The New Apple Mac Pro

[CanTwo]

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/04/ap...ralian-review/

Hahaha

[NKrader]

haha?

i dont really like mac's but this is a neat little piece of hardware.

also this isnt that "new" anymore and i think that the "new" mac pro has been posted here already a while ago.

[N19h7m4r3]

This is very old news, there was a rather largish thread on this when reviews originally started coming out.

Gizmodo needs to be ashamed of this so called "review", a few synthetic benchmarks and that's a review? Meh over all.

[zalbard]

That's indeed a bad review. Not worth creating a thread at all.

[docwhom]

haha?

i dont really like mac's but this is a neat little piece of hardware.

It's still the sexiest PC case currently made by any PC manufacturer in the world today. Imagine if HP or DELL could make it instead......

[Kallenator]

It looks like a garbage bin, don't get how that is sexy.

[Andrew LB]

It looks like a garbage bin,

^^^ This

[Budwise]

I wonder if people have to put a sign on the side that says "NOT A TRASH CAN" so their coworkers will stop putting wrappers and empty cups in their Mac.

[madcho]

looks like a trash can anyway

[NKrader]

I wonder if people have to put a sign on the side that says "NOT A TRASH CAN" so their coworkers will stop putting wrappers and empty cups in their Mac.

yes becuase I have to put a note on my caselabs case to warn people that its not a dishwasher.. becuase its white and a cube..

lame generalizations are lame.

[Yeroon]

Who puts trashcans up on a desk, which is where these mostly end up considering their size?
I agree, terrible review. However, does anyone have any more recent reviews with hopefully some new(ly) optimized software for the dual gpu's? I know there was a general lack of variety for those back at launch. Also, I with they would stop comparing the d700's to W9000's, the pair is far closer to an S10000 with a bit more ram (or the same as the newer, 2x6GB s10000 thats supposedly out), and the price, clocks, and power draw are whole lot closer to what I'd exect the pair of D700's to be worth/perform as well.

[bearcatrp]

Looks like R2D2 took a dump

[NEOAethyr]

Lol @ the trashbin comparison .

I just gotta say, wow, they sent those peeps hardware todo a review like that?
It's cool, I got hardwarez, now I'll run like some benches and write the scores out in 3 lines of text and be done with it.

I've never seen a review like that, it's more like a preview .

Is there another one out there where they just put windows on it right away lol?

[MattiasNYC]

Who puts trashcans up on a desk, which is where these mostly end up considering their size?

I think many people in the professional media production sector will be using hubs and chassis with this, and I'd guess it'll end up on the floor because of that.

In addition I really think it's a crappy design for many because if you're in pro-audio the video provided is utter over-kill. Add to that the lack of pci-e slots and you'll have to spend more on that chassis. And add to that the tendency to have machine rooms for... well... machines... This guy doesn't rackmount nicely... or at all...

[Yeroon]

I think many people in the professional media production sector will be using hubs and chassis with this, and I'd guess it'll end up on the floor because of that.

In addition I really think it's a crappy design for many because if you're in pro-audio the video provided is utter over-kill. Add to that the lack of pci-e slots and you'll have to spend more on that chassis. And add to that the tendency to have machine rooms for... well... machines... This guy doesn't rackmount nicely... or at all...

If you want a rackmount, build a rackmount. Don't complain a desktop doesn't make a good rackmount. Its not like this is the only choice out there for every single application possible.

I'm not an editor or a mac user at all, but in searching to see what hardware is beneficial for audio editing was mostly ram size and cpu. However, it seems they can have parts offloaded to the gpu, with mentions/articles about Logic X having/getting it. So just b/c it wasn't able to use it before the new mac pro doesn't mean they won't see a benefit to having gpu hardware available now.

[N19h7m4r3]

Lol @ the trashbin comparison .

I just gotta say, wow, they sent those peeps hardware todo a review like that?
It's cool, I got hardwarez, now I'll run like some benches and write the scores out in 3 lines of text and be done with it.

I've never seen a review like that, it's more like a preview .

Is there another one out there where they just put windows on it right away lol?

It's not even a preview, it's a joke haha.

I put windows 8 enterprise on and ran 3dmark for the lols
Not made for gaming, and I use it primarily for FCPX, but it does play if you want it.

The drivers on the windows side are all over the place for performance and crossfire.
In unigine the second GPU is ignored most of the time.
I only saw a 10FPS increase in tests with Crossfire with Direct X, over a single D700 in OSX's OpenGL.

[NKrader]

It's not even a preview, it's a joke haha.

