Getting a head start on anticipation for the next Mac Pro.
Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids CPU.
Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids CPU.
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MP All Models Waiting for Mac Pro 8,1 (Late 2027)
- Thread starter beaker7
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Sapphire Rapids is 2021 ( maybe 2022 given Apple's uptake window on new tech. )
That is huge chasm to 2027.
Sapphire Rapids may not do anything for the pricing here except for in the > 16C zone. That > 1TB tax is going to be problems for Apple.
You joke with the year, but given Apple's track record it's not a bad guess. 
Apple has been making a lot of positive moves lately, and it's great that they're offering these products, but if they want it to stick they've got to show their commitment.
I was interested in a 6,1 to replace my MBP but the cost effectiveness wasn't there, and I didn't want to buy a Rev. A product, so I was going to jump on a 7,1. That never came, so I made do with a 3,1 and then a 5,1... which is where I still am.
Were I still primarily doing freelance I'd have to have bitten the bullet already, but my current situation gives me more time to wait, so I will be eagerly anticipating the 8,1. If it takes until 2022 or later they'll have burned up the goodwill they built up once again.
Ice Lake and 10nm is theoretically going to come out this coming year, but originally it was supposed to be 2019 so as with all Intel roadmaps I assume it's nonsense these days. Either way the main benefit would only be PCIe 4 and Wifi 6. After that comes PCIe 5 and DDR5 memory, which seems like the big target to hit. But if they're sticking with Intel, it'd be foolish to keep waiting.
I do think like with recent pro Macs we're likely to see some minor GPU refresh/BTO price adjustments mid-cycle. That the Radeon W has already been announced makes me think that's definitely a <3–4 month kind of update, not something that's gonna' take a year.
Apple has been making a lot of positive moves lately, and it's great that they're offering these products, but if they want it to stick they've got to show their commitment.
I was interested in a 6,1 to replace my MBP but the cost effectiveness wasn't there, and I didn't want to buy a Rev. A product, so I was going to jump on a 7,1. That never came, so I made do with a 3,1 and then a 5,1... which is where I still am.
Were I still primarily doing freelance I'd have to have bitten the bullet already, but my current situation gives me more time to wait, so I will be eagerly anticipating the 8,1. If it takes until 2022 or later they'll have burned up the goodwill they built up once again.
Ice Lake and 10nm is theoretically going to come out this coming year, but originally it was supposed to be 2019 so as with all Intel roadmaps I assume it's nonsense these days. Either way the main benefit would only be PCIe 4 and Wifi 6. After that comes PCIe 5 and DDR5 memory, which seems like the big target to hit. But if they're sticking with Intel, it'd be foolish to keep waiting.
I do think like with recent pro Macs we're likely to see some minor GPU refresh/BTO price adjustments mid-cycle. That the Radeon W has already been announced makes me think that's definitely a <3–4 month kind of update, not something that's gonna' take a year.
Their 10nm node is online now. And the precursor to Sapphire Rapids is already in certification testing now for deployment in 2020. It is already taped out and fabbed for beta testers.
2027 is a lot of nonsense.
It isn't that big of a huge reach for Intel.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/14149/intel-agilex-10nm-fpgas-with-pcie-50-ddr5-and-cxl
They don't have to roll those out to the CPUs first. The CPUs could be getting 2nd gen design or at least design with some feedback.
There is a chance that Intel will hold the PCI-e v5 just to the CXL links. Similar role that UPI is playing now to link packages and dies just expanded to more chiplets and more packages. So not necessarily talking about generic add-in PCI-e standard physical slot dimension cards.
Intel already has Ice Lake Xeon SP fab and out in beta testing now. So PCI-e v4 isn't nebulous question now.
Errr.... What Apple announced so far appears just to be a regular GPU card ( with a VRAM bump from the regular W5700 ). Those should be hard to do at all since the regular 5700 is already on the eGPU support list.
"...f you've installed macOS Catalina 10.15.1 or later, you can use these graphics cards that are based on the AMD Navi RDNA architecture. Recommended graphics cards include the AMD Radeon RX 5700, AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary. ..."
There is no huge stretch here to put a minor mod card with a semi-custom VRAM capacity out there. That can't ship now... is probably more like that don't want to ship ( as want limited access card to sell at a higher than market rate price over an extended time. )
The iMac , iMac Pro need GPU updates so some of those can trickle down to Mac Pro entry cards too. The MBP 16" was the primary driver here on the 5700 support getting since basically needed that for the 5500.
