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Why are you NOT buying a nMP?

liquid stereo said:
I'd buy it if it were here today/yesterday.

My 2008 MacPro has served me well. Its time for something else.

Cheers!
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Me too.

My 2008 Mac Pro has served me well, but the last half year I´ve been using my partners PC with 64GB RAM and A Titan GPU. It works well in Premiere and Resolve with our 5K footage.

Even if I don´t notice that it´s a PC when I´m using the software, let´s face it, you have to get out of the apps and into Windows quite a few times a day, and it´s not a place I´m very happy to be.

The PC runs fairly stable, but it crashes a few times a week, but I think it´s more often than not related to Premiere.

As soon as soon cash are coming in I´m getting a new MP, personally I would never buy the old style MP again (I will probably keep the one I have though)
 
I would not gamble on a radical new design. Too many past examples that different issues are discovered during the first generation.
 
I work primarily in the film industry. Currently I'm editing and handling post-production of a feature film off my 2009 Mac Pro 8c 2.93. It still has the 5870 in it which is showing its age but so far I've been fine. I'm not buying a nMP right now because money is tight at the moment, and if I throw a 7970 3GB in here, and an SSD from OWC or their pricey PCIe option…this thing will last me for quite a while longer, including the ability to edit 4K with more ease.

The greatest bottleneck in my system is the I/O. The lack of USB3 and Thunderbolt. There are cards for USB3 but they're a little sketchy. That's the one thing I don't like and can't do a lot about.

I don't lose any money because of a lack of power in my system. I could do the work I'm doing today on a 2008 Mac Pro or even a 2006 original Mac Pro. It wouldn't be as easy when it comes to render time, but it would still be possible.

I've tried to be more conservative and smart about what sort of power I need or don't need. Other then seeing the render bar move faster and be able to lay some more effects over my video with realtime playback, there isn't anything the nMP can do for me that my current machine can't.

It sure is cool though… ;)
 
1. Just bought a new iMac in June. No need to upgrade again as that machine hammers out what it needs to.

2. I will be waiting upon graduation to get my Mac Pro (graduation gift). Figured it would be a great gift to use for my profession upon graduating.

3. Wait until the first revision is done and get a more stable (if need be) device around a year and a half from now.
 
If I had the money to spare (plus could really justify to myself I needed that much power), I'd buy one.
I only really saw the minuses to the design when details of the new MP were first released but now it's kind of growing on me.
 
Well I have 2010 3.33 Hex Core, Sata3 card with Samsung Pro 512GB SSD, quad port USB 3 card and an ATI HD 7970.

As I see it I have a quite few more years of life in the old machine yet. I use the Mac Pro for video editing and photoshop work and I have to say it does what I need.
 
My reasons:

1) I’m not in the market for new work computer, as I just had one bought for me about a year ago using 2x2630v1 (Sandy Bridge). That computer should hopefully hang around for at least 3 more years.

2) I would never buy this much computer on my own dime. I use my personal machines as terminals to bigger machines/clusters when doing work from home, or just doing the writing and figure making for papers/grants. So, if this is really my computer and not a work computer, I’m buying the MBP, like I have, or a PC desktop (just put one together that will primarily be my wife’s).

3) My work does not currently use one GPU except in the rarest of cases, and only a few very early development tools are starting to use GPGPU computing for multiple GPUs. Maybe in a another year there will be more progress on this front in my field, but I’d bet more like 3 years for somethings and probably not in my lifetime for others. RAM is just going to be a huge problem as most jobs just can’t get chunked up to go to a single core without using, what to GPUs would be, relatively high RAM (ie 500MB-2GB) per process.

4) I have big data. The other day I added it up and I had 33TBs of drives attached to my computer. Now that was because I was making some off site backups and copying things over from another group’s external, but still, its 24TBs of disks spread over a RAID1, a RAID5 and my boot disk. Thunderbolt peripherals to do that would cost a lot.

5) My “big computer” work is not tied to OSX. I love OSX as my personal machine and as the machine I do “light” computational tasks like photo editing, word processing and web browsing, but that’s what the MBP is for. You can frankly get better bang for your buck with specially configured linux workstations for what I do.

