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Post your last guess of Mac Pro 2012 spec!!

A

Amethyst

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 8, 2006
601
294
Base of what we known so far.

CPU
$2499 model Quad Core Intel Xeon E5-1620 3.6 GHz. Old $2499 model use w3530 $294, E5-1620 cost same perfectly match.
$3849 model 2 x Six-Core Intel Xeon E5-2630 2.3 GHz. Old $3499 model use 2x5620 $774, 2xE5-2630 cost $1224. Cost of cpu are more than old one around $450. Apple charge more than old one $400! perfectly match.

GPU
2 Scenario :
1. ATI Radeon HD 7770 1GB GDDR5 cost $159. it cost same as ATI 5770 ($159 at launch). It perfectly fit for Apple, If mac pro use 7770. High-end iMac will use 7850M that packed "cape verde" GPU and cost around old 6970M.

2. NVIDIA GeForce Something > 650 and use GK107 GPUs

RAM
As C600 / x79 chipset support quad channel ram Apple may install 4 stick of ram standard. And 4x2GB 1600 MHz seem reasonable for UP rather than 4x4GB (16GB) or 4x1GB (4GB)

Use this logic DP system must use 8x2 GB Standard.

HDD
Flooding in thailand take price of HDD insane grow-up. But i believe at lease 1.5TB HDD will go standard in new pro. both UP/DP model

Case
I guess Apple will use old case. based on what we saw from Apple's Pegasus R6 promotion picture.

12-55-51_0.47777.png


Summary
$2499 model
Quad Core Intel Xeon E5-1620 3.6 GHz
8 GB DDRIII 1666 (4x2GB)
ATI Radeon HD 7770 1GB GDDR5
18x SuperDrive
Thunderbolt / USB 3.0
Old case

$3849 model
2 x Six-Core Intel Xeon E5-2630 2.3 GHz
16 GB DDRIII 1666 (8x2GB)
ATI Radeon HD 7770 1GB GDDR5
18x SuperDrive
Thunderbolt / USB 3.0
Old case
 
Last edited:
Anyone have a larger picture of the Apple's Pegasus R6 promotion picture?

You would think if that was a redesign model if would feature a thunderbolt port on the front.
 
Anyone else find it unlikely Apple will offer a dual hex-core as one of the standard configs? I would expect they would offer a single quad core as their entry level, and a dual quad core as their higher end model, leaving the dual hex core as a BTO? Same as the 2010 lineup.

Though I would LOVE to see a single hex core as the basic model and a dual hex core as a higher end model and then dual octo core for BTO.
 
anybody done some early guessing on the geekbench scores for any of these? I am going to have to decide on release to spend a LOT of money, or a TON of money....
 
Amethyst said:
Base of what we known so far.
.....
RAM
As C600 / x79 chipset support quad channel ram Apple may install 4 stick of ram standard. And 4x2GB 1600 MHz seem reasonable for UP ....

Use this logic DP system must use 8x2 GB Standard.

HDD
Flooding in thailand take price of HDD insane grow-up. But i believe at lease 1.5GB HDD will go standard in new pro. both UP/DP model
Click to expand...

If a large fraction customers are going to toss the Apple RAM anyway then four 1GB DIMMs are easy to immediately retire. They are also cheaper than 2GB DIMMs. At least for now. It is hard to tell because few DIMM vendors want to sell a 1GB version. LOL.

Apple could use that to tradeoff for the higher HDD prices.

So they could stick with the same 1GB DIMM / memory controller and 1TB HDD line up if their contract 1TB HDD prices have gone up.

It is doubtful Apple will bump the HDD capacity. The 1TB HDD price now is about what it was when Apple original moved that capacity. Capacity likely isn't going up. It may go way down if Mac Pro's come standard with SSDs that are at the same price point as 1TB HDDs.

If 1TB HDD prices made a horizontal move then 2GB DIMM make alot more sense. Using 64-bit kernel Lion/MountainLion with only 4GB of memory and Mac Pro workloads doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.
8GB is a reasonable amount to do modest amounts of work in.

Besides, at some point over next 2 years the fabs cranking to the higher nm (less dense Mb storage ) components used in those 1GB modules could move on or go into legacy price inflection. ( prices start creeping up.)

