The New Mac Pro

I realize I’ve been writing about Apple’s updates rather slow, but I will try to get them all up ASAP. On to the topic, Apple introduced new Mac Pros when they refreshed their desktop line in early 2009.The new Mac Pros are still quad core and 8 core versions, but they use newer versions of Intel’s Xeon processor that, while they have lower clock speed, show greater performance, using a combination of turboboost, hyper threading, and a better system architecture. The new Mac Pros also use newer graphics cards that provide support for Apple’s new LED Cinema Display, using the MiniDisplayport. The internal design of the case has also changed, and FireWire 400 has been eliminated.

The new Intel Xeon “Nehalem” processors in the Mac Pros are now manufactured using a single die, meaning that, unlike previous quad core processors, data travels much faster between the cores. Also, because of advanced hyper threading technologies, each quad core processor has a virtual 8 cores, meaning that the quad core Mac Pro has 8 virtual cores and the 8 core Mac Pro has 16 virtual cores.

A lot of people have mentioned that some programs don’t take advantage of multiple cores, and are made faster by clock speed. In the new Intel Xeon processor, a feature called Turbo Boost now works well with those programs. If the processor detects that a program is heavily using a few cores, but the rest are idling, it automatically shuts off the idling cores and overclocks the working ones up to 3.33GHz. This makes better performance in games and other programs that rely on single cores.

A new system architecture now makes data travel faster, as well as reducing memory latency by 40%. Because of a new, faster 1066MHz front side bus, the memory now communicates faster with the CPU. However, the major change is that the memory is now directly connected to each of the quad core Intel Xeons, meaning that there is much less memory bottlenecks/latency, which occurs when there is a lot of RAM. This issue was a problem for previous generation Mac Pro users who put 16GB or 32GB of memory into their system; because there is so much memory, sometimes the system was unable to handle it all, and actually performed slower. Thanks to the new design, this problem has been reduced dramatically.

The Mac Pro now ships standard with the Nvidia Geforce 120GT, with 512MB of GDDR3 vRAM. This new card is a major upgrade to the previous standard ATI Radeon HD 2600, with about 2x the performance. Previous upgrade options of the Nvidia Geforce 8800 GT, as well as the Nvidia Quadro FX, have been removed, replaced with the ATI Radeon HD 4870 with 512MB of GDDR5 vRAM. According to Apple’s tests, this new graphics card is AMAZINGLY fast compared to previous models. It’s almost 7 times faster than the ATI Radeon HD 2600, and 5 times faster than the Nvidia Geforce 120 GT.

The new graphics card bumps show that Apple is definitely preparing their Macs for Snow Leopard. All Macs now use Nvidia Geforce 9400M or faster graphics cards, which mean all Macs are more than capable of supporting HD content, games, and 3D intensive applications. And the new Mac Pro is more than prepared for the future, considering that GDDR5 memory hasn’t been showing up in Dells and HPs yet.

The new Mac Pros also now have MiniDisplayPort, meaning they connect to Apple’s new LED Cinema Display. Both the Nvidia Geforce 120GT and the ATI Radeon HD 4870 come with a single Dual Link DVI port and a MiniDisplayport. This means that if you want to connect two 30″ displays, you’ll have to purchase an adaptor or buy a second graphics card. Like with the MacBooks and MacBook Pros, Apple has made video a big issue with the new Macs. The MiniDisplayPort, while is nice working with the LED Cinema Displays, works with, at the moment, NOTHING ELSE. Meaning, you’ll have to buy an adaptor or pay for the 899 Apple LED Cinema Display.

A good thing about this is that Mac Pro users FINALLY have an iSight that’s built into their monitor. And the ATI Radeon HD 4870 is for sale from Apple for early 2008 Mac Pros, which support the new graphics card. Unfortunately, if you have a Mac Pro from before that, it is not supported, because the new card works on PCie 2.0 only. However, unless you plan on working with the LED Cinema Display, you’re only missing out on a bit of performance.

The new Mac Pro IS a good upgrade for old users, but only if they are using a Mac Pro from before early 2008, and have the money to spare for it. If you do upgrade to the new Mac Pro, you no longer need to worry about memory latency, and you have the advantage of the new Intel Xeon processors with the faster system architecture. This may be a big deal for users who demand tons of memory usage, especially with virtualization programs, Photoshop, etc.

The internal case of the Mac Pro is also different, because of the new system architecture. The memory is now on two riser cards that are sitting side by side (if you purchase the quad core Mac Pro, it only comes with one) but other that that, the hard drives and super drives are still in the same place. The Super Drives are also now 18X.

One complaint with the new architecture is that the quad core Mac Pro only supports up to 8GB of RAM. The reason for this is because the two riser cards are each linked to one Intel Xeon Quad Core processor, and therefore you can only have two of them if you have two processors. The Quad Core Mac Pro only comes with one, so support for memory only goes up to 8GB. This is a problem because the new 8 core Mac Pro starts at 3299, which is not certainly considerable to those saving up their every ounce for a Mac Pro.

But I can already see people waiting eagerly for their new Mac Pro, or their new graphics card with the Apple LED Cinema Display. Apple has finally offered an iSight for the Mac Pro, albeit an expensive solution. However, a performance boost also justifies the cost. And the new Mac Pros carry on the old Mac Pro’s legacies, being the most powerful Mac.