansion" part of the Mac Pro website it says this:

New, Double-wide PCI Express Graphics Slot
When it comes time to add capabilities to your system — with, for example, an audio DSP solution, video capture card, data acquisition device, or Fiber Channel card — the new Mac Pro accommodates with three full-length PCI Express expansion slots. New to the Mac Pro: you can even adjust the PCI Express bandwidth on your system to meet your specific needs. What’s more, the new double-wide, 16-lane PCI Express graphics slot brings an end to sacrificing a slot in favor of better graphics. Now Mac Pro lets you have high-performance graphics, two 30-inch Cinema Displays, and all three expansion slots at the same time.

The double-wide slot is 16x, the others appear to be variable, I'm no expert though.

 

[yellow]

Yup,looks like you might be right Chundles. I wish it was more clear, however.

 

[uelef]

Does someone know whether you can upgrade an Airport card and Bluetooth module on your own? Or do you need an Apple service to upgrade both on an Mac Pro?