What is your biggest disappointment with nMP?

[ybz90]

But it´s just ridiculous that they can´t make higher clock speeds for the 12-core.

It's how multiple cores and turbo has works. It's not ridiculous but is simply a function of physics, specifically dissipating greater heat in an identically sized chip. It's also why getting more cores is not recommended unless you're going to actually use them as non-threaded jobs will actually be slower.

See this insightful piece by Mr. Arment: http://www.marco.org/2013/11/26/new-mac-pro-cpus

Cheers.

 

[ABCDEF-Hex]

Give it a rest

Its a question and not the war

For me drive speeds and luck of internal expansion as well bench marks

What are yours?

You just look silly when everyone shoots down your "evidence".

 

[Varmann]

The bad design!
It is small, sleek and beautiful, but…..

It is designed to use external connections for storage and other devices. More so than the old MacPro. My Mac Pro has 19(!) wires connected to it. Of course, you would only be able to connect 16 to the nMP, but I and many others would certainly fill all connecters, and in addition have a couple of external hubs.

The nMP and its connection panel do not seem to be designed to in a nice way accommodate 16 semiflexible wires. Forget the twist-feature, and be happy if you will be able to exchange a single usb or TB connector without removing all others to be able to access it. And having that birds nest on my desk? Forget it!

 

[theSeb]

Does this really need another thread when you have the "Why I won't be buying" and other similar threads.

Who are you trying so hard to convince? Yourself?

 

[ABCDEF-Hex]

This too shall pass -

Does this really need another thread when you have the "Why I won't be buying" and other similar threads.

Who are you trying so hard to convince? Yourself?

Several months ago many posters questioned whether there should be a new category for the nMP and the moderator said "No".

The threads will be like Apple & Oranges (sorry - ApplesAOranges).

Apples - Thunderbolt storage, 4K displays, etc.,

Oranges - GPU update, USB 3.0, internal storage, thermal paste.

 

[LPZ]

only single CPU option but dual GPU's whether your workflow demands them or not.

For this reason, I'll be switching (regretfully, since I've use MPs for many years) to a linux workstation. Dual 8-core Intel® Xeon® Processors E5-2650 v2 and a single AMD FirePro V3900. About $4800.

 

[sirio76]

Who are you trying so hard to convince? Yourself?

He has to.

 

[Quu]

For this reason, I'll be switching (regretfully, since I've use MPs for many years) to a linux workstation. Dual 8-core Intel® Xeon® Processors E5-2650 v2 and a single AMD FirePro V3900. About $4800.

I'm sure you'll love that system.

 

[Cubemmal]

Nothing, it's pretty much perfect.

 

[LPZ]

I'm sure you'll love that system.

I hope so. I've used linux before, but I think I'll miss OS X.

Having 16 physical cores handling 32 threads will allow me to run my threaded code faster than would be possible on any new Mac Pro.

That said, I understand that Apple's interests lie elsewhere. They won't miss me.

 

[Quu]

I hope so. I've used linux before, but I think I'll miss OS X.

Having 16 physical cores handling 32 threads will allow me to run my threaded code faster than would be possible on any new Mac Pro.

That said, I understand that Apple's interests lie elsewhere. They won't miss me.

Honestly it is now comically easy getting a Hackintosh to function. Every single thing works even using Apples own software updates through the App Store.

If you end up not being able to get along with Linux you could always use OS X instead.

 

[riggles]

Yeah. It's a heat thing. The 12 just can't crank up all that high without melting /URL]

I think that's why some were clammoring for dual sockets. You can put two faster 6-cores in.

 

[LPZ]

Honestly it is now comically easy getting a Hackintosh to function. Every single thing works even using Apples own software updates through the App Store.

If you end up not being able to get along with Linux you could always use OS X instead.

Don't think my employer (who will own the machine) can go that route.

 

[riggles]

Honestly it is now comically easy getting a Hackintosh to function. Every single thing works even using Apples own software updates through the App Store.

Speedstep and power management now work with Xeons? Dual-socket mobos now work out-of-the-box?

 

[dugbug]

Image

I see both the 12 and 8 core beating the 6 core.

