but the mpx slot is also a pci slot, so you could have one mpx gpu, and one afterburner, or 2 MPX/PCI gpus, or 1 gpu, one audio card etc. if the iGPU is good enough, you could probably also not have any MPX GPUs (though you'd still have to buy one), albeit with much reduced display capability.
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MP All Models Introducing... The Mac?
- Thread starter Flint Ironstag
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Actually I wasn't sure what it was because it didn't occur to me someone would suggest that Apple would put a spinning hard drive in a new Mac Pro.Mister Andrew was being sarcastic
It will be more interesting to watch if Apple continues to up-sell the Afterburner add-on in 6-12 months, or if they will attempt to add this "functionality" onto the ARM/chip itself in some capacity, or even integrated into a T-X style co-processor.
Really feels like Afterburner hit at the wrong time, especially with shipping delays. With the pandemic, most people were forced to work at home and come up with other solutions. Largely speaking, people working from home went MBP and/or iMac setups instead of MacPro and they're still getting the jobs done.
At least in the USA, many offices are planning on remote through at least June 2021 at this point. A cheaper MacPro option could slot in nicely, if it works with current software without major headaches and truly rivals the Catalina/Intel experience.
Really feels like Afterburner hit at the wrong time, especially with shipping delays. With the pandemic, most people were forced to work at home and come up with other solutions. Largely speaking, people working from home went MBP and/or iMac setups instead of MacPro and they're still getting the jobs done.
At least in the USA, many offices are planning on remote through at least June 2021 at this point. A cheaper MacPro option could slot in nicely, if it works with current software without major headaches and truly rivals the Catalina/Intel experience.
The problem with the After Burner at it's current state is that is wasn't reconfigurable to support other codecs. That would help professionals future-proof based on their workflow and buy into the card. I would rather invest in another or a new GPU at this point that patronize the After Burner. That's of course based on my own workflow.
Wasn't that literally the point of having a big FPGA card - that it was supposed to be reconfigurable with software to suit the codec being used? I seem to recall apple execs talking about that specific aspect of it after one wwdc.
I
Re: 1/2 size Mac Pro Mini ~ will that be compatible to the original Cheese Grater size? If so - won't the 8,1 likely look like it on the internals?
If you are the only one playing the tag, is it really a game?
Re: 1/2 size Mac Pro Mini ~ will that be compatible to the original Cheese Grater size? If so - won't the 8,1 likely look like it on the internals?
the og cheesegrater has a LOT of room for (dual) CPU coolers, a space for 4 drive bays, and the height of a power supply shaped to fit behind the stacked height of multiple optical bays.
Once the opticals are gone, the power supply can be thinner, but use the whole footprint, like the 7,1's does.
Probably look at the 7,1, power suply at the bottom, plus the height of two full-MPX bays, then processor, ram and (on a separate card) default IO above that, possibly even on a 90 degree mounted sub-board, like the way the 4,1/5,1 cMP processor board is.
hmm, maybe when I've got a minuteHoping someone with a digital pen can draw that out.....
we could go even more radical, as long as we're just tossing crap out in the wind for fun - the system is just the 7,1 chopped off below the processor heat sink - 3 full-size MPX bays, one bay contains an MPX module hosting the cpu, ram, storage and default IO ports.
But how many RAM slots does that leave room for?hmm, maybe when I've got a minute
we could go even more radical, as long as we're just tossing crap out in the wind for fun - the system is just the 7,1 chopped off below the processor heat sink - 3 full-size MPX bays, one bay contains an MPX module hosting the cpu, ram, storage and default IO ports.
And there might not be enough room to have two sides to the computer but only one side...?
Or the height would remain the same but they make it thinner - taking away the RAM side of board...
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I have a 2019 Mac Pro, 16-core 3.2GHz Xeon W, 64GB RAM, 2TB SSD, Radeon Pro 580X, AppleCare to Dec 2022 for sale if anyone's interested? Not because of the shift to ASi, but because I've had to close down my company due to the pandemic and need it sold.
There is forum thread to post computers for sale...
Maybe that is better place?
The idea pretty much disregards the whole ram side of the 7,1. Machine like this, you can probably get away with only 4 ram slots, same as the iMac. The real question would be how much heatsink the processor requires.
We know Apple are very, very good at making small PCB layots - look at one of the double-width mpx modules in your machine. Could the motherboard from an iPhone (an example Apple Silicon system), plus the 7,1s I/O card and 4 DIMMS fit within that volume?
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"3 full-size MPX bays"
That is 6 pci slots? And 4 RAM slots and AS CPU. It is really Mac Pro 7,1 little brother.
