Apple Unveils Redesigned Mac Pro Desktop and Pro Display XDR at WWDC

[trs96]

Comparing the Mac Pro to HP Z8

What is the cost of the 56 core Z8 ? Nevermind, I'll check with HP.

 

[trs96]

I might upgrade to one of these 56 core HPs as my dual core Sandy Bridge i3 just feels laggy these days. I need more performance for playing solitaire and other online games. Anyone have a coupon code I can use ? Even with state sales tax added I'll come in under 92K for total cost but if I can save a little more it would be nice. Maybe I'll get one of those cheap 6,000 dollar Apple XDR monitors to go with it.

​

 

[trs96]

On a more serious note, you could configure one of these HP Z8s with a 10 Core Xeon Gold CPU 48 GB of DDR4 ECC ram and an AMD Radeon Pro WX7100 graphics card and you'd have very nice "Mac Pro 2019" like hackintosh that only costs a couple thousand more than the base 6000 dollar Mac Pro which really short changes you on graphics performance, ram and SSD storage. Here's what you would get for your money. A 3 year parts and labor warranty is also included unlike one year of Apple Care provided with the MP. Note that you'll get 2.5 TB of internal storage compared to 256 GB with the MP 2019. If you edit with FCP X or Premiere Pro how could anyone get by with 256 GB ? With the Z8 you'd put macOS Catalina on the 512 GB SSD and use the 2TB SSD drive for video storage. A much more usable config for someone that works with 4K video all day long. Obviously this would not cut it for 8K video work. If you have to use Nvidia Quadro graphics you could still install High Sierra and use one of those cards instead.

 

[jaymonkey]

Looking at the new MPX module design it's clear that Apple are supplying the extra power needed by the GPU(s) via the secondary in-line PCIe connector rather than having 8 or 6 pin power connectors like on standard PCIe GPU cards.

So I think this rules out using standard PCI'e GPU(s) unless someone makes some sort of power adapter, which means that unless Nvidia embraces Apples MPX design (which will probably require a license from Apple) I doubt we'll ever see Nvidia officially supported on the new Mac Pro.

I think it's pretty clear that any partnership with Nvidia is now pretty much over as they where not mentioned even once in the keynote, except in a Mac Pro V Quadro comparison.

But lets face it, anyone who is going to be buying one of these systems for high end 4K/8K editing or 3D work will just go with the Vega II duo GPU(s) and the Afterburner card which will be more powerful than anything Nvidia currently has.

So anyone who was hoping that the new Mac Pro would bring Nvidia back to the party ... sorry to burst your bubble but it really is time to jump to Team Red if you want to run Mojave and/or Catalina with decent GPU/Compute capabilities.

Cheers
Jay

 

[Ecchi Nutuano]

Looking at the new MPX module design it's clear that Apple are supplying the extra power needed by the GPU(s) via the secondary in-line PCIe connector rather than having 8 or 6 pin power connectors like on standard PCIe GPU cards.

So I think this rules out using standard PCI'e GPU(s) unless someone makes some sort of power adapte

There is 2x 8pin power connectors on the board, and 1 6pin Power Connector. What we can't really tell from the image is if it's some sort of proprietary 6/8 pin connector, or if any old 6/8 pin cable will work.

 

[CaseySJ]

As shown in the circles in Post #5, Apple is providing on-board connectors for PCI auxiliary power. So if we wanted to install our own retail Vega 56, for example, we can supply the extra power via PCI power cables connected to those circled ports.

But if we use Apple's own MPX cards, we have a ton of advantages, albeit at much higher cost:

• We get 4 additional Thunderbolt 3 ports with a controller chip on the MPX card itself. These ports are physically located on the back of the MPX card and are separate from the Thunderbolt (USB-C) ports on the chassis itself.
• DisplayPort signals from the Vega GPU(s) on the MPX card are routed to the USB-C ports on the chassis through the secondary inline PCIe connector.
• All extra power needed to drive up to two Vega Pro II GPUs is also routed through the secondary inline PCIe connector.
• The equivalent of the "THB-C" header for Thunderbolt add-in-cards (AICs) is also provided through the secondary inline PCIe connector.
• When we install a GC-Titan Ridge or GC-Alpine Ridge to a Hackintosh motherboard, we need:
  • Two PCI power cables
  • One THB_C header cable
  • One USB header cable
  • At least one DisplayPort cable to connect a GPU to the Thunderbolt card
  • These are 5 cables. For Thunderbolt alone. You can imagine the wiring mess visible from the front if the case has a glass side panel
• With MPX modules, there are ZERO cables. Everything is routed through the secondary PCIe connector.

However, I am more tempted now than ever to build an AMD Ryzen 3000 system with X570 motherboard for Windows and Linux. ASRock's X570 motherboards have built-in Thunderbolt 3. Yes, you read that right! For the first time, an AMD motherboard with built-in Thunderbolt 3.

I would love to see a new Mac Pro for the prosumer market with all AMD components, preferably with third-generation Threadripper so it can use tons and tons of PCIe (4.0) lanes that accompany the TR4 socket/chipset. And it could cost nearly half of the Intel equivalent.

 

[trs96]

However, I am more tempted now than ever to build an AMD Ryzen 3000 system with X570 motherboard for Windows and Linux.

From what I've seen, that will offer a lot more bang for your buck than the new Mac Pro could ever offer.

 

[jaymonkey]

There is 2x 8pin power connectors on the board, and 1 6pin Power Connector. What we can't really tell from the image is if it's some sort of proprietary 6/8 pin connector, or if any old 6/8 pin cable will work.

@Ecchi Nutuano & @CaseySJ

Ok .. i did not notice those on the pictures i looked at .... thanks for pointing them out.

Cheers
Jay

 

[c00lbeans]

I can’t find the MSRP for the 8-core(Xeon W-3223), but the 28-core part alone is about $4500 according to intel MSRP(Xeon W-3275).

8 core is about $750 based on press release

 

[DmitriZigany]

Sooo... What do you guys think the odds are that we can get the Afterburner card to work in our Hackintoshes?