Sorting Out the Real Hardware Specs of the New 2013 Mac Pro

So it didn't turn out to be a big expandable tower, but it is a pretty interesting new Mac Pro nonetheless. From what has been released about the specs, I'm thinking we can figure out exactly what's in it- of course it'll be mostly custom pieces inside.

CPU(s): 12-Core Intel Xeon
Hmm- maybe Xeon E5-2600? Ivy Bridge-EP Socket 2011? This could be great news for those using the x79 chipset.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Intel-Xeon-Ivy-Bridge-EP-Server,21972.html.

Storage: PCIe Solid State Drive
Hmm- maybe something like this:


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227724

Graphics: Dual AMD FirePro
Hmm, I wonder if one of the options is this one- i spotted it because of the 6 mini DPs. Since there are confirmed to be 2 cards inside, CrossFire support would be native.

AMD 100-505746 FirePro W600 2GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 Workstation Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195115
http://www.amazon.com/ATI-FirePro-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-100-505746/dp/B008MHAMT2/

Also found this related article on Ars:

A Critical Look at the New Mac Pro
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/06/a-critical-look-at-the-new-mac-pro/#p3

This is all super preliminary and speculative- What do you think?

I am crossing my fingers that it will use Ivy Bridge-E. The PCI-E SDD is very nice and I wonder what if any changes will someone be able to make to the machine once it bought. :-/

CPU should be new Ivy-E, from 6Core to 12Core

Graphics, 7 teraflops total and 6GB (each ?) and in the slide show 528GB/s should be AMD FirePro W9000 (maximum configuration)

http://www.amd.com/us/products/workstation/graphics/ati-firepro-3d/w9000/Pages/w9000.aspx#3
W9000 spec
Memory: 6GB GDDR5, 384-bit, 264GB/s (x2 = 528GB/s)
Performance: 4TFLOPs (down clock to 3.5TFLOPS due to TDP ?)

so no haswell-cpus in this one?

Click to expand...

Intel will not release them for a good year after this goes on sale. Xeon chips always follow along after the consumer stuff has been discontinued. Its the Intel way.

Adrian B

Scratch that I see Ivy Bridge isn't until Q1 2014, so the Haswell Xeon will be about two years after the new Mac hits the market. LOL

Adrian B said:

Intel will not release them for a good year after this goes on sale. Xeon chips always follow along after the consumer stuff has been discontinued. Its the Intel way.

Adrian B

Scratch that I see Ivy Bridge isn't until Q1 2014, so the Haswell Xeon will be about two years after the new Mac hits the market. LOL

Click to expand...

Wow, that is definitely an interesting business approach. I wonder if they are doing that to allow the consumer chips to be bought up and then distributed.

All I have to say is CROSSFIRE!!! That would be just too perfect though. I have my hopes, but am not holding my breath!

"This could be great news for those using the x79 chipset."

That would be me ; )


Have the 1st suggested 2011 LGA X79 UD5 with i7-3930K 6 core / 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 Quad Channel RAM - fingers crossed I can pop in next gen ivy bridge cpu and take it to the next level???

Had the ocz revo x2 "pci-e ssd" for a few years and its been working perfect with a couple "tweaks" Gets about 600MB/s Read - not bad for 200 bucks….

tonymacx86 said:

View attachment 58603​

So it didn't turn out to be a big expandable tower, but it is a pretty interesting new Mac Pro nonetheless. From what has been released about the specs, I'm thinking we can figure out exactly what's in it- of course it'll be mostly custom pieces inside.

CPU(s): 12-Core Intel Xeon
Hmm- maybe Xeon E5-2600? Ivy Bridge-EP Socket 2011? This could be great news for those using the x79 chipset.

View attachment 58605​

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Intel-Xeon-Ivy-Bridge-EP-Server,21972.html.

Storage: PCIe Solid State Drive
Hmm- maybe something like this:
View attachment 58604

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227724

Graphics: Dual AMD FirePro
Hmm, I wonder if one of the options is this one- i spotted it because of the 6 mini DPs. Since there are confirmed to be 2 cards inside, CrossFire support would be native.
View attachment 58606
AMD 100-505746 FirePro W600 2GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 Workstation Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195115
http://www.amazon.com/ATI-FirePro-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-100-505746/dp/B008MHAMT2/

Also found this related article on Ars:

A Critical Look at the New Mac Pro
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/06/a-critical-look-at-the-new-mac-pro/#p3

This is all super preliminary and speculative- What do you think?

Click to expand...

Mirrors_ said:

So does this mean we might see SLEEP support for x79 motherboards?

Click to expand...

A good question that leads the even more important question of which motherboard(s) will work best?

If I ultimately decide that the new Mac Pro isn't what I want, I'll eagerly await to see what my next Hackintosh will be built with.

Apple/Ive 2021:
"Imagine, with the new MacPro, and this is really amazing, you now can put SSDs INSIDE the computer and it's a so awful, the beauty of the MacPro without cables, so clear, straight and unbelievable design with highest integration ..."

BR Kassia, Berlin

I still question if the new Mac Pro is based on the Intel Ivy Bridge-E/P LGA2011 platform considering that there are Haswell Xeon server chips that would likely run cooler in such a small form-factor. I also think it would be easier for Intel to implement an iGPU on a Haswell Xeon then on an Ivy Bridge-E/P Xeon.

We will see soon enough. I only bring this up because I have never seen a Thunderbolt implementation on a platform without an Intel Graphics subsystem / iGPU (regardless of the presence of an included nVidia or AMD video solution). Maybe that will change with Thunderbolt 2 but then again maybe not.

I dont think we will see Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt 2 on any LGA2011 platform unless it has an Intel iGPU and I have heard no indication that Ivy Bridge-E/P would bring that to the table. It was my understanding that there would be no new chipset for LGA2011. So X79 is it apparently, which, should also indicate that we wouldn't see a rash of new motherboards using the same old X79 chipset,......even after Ivy Bridge-E/P is launched,....

Haswell is the best most likely choice to integrate new solutions and technologies IMO.