6) OSX is often times slower for what I do. I once benchmarked what should be a CPU bound task on OSX and linux, and the linux machine was ~2x faster despite having CPUs that should be more like 10% faster. I talked with others and they have noticed similar things for various tasks. OSX just has more overhead CPU uses and code for what I do is just developed on linux, which usually means it works in OSX, but maybe not as well.

If money ever stops being an object for me, I’d maybe consider the nMP for my personal computer because I like OSX and it would allow me to do more of the heave lifting from home when I might want to (and more computers to use the better as sometimes my work machine and clusters I have access to are oversubscribed already). But for the foreseeable future I won’t be in the market for a nMP. Maybe if they release a 2 CPU + 1 GPU version for the nMP, it could work its way into my professional computer assuming centralized storage of big data, but that’s not likely.
 
Two Reasons.

1) Never buy rev. A of anything.

2)
dollars-630x419.jpeg


My Octo 3,1 and Hackintosh will do the job till a better/more economical solution presents itself.
 
Because I don't need dual high end GPU's. I want fast processors, SSD, lots of memory, etc. So I guess I'll be getting a top of the line iMac. Sigh... Maybe in a couple years applications will take great advantage of the GPU's, but right now there are not too many.
 
Lets see.....

1-No, because I hope to get at least 5 years of usage from my current machine
2-No, because the prohibitive cost of external peripherals for the n MP
3-No, because I like to tinker with my equipment. The nMP is "untinkerable" (in some extent)
4-No, because the cost
5-No, because if buying right now, I want to know about quality issues in the early batches....

5 nos never do a positive.....:D

:):apple:
 
One reason: OpenCL.

It is not the answer to everything. I detest being told how I will use my computer by locking me into proprietary parts and shoddy APIs that can't even guarantee uniformity across major GPU revisions.

I suspect many buyers of the nMP are going to find themselves in the situation where the second GPU remains completely unused 99% of the time.

-SC
 
LordVic said:
Price alone isn't the factor why i am skipping the Mac Pro.

as a long time PC user, who is currently on probably 6 year old hardware (Athlon II x4 @ 3.0Ghz w/ 12GB ram), this is the year to upgrade.

Based on the old Mac pro size, dimensions and options, I put the Mac pro right at the top fo my list as potential replacements. its a computer with plethora of internal expansion capabilities. that is also extremely powerfull, Quiet, and looks good.

Unfortunately, the New Mac Pro is all compromise. While it looks really cool, and if circumstances were any different, It would remain at the top of my list. unfortunately, the new design is a complete non starter for me and the nMP gets stricken off my list completely.

I'm not a media producer. I don't use OpenCL. I have no use for workstation level graphics cards. making it so that the core "design" is a fixed theme, means no matter what, I have to get 2x workstation graphics cards and only one CPU. So far, they've indicated no options otherwise. I'm a database administrator. I need lots of ram and the more cores the better! Highly parallel report generation. those 2 GPU's i have no choice but to buy now are going to sit idle 99.9% of the time. I would have been better served if you could customise the loadout. 2 CPU and 1 GPU would have been ideal. Replacing those GPU's too with a midrange consumer card would have also been welcome (who doesn't want to play the odd game now and then).

Then, the compromise on expandibility also makes it a non starter. External devices isn't a suitable replacement for internal. its a compromise at best. An example i've used to demonstrate is my situation. Currently, my desktop computer contains everything internal. 3 HDD's. 2 SSDs, Memory card reader. 2 optical drives, and a TV Tuner card (since my PC also does my Live TV streaming in the house)

my house is tiny as well. my home office is a room that is 8'x5'. I have just enough room for a desk. that desk has just enough room for 3 monitors, my keyboard, Mousepad and a large dinner plate. Where is this tower supposed to go? Nevermind that, Where is this tower AND the 3-4 different expansion thunderbolt devices supposed to go? what about the dozens of wires now sitting on my desk? Now each one requires it's own THunderbolt cable and will require additional power outlets for each device, which means upgrading my small UPS! Currently my workstation computer sits on the floor at the back of my desk. Where I can put my feet up and keep them warm :p

And almost none of that consideration also includes the fact that, while the nMP price itself doesn't seem too unreasonable, you wlil have no choice but to spend additional hundreds, if not thousands on Thunderbolt based expansion bays. A cost that a normal tower doesn't include.

