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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

What PC woud be faster than a 12 core Mac Pro?

Sulekh Suman said:
a fully souped up 16Core HPz820 would be faster than 12 Core Mac Pro. Costs about 4K.
Click to expand...

LOL... Bwahahahaha hahaaaaa har... sorry, couldn't help myself.

Going to cost more than $4K, a lot more. I spent nearly $10K on my Z820 and that was after a combined 23% discount, only ordering a single hard drive installed... Sure, I wish it only cost $4K, but sadly, it's a whole lot more.



Anyway, yes, if you want to go faster than a 12 core Mac Pro, you need something like the Z820 that can provide dual CPUs for 12 to 16 cores at the same or better clock speed. The CPUs are about 5% faster per clock per core and the memory at 1600MHz Quad Channel is about 15% faster. It has PCIe v3, which nothing but a few GPUs trickling to market actually use and it has USB3 ports. Price of entry for a dual CPU Z820 is higher than the price of entry for the base 12-core Mac Pro.

FWIW, the *lowest* spec'd 12-core configuration of the Z820 I can come up with that is actually a tiny bit faster (200MHz) than the base 12-core Mac Pro is $5727. And ordering that configuration is pointless as it doesn't utilize any of the true advantages of the new platform. Using the same 1333MHz CPU bus and RAM interface speeds, for example. You would be spending a $1200 premium for nothing other than an extra two usable slots and PCIe v3 support.

If you want it to be noticeably faster than the base model Mac Pro 12-core, then you had better step up to the E5-2670 CPUs and matched RAM. Even ordering with a paltry 8GB and a single 500GB HDD and super-cheap $120 GPU option, you're still at $8K price tag.



Anyway, I think I'll get off the soap box and stop ranting.

But to answer Rob's question, the Z820 or similar E5 "Romley" Xeon platform is what's faster. Be prepared to spend big money for it though. Myself and a few others have pointed out in a few discussions why Apple, and a handful of other PC vendors, have most likely chose to not support this iteration of Xeon system. At this stage in the game, I would have a tough time recommending either one of these new Xeon PC's or a current Mac Pro to anyone. We should see new Xeon CPUs and systems in February or March. So only buy now if you absolutely have no other choice. The current 12-core Mac Pro is actually a pretty good choice. So is the HP Z800 system, which is based off the same prior generation of Xeon platform. Both systems are a LOT cheaper than the Z820 (or similar).


It's also possible to build a desktop-class i7 system that is faster than the Z820 for certain tasks. If you can get by with 6 cores for most of your work, this is often a better way to go and the fewer cores can be clocked faster.
 
As usual I agree with Jeff.

The top end CPUs are very expensive so in order to go significantly faster than the 12 core MacPro it gets spendy quick - and can you ROI that extra cost in less than a year?

FWIW for a lot of what we do, having 3 PCs that cost $2,000 each and parcelling out tasks will get you to the finish line much faster than a $10,000 screamer. Just sayin'

Cheers - #19
 
Great thoughts guys. I think I will wait and buy a Rocket to tide me over.
 
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