New Mac Pro is quad-core Xeon

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Dan Warne07 August 2006, 10:16 PM

Apple has unveiled the replacement for its PowerMac G5: a machine based on two dual-core Xeon processors at clock speeds of up to 3GHz, with room for four hard drives, two optical drives and 16GB RAM.


Mac Pro inside view

Apple has announced the replacement for its PowerMac G5 is the Mac Pro, based on two dual-core Xeon processors at clock speeds of up to 3GHz.

Apple is among the first manufacturers to use Xeons broadly in a line of mainstream desktop PCs. Intel has targeted the chips towards servers and priced them accordingly.

Apple chose Xeon over Core 2 Duo because it can be used in multiprocessor configurations, whereas Core 2 Duo can only be installed as a single CPU.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in his keynote speech at the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference this morning that the quad-core Xeons were 1.6 to 2.1 times faster than the fastest quad-core G5 system was, based on the SPEC2000 benchmark.

macprofront150.jpgThe new Mac Pro comes in a similar Aluminium tower to the PowerMac G5 but has been redesigned internally to accommodate two optical drives, four 3.5" hard drives, up to 16GB of RAM, three PCI Express slots and one double-size PCI Express graphics slot.

In Australia, the machines have gone on sale at the Apple online store from $3,999, which includes two dual-core 2.66GHz Xeons, 1GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive and an NVIDIA 7300GT graphics card.

If you want the Apple upgrade to 16GB RAM, that's a mere $9,409 extra. The system uses the more expensive server-grade fully buffered, error correcting RAM (DDR2 667 FB DIMM EC).


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789:

WTF? Too costy, who in their right mind buy this and spend and extra $9,409 for 16gig of ram. I guess it is ok but very costy.

29 February 2008, 8:28 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Bryan:

Who in their right mind buys memory from Apple anyway? They're overpriced.

Note that there is a difference between the quality of what they're offering and what they charge for RAM installation. Those who have dealt with Apple for years know NOT to buy RAM from Apple.

Have you priced out what bargain basement RAM costs these days anyway? Buy it, and suffer. What's in the Mac Pros is supposedly "Server-grade" quality.

Apple's RAM is inflated, but there are many online alternatives to buying quality RAM. It does such disservice to these machines when supposed "pundits" whine and groan about the cost of RAM and such.

29 February 2008, 8:28 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

jbelkin:

Here in the US, pricing for the 2 GB is $450-$500 so it's still around $4k USD to pack it full ... but if you can spend $4k on RAM to begin with, you can charge another $10k on your project and recoup even your Apple RAM ...

29 February 2008, 8:28 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Shawn:

This machine takes DDR 2 667 FB DIMMs. A server class line of RAM. Do not buy standerd dimms they will not work.

29 February 2008, 8:28 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

tink:

Less expensive then Dell Xeons dual dual-core offerings and slick as hell. I like the pull out internal HD drive bays al la xServe. Whipi lets run XP on it.....NOT!

29 February 2008, 8:28 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Martin Hill:

To poster 789 above, These are the cheapest quad-core systems you can buy. Have you configured up a dual Xeon workstation from any other PC manufacturer? If you do so, you will find that Apple is about $1000 less expensive than the equivalent Dell or HP dual Xeon workstation. These are processing monsters that are aimed at publishing and video professionals, not you perhaps? :-)

Average consumers would go for a Aus$800 Intel Mac Mini or the Aus$1700 iMac which still boast the fantastic Intel Core Duo processors.

Extreme gamers who want the fastest CPUs and upgradeable graphics could be pretty well served by these babies as well, particularly with Bootcamp making them the cheapest Quad core Intel Xeon Windows computers you can buy as well.

However, if you are not a hard core gamer who wants the fastest possible CPUs, Apple currently doesn't have a low to medium end model with say just a single Conroe (Core 2 Duo) that features PCI slots for swapping in beefier video cards etc, so that might be the issue that would stop you.

-Mart

29 February 2008, 8:28 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Antuan Ochomma:

What interests me most is, whether there is any significant difference between quad xeons and signle Conroe with respect to gaming... Also, their website Video Card frist person shooter benchmarks state that FX 4500 is much zippier then ATi's x1900x , which doesn't make sense, because everyone on the web keeps saying that FX series in general were not desinced for gaming, and that they actually show poor performance in any DirectX FPS.

If anyone has any idea, how is that possible and whether Apple could possible support other video cards, please let me know!

29 February 2008, 8:28 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Antuan Ochomma:

Sorry for a few grammar mistakes, here in Russia english isn't that popular yet ;0 )

29 February 2008, 8:28 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

eric g:

I was researching this topic and found out that this machine supports up to 4 7300 gt's or something at the same time in something called dual dvi link. 4 7300's 16 gb or ram and a 64 bit dual core quad core processors....has apple gone mad?

29 February 2008, 8:28 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Will Penington:

The reason these are so cheap, is that everyone else sells xeon boxes as SERVERS, with a whole heap of stuff designed for that purpose. This is one of the few Xeon workstations, and definitly the only one being massmarketed.

29 February 2008, 8:28 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

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