Old Mac Pro vs New Mac Pro?

First confirm if they will automatically change your order, they might, depending on configuation. Or they may have to contact you due to change in price or something.

Hard to know without some real hands on.

I know that DDR3 + Nehalem = huge improvement in memory bandwidth.

But I see where the new low end 4-core maxes out at 8GB RAM.

http://www.barefeats.com has some early "ideas" of what to expect.

Clock for clock, Nehalem is more efficient and can under heavy use run two threads per core.

Personally, I am surprised at the cpu configurations offered.

Some thoughts and info on ECC and DDR3:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7202196#post7202196
- with a link to review on Tom's Hardware
And their Mac Pro forum is buzzing, too!
http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1

hmmm...

I agree, Apple seem to have severely crippled the quad-core version:

*8-core: Eight memory slots (four per processor) supporting up to 32GB of main memory using 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB DIMMs
*Quad-core: Four memory slots supporting up to 8GB of main memory using 1GB or 2GB DIMMs

And also, it doesn't look like you can upgrade from 4-core to 8-core in the future just by adding one CPU. It needs a new bottom tray.

I didn't think it was my imagination...8GB max on the 4-core. I was looking forward to buying a new 8-core, but not at $3300. The now-old 8-core was $2800, and I couldn't swing that. Money-wise, I'm disappointed in this new offering.

Wanna buy an Xserve?

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/xserve

The only Mac Pro they've had is the $4K 3.2GHz model from 2008.

I suspect that 4GB DDR3 might be hard to come buy today but are a possibility nonetheless.

The low end 4-core $2400? still powerful and I doubt the cpu got watered down or neutered.

Have you noticed the pullout lower tray for the processor board. I think you have to physically change the board to upgrade from a 4-core to 8-core.

Remember on the 2008 system board, even on the 4-core MP, the socket for the second processor has already been populated.

Have you checked your order, with your Apple ID already?

The are currently no official benchmark results available, other than what Apple provides, but I can assure you that the new 8-core is a real punch (just wait for Fridays benchmark results).

They are overpriced and in this economy, no one's going to buy it unless one is filthy rich which 90 percent of the American population isn't.

Personally, I like the one for 2499, but as everyone states - its been crippled. And I was going to finally get one. But, I will wait.

Usually when there is a new product cycle, the buyer benefits from increased performance at the same or lower price.
I don't see that happening this time around and as a result, my purchasing plans have been put on hold.

Good luck. Last years model looks better.

This time round, the improvements are on the memory bus, and the removal of FSB. This is hard to see from spec sheet, and very hard to sell to the consumers. And Intel know that, this is why they have delayed it for so long, even AMD ready have Hypertransport which works very much the same.

Ah, the notorious FireWire 400 to 800 upgrade. I reckon that this will lead to more questions, but just buy one of these (6 to 9 pin) adapter cables to get for around $20 - the IEEE specification provides total compatibility between the 400mbps and 800mbps bus.

Consumer benchmark test, like Geekbench, will start to show up soon, and it will crush everything you've seen so far. Even for the single CPU.

Let's assume that you compile a huge C source, like I do for Mozilla, and with the 4-core single-CPU I can set the number of compiler processes to 8, this instead of 4 for the older/previous models. With the 8-core I can set it to 16, this instead of 8, and thus the results will be that I build the products in less time.

For this single-CPU setup it is advised to use the 3x1GB or 3x2GB memory configuration (read dual v.s. triple channel configuration).

Message was edited by: HJ van Rantwijk

You can still get the "Old" 8 Core Mac Pro through online resellers like MacMall.com I Just looked at their site for their clearance prices. Already you can save about $200 off the old $2800 price tag after a rebate.

I'm disappointed in the $ 500 price increase. I guess it's more like $ 350 because you get 6 GB of RAM in the minimal configuration instead of 2. Still, nobody expects that big a price increase in computers these days and it departs from Apple's tradition of keeping the newer faster machines at the same price point as the previous year's models.

RE: I'm disappointed in the $ 500 price increase. I guess it's more like $ 350 because you get 6 GB of RAM in the minimal configuration instead of 2.

Don't forget you also get a better video card which would have been an additional $150 and a slightly larger hard drive and faster DVD burner.... so in the end it's only like $200 for the newer architecture with a faster more efficient processor plus DDR3.

If you dual boot to Windows and play games, the "Nehalem" Core i7 Xeon processors are considerably faster than the previous Core2Duo Quads according to all the reviews.

As for the price increase, I myself will have to shell out the extra cash, plus $200 more for the ATI 4870 and $100 for the 8GB of RAM that way I get 4 sticks of 2GB instead of 6 sticks of 1GB...don't forget AppleCare at $250 - well worth it.