Up Close with the New Mac Pro
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 10, 2013 3:15 PM EST
In its keynote this morning, Apple teased its next-generation Mac Pro, due out later this year. Based on Ivy Bridge E, the new system will ship with two AMD FirePro GPUs with up to 4096 SPs and capable of delivering 7 TFLOPS of peak FP performance.
We got a close look at the chassis, which is 1/8 the size of the current Mac Pro. You lose any hope for internal expansion, but Apple outfitted the machine with three Falcon Ridge Thunderbolt 2 controllers to enable expansion via external storage and external Thunderbolt 2 expansion chassis options. Apple won't make any of its own Thunderbolt 2 expansion chassis, but you can expect that others will fill that void. With 20Gbps up/down on Thunderbolt 2, you should have enough bandwidth for any PCIe expansion.
Internally there are four DDR3 memory slots, as well as what looks like a proprietary PCIe SSD connector (I don't think it's M.2 unfortunately). Both GPUs are technically removable, but at least one is mounted as the same card as the PCIe SSD. Apple is putting every single PCIe lane available to use on the new Mac Pro.
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madwolfa - Monday, June 10, 2013 - link
That looks like a very expensive trash can, sorry.andykins - Monday, June 10, 2013 - link
It looks like a black R2-D2 with bottom wheels missing. I think it's pretty cute ^_^nunomoreira10 - Monday, June 10, 2013 - link
It quida looks like a space ship energy generator, the only thing missing is some effect lightsIt shoud came out on future films like "quick remove the generator core before it explodes!"
fteoath64 - Friday, June 14, 2013 - link
Yeah. looks like the "ancient" Enterprise Warp Core module!. Tachyon shielding is failing, core breach in 5 minutes, prepare to eject warp core ....joel4565 - Monday, June 10, 2013 - link
I am guessing its weird design is so that it can pull air from the bottom, pass the air across all internal components and exit the air out of the top.I know there was an ITX case reviewed on anandtech a while back that used the same principle and had pretty good cooling for its size.
JDG1980 - Tuesday, June 11, 2013 - link
Looks like Apple has taken some cooling lessons from SilverStone. They've demonstrated that using large (180mm) intake fans and having them blow air directly across the CPU and GPU heatsinks can get great thermals at reasonable noise levels.coder543 - Monday, June 10, 2013 - link
It's theft deterrent. Who would think to steal the office trash can?Dman23 - Monday, June 10, 2013 - link
Haha. I literally lol'd.To me it looks like a futuristic, all-knowing cylindrical Pod. Something out of a machine-race from another world
DanNeely - Monday, June 10, 2013 - link
That problem didn't stop the old CRT based iMacs. *rolls eyes*http://news.3yen.com/wp-content/images/imac_trash....
Captain Slow - Monday, June 10, 2013 - link
who cares what it looks like, the specs makes me need new pants