Sam OliverCiting an inside source, Hardmac has reported that Apple is testing the Gulftown Xeon chip in the new Mac Pro desktop. The chip is an improvement over the model currently being used in the 2009 model with more horsepower and lower power consumption.
The new 32 nanometer chips have 12MB of L3 cache, and 6 cores with 12 threads for each CPU. Apple usually doubles the processors in its high-end professional workstations, so it's possible the new Mac Pro system could have a total of 12 cores. The new hardware could be released sometime in the first quarter of 2010.
Gulftown is the codename of a yet-unreleased Intel chip. It will be sold under the Intel Core i9 name, while the server version is to be called the Xeon 5600 series. It will be the first dual-socket, six-core processor for Intel.
The report said that the new Mac Pro will have a modified motherboard with a 10Gbit/second Ethernet port. In addition, it is said to support 8GB and 16GB RAM modules, an increase from the 4GB offered today. That would mean the system could carry up to 128GB of RAM.
The new hardware is said to possibly arrive in early 2010, before the new chip enters mass production. If true, it is likely that the Mac maker would have short-term exclusive use of the new Xeon CPU.
"We currently do not know if all future Mac Pro models will be using this hexacore Xeon or if Apple will keep quad core XEon for the entry level model," the report said. "This could decrease significantly the price of the first Mac Pro, and maybe convince some Mac users desperately waiting for a Mac Pro mini to finally get one. It is also unclear if the enclosure will be modified or not."
If true, it wouldn't be the first time Apple had early access to a new Xeon chip. The last two revisions of the Mac Pro line had the first crack at their respective chips.
Earlier this year, Apple introduced a new Mac Pro with Nehalem Xeon processors. The 2.66GHz CPU offered 2.4 times increase of memory bandwidth with 40 percent lower memory latency over its predecessor. The current high-end 8-core Mac Pro offers two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 series processors with 8MB of shared L3 cache.
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133 Comments
so now the mac pro can start at $3000 with a carp video card
It's kind of aggravating that Apple stays on the cutting edge of Mac Pro hardware (minus the inclusion of lame graphics cards) but when it comes to their normal home lineup, the iMac and the increasingly pathetic mini, they lag years behind. Here hoping the iMac gets a decent CPU bump, even though I purchased an early 09 iMac already.
It's hardly meant for general home use, hence the "Pro" label.
If you're a "Pro" you wouldn't be paying for it out of pocket. In most cases it can also be written off, too, if you can demonstrate it's for work/business/home-as-regular-business-establishment use.
Well, $2699 going with the mandatory $200 increase. But look on the bright side, a laptop based dual core all in one with a 8GB ram ceiling (and only if you want to pay another $1000) is good enough because Apple says so. If you're doing anything beyond iLife, you obviously have an unlimited budget and spending under $5000 is just being cheap.
It's hardly meant for general home use, hence the "Pro" label.
If you're a "Pro" you wouldn't be paying for it out of pocket. In most cases it can also be written off, too, if you can demonstrate it's for work/business/home-as-regular-business-establishment use.
Do they have help groups for a koolaid addiction this bad? Do you know anything of the world beyond Apple press releases?