This doesn't seem unreasonable considering that you probably have a list of vetted hardware and know what has performed reliably. I recall your comment a while back about changing out socketed cpus in old thinkpads.
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Meet the nMP D500, AKA Radeon 7870
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This doesn't seem unreasonable considering that you probably have a list of vetted hardware and know what has performed reliably. I recall your comment a while back about changing out socketed cpus in old thinkpads.
Hey, did some more thinking.
D300 is likely Pitcairn XT (aka 7870 gigahertz edition). I think the long winded one said this earlier but I shall pretend I never saw.
And I think that these Apple part numbers will be unique. A D300 isn't a gutted x000 if it is a FULL D300 only.
The Pitcairn XT should be investigated in a MP.
And I think the tech specs for nMP contain a typo. 1526 should be 1536. But Apple has never really cared for GPU minutiae.
D300 is likely Pitcairn XT (aka 7870 gigahertz edition). I think the long winded one said this earlier but I shall pretend I never saw.
And I think that these Apple part numbers will be unique. A D300 isn't a gutted x000 if it is a FULL D300 only.
The Pitcairn XT should be investigated in a MP.
And I think the tech specs for nMP contain a typo. 1526 should be 1536. But Apple has never really cared for GPU minutiae.
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Someone with Pitcairn XT 7870 could verify this in 10.9.
There's also Curacao XT DID in Mavericks drivers, which is basically rebadged Pitcairn XT.
Regarding a typo in D500 specs, I think that Apple is beastly enough to laser-cut 10 stream processors from Tahiti LE to make our analysis harder
There's also Curacao XT DID in Mavericks drivers, which is basically rebadged Pitcairn XT.
Regarding a typo in D500 specs, I think that Apple is beastly enough to laser-cut 10 stream processors from Tahiti LE to make our analysis harder
Someone with Pitcairn XT 7870 could verify this in 10.9.
There's also Curacao XT DID in Mavericks drivers, which is basically rebadged Pitcairn XT.
Regarding a typo in D500 specs, I think that Apple is beastly enough to laser-cut 10 stream processors from Tahiti LE to make our analysis harder
You can't. They come in clusters, so you can't cut just 10.
Curacao has the True Audio stuff thrown in, but perhaps there are some power/performance tweaks in there also to run inside of a marginally tighter power curve.
Regarding a typo in D500 specs, I think that Apple is beastly enough to laser-cut 10 stream processors from Tahiti LE to make our analysis harder
It is an odd duck.
Compute Units come in groups of 4.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4455/amds-graphics-core-next-preview-amd-architects-for-compute/4
4 * 256 --> 1024 ( Pitcairn Pro )
4 * 320 --> 1280 ( Pitcairn XT ) D300
4 * 384 --> 1535 ( Tahiti LE ) probably D500
4 * 448 ---> 1792 ( Tahiiti Pro )
4 * 512 ---> 2048 (Tahiti XT ) D700
He,he, you've just shown how Apple made the typo, creating a typo in the very same number.
I gave made a post at insanely mac, hoping to find more folks with 7xxx GPUs, someone must have a D300.
Yeah.
4 * 384 ---> 1536
(by the way : 384 = 256 + 128
similarly 320 - 256 = 64 and 512 - 448 = 64
all nice power of two and 64-like increments. )
whereas Apple's 1526 :
1526 / 4 --> 381.5
which would would make it the odd duck. Not sure if there is a way to throttle workload through the driver to make is so work isn't dispatched to some units (so they power down. ), but they would probably be present.
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Perhaps I should have added few more emots to my previous post
Anyway, I'm tempted to buy R9 270x to test it in OS X, but I can't find any with 2 mDPs available in my country.
Perhaps I should have added few more emots to my previous post
While not lasers they are probably doing something. (downclocked so only add up to the equivalent of 1526 normal clocked ones. )
AMD 7870 XT (Tahiti LE) TDP ~ 185W
r9 270x TDP ~ 180W
Both are a bit high. Dual is 360-370W. 450 - 360 = 90W. Given the Xeon E5 1600 is rated 130W that is a tight budget. One GPU at 90% ( underclocked to 162W) and another at 75% ( underclocked and lower dynamic load to 135W) is 297W . 450 - 297 = 153W which is a far better.
Those off the shelf cards likely will be a bit faster at higher power consumption.
Actually we don't have a list of approved hardware.
We have years of experience with Dell/Lenovo/HP/... giving great support even on older hardware with new OS builds. (I just installed Windows 8.1 on a multi-touch-screen Dell Latitude XT2 from 2009 - and it runs like a champ.)
And we've had Apple say "ITunes on Vista - someday when we get a round 2 it". And we've had months go by without Bootcamp updates for critical problems.
We have a list of "unapproved" hardware - and that's running Windows or Linux on any Apple.
I'll buy Apples for people who want to run Apple OSX. I just won't buy Apples to run Linux or Windows.
I like the detailed OP very much, but don't think that the word optimised (with regards to drivers) in quotes doesn't emphasise enough that workstation drivers on windows/nix are not so much optimised but 'selectively gimped' depending on the branding/target audience.
It's a lot cheaper (and feasible for these sorts of parts) to have a single product split into various market segments and price points than it is to have multiple products to fill these.
It's a lot cheaper (and feasible for these sorts of parts) to have a single product split into various market segments and price points than it is to have multiple products to fill these.
Yes, I agree. But when declaring "the Emperor has no clothes" it is best to try discretion.
Many on this board want to believe that Apple choose Dx00 because they wanted "high end" GPUs for high performance. If I post that this was a calculated move to excuse a high price for 7870s that wouldn't otherwise fly, I would be castigated.
I will let the benchmarks speak for themselves.
But anyone believing that OSX has any "optimized workstation drivers" should have a look at the Barefeats tests of Mac Q4000 and K5000.
He got loaner cards from Nvidia, if there was a way to show their double precision strength could be translated into better performance, you would see it there.
I still don't see anything wrong with that. You buy machines that work as intended, which is the important thing. I'm with you regarding bootcamp. I started using a Mac due to working in a very "Mac heavy" industry at the time. At this point it's more for Xcode than anything else, and if I was in Windows more than 20% of the time, I would seriously consider migration with the next upgrade. I've never tried to run Linux on either of my two Macs (2011 macbook pro and an old mac pro 1,1).