I put windows 8 enterprise on and ran 3dmark for the lols
Not made for gaming, and I use it primarily for FCPX, but it does play if you want it.

those are actually pretty good score.

whats funny is your better in firestrike by alot compared to my computer, but im better by alot in the other two. LOLZ

[N19h7m4r3]

those are actually pretty good score.

whats funny is your better in firestrike by alot compared to my computer, but im better by alot in the other two. LOLZ

Yeah, the drivers in Windows are a bit all over the place.

I ran some Unigine, and the second GPU is barely used or noticed sometimes.
The Windows OpenGL unigine tests are also rubbish compared to OpenGL in OSX.

While my older Mac Pro with GTX 660 is slightly faster by 0.7FPS in Unigine Valley than a Single D700 in OSX.

AMD needs to sort their drivers out for OpenGL.





OpenCL is a different story though.

[sauria]

Neat, how is Cinebench?

[N19h7m4r3]

Neat, how is Cinebench?

Here you go.

AMD's OS X drivers definitely need some work.

[sauria]

Thanks, are there any OpenCL benchmarks that uses both D700s?

[MattiasNYC]

If you want a rackmount, build a rackmount. Don't complain a desktop doesn't make a good rackmount. Its not like this is the only choice out there for every single application possible.

The older Macs fit better in rack environments from what I've seen. The newer ones won't fit as well. You're right, this isn't the only choice, and that's my point. Some people are complaining about the form factor despite it being cute.

I'm not an editor or a mac user at all, but in searching to see what hardware is beneficial for audio editing was mostly ram size and cpu. However, it seems they can have parts offloaded to the gpu, with mentions/articles about Logic X having/getting it. So just b/c it wasn't able to use it before the new mac pro doesn't mean they won't see a benefit to having gpu hardware available now.

Logic X is just one out of several DAWs out there (Digital Audio Workstation), and it is certainly not the most used professionally in the US' medium to big studios/stages. Sure, it may get that capability later, but none of the other big DAWs have that capability, and none of the companies that make them have plans to enable processing on the GPUs.

For audio, for the vast majority of users with a reasonably modern computer, those GPUs are just a waste of money, period. And a buyer of the that Mac still has to pay for it.

[N19h7m4r3]

Thanks, are there any OpenCL benchmarks that uses both D700s?

Luxmark will take both.
It has an issue where it only reports the second GPU in its idle state, hence the 150Mhz instead of 850Mhz. it clocks up to 100% once it gets used.

[Yeroon]

Logic X is just one out of several DAWs out there (Digital Audio Workstation), and it is certainly not the most used professionally in the US' medium to big studios/stages. Sure, it may get that capability later, but none of the other big DAWs have that capability, and none of the companies that make them have plans to enable processing on the GPUs.

For audio, for the vast majority of users with a reasonably modern computer, those GPUs are just a waste of money, period. And a buyer of the that Mac still has to pay for it.

I'm going to assume (i know, bad idea) that by several DAW's, that at least a few of those do not require an Apple machine. And that opens up a huge range of both consumer and workstation grade machines other than the mac pro that can do the job just as well for cheaper, to better for the same price. If they have still chosen the Mac Pro, it can either be attributed to its tiny size, or the fact that they wanted an Apple. I don't see the problem with that, north americans do it all the time with cars - SUV's in particular. How many families own SUV's where not only does a minivan cost less, it would actually do the job better? The SUV's come with off-roading capabilities (well, they kinda used to anyways) that are typically never used, cost more, worse on fuel, but get the "status" that a minivan does not provide.
The point is, nothing out there suits everyones needs. Not everyone chooses exactly what they need, nor do they do so objectively (Beats, anyone?).

Its also not like the D300's are a large chunk of the price of a M-P. Ram is worse, and its markup is ridiculous(nearly 2x market price).
Now, I still wouldn't buy it [even if I could afford it] b/c its apple, but i like how they built it. Small and powerful and quiet.

Luxmark will take both.

How often/quickly do the d700's drop from the 850mhz state? I recall a discussion in the original M-P thread involving some hefty reasoning over just how much if ever they would get to 850. I figured if they used the 7990 chips/bin they came from (it was discontinued) they would get a combined tdp near 375w, which would allow a decent use of near max boost.

[sauria]

Luxmark will take both.
It has an issue where it only reports the second GPU in its idle state, hence the 150Mhz instead of 850Mhz. it clocks up to 100% once it gets used.

Thanks, I think this will get better for more apps, hopefully.