Could get even crazier and see OWC intro a similar module but with Xeon! Any progress on that mockup yet ?hmm, maybe when I've got a minute
we could go even more radical, as long as we're just tossing crap out in the wind for fun - the system is just the 7,1 chopped off below the processor heat sink - 3 full-size MPX bays, one bay contains an MPX module hosting the cpu, ram, storage and default IO ports.
And I thought MPX module bay takes two slots each. Fingers crossed for his drawing too!Could get even crazier and see OWC intro a similar module but with Xeon! Any progress on that mockup yet ?
I'll have a play this evening - i'm too busy today watching footage of Americans dancing in the streets in "sexy Gritty" fursuitsCould get even crazier and see OWC intro a similar module but with Xeon! Any progress on that mockup yet ?
The MPX slot is a pci x16 slot, plus an MPX connector (which looks like another pci x16 slot, but wider) next to it, horizontally. A 7,1's MPX *bay*, being 4 slots wide, has the MPX /PCI slot, plus a standard double-spaced PCI slot above it.
eg below, the 7,1 has 2 MPX bays, which provide 4 pci slots. I'm suggesting the bays just be the MPX slots, and skip the in-between PCI-only slots.
ok, couldn't resist messing about...
no external design, just an internal illustration:
![macstation-empty.png]( "macstation-empty.png")
![macstation-full.png]( "macstation-full.png")
Put the Mac Station MPX module in an EGPU style case, and you have a new compact ARM mac, put it in a box with other MPX slots, you have a Mac Station Plus, or Mac Station Pro with the 7,1s extra standard PCI slots.
Now, to watch the porcine flocks wheel and twist across the sky.
no external design, just an internal illustration:
Put the Mac Station MPX module in an EGPU style case, and you have a new compact ARM mac, put it in a box with other MPX slots, you have a Mac Station Plus, or Mac Station Pro with the 7,1s extra standard PCI slots.
Now, to watch the porcine flocks wheel and twist across the sky.
I see ~
So is your thinking that the other side will be available for the RAM slots and T2 and exhaust fan...? It will be nearly as wide as the 7,1 but a lot shorter....
Great job by the way. Very easy to now see what you meant.
not quite, i'm suggesting all of the functional parts of the machine - cpu, ram, storage, (you don't need a separate T-chip in an ARM mac) and basic IO will be in the Mac Station module, cooled by the front fan. That's assuming the Apple Silicon processors really are super efficient in terms of heat created.
Think of it as just the chunk of the 7,1, that's behind the bottom 2 front fans.
Think of it as just the chunk of the 7,1, that's behind the bottom 2 front fans.
With just a few more centimeters in your design, 6 RAM slots might be possible and would appear a bridge between the iMac 4 and Mac Pro 12. Apple seems to have a configuration system for the 6 slot system already maximized.
Thanks for all your hard work. You've brought the views from 300 to 3k
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I would say loose the third double-wide MPX slot. Per my earlier post on how this might look like, 4 PCIe slots which are equipped to accept 2 double-wide MPX, if needed.
The power supply is still at the bottom. At the very top will house the Apple Silicon (on the left side) which should already contain all the processing power down to the built-in GPU. To the right are the 6 RAM slots.
Only one side of the board will be occupied to slim down the thickness.
You're "subtraction" of the Mac Pro 2019 schematic above isn't 'about half the size"; it is far closer to "1/3 shorter". Presuming that Apple isn't fusing over the feet and handle height ( and that the core enclosure chassis is "about half" the half way mark is that end-to-end horizontal line below all the DIMMs. Even on a two boarded solution there isn't much room for the DIMMs unless start shrinking the backside blower fan (or moving the )
Similarly on the top of the board the "half way" point is around the where the end-to-end horizontal line is above the two MPX bays. Whatever Apple Silicon Package that is produced isn't going to be as small as the phone chips. The more I/O pins coming out of the package the larger the package gets even if the cores die is smaller. There isn't really room for two MPX Bays. Chucking the additional 300-500W of the second MPX bay also lets them downside the capacity on power supply which will allow the back side blower to substantively shrink ( as covering less RAM and less power supply bleed. ) .
Apple could have a 'Mac Pro One' and substantively later a 'Mac Pro Two'. This half sized one could be one MPX bay and perhaps one other slot ( depending upon if Apple can keep the DIMMs and SSD on the backside of the board. Probably a little over half since would probably keep two fans. ( and if shooting for literal desktop then the feet and handles don't really have to be as tall. ) . "Two" would clearly be two MPX Bays (which means much more 'bulk' for the enclosure. Bigger backside blower , bigger power , bigger number of slots , etc. )
If Apple is "stretching" the Apple Silicon SoC to provision this half size system then it might even be a cut down MPX bay where the "alternative second " PCI-e slot is gone. Or at least swtiched ( x16 PCI-e v4 -> two xx16 PCI-e v3 )