New Mac Pro: Tower of 8-Core Power

Apple's got a second release that just hit the wires: A Mac Pro with two intel 45nm Quad-Core Xeons at up to 3.2GHz each. An 8-core config is standard. The front side bus is humming along at 1600MHz now, and RAM at 800MHZ. The computer also comes standard with ATI HD 2600 XT graphics with 256MB of video memory, but can be upgraded to support NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT with 512MB of video RAM or a Quadro FX 5600 with 1.5GB of memory. Support for four video cards at once means the Pro can drive eight 30-inch cinema displays at once, like before. Comes with the aluminum keyboard that debuted with the iMac. And eight cores for $2799 ain't bad. From what they're telling us, it could be one of the fastest desktops out there, but we'll wait for Ars or PC World to verify that for us. [Mac Pro]

Apple Introduces New Mac Pro

Fastest Mac Ever - Eight Processor Cores Standard

CUPERTINO, Calif., Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) today
introduced the new Mac(R) Pro with eight processor cores and a new system
architecture that delivers up to twice the performance of its predecessor*.
The new Mac Pro combines two of Intel's new 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon
processors running up to 3.2 GHz, powerful new graphics and up to 4TB of
internal storage to offer the ideal system for creative professionals, 3D
digital content creators and scientists. The standard 8-core configuration
starts at just $2,799.
"The new Mac Pro is the fastest Mac we've ever made," said Philip
Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With
3.2 GHz 8-core Xeon processing, a 1600 MHz front side bus and 800 MHz memory,
the new Mac Pro uses the fastest Intel Xeon architecture on the market."
The new Mac Pro features the latest Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 series
processors based on state-of-the-art 45nm Intel Core microarchitecture running
up to 3.2 GHz, each with 12MB of L2 cache per processor for breakthrough
performance and power efficiency. With a new high-bandwidth hardware
architecture, dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses and up to 32GB of 800
MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM memory, the new Mac Pro achieves a 61 percent increase in
memory throughput**.
Every Mac Pro comes standard with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card
with 256MB of video memory. The Mac Pro includes a new PCI Express 2.0
graphics slot that delivers up to double the bandwidth compared to the
previous generation, and supports the latest generation of graphics cards from
NVIDIA, such as the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT with 512MB of video memory, or
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 with 1.5GB of video memory and a 3-D stereo port for
stereo-in-a-window applications. With support for up to four graphics cards,
the new Mac Pro can drive up to eight 30-inch displays at once for advanced
visualization and large display walls.
The Mac Pro is the most expandable Mac ever, featuring four internal hard
drive bays with direct-attach, cable-free installation of four 1TB Serial ATA
hard drives, totaling 4TB of internal storage and support for two SuperDrives.
With optional 15000 rpm SAS drives that can deliver up to 250MB/s of RAID 5
disk I/O performance, the Mac Pro is ideal for film and video editors.
Combined with SATA or SAS drives, using an optional Mac Pro RAID card offers
the ultimate data protection and disk I/O performance on the Mac Pro. The Mac
Pro is easily and conveniently accessible in front and back so users can
connect external devices with five USB 2.0, two FireWire(R) 400, two FireWire
800, optical and analog audio in and out, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and a
headphone jack.
Every Mac Pro includes Leopard(TM), the sixth major release of the world's
most advanced operating system. Leopard is packed with more than 300 new
features and introduces a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily
access files from the Dock; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse
and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see
files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to
create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; and Time
Machine(TM), an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac.
Featuring an improved scheduler and other multi-core technology, Leopard is a
perfect companion to the Mac Pro, making applications faster and helping
application developers take advantage of multi-core systems.
The new ultra-thin aluminum Apple Keyboard now ships with every Mac Pro
and built-in Bluetooth 2.0 makes it easy to reduce cable clutter with the
optional Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple Wireless Mouse.

Pricing & Availability
The new Mac Pro is shipping today and will be available through the Apple
Store(R) (http://www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized
Resellers.

The standard 8-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of $2,799 (US),
includes:
-- two 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors with dual-independent 1600
MHz front side buses;
-- 2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC fully-buffered DIMM memory, expandable up to
32GB;
-- ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory;
-- 320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
-- 16x SuperDrive(TM) with double-layer support
(DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW);
-- two PCI Express 2.0 slots and two PCI Express slots;
-- Bluetooth 2.0+EDR; and
-- ships with Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse.


In addition to the standard configuration, the Mac Pro offers numerous
build-to-order options including: one 2.8 GHz, two 3.0 GHz, or two 3.2 GHz
Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors; up to 32GB of 800 MHz DDR2 fully-buffered ECC
memory; up to four 1TB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm or up to
four 300GB SAS drives running at 15000 rpm; Mac Pro RAID card; up to two 16x
SuperDrives with double-layer support; NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT or NVIDIA Quadro
FX 5600 graphics cards; AirPort Extreme 802.11n; Apple USB Modem; Apple
wireless Aluminum Keyboard; Apple wireless Mighty Mouse; and Mac OS X Server
Leopard. Complete build-to-order options and pricing are available at
http://www.apple.com/macpro.

*Based on estimated results comparing a preproduction 2.8 GHz 8-core Mac
Pro with a 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Mac Pro running professional applications like
Maya, modo and Logic(R) Pro.

**Testing conducted by Apple in December 2007 using a preproduction 2.8
GHz 8-core Mac Pro with a 2.66 GHz quad-core Mac Pro. All systems were
configured with 4GB of RAM. Results are based on the STREAM v. 5.6 benchmark
(http://www.cs.virginia.edu/stream/ref.html) using OMP support for
multiprocessor-compiled builds. All systems were configured with 8GB of RAM.
Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect
the approximate performance of Mac Pro.