01-16-2008, 04:33 PM

Anyone know if the new Pros offer any significant advantages over the previous line? I was debating between picking up a deal on ebay for a 2xdual core, vs. configuring a brand new one with one quad core.

01-16-2008, 06:18 PM

Faster bus speed and better graphics card options. But the previous Mac Pro would still be well worth buying if you can find a good deal. It's hardly a slouch!

01-19-2008, 01:13 PM

Technically, a single chip with all cores sharing one cache memory is more efficient than two chips each with its own cache. Every time the OS assigns a task to a different physical chip than it was on before, the cache has to be reloaded - this slows things down a bit. I am not sure if you would really notice it however, which is why I started this with the word "technically".

All other things being equal, I would go with the one chip quad core vs. the two chip dual core set up.

01-19-2008, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by Beans0063

Anyone know if the new Pros offer any significant advantages over the previous line?

I consider the ability to get a decent graphics card a significant advantage for the newer design machine.

I have the "old" model with the X1900XT and Apple has basically dumped us. The card is prone to overheating and malfunctions unless cleaned frequently, yet Apple refuses to cough up a replacement card with better specs. They won't even allow much in the way of posting of complaints about the thing. Posts get removed frequently from their forums. Had I known what I know now, I'd likely have not converted - even though I love my Mac Pro and OS-X. The NVIDIA card they are offering will not work with 2007 model systems due to 64 bit vs 32 bit EFI - and they don't even give you a way to tell what you have! Really disappointing.