( was some extra work but it wasn't like Apple was 100% ignoring Navi for the rest of the Mac line up. )
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Intel's product and Apple products are from two different companies. Sapphire Ridge is an Intel product.
Apple dosn't even "have to" use the Intel product for a Mac Pro update in 2021-22.
So yes... utter nonsense.
As mentioned in the other thread, the W5700 is a MXM modular card with TB3 and double the VRAM, not a stock W5700, hence the "X".
I'm thinking $9999.99 for the base model but that may be a bit on the low side.
No, not really. They were shipping Ivy Bridge Xeons released in 2012 up until about 6 hours ago. 7 years.
I'm sure you'll reply with 9 paragraphs about how an unknowable prediction is wrong.
Don't take everything so seriously. I'm mostly just poking fun at Apple's hilariously long update cycles.
It's a good sign that the 5700XT was announced. Technically, they're already doing an out-of-update-cycle GPU update. Sign that this thing might get more attention than the cMP.
Given Intel's schedule, and depending on whatever Apple does for CPUs, it might be a while until we see an 8,1. But chance are better that we may see more incremental updates on the 7,1 until then. So maybe the 8,1 takes a while. But that might not mean no updates happens until then.
A good sign for sure!
It’s a bit of bad luck though on the Xeon side. The next 2 years will be the worst time in that product line’s history relative to competition.
Well, since it is unlikely that Apple will update CPU on Mac Pro in 2020, 2021 falls nicely with Intel's next meaning update on Xeon line. Intel 2020 doesn't look hot but 2021 will bring new Xeons with DDR5 and PCIe 5.0. Mid-Cycle GPU and Afterburner update probably going to be more important for Mac Pro.
What updates would they do for afterburner? Firmware updates to give it more options beyond ProRes acceleration? Doesn't seem like they'd need new hardware given they said it can be reprogrammed.
I think they've stated that they want to keep the MacPro current from now on, unlike the Trashcan where they literally couldn't upgrade anything. So I expect speed bumps etc to occur every 3-4 years at least
This is the problem - tech has improved over the last 6 years, but the next two years will probably see the same level of improvement as the last 6. So while my trashcan is still acceptable (although the macmini is now faster), the current 2019 Macpro will go out of date much quicker.
Is this a fair assumption?
Will a new xeon 2021 CPU plug straight into the existing motherboard? it will it require a whole new machine?
Is this a fair assumption?
Will a new xeon 2021 CPU plug straight into the existing motherboard? it will it require a whole new machine?
I don't think we've gotten firm details for anything besides the 14+++ and 10nm -SP Xeons (someone can correct me), but the 10nm Xeons will be a different socket.
In general I'd say it's smart to never consider that future CPUs will be compatible. At best, you can upgrade down the line to a better processor for cheaper from the same batch.
Either way, it doesn't much matter. 5,1s have been stuck on the same CPUs for 8 years and can still do a variety of tasks nearly at par with modern computers thanks to the PCIe expansion. Even PCIe 2 hasn't been a significant limiting factor in graphics performance. So the Mac Pro will remain feasible for many years to come.
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depends heavily on why you are getting the machine.
For instance, the medium specced MP7,1 i purchased can easily handle 6k 10bit footage w/ effects in its native codec.
Will in 10 years will i need to edit 12k 24bit footage? who knows? But in the last 6 years we've JUST started to seeing 4k adoption in the everyday consumers home today.
And by that time, the upgrades to FULLY UPGRADE (like the $53,000 fully specced version) will be SO much cheaper, and can actually still handle very demanding tasks of tomorrow.
And all that high-res, high bitrate, high frame rate, wide-gamut stuff will probably just end up on 6 inch phone screens or SDR LCD TVs for most people
But yeah, if you don't need all the power now it'll be much cheaper to upgrade down the line. Speculatively maxing a piece of hardware is a pretty poor use of your money if you aren’t making use of that speed at the time you buy.
And all that high-res, high bitrate, high frame rate, wide-gamut stuff will probably just end up on 6 inch phone screens or SDR LCD TVs for most people
LOL more true than you know. But when you are presenting to the client, they like to see the original on a BIG ol OLED screen, and get their pants wow'd off.
We're not so much into video. More CAD / rendering. But with multi screens, so Imac won't work for us. Macmini not powerful enough. We're hard pushed to deny that Threadripper in an ugly noisy box is not the best way forward.