Moving to 2GB DIMMs is an additional price pressure point to capping the HDD price and hence no HDD capacity upgrade. It is not likely that both RAM and HDD with both move. The RAM costs are going up even if 2GB DIMMs cost as much as 1GB DIMMs almost two years ago. Apple is inserting more DIMMs now.


P.S. the post thailand flood HDD prices are not "insane". The HDD prices cratering before the flood were the insane part. The huge 100% mark-ups are gone. But even with prices somewhat inflated now to much smaller double digit levels the profit margins at the HDD companies is still in the single digits.
Pre-flood the HDD market prices were killing the HDD industry in the long term.
 
Xzag said:
anybody done some early guessing on the geekbench scores for any of these? I am going to have to decide on release to spend a LOT of money, or a TON of money....
Click to expand...

There are reviews of the E5 2600 vs 5600 series out there if looking at duals.

For example:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5553/the-xeon-e52600-dual-sandybridge-for-servers

There are reviews of the i7 3900 series versus the 900 series if looking at E5 1600s. Just skip over the parts and assumptions made in those about overclocking. For example:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-3960x-x79-sandy-bridge-e,3071.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-3930k-3820-test-benchmark,3090.html

[ the 3930k being "better" conclusion there would be an example of what to ignore as not being relevant. ]

Pretty sure there are some hackintosh E5 2600 models in the geekbench database already.



Oddly there aren't many reviews of workstations with E5 1600's in them floating around out there yet.
 
Stating the obvious...

My last guess is that despite what Apple announces for the Mac Pro 2012, 80% of the talking heads here will not be satisfied. They will feel that Apple decided to personally insult them by their new Pro offering.

It doesn't take a psychic or soothsayer...
 
BigJohno said:
I really think they will offer a card with 2gb or more of vram.
Click to expand...

That's nice. But processor and memory speed is more important after 1.25GB. 2GB should be standard but likely on the up-sell card. Could even be 3GB if we get AMD. Of course you could need it for real work and not lil' ol' video games like me.
 
According to the rumors the base price for the mac pro is now $2999 and NOT $2499. However, I still think the base price model will be a single chip option.
 
jbg232 said:
According to the rumors the base price for the mac pro is now $2999 and NOT $2499. However, I still think the base price model will be a single chip option.
Click to expand...

I would consider going for a single chip 6-core option as long as the number of RAM slots isn't gimped like on the current machines, though I'm not sure if that's a limit of the chip architecture or if it's a spec that Apple has control of.
 
xraydoc said:
I would consider going for a single chip 6-core option as long as the number of RAM slots isn't gimped like on the current machines, though I'm not sure if that's a limit of the chip architecture or if it's a spec that Apple has control of.
Click to expand...

Apple. Should have been 6 on the single processors and 9 or 12 on the dual processor ones.
 
jbg232 said:
No it's not - they're almost 1:1.
Click to expand...

But in the Apple store they are. The current 2499 Mac Pro in the US costs AU$2999 on the AU store. The rate exchange is not applied directly by any company, never mind the fact that the us price excludes taxes whereas the AU one does, plus one must add the rip off factor that AU customers are used to paying for electronics and other goods.

In the UK I would pay £2041, which is $3155 for a $2499 entry level Mac Pro. Even if you add all the us US taxes that is still nowhere close to what one pays in the US. You cannot just compare based on the current exchange rate.

----------
Lance-AR said:
I believe the current $2499 model is priced around $3k AU
Click to expand...

Yes, it is. You can check for yourself how much Australia gets ripped off

http://store.apple.com/au

Or how much the UK gets ripped off

http://store.apple.com/uk
 
You guys are correct - I've never actually shopped in a non-US store and had no idea apple charges such a premium to overseas customers. That really is terrible for you guys, sorry. My calculations were obviously based just on the exchange rate.
 
jbg232 said:
You guys are correct - I've never actually shopped in a non-US store and had no idea apple charges such a premium to overseas customers. That really is terrible for you guys, sorry. My calculations were obviously based just on the exchange rate.
Click to expand...

