[seano1]

I wonder if the newly mac compatible NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT will work with the old Mac Pro.

[petvas]

The new Mac Pro is a great computer but that doesn't make my 2,66Ghz Mac Pro a bad computer. I won't be upgrading, I love the processing power but my Mac Pro is very fast for the jobs I need it to run. I will though get the Nvidia 8800 card

[moose_n_squirrel]

petvas said:

The new Mac Pro is a great computer but that doesn't make my 2,66Ghz Mac Pro a bad computer. I won't be upgrading, I love the processing power but my Mac Pro is very fast for the jobs I need it to run.

Agreed. The new machines are...nice...but when I look at my CPU meters for my 2.66 quad core, the number of times they are maxed out is almost never. But it's good that Apple has the octo for those who need it.

[adobephile]

This is definitely the high-end, as you'll see if you click the "configure" button on the store page. Processor upgrade alone to the fastest is $2100. Nearly fully tricked out sans Fibre Channel is $23K+ I'd love to NEED one of these! But I'll still probably spring for one at some point with at least the processor upgrade.

I've LOVED my G5 2.0GHz Dual, and I'm not disappointed with the similar ID of the new Mac Pro. It's quite handsome in my opinion.

[hexor]

I just realized that the single CPU (quad core) version of this new Mac Pro is faster than the now older 2 CPU (4 cores total), AND $300 cheaper, along with the other goodies of more memory, etc..

I do wonder whether or not the Nvidia 8800 card will work with the older Mac Pro since that card has PCI Express 2.0 interface. Does it downgrade to 1.0?

[petvas]

The Nvidia card is available on the Apple Store for 310?, and there is no mention of compatibility to the older Mac Pro. It just says that is compatible to Mac Pro. I assume it will work ok

[henryhbk]

Interesting what effect this will have on distributed computing engines (for rendering, etc...) for smaller jobs (not counting the Pixars of the world) the ability to have 8 cores in a single box for low cost cranking on a video is amazing. This saves a lot of inter-computer latency and coordination that occurs with distributed computing vs. miltuthreaded...

[RhymingDesigner]

When I first read this article, I assumed the new eight-processor Mac Pro would be at the top of the Mac Pro line. After visiting the Apple store, I can see it IS the Mac Pro line. This can only mean one thing ? Apple is clearing a big path for the midrange Mac we've all been waiting for. Expect it next week. The only question is the price. I'm predicting a base price of $1499, which would match today's 20-inch 2.4GHz iMac, with Apple trading off features (no display BUT better processors, better cooling, more RAM capacity, etc.).
It looks like my patience in upgrading my G5 will be rewarded.

[flybynight]

gfair2 said:

Why are you surprised at this? What caused you to set your expectation that you would see these two technologies?

Apple is on both committees. It only makes sense that they would push the technologies in their own products.

>... FireWire is dead. Apple abandoned FireWire from the iPod, which is as big a statement as Apple could make about its own technology.

Not at all. Apple moved to USB in the iPod because they wanted to sell them to Windows users - and almost none of them had FireWire. The iPod is a consumer device and FireWire is a pro technology. If Apple has abandoned FireWire, then how do you explain the fact that they added FW800 to the ENTIRE iMac line? Clearly, they want this capability in the hands of more people, or they would have left it as an option only on their pro line machines. And FW3200 has advantages over USB and even eSATA for both speed and connectivity. Perfect for video pros who are the target market for this machine.

Someone else said that you can add a BluRay drive, just that the OS doesn't support movie playback yet. All the more reason for Apple to add the hardware/software combination themselves to make it work. It's what they do.

Quote

Stop expecting.

Just to be clear, I'm not disappointed by this release at all. It's an awesome box with enough power and configuration options to please (almost) everyone. I'm not blaming Apple. But, Apple is known for putting technologies in place before we even know that we need or want them - especially when they are part of that technology partnership. It's a perfectly natural expectation to expect Apple to exceed all expectations. ;^)

[montgomery_burns]

Steve_S said:

While it's true that the outside design is a reminder of the G5 days, I'm not sure that really matters. I don't see the need for an update just for the sake of it or to be in sync with the next generation Intel chips. I have a Mac Pro and generally like the case design. I've swapped out parts and find the internal design to be very functional. The inside of the Mac Pros are much better than the G5s. I like the aluminum look and I like the ports in front, etc. In short, I have to ask, what changes would you have Apple make?

What parts have you swapped out? A stick of memory? How about the logic board? Some PC manufacturers put the logic board on a tray that just slides out, rather than having to remove several dozens of screws and wiggling the board out of the case.

[montgomery_burns]

Still no Crossfire or SLI support?

[Willfriedwald]

one thing I don't get - not that I'm an expert -



Apple is offering this with something called a RAID card - what is that? It costs $800 extra and is necessary for SAS drives - I don't even know what SAS drives are! I thought that SATA was as good as it got. What is the advantage of SAS drives vs SATA?



also - can someone outline the RAM numbers, I mean how many slots, RAM can be added in increments of how many gigs at a time? how does that work?





thanks again



will

[Steve_S]

montgomery_burns said:

What parts have you swapped out? All of the internal fans? How about the logic board? Some PC manufacturers put the logic board on a tray that just slides out, rather than having to remove several dozens of screws and wiggling the board out of the case.

I've added memory (slide out boards to access), I've added another SATA drive. I've replaced my original ATI 1900 as the original card eventually became defective, I've pulled out the Optical disk assembly (which is a very nice design) in order to temporarily connect and older IDE drive when I wanted to recover data from an older G4 machine that failed.

That said, the Mac Pros have fewer fans than the G5 units. I haven't had a need to replace these yet. Perhaps the motherboard slideout issue is a worthy suggestion. That's the sort of suggestion I'm interested rather than vague complaints about the look of a case - specifically because it looks like the G5s. My point was that if it isn't broken, don't fix it. By comparision, the Mac Pro case is generally better (and well thought out) than any of the PC cases I come across.

[cweber]

I don't understand the nagging about lack of new case design. The original G5 tower enclosure was and is a great design and has withstood the test of time. Years later it still is head and shoulders over competing mass market PC towers. A true classic! Why tinker with a iconic design in a non-gadget, not fashion driven market? Apple would be fools if they did. The subtle updates to the case over time (port placement, internals) are great and totally suffice.