I was wondering if anyone thought they might update the Mac Pro like they do the other products? I know they didn't update it for a few years the last time, but maybe it's different now? I want to buy one, but didn't know if I should wait. I'm probably going to replace the CPU with a third party one anyway, but I didn't know if anything else could be updated on it.
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Mac Pro Update?
- Thread starter Chazz08
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About which model of Mac Pro are you talking?
What do you mean by "update"?
Without that info nobody can give you a meaningful answer.
Fairly obvious.
OP means the new Mac Pro. 'Update' means spec bump.
It's a question I am also curious about -- what the update cycle for the new Mac Pro will be.
Note quite sure what they could speed bump it with at the moment
CPU - Needs Haswell-EP to come out before better CPU's available
Memory - Not sure what would do there
SSD - Possibly a capacity increase
GPU - Can't see it without the next level of GPU's launched coming out.
It really isn't worth playing the waiting game. Buy when you need it, there is always something around the corner coming soon.
CPU - Needs Haswell-EP to come out before better CPU's available
Memory - Not sure what would do there
SSD - Possibly a capacity increase
GPU - Can't see it without the next level of GPU's launched coming out.
It really isn't worth playing the waiting game. Buy when you need it, there is always something around the corner coming soon.
- sampling now, release anticipated early fall
- official support for 128 GiB of RAM with 32 GiB DIMMs
- shipping now - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/firepro-w9100-performance,3810.html
Apple could also add Nvidia options for the GPU
One of the things I thought of when looking at 4k monitors was the refresh rate. The nMP can only handle 30hz right now. I couldn't remember it when I started the post, but that's one of the updates I was hoping for. It seems to be an HDMI 2.0 feature to get 60hz. I didn't know, though, if that could be updated through a firmware update, or if it would need new hardware. I read that it depends on the manufacturer. Anyway, if I could change out the GPU on my own, I would be less likely to wait. That and the HDMI are the only things holding me back at the moment.
Well, if you have waited this long you might as well tough it out until December and see what these "new products" are about.
There is no worse feeling than buying an expensive item then finding out it is outdated a couple of months later.
Over HDMI 30 hz is the maximum, yes. Over DisplayPort (Thunderbolt) 60 hz is possible with some monitors.
Using 4K displays and Ultra HD TVs with Mac computers
This subject has already been broached:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1737956/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1735207/
At least twice before.
Lou
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1737956/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1735207/
At least twice before.
Lou
Well, if you have waited this long you might as well tough it out until December and see what these "new products" are about.
There is no worse feeling than buying an expensive item then finding out it is outdated a couple of months later.
Very true! I hadn't checked in awhile, but I just saw that iFixit has a breakdown for the GPU. So I wonder if any 3rd parties will be making some new GPUs for it.
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Oh! I didn't even think of that! Thanks man! I bet those are more expensive, though. I'll have to check it out.
Highly doubtful in my opinion. Swapping out these cards isn't nearly as simple as opening the case and popping a new card into an empty slot. Not to mention these are a proprietary design, so I don't think it makes sense financially for a company to make these for such a small market.
I think it's rather simple, and I'm no pro at this. The steps to do it aren't difficult at all. But to each his own.
I'm no pro at it either and don't think I'd have any trouble making the swap. That being said, it's much more complicated than your usual swapping out PCIe cards. Hell, you need to apply new thermal paste. Never mind the fact that I'm sure these 3rd party companies have a pretty good idea of the potential market. These are proprietary cards. Is there even that big of a market to fulfill the upgrade wants of a single machine? My guess is no.
Well in the future, I'd say yes. Of course not now, it's pretty much top notch. But after a few years, people might want to upgrade the GPU rather than buy a whole new computer. Anyway, we shall see.
There is no worse feeling than buying an expensive item then finding out it is outdated a couple of months later.
Says the man doing without.
My point was that, in all likelihood, it's not even going to make financial sense for a 3rd party company to even provide a card to use as a replacement. So the product won't even exist. The Mac Pro is a very niche item, even more so now with the new design/proprietary cards. The use of standard PCIe slots in the older machines made it easier for 3rd party developers because they were also offering cards for PCs. But now if you look at the numbers of who ends up upgrading their GPUs (a fraction of total Mac Pro sales) along with a new proprietary design and a decidedly more difficult procedure to swap out cards (thus making that fraction even smaller), why would a company even pursue this? The only future upgrade path I see happening is through Apple directly, whether that be replacement parts they offer or a secondary market like ebay, where you'd end up buying used cards.