No worries. Ignorance is bliss. :)
 
xraydoc said:
I would consider going for a single chip 6-core option as long as the number of RAM slots isn't gimped like on the current machines, though I'm not sure if that's a limit of the chip architecture or if it's a spec that Apple has control of.
Click to expand...

Some of the others went with 6. Apple made access really easy which was nice, then went skimpy in other areas. Their decisions are weird at times. They typically go for a high minimum sale since it's a lower volume line, but I'd like to see them include more stuff baseline rather than charge a high entry + an additional premium to ditch some of the subpar options.

theSeb said:
Yes, it is. You can check for yourself how much Australia gets ripped off

http://store.apple.com/au

Or how much the UK gets ripped off

http://store.apple.com/uk
Click to expand...

The UK has always been expensive. There are a few cases of where they have cheaper things than the US, but they do not apply to most brands. In the case of Australia, many industries charged them quite a lot when they had a much weaker dollar, then used the fact that people there were accustomed to it to maintain such prices in spite of a much stronger Australian dollar in recent years with occasional volatility relative to the dollar and euro. It is important to note that they require GST to be included in retail pricing rather than calculated at time of purchase as we'd have here on sales tax. GST is 10% there, so it does make a difference. In the UK it will mention if the price already includes VAT. Most of the time it does not.
 
thekev said:
In the UK it will mention if the price already includes VAT. Most of the time it does not.
Click to expand...

It depends where you're shopping. Most consumer orientated sites include VAT and so does the Apple store. Practically all brick and mortar shops also show the prices including VAT. Most business orientated web sites do not show VAT since you get to claim it back anyway or not pay it at all, if you're buying as a business.
 
[/COLOR]
Amethyst said:
Base of what we known so far.

CPU
$2499 model Quad Core Intel Xeon E5-1620 3.6 GHz. Old $2499 model use w3530 $294, E5-1620 cost same perfectly match.
$3849 model 2 x Six-Core Intel Xeon E5-2630 2.3 GHz. Old $3499 model use 2x5620 $774, 2xE5-2630 cost $1224. Cost of cpu are more than old one around $450. Apple charge more than old one $400! perfectly match.

GPU
2 Scenario :
1. ATI Radeon HD 7770 1GB GDDR5 cost $159. it cost same as ATI 5770 ($159 at launch). It perfectly fit for Apple, If mac pro use 7770. High-end iMac will use 7850M that packed "cape verde" GPU and cost around old 6970M.

2. NVIDIA GeForce Something > 650 and use GK107 GPUs

RAM
As C600 / x79 chipset support quad channel ram Apple may install 4 stick of ram standard. And 4x2GB 1600 MHz seem reasonable for UP rather than 4x4GB (16GB) or 4x1GB (4GB)

Use this logic DP system must use 8x2 GB Standard.

HDD
Flooding in thailand take price of HDD insane grow-up. But i believe at lease 1.5TB HDD will go standard in new pro. both UP/DP model

Case
I guess Apple will use old case. based on what we saw from Apple's Pegasus R6 promotion picture.

Image

Summary
$2499 model
Quad Core Intel Xeon E5-1620 3.6 GHz
8 GB DDRIII 1666 (4x2GB)
ATI Radeon HD 7770 2GB GDDR5
18x SuperDrive
Thunderbolt / USB 3.0
Old case

$3849 model
2 x Six-Core Intel Xeon E5-2630 2.3 GHz
16 GB DDRIII 1666 (8x2GB)
ATI Radeon HD 7770 3GB GDDR5
18x SuperDrive
Thunderbolt and USB 3.0
Old case
Click to expand...

:)

would it be right to add more video memory to the new mac pros?the previous ones had it, and thye were from 2010, so i just want to see the same expectations of quality this year :/

plus, I want both thunderbolt and USB 3.0, not one or the other...

but other than that i think what you said is good! :D
 
theSeb said:
It depends where you're shopping. Most consumer orientated sites include VAT and so does the Apple store. Practically all brick and mortar shops also show the prices including VAT. Most business orientated web sites do not show VAT since you get to claim it back anyway or not pay it at all, if you're buying as a business.
Click to expand...

I was unaware of some of those details, but yeah they need to be taken under consideration when comparing to the price here.
 
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