Sam Oliver
Among them will be ten processors belonging the Xeon 5500 series, which appears to represent the chipmakers "Gainestown" series, or the successor to the current quad-core 45-nm Xeon Harpertown series employed by Apple's existing 2.8GHz, 3.0GHz, and 3.2GHz Mac Pros (which include two of the quad-core chips for a total of eight cores).
Only nine of the Xeon 5500 series chips are quad-core, and only five appear as if they could find their way into a next-generation Mac Pro, namely the 3.2GHz W5580 ($1,600), 2.93GHz X5570 ($1,386), 2.8GHz X5560 ($1,172), 2.66GHz X5550 ($958), and 2.53GHz E5540 ($744).
Speculation over precisely which models Apple could adopt is complicated by a dearth of public information on the new parts, as well as the prices for the new chips published Thursday by DigiTimes, which make them much more expensive than Harpertown chips at identical clock frequencies.
The existing Mac Pros are believed to use Intel's 2.8GHz E5462, 3.0GHz X5472, and 3.2GHz X5482 Harpertown Xeons, which were priced $797, $958, and $1279 respectively, in lots of 1000 when they were introduced last fall.
Gainestown is effectively believed to be an Intel Core i7-based chip, which would see integration of an on-die memory controller and the replacement of the Front Side Bus with Intel's QuickPath point-to-point processor interconnect.
The chips used in Apple's existing Mac Pros with their price when purchased in lots of 1000.
Chips that could potentially fuel an upgrade to the Mac Pro (middle 3 most likely) with prices when purchased in lots of 1000.
In addition to the 5 chips mentioned above, Intel also plans to announce 2.4GHz, 2.26GHz, 2.13GHz, and 2GHz quad-core Xeon 5500 series chips, an undetermined dual-core chip, and three undetermined Xeon 3500 series chips.
[Editor's note: updated with charts.]
Bon Adamson
Wesley Hilliard
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
AppleInsider Staff
Amber Neely
91 Comments
The Mac Pro price will have to be raised if they still intend to use 2x Quad-core Xeons at equivalent speeds. They could make changes to reduce the cost, but I doubt they will for the flagship Mac desktop.
I hate to say this, but this price hike in the Xeons does afford Apple the option of offering a smaller Mac desktop with only 1 Xeon at a price that is between $1,300 and $2,000.
Gainestown is effectively believed to be an Intel Core i7-based chip, which would see integration of an on-die memory controller and the replacement of the Front Side Bus with Intel's QuickPath point-to-point processor interconnect.
If this is the only change (other than the price going up) what kind of benefit is there.
I haven't been paying close attention to the roadmaps lately, and I am curious as to what the buyer would get for their hundred$.
If this is the only change (other than the price going up) what kind of benefit is there.
I haven't been paying close attention to the roadmaps lately, and I am curious as to what the buyer would get for their hundred$.
Here is some detailed info...
This is getting ridiculous. The Powermac G5 top of the line had a $3000 sticker price. This time, the processors alone will cost more than that. I hope they would use lower speeds to build a cheaper Mac Pro. Eight 2GHz cores ain't nothing to sniff at.
/Adrian
Please show the pros you still care Apple, please, please, please. A beefy update to FCS at NAB would be just swell, too. Super swell. I cannot express the level of swellness that would be felt by many in this industry. Giant amounts of swell.