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nMP refresh

handsome pete said:
What? There are competitors out there that will have updated hardware.
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Yeah. The new Mac Pro's release date will be determined by the availability of the components they want to use.

Mac Pros are mostly CTO. There isn't any reason to wait just for the heck of it. It's not like they have warehouses of Mac Pros they need to burn through before they release the next model. They just need to switch the production line over.

If it's ready to ship they'll ship it. We're still not there yet, we need Yosemite. But we're pretty close IMHO.
 
When Intel have the Haswell EP's in decent volume and the Intel chipset which uses DDR4 ram is stable enough - I will throw a completely wild guess and say April 2015.
 
Thunderbird said:
By that time, Broadwell Xeon chips will be out.
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With Apple held up releasing the refit/replacement of whole of the Macintosh range bar the black can up it'll be June 2016 the way Intel are going producing a larger more reliable server grade cpu.

Die shrinks are slowing and getting harder approaching the quantum mechanical level then it's goodbye silicon, hello graphene :D
 
Gav Mack said:
When Intel have the Haswell EP's in decent volume and the Intel chipset which uses DDR4 ram is stable enough - I will throw a completely wild guess and say April 2015.
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To be technically accurate - the memory controllers are on the CPU die, so the chipset has nothing to do with memory support.

So, "the Intel chipset which supports Haswell-EP CPUs which use DDR4 ram is stable enough" is better. ;)

And, it's quite a chipset (C612):
  • 8 PCIe 2.0 lanes
  • 6 USB 3.0 ports
  • 8 USB 2.0 ports
  • 10 SATA 6Gbps ports
 
AidenShaw said:
To be technically accurate - the memory controllers are on the CPU die, so the chipset has nothing to do with memory support.



So, "the Intel chipset which supports Haswell-EP CPUs which use DDR4 ram is stable enough" is better. ;)



And, it's quite a chipset (C612):

  • 8 PCIe 2.0 lanes
  • 6 USB 3.0 ports
  • 8 USB 2.0 ports
  • 10 SATA 6Gbps ports
Click to expand...


Does it still connect to the CPU via a 4 lane DMI? If so, that's going to start being the bottleneck for some of the stuff hanging off that chip.
 
nMP refresh

AidenShaw said:
To be technically accurate - the memory controllers are on the CPU die, so the chipset has nothing to do with memory support.



So, "the Intel chipset which supports Haswell-EP CPUs which use DDR4 ram is stable enough" is better. ;)



And, it's quite a chipset (C612):

  • 8 PCIe 2.0 lanes
  • 6 USB 3.0 ports
  • 8 USB 2.0 ports
  • 10 SATA 6Gbps ports
Click to expand...



Oooh a tight play on my words - On paper it looks great for everyone, servers, workstations and the Mac Pro 7,1.

More stable - I should have perhaps have said inversely proportional in bugs to iOS 8 ;-)
 
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IF they don't release new ones on the October event. If i'm going to use Photoshop and editing pictures alot, aswell as some video editing (mostly light) and play some WoW on my spare time.

Should I go with base model with D700s or Standard 6-core model? And why?

Thanks
 
puke said:
IF they don't release new ones on the October event. If i'm going to use Photoshop and editing pictures alot, aswell as some video editing (mostly light) and play some WoW on my spare time.

Should I go with base model with D700s or Standard 6-core model? And why?

Thanks
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Photoshop is technically multithreaded, but real-world tests consistently show that more lower-clocked cores = worse performance. Given that and that video games are rarely threaded to take advantage of workstation numbers of cores, and I'd say the quad + D700's is a better option on balance for you.
 
puke said:
IF they don't release new ones on the October event. If i'm going to use Photoshop and editing pictures alot, aswell as some video editing (mostly light) and play some WoW on my spare time.

Should I go with base model with D700s or Standard 6-core model? And why?

Thanks
Click to expand...

For that use definitely quad core plus D700s. I just ordered one myself for similar use, definitely overkill for those needs but boys and their toys.
 
Thunderbird said:
By that time, Broadwell Xeon chips will be out.
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I don't think that matters as much as some people like to believe it does. And if you need that technology then there will be other options available. For the record, a true pro gives a crap less what OS he uses to make money.

