[Erik Lindahl]

Also very true.

[Erik Lindahl]

I’ve been looking for similar tests. A lot of people compare the Mac Pro 2019 to Frankenstein 2012 versions. What I’ve gathered with a simple Resolve test is:

MP 2013 12 Core, D700s, 128GB vs Mac Pro 2019 16 Core, Vega II Duo, 96 GB.

66 Blur Nodes
6fps vs 36fps (6X)

6 TNR Nodes
4fps vs 28fps (7X)

On top of the above you’ll have a very hard time with 4-8K material on the 2013 Machine, as in it might not even render.

For storage, the 2019 machine could have NVMe drives pulling 8GB /s or roughly 2.5 GB/s over TB3.

The 2013 machine would on a good day hold 1GB / s. The new machine would easily hold 2-8X the speed here.

[Erik Lindahl]

You also have this:
https://highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series-ssd7101a-1-overview.htm

And this:
https://www.sonnettech.com/product/m2-4×4-pcie-card.html

But I think the OWC option is highest bang for the buck.

[Erik Lindahl]

@Bob Zelin:
You’ve got the whole YouTube influences somewhat backwards. A lot of them actually shoot with high-end cameras, many of them even use RED @ 8K and produce a ton of content. Many of the given MacPro influencers previously where editing with iMac Pro’s of the higher or highest configuration. One of them even travels with his iMac Pro due to turn-around times being so much fast than with a MacBook Pro – even the latest 16”. Some YouTubers are small productions houses with multiple editors all working off shared NVME SSD 10 GbE storeage.

With that said, you can very well be correct in that the higher end MacPros might not be for them. But if they spent 10,000$ on an iMac Pro they can very well spend that +X% on a MacPro.

[Erik Lindahl]

Definatly a market for it. Spec would include:

MacPro Mini
– 8-18 core i9
– 256 or 512 GB RAM tops
– Single MPX slot + 2-3 PCIe slots (4-5 slots in total vs 8)
– Single VEGA VIII DUO high end.
– 10 GbE still standard
– Price should start @ 3K.

xMac
– up to 6-8 core i7-i9
– 128 GB RAM tops
– Single MPX slot + 1-2 PCIe slots (2-3 slots in total vs 8)
– Single VEGA VII high- end.
– 10 GbE optional
– Price should start @ 1.5K

Problem for Apple is I think the above machines would canabalize the MacPro like crazy. Really the MacPro should start at 12-cores / XT5700 / 1TB / 48 GB.

[Erik Lindahl]

Apple could definitely use a “Mac” category of computers. An iMac with out the screen, a MacMini that’s 4X larger but with replaceable dGPU / drives.

The cost should in the iMac-range but given no screen you should get way more bang for the buck. Defiantly Core-based, not Xeon-based. Or possibly AMD-based but then Thunderbolt is an issue.

[Erik Lindahl]

Yeah, the Corning Thunderbolt 2 fiber have had issues – even known issues by Corning. Apparently Intel doesn’t have a specifik spec for how much heat you are allowed to dissipate via the TB3 connection. Hence these cables can run quite hot. For copper this isn’t a issue, for fiber as it turns out it can be. We’ve changed cables twice now in one suite before giving up on them.

Cornings solution is routing the cable via boxes that don’t generate so much heat and best practice is not using them in 24/7 operations. Back in 2016-2017 I talked to them at IBC and they noted IF they would design a TB3 version of the cables they’d probably go about it differently to avoid the risk of the above issue.

The ironic part of the above is the item with most cause of the above is the nMP 2013. It can get really hot on it’s backplate where all the connectors are. At first glance this should be far less of an issue with the MP2019 for sure.

[Erik Lindahl]

If we do get Thunderbolt 3 extensions over fiber, a dock at the reviving end could hold a Bluetooth > USB dongle probably. Not sure how well these work though.

The Thunderbolt 2 fiber extensions have been a bit flacky.

[Erik Lindahl]

I think there is a place for both and with the MacPro you get the best of both worlds.

If you’ve gone 2013 MacPro > 2019 MacPro you might just change “everything” given TB2 equipment can still be used. If you’re coming from an iMac Pro all TB3 equipment can be used.

Also, embracing eGPU is terrific for MacMini / Laptop systems. I guess some one will do a franken MacPro 2019 with 4x dGPU and how ever many TB3 busses you can saturate given Id imagine hefty diminishing returns there.

Embracing TB3 for storage and most other I/O is over all great. Again embracing PCIe for the most demanding expansion shows Apple has people internally whom haven’t completely lost it just yet.

[Erik Lindahl]

Yeah, it’s a bit unclear how they’ve tested things exactly and scale of performance with multi GPU will vary a lot. But I fully agree nVidia should be an option. An a Mini MacPro is very much lacking.