Mac Pro - the workstation wonder
Unbox
Following on from our popular
article
detailing upgrading an Apple iMac with an Intel 45nm Penryn CPU,
we
thought it would be a good idea to publish bite-sized nuggets of wisdom
on the whole Apple Mac Pro experience, from purchase through to
upgrading various internal components.
Our first guide details what the Mac Pro is all about. We'll then be
looking at upgrading core components, including CPU, WiFi, RAM, and
hard drives - it ain't that hard.
The Apple Mac Pro
The Apple Mac Pro was introduced 18 months ago. The notable departure
from previous models lay in the use of Intel Xeons as the beating heart
of the top-of-the-line, workstation-oriented system, replacing Apple's
PowerPC CPUs.
Available in single- and dual-processor configurations, with native
support for Intel's quad-core Xeons, the FB-DIMM-bearing Mac Pro offers
impressive performance in a wide range of professional applications.
Keeping up with the times, and since the launch of Intel's 45nm
(Penryn) Harpertown-based CPUs in January 2008, the
basic configuration comprises of either one or two Intel 2.8GHz,
quad-core Xeon E5462 processors that each feature 12MiB of on-chip
cache and operate with a maximum TDP of 80W.
The Apple-recommended system, featuring octo-core
processing from dual E5462 CPUs operating off a 1,600MHz FSB,
costs £1,749, including VAT. That's for the base unit alone,
we note, but includes 2GiB of fully-buffered memory (FB-DIMMs), an ATI
Radeon HD
2600 XT 256MiB graphics card flashed with a Mac-only BIOS, a 320GiB
SATA hard drive, and 16x DVD ReWriter.
The usual HIDs - keyboard and mouse - are included, too, along with, of
course, the Apple's Mac OS X (Leopard) operating system. The
Mac Pro ships with a 1,100W PSU, which is ample for any upgrades you
may want to make.
More-powerful models are also available. They extend the specification
by offering a
couple of quad-core, 3.2GHz Xeon X5482s and can be further
user-customised to
offer up to 32GiB of memory (ouch at price), 4TiB of hard-drive space,
two optical drives, and an NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600
1.5GiB graphics
card. Mind you, it will set you back £11,700, and that's
without
adding a quad-channel fibre card or displays.
HEXUS procured a sample and then went on an upgrade spree!
So here's what we got. A brand-new Apple Mac Pro bought last
week.
Bracing muscles that we don't have, lugging the box around was
no fun;
it weighs over 20kg.
The packaging is excellent, with thick cardboard holding the system in
place.
Designed in California and manufactured in China, the presentation is
typical Apple - cool and understated.
Removing the HID box gave us access to the system. On first glance,
it looks exactly like the G5 model that it replaced. The chassis hasn't
changed much and features the iconic twin grab-handles on the top.
The system comes away with a little
wiggling.
A pink-tinged shot highlights the aluminium chassis in all its
refulgent glory. We reckon Apple would do better by dropping its logo
and opting for the HEXUS branding, but our advice fell on deaf ears.
The system tips the scales at 19.2kg and feels supremely well built.
The chassis acts as a giant radiator, keeping the hot-running Xeon
processor(s) cool and quiet. Note that the chassis is absolutely
standard across the range, irrespective of the actual SKU
purchased. The ports' arrangement is the only outward indication that
it's based on Intel's Xeon CPUs.
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