Mac Pro GPU may be replaceable

[Steve Connor]

Forget the GPU, how about custom cases? https://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/25/jony-ive-designs-one-of-a-kind-red-mac-pro-for-product-red-charity-auction/

Steve Connor

There’s nothing we can’t argue about on the FCPX COW Forum

[Andrew Kimery]

If it’s it’s true it’s gonna be expensive, IMO. “Mac” versions of regular video cards today are already much more expensive than their PC counter parts (even thought the difference is just firmware) and for the Tube you are looking at proprietary form factor in conjunction with a very small potential customer base.

I bet the cards are replaceable by a tech (so if something fries the whole machine is not shot) but I doubt it will be a user replaceable part.

[Charlie Austin]

[Steve Connor] “Forget the GPU, how about custom cases?”

lol… I look forward to all the goofy ass case replacements that will surely appear as soon as it’s out. 🙂 R2 D2 anyone?

————————————————————-

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

[Charlie Austin]

[Andrew Kimery] “If it’s it’s true it’s gonna be expensive,”

Probably, but if they are replaceable – which they probably are – and there’s a “pro” need for another card, I’d bet they’ll become available. As you say though, at a price…

————————————————————-

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

[Richard Dee]

But will the cutting blades be replaceable?

Oh, wait, I thought I was on a Vitamix forum.

Will there eventually be a way to replace the CPU?

[Jeremy Garchow]

The current cheese grater MacPro has the CPUs on a sled, but Apple never sold replacements.

I’m sure these GPUs in the new MacPro will be tech replaceable only as well.

[Bernard Newnham]

[Andrew Kimery] ” “Mac” versions of regular video cards today are already much more expensive than their PC counter parts (even thought the difference is just firmware) “

Are they really different? My Hackintosh, now largely returned to being a PC since the demise of FCP7, runs a standard GeForce card perfectly well.

Actually, it would be interesting to run a cost comparison between a new MacPro and the equivalent parts list from dabs.com or wherever. When done before with the iMac, the parts at retail ran at around half price.

B

Bernie

[Andrew Richards]

[Bernard Newnham] “Are they really different? My Hackintosh, now largely returned to being a PC since the demise of FCP7, runs a standard GeForce card perfectly well. “

Does your Hackintosh boot from BIOS or UEFI? Even if it is UEFI, it is different EFI code than what ships in Macs. That’s the key difference. You can put PC-spec NVIDIA cards in a Mac and it will boot with no gray Apple screen and can only show images once the OS and the necessary drivers have loaded. The firmware on the GPU needs to support the Mac’s EFI code to work end-to-end.

Best,
Andy

[Ronny Courtens]

These GPU’s do seem different, as you cannot find them anywhere on the AMD charts (unless I’m missing something.)

Cannot find the link now, but some guy tried to find the same components as the new MacPro for a hack and he couldn’t find an equivalent motherboard nor the GPUs. So he took the closest PC parts he could find based on the specs and came up with a price that was about 3/4 of the original, without Thunderbolt connection and in an utterly ugly box. Even at half the price, when you add the time you spend building and testing such a thing, I think it is absolutely not worth it. Of course it all depends how much you value your time.

– Ronny

[Marcus Moore]

Dylan Reeve already did this, and came to the conclusion that a BYO version would only be marginally cheaper, and that’s with concessions on things he couldn’t find available- so the MacPro is technically ahead at about $300 above his parts list.

https://dylanreeve.com/computers/2013/building-the-mac-pro.html