Anandtech builds 8-core Mac Pro
updated 10:35 am EDT, Wed September 13, 2006
Dual-quad-core Mac Pro
Apple's Mac Pro desktop workstations are compatible with the forthcoming quad-core Clovertown Xeon processors from Intel, according to a new report from Anandtech. The publication used engineering samples of the next-genration quad-core Xeon chip to see if they could build a 8-core Mac Pro (currently the Mac Pro uses two dual-core Woodcrest Xeons for a total of four cores): "Without a doubt Apple will release a quad-core version of the Mac Pro, either by the end of this year or early next year, but are users who buy the Mac Pro today missing out? While we're still a couple of months away from being able to test a retail Clovertown CPU in the Mac Pro, we wanted to see if the current engineering samples of the chip would work.... We ran a handful of stability tests on the Mac Pro equipped with two Clovertowns and didn't encounter any crashes with the processors, so it would seem that Clovertown will work in the Mac Pro's motherboard. We can't say with 100% certainty that you will be able to upgrade to Clovertown when it comes out, but so far the results are looking good."
>drool
09/13, 11:18am reply
gimme gimme!
Hobeaux
Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2002
Octocore?
09/13, 11:21am reply
Holy core count, Batman! Heck, I'd be fine with a quad, but knowing dual quads may be just around the bend, I may be putting off a Mac Pro purchase for a little while longer. I'm not sure what I'd do with all that power, but I'd figure something out ... lol!
IvoryTower
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2006
Sweet!
09/13, 12:19pm reply
An unexpected plus, though I'd think that compatibility via firmware update would have been eventually made available.
Nice to see the CPUs will work out of the box, and definitely builds confidence that a Mac Pro bought now will be a long-lived investment. I wonder if my nephews would like a PC handmedown ;)
I wonder when we'll see Sonnet/OWC/et al. upgrade kits hitting the street
OtisWild
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2005
Nice
09/13, 03:04pm reply
So I expect Vista is to be optimized to utilize multi-core and multi-cpu systems, but I'm hoping Apple has made sure that from the ground up the unix underpinnings of OSX are better at it, and blow it away.
MacnnGregor
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2004
re: upgrade kits
09/13, 08:42pm reply
I wonder when we'll see Sonnet/OWC/et al. upgrade kits hitting the street
Why? Doing this kind of upgrade no longer requires waiting for any kind of special upgrade card since the processors are socketed directly on the motherboard and can be bought retail via places like Newegg.
Xeon 5130 Xeon 5140 Xeon 5150 Xeon 5160
Senbei
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Feb 2004
Difficulty Maxing out CPU
09/13, 11:22pm reply
I don't know why they had a hard time. It's not like it's such a difficult thing to do. Xcode could do it in a heartbeat. I wind up sitting around waiting for exorbitant amounts of time even on a high end Intel iMac.
Detrius
Professional Poster
Joined: Apr 2001