Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
This standard constellation replace the two duple - core 2.66GHz Xeon chips on the preceeding Mac Pro offering with a pair of quad - substance 2.8GHz processors . Other changes include a bigger hard private road , more installed RAM ( not to mention double over the RAM capacity ) , and a new computer graphic card . In addition to this received configuration , Apple offers several build - to - order model , from a single quad - core 2.8GHz car to treble space - nucleus Mac Pros with 3GHz and 3.2 GHz processors .
Apple ’s new Mac Pro , the company ’s latest “ fastest Mac ever , ” has been grouse up not only with faster , more - efficient processors , but also with a broad range of under - the - thug betterment designed to provide the eight center in those processors with plenty of data to chew on .
The new Mac Pros are rightfully fantastic machine — strong and silent . A dissipated system bus and faster computer storage make them far and away considerably and more cost - in force professional content car than anything else on the market . According to our Speedmark bench mark test , the performance of the new Eight - Core 2.8GHz model is similar to the much more expensive premature - generation eight - core 3GHz Mac Pro .
How We Tested: Speedmark 5 scores are relative to those of a 1.5GHz Core Solo Mac mini, which is assigned a score of 100. Adobe Photoshop, Cinema 4D XL, iMovie, iTunes, and Finder scores are in minutes:seconds. All systems were running Mac OS X 10.5.1 with 2GB of RAM. The Photoshop Suite test is a set of 14 scripted tasks using a 50MB file. Photoshop’s memory was set to 70 percent and History was set to Minimum. We recorded how long it took to render a scene in Cinema 4D XL. We used Compressor to encode a 6minute:26second DV file using the DVD: Fastest Encode 120 minutes – 4:3 setting. In iMovie, we applied the Aged Film effect from the Video FX. menu to a one minute movie. We converted 45 minutes of AAC audio files to MP3 using iTunes’ High Quality setting. We used Unreal Tournament 2004’s Antalus Botmatch average-frames-per-second score; we tested at a resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels at the Maximum setting with both audio and graphics enabled.. We created a Zip archive in the Finder from a 2GB folder. For the Professional Application Multitasking suite, we recorded how long it took Photoshop to run our standard test suite while a longer Cinema4D task and our Compressor encode test ran in the background.—MACWORLD LAB TESTING BY JAMES GALBRAITH, JERRY JUNG, AND BRIAN CHEN
And one of the al-Qa’ida example ’s most attractive features is that it ’s just that : a great foundation upon which to build a truly fearsome - riotous machine . If you ’re a multimedia pro — videographer , professional lensman , or audio pro — the Mac Pro is the machine you want to use . Just verify that you build upon its sturdy al-Qaeda the constellation that best fit the chore you require to perform .
Better performance
Successful computing equipment design is all about balance . retentiveness must be capable to keep up with processors , storage must rapidly satisfy information requests , and enlargement slots must swiftly cater displays and drive with picture element and bits . The newfangled Eight - Congress of Racial Equality 2.8GHz Mac Pro sport enhancements in all of these areas . However , to reap the benefit of the storage advance , it ’ll cost you extra for an optional RAID card ( $ 800 ) and speedy SAS ( serial - attached SCSI—$1,450 for two ) drives — but the extra cost may be worth it , depending on your motive . Note that these upgrades alone approach the price of the base organisation , and that we have not examine this constellation .
2.8GHz 8-Core Mac Pro Benchmarks
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How We Tested : Speedmark 5 scores are relative to those of a 1.5GHz Core Solo Mac mini , which is assign a score of 100 . Adobe Photoshop , Cinema 4D XL , iMovie , iTunes , and Finder scores are in minutes : seconds . All systems were running Mac OS X 10.5.1 with 2 GB of RAM . The Photoshop Suite test is a hardening of 14 scripted tasks using a 50 M file . Photoshop ’s memory was set to 70 per centum and History was set to Minimum . We record how long it took to render a scene in Cinema 4D XL . We used Compressor to encode a 6minute:26second DV file using the DVD : Fastest Encode 120 mo – 4:3 scope . In iMovie , we applied the Aged Film burden from the Video FX . bill of fare to a one moment movie . We converted 45 minutes of AAC audio files to MP3 using iTunes ’ High Quality scope . We used Unreal Tournament 2004 ’s Antalus Botmatch modal - human body - per - second sexual conquest ; we tested at a resolution of 1,024 by 768 pel at the Maximum setting with both sound and graphics enable .. We create a Zip archive in the Finder from a 2 GB folder . For the Professional program Multitasking suite , we immortalise how long it pick out Photoshop to tend our standard test suite while a longer Cinema4D task and our Compressor encode examination ran in the background.—MACWORLD LAB TESTING BY JAMES GALBRAITH , JERRY JUNG , AND BRIAN CHEN
The two Intel Xeon Harpertown processors that lie at the heart of the new Mac Pro are voracious beasts . With each processor carrying four processing heart , their computer architecture is essentially the same as that of the late Mac Pro ’s Cloverton processors ( we have to wait until afterward this class for the next entirely fresh Intel architecture , codification - name Nehalem , to appear ) . Meanwhile , they gain from a few fundamental improvements .
