128GB RAM and 16 cores / 32 threads X9DAI

[lightninhopkins]

@tibbon, They might be waiting to release the next gen stuff end of year or next year. Who really knows why. Only Apple knows. Keep in mind, there is no turbo boost functioning yet. I hope there is some sort of trick or update soon. Sucks without turbo. Imagine 16 cores adding 1GHz per core? That's like an additional computer of power with turbo.

@archelon, are you referring to the 690 video card? Most of the nvidia cards work. When I install with a quadro FX 1800, it doesn't work, but when I place the FX 1700 and then reboot with the FX 1800, it works. It's weird.

 

[celstark]

Yea, today's announcement has me bummed. I'd hoped a lot for native SB E support, which would make things like TurboBoost easier. The machines lightninghopkins and I have put together really are what Apple should have released today. But, they didn't.

Mine is up and largely stable. Well, it's stable unless I run xgrid. Heaven knows why, but when I do, the onboard ethernet locks up. I can do big transfers other ways w/o issue, but xgrid kills it. Under Linux, it's rock solid. I just finished ~7 days worth of jobs maxing out all cores and then some (load ~38 over 7 days) under Linux. At that load, the lack of TurboBoost would be a non-issue as it won't have been running above stock. But, not all jobs are quite so nicely parallelized.

What worries me, though, is down the road. This non-update could-well be the last dual-CPU rig. That'll make continued support of such machines outside of Apple much tougher. If you need more CPU than Apple provides, it may be a lot of work to get it going or even made impossible.

 

[archelon]

This is amazing. This is the machine Apple should have released today.

I agree. All Apple had to do was figure out how to add their EFI and SMC onto this kind of mobo.

All joking aside, my guess is that Apple wants to have as much attention on the new MacBook Pro with Retina display. Having a significantly upgraded Mac Pro would very likely force many people into a "geez, which one?" dilemma. Most people can't afford to get both, especially at the same time.

Anyway, a 15" display with 2880x1800 res. is impressive by itself. I'm keeping an eye on this new MacBook Pro.

@archelon, are you referring to the 690 video card? Most of the nvidia cards work. When I install with a quadro FX 1800, it doesn't work, but when I place the FX 1700 and then reboot with the FX 1800, it works. It's weird.

Looks like there was a misunderstanding on my part. But there's no misunderstanding the weirdness you've just described. If memory serves, you're using the OOB Nvidia kext/driver files, not the one you can download from Nvidia's web site?

 

[stubbz]

I want to build a similar machine but with 2 INTEL Xeon E5-2650

As far as I understand, this does not work with just running multibeast?
Any specific steps for a N00b you could run me through?

thanks!

 

[Paradigm99]

@tibbon, Sucks without turbo. Imagine 16 cores adding 1GHz per core? That's like an additional computer of power with turbo.

Hey lightninhopkins, I am really looking into this now that Apple's Mac Pro update disappointment is real... I was curious if you could post some cinebench scores? I am looking into this for FCP and AE (as well as 3ds max for windows side) and I was wondering if Lion is able to utilize all cores when rendering etc?

Thanks so much in advance!

 

[celstark]

I want to build a similar machine but with 2 INTEL Xeon E5-2650

As far as I understand, this does not work with just running multibeast?
Any specific steps for a N00b you could run me through?

thanks!

The MultiBeast went smoothly to get it booting at least.

 

[STEF]

Hi there

I have nearly the same configuration, with 2x E5 e2687w processor, with only 32 Go DDR3 ECC REG PC1333 on one and 64 Go DDR3 ECC REG PC1600 on another one...

lightninhopkins :
-what are the CPU cooler ?
- what is the reference of you ram memory ?

Cheers.

SteF

 

[weaksauce12]

Check out the 128GB ram and latest Dual E5-2690 processors:

Awesome setup, thanks for sharing! Question on the RAM - OWC did testing on the Mac Pro and discovered that it only recognized 96GB out of the 128GB available; the full 128GB was only available to Windows 7. Do you know if the full 128GB amount is being used on your rig? OWC's comment is:

"Current Mac OS X versions are unable to utilize more then 96GB RAM due to an operating system limitation. 128GB can be fully utilized by a 2009-2010 Mac Pro if running Bootcamp with 64-bit versions of Windows XP and later as well as with 64-bit versions of Linux."

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20 ... 3D3X9M128/

So either (1) OS X can recognize, but not utilize, 128GB RAM, or (2) the limitation is in the Mac Pro, but only under OS X. A bit confusing!

 

[gitaarwerk]

Wonder if there's any more news on the xeons. They're hard to get here in holland. I'm waiting for the osx 10.8 release and see whats possible with the xeons. Looking forward to jump into this area instead of goung for Ivy.

 

[jtickel1]

Hey, great build, I'm looking into making a DAW build focusing mostly on midi and high end sample libraries. Do you have any issues with the stability of this board? I can't find any reviews of it anywhere haha.

Here's what I'm looking at as of hardware right now:
Supermicro X9DAi
2x Xeon e5-2430
32gb 1600 ddr3 ram
2tb 7200 rpm hdd
radeon 6750