When will a new Mac Pro arrive?

[PenGun]

August 9.

[SamReeves]

16? I'm still dogcrap happy with four.

[8x10 user]

FYI, Apples 12 core machine is now available. Personally I might hold out until next year for the 16 core version with 50 GBPS QPI vs the current 6.4 GBPS.

[Ron Marshall]

FYI, Apples 12 core machine is now available. Personally I might hold out until next year for the 16 core version with 50 GBPS QPI vs the current 6.4 GBPS.

I'd like to wait also, but my current machine is seven years old.

Ordered a quad core Mac Pro today.

[PenGun]

Stock Mac Pro

CPU Xeon W3530 2.8 Ghz My cost $340
Motherboard not sure typically $200. $300
1 Terra HD Drive $100
DVD burner $35
3 Gig Ram DDR3 $100
ATI Radeon 5770 $180
It's a nice case + PSU $250

So about $1280 and change. They charge you double what it's worth, well what I can buy the same parts for that is.

Hi ho.

[8x10 user]

Yeah, I couldn't wait tell next year so I'm building a PC. I've got the time and patience to tweak with it to get optimal performance, and I want to avoid the apple premium. I'm sure my decision is influenced by my negative experience with the quad core G5.

I did find out the Xeons are not bad at all. They are the same as the I7's only with an extra QPI except; for the W models, I believe. According to Toms hardware duel 3.3 ghz quad or six Xeons is faster then a six core I7 on photoshop. Of course the Xeons cost more due to the extra QPI link.

I decided to go for a well rounded build with liquid cooling (non conductive), 24 GB of performance ram, PCIe SSD, and generally awesome parts. I was looking at a duel xeon but then I figured an i7 was probably fast enough for now since I will probably swap out the CPU and motherboard in Q3 2011.

Some of the things that I don't like about the mac are:

*1033 mhz limited ram speed (yes I know its ECC, but my ram is 2000mhz cas 8)

*no performance cooling options.

*overpriced and limited SSD stock. No support for PCIe SSD's

*overpriced and limited video card and CPU options (on google shopping you can get the 2.93 GHZ hex core for $300 more then the 2.66, apple charges $600 per CPU)

*Liquid cooling a PC improves over-clocking capacity to the point were you can get a 40% performance increase. Overclocking is not an option on a mac.

Look at this system... $4,800 and it includes 2 3.33 ghz six core xeons (not even available on the mac yet), 16 GB ram and 2 15,000 RPM SAS drives. Much better deal in my opinion then the new apple.

http://cgi.ebay.com/DELL-WORKSTATION...ht_2613wt_1109

Although... this system still uses a server motherboard and ram. For best performance nothing will be a top end custom PC rig with the Classified SR-2 motherboard.

http://www.evga.com/articles/00537/

[8x10 user]

Also are there only 4 Dimm slots on the new mac? My motherboard has 6 and the SR-2 has 12. More slots is good because you can use a lower capacity and higher speed 2GB sticks or for the 4 GB ones for extreme ram levels. Just stay away from the 8GB sticks, as they don't perform all that well, yet apple uses them for the 32GB configuration... Go figure.

I like how apple talks about all the new technology such as the integrated memory controller on the CPU... As if the same technology hasn't been out on windows computers for a year.

[8x10 user]

If someone is stuck on buying a mac they should keep an eye on ebay. A lot of movie studios will buy a computer for a project and then sell it for a loss at the end of production. You can still buy applecare for used macs and this would be a good way to save some cash.

[8x10 user]

Someone on a budget may want to also consider a PC powered by AMD processors. For $300 you can get a six core AMD processor.

[PenGun]

Yup killer hardware is pretty cheap these days alright.