MP 7,1 How do YOU use your Mac Pro, can you max it out?

[rondocap]

The question of the newest M2 Ultra Mac Pro got me thinking, how do people really use their Mac Pro? Maybe if you can give us an example of your workflow, and what part of the system it uses the most and could benefit from more power. (Ram, GPU, CPU, etc)

Here's my use case:

Video editing using Final Cut Pro and R3D raw from Red cameras

What it uses the most:

Primarily the GPU, W6800x Duo in my case. Some CPU as well, but the GPU does the heavy lifting. Ram rarely goes above 64GB, although I have 196GB in there as it does apply it to the cache.

Second use case...storage. The internal storage is definitely a plus, but I guess you can do external options too. Pegasus R4i Raid, SSD/NVME internal raid, etc.


Ram won't benefit me much, but the GPU and CPU will for sure. While my system is still faster for my workflow than the M2 Ultra, I can see the next version surpassing it. Not to mention the more efficient power draw and cheaper overall price compared to the Intel Mac Pro..

 

[avro707]

Mine does video and graphics work most of the time, but sometimes runs a local development environment of a major web platform for verifying things. Sometimes all of those at once.

The only things I want to change are:

W3275M CPU upgrade
GPU upgrade
a bit more RAM
Use Windows 11 only (it already runs that)

And that will keep it going for as long as I need it to go for then I will swap to a PC workstation. I’m not buying anything more from Apple.

Currently I don’t max it out completely which is good. It does what is needed quickly.

 

[CanPhantom]

I use mine for software development. It runs 3 development VMs and 5 server VMs, usually just a few at a time but occasionally I have everything up & online at the same time.

Specs:
Base 8-core CPU
128GB RAM
6600XT
Big Ass (TM) RAID0 drive for the VMs, plus the 1TB system drive

Each VM gets 2-4 virtual cores and 8-16GB of RAM, depending on the need of each machine.

I have yet to actually see it max out. With everything running full bore, it will top out around 80% total resource usage. Normal all-the-time usage, it usually hovers under 25%.

 

[SecuritySteve]

I use mine for daily use (routine stuff, gaming, etc), plus the actual work of application security. I can run up to a dozen VMs at a time, some of which are major memory hogs, eating up 160 GB of RAM and pegging the entirety of my 16 core CPU. I also use it for software development on the side, which is more CPU intensive than anything. Between the graphics needs of gaming, the RAM and CPU needs of my jobs, I need everything I can get.

It's disappointing that I can't upgrade the 6900 XT GPU any further on macOS. Bootcamp really sucks, and I personally dislike using Windows in comparison to Linux or macOS. I'm not really sure where I'll go after my 2019 MP gets long in the tooth.

 

[eicca]

My 5,1 does web browsing, some video editing and music production, and gets pushed the hardest when running Win10 for games. I wouldn’t even come close to the limits of a 7,1 if I had one, never mind an M2 Ultra.

 

[blackquartz]

I use it for 3D modeling with Maya and Zbrush. Render using 3 6900xt for Redshift which humiliates any M2 processor by far. I was waiting for 7900 support but Apple just kind of gave the middle finger to me. As I plan to do back to them with my next workstation when the time comes.