For the MP Tube rackmount skeptics…

[Chris Conlee]

I’m starting to become a believer. Not related to rack-mounting, but interesting nonetheless…

https://www.redsharknews.com/post/item/811-the-foundry-tests-ports-software-to-mac-and-tests-it-on-new-mac-pro?utm_source=https://www.lwks.com+subscribers&utm_campaign=01c47e9283-RSN_June18_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_079aaa3026-01c47e9283-74607221

Chris

[Dustin Parsons]

It was only a matter of time. Anyone who though these couldn’t be rack mounted because of their shape wasn’t thinking very hard.

[Craig Seeman]

That looks like the variation on my “wine rack” idea.

I do hope they do a real world physical test with the Tubes to ensure there are new heat related issues before coming to market.

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/335/55540

[Walter Soyka]

[Charlie Austin] “Next generation Xeon E5 CPU’s in single or dual configuration with up to 12 physical cores.”

I don’t believe them. I think they’re incorrectly assuming that the 12-core configuration comes from two 6-cores CPUs.

Here’s why I think they’re single CPU [link]:

The Mac Pro minisite refers specifically to “processor” and the picture shows room only for a single CPU.

Starting with Nehalem, Xeons have the memory controller on the CPU, and new Xeons use a quad-channel memory interface. There are only four memory slots shown, suggesting a single quad-channel interface and thus a single CPU.

The site also refers to “up to 12 cores of processing power.” The next generation E5 Xeons will offer 12 cores on a single CPU. If they were using current Xeons and had a dual-CPU configuration, I’d expect them to say “up to 16 cores.” If they were using next-gen Xeons with a dual-processor configuration, I’d expect “up to 24 cores.”

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

[Dustin Parsons] “It was only a matter of time. Anyone who though these couldn’t be rack mounted because of their shape wasn’t thinking very hard.”

I don’t think anyone thinks they CAN’T be rackmounted.

They just clearly weren’t designed with rackmounting in mind.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Michael Phillips]

An obvious rack configuration as long as you don’t have to connect something to any one of them…

Michael

[John Heagy]

[Dustin Parsons] “Anyone who though these couldn’t be rack mounted because of their shape wasn’t thinking very hard.”

Nobody said rack mounting theses would be impossible, only difficult. One could rack mount a bowl of Jello if need be.

Data centers will not invest in a custom built mounting/cooling system that only supports a specific model from one manufacturer. Unless of course you specialize in offering dedicated Mac servers like MacStadium.

The vast majority of data centers run multiple virtual machines on a single CPU via VMWare, and would have little need for dual GPUs that only generate heat.

Now a render/encode farm would benefit but they are a drop in the bucket…

John

[Charlie Austin]

[Michael Phillips] “An obvious rack configuration as long as you don’t have to connect something to any one of them…”

I’m sure they’ve probably considered that in the “pod” design….

————————————————————-

~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~

[Walter Soyka]

[John Heagy] “Now a render/encode farm would benefit but they are a drop in the bucket…”

But blades would be denser still, and don’t require custom tooling for data center installation.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[John Heagy]

[Walter Soyka] “But blades would be denser still”

True, but blades aren’t know for their GPU power which a render/encode farm could take advantage of.

John