And for the sake of ****** and giggles... (something about seeing specs on a page is fulfilling)...
GOOD (4 cores)
3.7GHz Intel 'Ivy Bridge E5v2' Quad-Core XEON CPU
8GB 1866MHz DDR3 RAM (expandable to 128GB)
512GB Solid State Storage
nVidia GeForce GT750 2GB Graphics
BETTER (6 cores)
3.4GHz Intel 'Ivy Bridge E5v2' Hex-Core XEON CPU
8GB 1866MHz DDR3 RAM (expandable to 128GB)
512GB Solid State Storage
nVidia GeForce GT750 2GB Graphics
Not sure why pulling stuff out of the air when the E5 1600 equivalents in the Core i7 space have been leaked a couple months back and posted into these forums.
http://www.cpu-world.com/news_2013/...ge-E_extreme_CPUs_to_launch_in_September.html
Note the RAM expansion limitation is OS X driven not hardware driven. Unless that is uncorked in OS X 10.9 Mac Pro's will still be stuck at 96 in OS X mode.
BEST (8 cores)
Dual 2.9GHz Intel 'Ivy Bridge E5v2' Quad-Core XEON CPU
Not particularly likely at all since the current Mac Pro starts at 12. Why would it even be remotely possible that using technology a full tick-and-tock cycle into the future that Apple would backslide back to 8?
Standard on all models:
5 x USB 3.0 ports (2 on front, 3 on back)
Not. Standard USB 3.0 discrete controllers have 4 USB 3.0 ports. Apple is highly unlikely to also stick a USB 3.0 hub inside the Mac Pro just to juice the port count.
Either there will be 4 total. Or more reasonably Apple will split the USB controller between front and back. Something like front ports handled by chipset so USB 2.0 ( e.g. 2 or perhaps 4 ports ) and back handled by discrete USB 3.0 controller (e.g., 4 ports).
3 Thunderbolt Ports (data only) (1 on front, 2 on back)
LOL not even remotely probable. There is no "data only" Thunderbolt. It is a hand waving concept that folks have made up.
Never mind that all TB controllers are capped at two physical ports max. There are no 3 or more port TB controllers. The whole point of simpler to route daisy chain networks is that don't need gobs of ports on a single device.
10Gigabit Ethernet (10GE) Port
Gigabit Ethernet Port
10GbE is doubtful on a single CPU package Mac Pro. It is pretty much tapped out on PCI-e lanes if going to try to support 4 PCI-e slots and Thunderbolt. It is short on bandwidth.
Not surprised if that happens.
No Firewire (TB converter available)
Will be surprised if this happens. The sheer cost and volume of legacy FW equipment typically attached to Mac Pros in A/V sector that would cause a riot for really no go reason. It isn't like Apple needs ran out of edge space for a FW socket or ran out of board space for a FW controller. The mini has a FW port.
This would probably drop down to just two FW ports. (probably on front ), but zero is evidence of drinking way too much cupertino kool-aid. It is pretty far disconnected from the user base. Especially since FW TB dongles are both chain enders (reducing value of TB socket) and limited on power (not as widely useful for higher end equipment).
Up to six x 768GB SSD Storage
Kind of a waste since somewhat likely that not all of those will be 6Gb/s SATA connections. There will likely be a few 3.5" drives since if use C601 won't have that many lanes to drive that fast and will be given up lots of storage capacity.
Kept the specs pretty much within realism. Smaller chassis, all Solid State Storage. No Optical. No 3.5" bays.
If sticking with E5 v2 and 4 PCI-e slots to carry 4 GPU cards the chassis isn't going to get substantially smaller. You have to pick a side. Either want 4 cards and high TDP budget or want smaller box. One of the two.