Those are not utilizing Opencl on the spare gpu correct. That's where a significant amount of umph is in the new mp

 

[handsome pete]

There is a spot for a second SSD port on the second video card but they chose to leave that port off. A professional who cares about using a Xeon with ECC RAM would understandably also see purpose in a mirrored hard drive for redundancy. 1 TB of professional work disappearing in a "flash" when the SSD burns up. Even if you run backups, you'll lose days to weeks by taking the Mac into Apple to get the proprietary replacement part.

You'd like to spend that much on additional PCIe flash just to have it act as a mirror? Seems like a waste.

 

[macines]

The lack of power. The super slow clock speed of the 12-core. The crazy prices for 8-core and 12-core when their clock speed is lower than the 6-core, which makes the 6-core a faster computer. Makes no sense at all. Oh and dual graphic cards, for me it´s an overkill, I just need one.



That too.

Not true at all:

http://www.primatelabs.com/blog/2013/11/estimating-mac-pro-performance/

Look at both the single- and the multicore performance of the cpus.

It seems that at this time the 8 core will be the best option for most middle-rate tasks.

While the 12 core does offer better multicore performance obviously.

I do agree with you on that dual graphics, most people, including me, won't even need the standard option of the D300s.

 

[Quu]

Don't think my employer (who will own the machine) can go that route.

Ah okay, I thought you were buying it.

Speedstep and power management now work with Xeons? Dual-socket mobos now work out-of-the-box?

Yep all works great. Even dual-GPU's work now under Mavericks without hacks.

Lots of people have built SR-2 based Dual-Socket systems and I've seen quite a few Asus Z9 based setups too using newer E5 XEON's.

Every major release of OS X it gets easier and easier. And Apple has actually included some Hackintosh kexts in their gatekeeper whitelist. And no I'm not kidding. Their motivations for doing so are anyone's guess but they are in there.

So my advice to people who are disappointed with the nMP and don't want to go with an older Mac Pro, build a hackintosh and get exactly the specifications you want.

 

[unfragile]

Why did not apple include two slots of SSDs, one that we can later upgrade, they decide to leave the exact same place where's the other empty.

It's quite obvious what Apple will do in nMacPro rev2, that place will have a SSD too.

 

[fastlanephil]

Not really a nMac Pro problem but my dismay is a lack of OpenCL coding I believe even with Apple's own Logic Pro X . I hope this dosen't involve too much recoding work for developers so that those dual GPU's will be of some use for DAW hosts and instrument plugins.

 

[koban4max]

Lack of USB 2.0 & Firewire!!!
It's a beautiful machine! I'd better stop drinking that KoolAid!

what you smoking? it comes with 3.0 usb. and firewire.

 

[Quu]

Why did not apple include two slots of SSDs, one that we can later upgrade, they decide to leave the exact same place where's the other empty.

It's quite obvious what Apple will do in nMacPro rev2, that place will have a SSD too.

It may be due to PCIe lanes. The platform has 40 Total.

I don't know yet what the GPU's use but they could be using 16 lanes each or 8 lanes each. If they use 16 each then that's 32 out of the 40 gone leaving only 8 for Thunderbolt, USB 3.0 and the PCIe SSD.

 

[peabo]

In multicore yes, but not in single core. Which is crazy!

Also the new 4-core should have won the old 12-core. These minor 10-20% gains are a joke!

Why would anyone buy a Mac Pro for single-threaded operations? Buy an iMac if you want the fastest single-core performance.

Also, lower base clock speeds do not indicate how a machine will perform. In single threaded operations, the 12-core will run at 3.5GHz, not 2.7GHz as it can turbo boost and sustain it for a lot longer than a laptop or iMac.

 

[handsome pete]

what you smoking? it comes with 3.0 usb. and firewire.

I think you missed the sarcasm.

 

[riggles]

Yep all works great. Even dual-GPU's work now under Mavericks without hacks.

Lots of people have built SR-2 based Dual-Socket systems and I've seen quite a few Asus Z9 based setups too using newer E5 XEON's.

Every major release of OS X it gets easier and easier. And Apple has actually included some Hackintosh kexts in their gatekeeper whitelist. And no I'm not kidding. Their motivations for doing so are anyone's guess but they are in there.

So my advice to people who are disappointed with the nMP and don't want to go with an older Mac Pro, build a hackintosh and get exactly the specifications you want.

Wow. I just go by the tonymacx86 buying guide, and the December one says that 2011 sockets still don't support power management features. So they've got wrong or maybe haven't updated it?