On the other hand, a ton of money is on the table for Apple if they find a way to market this to the masses. And last I checked, Apple likes making a ton of money.:cool:
 
Just out of curiosity, have all previous Mac Pro models received a spec bump update with every Intel processor release?
 
Thunderbird said:
Just out of curiosity, have all previous Mac Pro models received a spec bump update with every Intel processor release?
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Depends who you ask. Traditionally the Mac Pro gets upgraded with every Intel processor release, but before the release of the nMP this stopped for two Intel cycles IIRC.

I tend to think that's because they were halting the Mac Pro while they decided what to do with it + developing the nMP, but others think it is some sort of new upgrade pattern where Apple only upgrades every 2-3 years. I think that's the exception, not the rule.
 
Thunderbird said:
Just out of curiosity, have all previous Mac Pro models received a spec bump update with every Intel processor release?
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Since they went to Intel, the Mac Pro has only skipped Sandy Bridge, and that was in this whole "is the cMP dead?" transition to the nMP.
 
wallysb01 said:
Since they went to Intel, the Mac Pro has only skipped Sandy Bridge, and that was in this whole "is the cMP dead?" transition to the nMP.
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This makes me believe that they will infact release one this October event even more. I might have to eat my words tho. :)
 
puke said:
This makes me believe that they will infact release one this October event even more. I might have to eat my words tho. :)
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They have never revised within 12 months though, nor has any other workstation vendor since 2006. Don't be surprised if you are waiting until early next year - especially considering many custom configs have caused delays in shipping over the years.
 
Umbongo said:
They have never revised within 12 months though, nor has any other workstation vendor since 2006. Don't be surprised if you are waiting until early next year - especially considering many custom configs have caused delays in shipping over the years.
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Actually, according to Macrumors buyers-guide, the Mac Pro usually got an update every 240-280 days...
 
puke said:
Actually, according to Macrumors buyers-guide, the Mac Pro usually got an update every 240-280 days...
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Yes, I am thinking a Haswell update by end of November. If not, then by March.

It seems unlikely they would skip Haswell, but I guess it is possible, since Broadwell is not too far off.
 
puke said:
Actually, according to Macrumors buyers-guide, the Mac Pro usually got an update every 240-280 days...
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The major releases were further apart.

1,1 was August 2006 (Intel: June)
3,1 was January 2008 (Intel: November)
4,1 was March 2009 (Intel: March)
5,1 was August 2010 (Intel: March)
6,1 was December 2013 ( Intel: September)

The buyers guide counts 3GHz 8-core option in April 2007 and 2012 minor CPU speed bumps, yet doesn't count the 3GHz quad-core option in December 2009 cause Apple didn't make a big deal about it. Intel don't do revisions like that now.
 
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Personally I can't imagine them releasing a new version this year, most people didn't even receive one until February of this year and there just isn't enough demand to merit a refresh in almost the same calendar year. Them going every other update won't be the end of the world, but will see maybe they will surprise us next week.
 
Beaverman3001 said:
Personally I can't imagine them releasing a new version this year, most people didn't even receive one until February of this year and there just isn't enough demand to merit a refresh in almost the same calendar year. Them going every other update won't be the end of the world, but will see maybe they will surprise us next week.
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Even if they come out with a new one this year I don't think they'll announce it at the October event. They'll probably just do a "quiet" update without an event. I also don't see them killing their sales by announcing months or weeks before it goes on sale.
 
fuchsdh said:
Even if they come out with a new one this year I don't think they'll announce it at the October event. They'll probably just do a "quiet" update without an event. I also don't see them killing their sales by announcing months or weeks before it goes on sale.
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Possible they would do that later in the year, but will see. Just seems way too soon for a refresh unless it was extremely minor spec bumps, and even that seems early. Personally I wouldn't expect something until next spring/summer for a spec bump quiet update, but it is obviously hard to speculate since they have changed up their schedule with the last release.
 
Beaverman3001 said:
Possible they would do that later in the year, but will see. Just seems way too soon for a refresh unless it was extremely minor spec bumps, and even that seems early. Personally I wouldn't expect something until next spring/summer for a spec bump quiet update, but it is obviously hard to speculate since they have changed up their schedule with the last release.
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Always bet on economics. It's how things work nowadays. Factor in the design leverage/properties of this thing and it's still a winner in today's market place handily. Why upgrade now? Because some fan boys are angry? Not likely! Just my .02. :cool:
 
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