So yeah. Apples move to a appliance instead of a pro computer has completely elliminated me from purchasing this. And Apple has absolutely zero products that will even remotely fit that need. So unfortunately, I will have to go the rout of a custom desktop that I can hopefully Hackintosh
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It seems like you'd benefit from a NAS/SAN of some sort to house those drives (and perhaps add some redundancy and speed). In my case I run multiple devices (MBA, Mini, & PC) and the NAS is always on and available. It also collapsed my data storage requirements, because now stuff is stored in one place instead of many.
 
If I was a professional doing heavy duty number crunching, video or audio production, design and such like, I would get a Mac Pro.

If I was running a small business or other organisation, with a need to store and access data, but only a moderate processing requirements I would go for a Mac Mini Server.

As it is I am a teacher, with a need to knock out course outlines, assignments and tests, keep records, search for information (and investigate suspected plagiarism… usually easily found in a couple of minutes)…. And also handle photographs taken to go with press releases and on websites of a local sports club…. And communications…..

Basic requirements, similar to many others……

Still adequately served by a humble, base model 2009 Mac Mini with an extra 4 GB of RAM, and updated OS X.

None the less, dropping by here to see geekish excitement and anticipation, about something many will justify acquiring rather than really need, is an amusing diversion. What's Santa gonna bring ya'll?
 
My 4,1>5,1 hex 3.33 24 gig Mac Pro with 4 internal SSDs and 3 internal spinnners has yet to be brought to its knees by my audio workflow. I supect this MP will last me a good many years. I'll wait for Rev C of the nMP, or not.
 
The machines specs are not good for 3D work. You can get a whole lot more computer for far less money and do the same job.
 
Nope....

My 2012 5,1 Hex with an ATI 7970 will serve me well for at least a few years.

I'm also hoping that rev B or C of the nMP is more to my liking. If it isn't then I'll go HackinTosh.
 
I flip-flop between getting a top end iMac, keeping my aging 2009 Quad for another year (I've added 256GB SSD boot and 24GB of ram over the years but the CPU just isn't cutting it compared to macbook pros from a year ago) and the base nMP.

I don't need 2x GPUs and would have rather saved $500 on base price or have it come with 512GB SSD at least for the price. My budget doesn't allow for the 6c when you add in TB drives + 32GB Ram.

It boils down to unless the nMP quad is somehow 2x faster than the BTO i7 iMac at crunching Raw files I may just end up downgrading and plugging in my NEC screen to it and calling it another 4 years.
 
ybz90 said:
Sorry for offtopic, but what do you find sketchy about USB3 addon cards?
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I haven't been able to find any of them that are a slam dunk for reviews online. They all seem 50/50 no matter which cards someone points me to…even after researching here on MR I can't get a straight answer of which one is safe to buy and which one isn't. Seems the problems of speed or power or boot issues, etc. are hard to pin down.

If you can provide me a solid no BS answer I'de be a happy camper but so far I've come up short. Don't want to head to Amazon and find a 3/5 star rating with some saying "It's great!" and others saying "I can't boot!" Don't like spending money on products of that sort.
 
sidabet said:
Well I have 2010 3.33 Hex Core, Sata3 card with Samsung Pro 512GB SSD, quad port USB 3 card and an ATI HD 7970.
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Did you need to run power to your quad port USB 3.0 card? If so, can you tell me which cable you used and where you got the power from? Thx
 
Derpage said:
The machines specs are not good for 3D work. You can get a whole lot more computer for far less money and do the same job.
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"3D work" is kind of broad. Which programs? Which renderers?

It might not suit certain scenarios, but others will take advantage of it.
 
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