Mac Pro Eight - essence 2.8GHzFor example , in addition to their meliorate 45 - nanometer efficiency , their on - chip caches have been hike up to 12 MB per each quad - core processor , allowing for near - instantaneous approach to a larger amount of ofttimes used datum and instructions . They also benefit from a raw hardening of instructions called SSE4 , which can amend everything from telecasting encoding to play to database searching .
The processors also talk to the rest of the Mac Pro more speedily , over a new 1600MHz frontside bus that communicates with debauched 800MHz computer memory through a faster Intel Seaburg organization control . According to Apple , that make memory throughput over one and a one-half time as fast as the former Mac Pro line .
So how does this translate into real - world performance ? In our Speedmark benchmark tests , the unexampled 2.8GHz Mac Pro mark 22 percent high than the older 2.66GHz Mac Pro . In certain test — Cinema 4D and Compressor — the Modern 2.8GHz show an even more impressive functioning vantage , with the new mannikin fill in those tests about 75 percent quicker than the old model . Comparing the new eight - core 2.8GHz Mac Pro effect to the older eight - Congress of Racial Equality 3GHz Mac Pro , the new framework is faster in half of the tests . Unsurprisingly , the one-time 3GHz Mac Pro ( ) had a high Speedmark score ( 317 ) than the new 2.8GHz model ( 314 ) , but not by much . A 3GHz interlingual rendition of the new Harpertown processor is still usable as an $ 800 figure to order choice , but while the 3GHz was the top of the agate line last year , the new batch of Mac Pros now offer , for an additional $ 1,600 , dual 3.2GHz processors for the truly mightiness hungry .
As it stands , the young eight - substance 3GHz organisation ’s Speedmark score was about four percent higher than the new eight - core 2.8GHz model , clock in at 13 percent faster in the Compressor test and 18 percent quicker in the Photoshop mental test , and about 3 percent quicker than the old 3GHz model . Alternately , the new four - pith 2.8GHz system was about 6 pct slower than the raw eight - core 2.8GHz machine in our Speedmark test , and though these two machines performed almost on par in certain tests , the resultant role for Cinema 4D and Compressor were 63 per centum slower and 33 per centum slow severally for the 4 - marrow machine .
Perhaps one grounds why the muscular eight cores of the new 2.8GHz base configuration did not perform as well as the specifications suggest was the pokey unmarried 320 GB hard thrust and a paltry 2 GB of RAM . For instance , even when performing various combining of intensive operations such as encoding a DV file using Compressor 3 , and running a processor - pounding set of Photoshop CS3 Actions , Activity Monitor indicate that the Mac Pro ’s processors were using — at good — only about 60 percent of their full power . It seems that the single driving force and meager RAM just could n’t feed them data tight enough . That conclusion makes mother wit , but based on a battery of keep abreast - up tests , it may not evidence the whole report .
Cinema 4D , part of our Speedmark examination suite , is engineered to use multicore machines expeditiously . Thus , our television test with this software ease summit mainframe performance — more than 90 pct of capacity . Most applications — even Apple ’s own Final Cut Pro ( in its default configuration)—do not have such effective multicore capableness . so as to accomplish pinnacle performance in all eight processors with Final Cut , we had to enable its fellow Qmaster software to partake the processing bodily process across all eight cores . In default mode , without Qmaster , the processors were indeed operating at about 60 per centum of their capability . This tell us that despite the hardware ’s inherent baron , how well your app can take advantage of multiple cores will act a big part in determining how well your Mac Pro execute . In some instances , a unmarried quadrangle core 2.8GHz Mac Pro might do the job you want just as well for century of dollar less than you ’d pay for the new 8 - kernel model .
