January 9, 2008

The New Big Mac Is Here (AKA Mac Pro (Early 2008))

It’s here!!! For more details and discussions, check out the Mac Rumours Forum pages. Key Features, 8 Core is standard (2.8GHz, 3.0GHz, or 3.2GHz ) 12MB L2 Cache per processor 1600MHz dual independent frontside buses. Video cards include ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT (256MB of GDDR3 memory), or NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (512MB) and NVIDIA […]

It’s here!!! For more details and discussions, check out the Mac Rumours Forum pages.

Key Features,
8 Core is standard (2.8GHz, 3.0GHz, or 3.2GHz )
12MB L2 Cache per processor
1600MHz dual independent frontside buses.
Video cards include ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT (256MB of GDDR3 memory), or NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (512MB) and NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 (1.5GB) – (it looks like the ATI Radeon HD 3870 was also an option, but is not currently available).
Option for 15,000-rpm Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) 3Gb/s HardDrives

You can see Apple’s performance claims, in realtions to past Mac Pros and Power MAcs here.

What was interesting to me was the comparision between the current 2.8 GHz Octo-Core and the recent 2.66 Ghz Quad-Core. The new machine should allow 2.3 times as many concurrently playing Platinum Verb reverb plug-ins and 1.8 times as many concurrently playing Sculpture modeling synths. That’s quite a significant bump in performance for the same money!

UPDATE: The order is in. The full spec will be,
8 Core 2.8GHz
8GB Ram
1 x 320GB HDD and 2 x 500GB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB
WiFi and Applecare

Like any sane person, I’m buying minimum spec on the RAM and HDDs and upgrading through my local store. In time, I’ll add my own Blue-Ray burner as an aftermarket option.

[tags] Mac Pro, Logic Studio [/tags]

Tagged Daily Life, Music Technology

Steve 17 years ago

So have you ordered one yet? 🙂

Fernando Gros 17 years ago

Umm…

….yes, see the update!

woot! congrats 🙂 I, of course, expect a full review once you’ve run it through its paces. And definitely a wise move adding your own upgrades. For the life of me, I don’t understand why OEMs charge so much for what you can buy elsewhere at substantial savings.

The only reason that makes sense to me is that they really don’t want to be in that market.

Toni 17 years ago

Shakes head at spec.

I’ve just decided not to move from 2-4Gb RAM on my AMD dual core system as it vastly exceeds all my performance needs right now. Fern – you must be SERIOUS about creating music with that thing.

As for the price of upgrades, it’s a major profit centre for ripping off all the non-techies that can’t decide between a Mac or a Dell.

SERIOUS in all caps? Yes, I guess so.

travis 17 years ago

I dont think the upgrade prices have anything to do with mac vs dell. As fernando pointed out, its a common strategy to discourage people from forcing apple into a non competitive market they dont wish to be in. And, to be honest, 4 gigs is really the minimum for any memory intensive applications. Id like to see you get any work done in final cut with a measly 2 gigs ( I sure cant). So… shakes head at yet another diehard pc fanboy. Just kidding, i didnt really shake my head. thats just dumb.

Travis – thanks for your comment. I’ve spent the first half of today working on a 48 track semi-orchestral piece in Logic; the sort of project that actually starts pushing those multiprocessor bars a little. I’m kind of tempted to take out some modules and try to run it on 2GB, just to see what happens.

But, I suspect we all know what the answer to that question would be – and I’ve seen enough Logic overload warnings already to last me the rest of my life!

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