The lesson of the account : There ’s no way for you to control how software program companies engineer their products , but RAM and storage are things that you could control . If you want to do high - end work ( such as multi - stream Final Cut Pro HD or multi - track Logic projects ) , you ’ll need more than 2 GB of RAM and a 320 GB driving . But that may be the most influence you ’ll get over the Mac Pro ’s mainframe speeding and efficiency .
Improved slots
The raw Mac Pro ’s fast organization controller connects to the unit ’s new — and quicker — PCI Express 2.0 enlargement slots . Not only do they provide double the throughput of the original PCI Express , they also declare oneself better control over the devices you ’ll pop into those slots . The Mac Pro has a sum of four PCI Express slot : The top two are sheer vanilla PCI Express , the bottom two are the more - robust PCI Express 2.0 . Unlike the earliest Mac Pros , in which you could have only one 16 - lane card and had to use the Expansion Slot Utility to pick out that favorable slot , this new shape render full 16 - lane sustenance in both bottom slot ; both upper slot support four - lane carte du jour .
Into the lowermost slot — which is doubly - wide , should you prefer to fill it with an exceptionally chubby video placard — start your choice of an ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256 Bachelor of Medicine ( stand model ) , NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB ( a $ 200 premium ) , or NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 1.5 GB ( a thumping extra $ 2,850 ) . Each of these menu has two threefold - connection DVI ports to support two 30 - in Apple Cinema Displays . The Radeon and GeForce cards also practice what ’s cry a co-ordinated shader model , which allows developers to more well make their game and 3 - D program perform better .
The Radeon HD 2600 XT is a dead fine card , but if you ’re into gaming or 3 - D modeling , or utilize Aperture ( ) to view hefty images , consider the GeForce 8800 GT — Aperture is fresh enough to let that card ’s GPU help advertize pixels onto your display , and more apps are sure to watch over . Although we have n’t yet tested the GeForce 8800 GT , watchword on the street is that it ’s a screamer — and seeing as how it has almost three fourth dimension the memory bandwidth as the Radeon HD 2600 XT and can process a cool 24 clip as many textured triangles per second base , we have no reason to doubt the usual wisdom . Finally , unless you ’re a scientific or CAD type who needs the Quadro FX 5600 ’s vast 1.5 GB frame buffer or Stereo 3 - D hocus-pocus , store your money .
Storage opportunities
The 2.8GHz model that we test did n’t have the Mac Pro ’s novel — but optional — memory improvements . As in former Mac Pros , the new modelling has four leisurely - to - access storage bays into which you may insert up to four 7,200rpm SATA drives of up to 1 TB each . What ’s Modern is that you may now replace those drive with up to four exceptionally speedy 15,000 revolutions per minute SAS ( serial - attached SCSI ) 300 GB drives inserted into those same bay ( $ 650 for the first , $ 800 each for the next three ) , then unplug one simple cablegram from the logic control panel , reconnect it to an $ 800 Apple Pro RAID Card you put into the top PCI Express slot , and , should you so choose , iron heel from the first SAS parkway and configure the other three into a fast , good , RAID 5 regalia . Other RAID configurations are possible , as well .
The Apple Pro RAID Card has a dyad of more magic trick up its sleeve . For example , it has 256 megabit of onboard cache ( with a 72 - hr battery backup ) that not only enhances RAID performance , but can also quicken up the carrying out of private drives when you configure them in what Apple calls Enhanced JBOD fashion — JBOD being the wonk - stock condition for Just a Bunch of Disks ( severely ) . The card also make do all your drives ’ metadata header , so that if you start out out with them configured as a JBOD and later want to promote them to a RAID 1 or RAID 5 , you’re able to do so without losing any data — just reconfigure them using the card ’s simple apparatus service program . Slick .
Macworld’s buying advice
If you simply want the fastest Mac you ’ve ever used , the foundation - model Mac Pro Eight - substance 2.8GHz wo n’t disappoint . If you ’re a content - create professional who needs your video , audio , and or project workstation to fulfil its honest potential , you may also choose to expend the extra cash to raise your new Mac Pro ’s processor speed , memory and RAM . If , however , you do n’t need the maximal Mac , stick to an iMac — they’re plenty powerful for the rest period of us .
[ Rik Myslewski has been writing about the Mac since 1989 . He has been editor in chief in principal ofMacAddict(nowMac|Life ) , executive editor ofMacUser and director of MacUser Labs , and executive producer ofMacworld Live . ]
