Apple is kidding right?

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Nec_V20

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May 7, 2013
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Just took a look at the new MacPro and they have to taking the mickey. The CPU and GPU components draw a maximum of about 640 Watts and they have the lot essentially passively cooled.

I just wonder how long the system will run full whack before thermal throttling sends the performance through the floor.

The setup is certainly not designed to be used at high load for any period of time, let alone extended periods.

locking this up as it speculation at this point and the thread is going nowhere.

-Apple Mod Aphex
 
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Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
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Exactly which part of "maximum 640 Watts" and "passive cooling" did you not understand?
What I understood is that there is no actual evidence. All I see is supposition.

You may be right, but then again you could be wrong.
 

scannall

Golden Member
Jan 1, 2012
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Just took a look at the new MacPro and they have to taking the mickey. The CPU and GPU components draw a maximum of about 640 Watts and they have the lot essentially passively cooled.

I just wonder how long the system will run full whack before thermal throttling sends the performance through the floor.

The setup is certainly not designed to be used at high load for any period of time, let alone extended periods.

Why would you think it is mostly passively cooled? It clearly isn't.
 

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
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Indeed. It's not as if it's completely fanless* like the Cube, which by the way has essentially the same design as the new Mac Pro, except not round.

* My 1.7 GHz Cube has a fan in it. The Cube actually has a spot for a fan, but in the end, the didn't put it in the shipping model.
 
Feb 25, 2011
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http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/specs/

1) Maximum continuous power: 450W

I'm pretty sure Apple can maths.

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...his-the-workstation-weve-all-been-waiting-for

The entire system is cooled by a single impeller and each of the major components makes direct contact with a large, triangular heatsink Apple calls the “thermal core.” It’s an interesting design and I don’t doubt the company’s claims that it’s quiet and easy to cool.

That is a big-arse heatsink.
 

Kadarin

Lifer
Nov 23, 2001
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I'm going to hazard a guess that it might be possible that the hardware engineers at Apple know a little more about thermal dynamics than the OP. I would wait until reviews are out before cranking up the outrage.
 

BrightCandle

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Mar 15, 2007
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There is no way that you can get 2x those GPUs plus a 6 core IB-E in such a machine and get away with 450W continuous if you actually use it all. That doesn't add up unfortunately and suggests the cooling is quite a bit underpowered for the machine.

It'll be fine when its idling or you aren't fully utilising everything (if 450W really is the cooling potential of the system) but if you use all those cores and both the GPUs you going to exceed by at least 100W. That will have to lead to thermal throttling.
 

JEDIYoda

Lifer
Jul 13, 2005
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There is no way that you can get 2x those GPUs plus a 6 core IB-E in such a machine and get away with 450W continuous if you actually use it all. That doesn't add up unfortunately and suggests the cooling is quite a bit underpowered for the machine.

It'll be fine when its idling or you aren't fully utilising everything (if 450W really is the cooling potential of the system) but if you use all those cores and both the GPUs you going to exceed by at least 100W. That will have to lead to thermal throttling.
rofl@all you amateurs......hahahaaa.,..why would Apple put out a profuct that according to quite a few of you would become defective if pushed continuously to it`s maximum output?? hmmmmm
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
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Indeed. It's not as if it's completely fanless* like the Cube, which by the way has essentially the same design as the new Mac Pro, except not round.

* My 1.7 GHz Cube has a fan in it. The Cube actually has a spot for a fan, but in the end, the didn't put it in the shipping model.

That reminds me, didn't we originally meet on the Cubeowner forum? Haha, that was ages ago :biggrin:
 

BrightCandle

Diamond Member
Mar 15, 2007
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rofl@all you amateurs......hahahaaa.,..why would Apple put out a profuct that according to quite a few of you would become defective if pushed continuously to it`s maximum output?? hmmmmm

Because it does this a lot. The air doesn't quite have enough cooling either, but its OK because the CPU will throttle down to compensate. Its more important for it to be quiet and thin than it is to extract the maximum turbo boost.

The entire point of todays CPUs and GPUs is that they can hit turbos only if there is thermal headroom. They actually will go below their turbo in order to protect themselves thermally all the way down to their idle like performance levels.

So unlike other manufacturers instead of ensuring that the whole system can be used fully Apple has chosen specifically to limit the machine to only being able to max out the CPUs or the GPUs but not the machine as a whole. If you do max it out the machine will back off from its turbos and likely run only at the maximum guaranteed speeds or slightly below that. Its a reasonable trade off, but being honest about the fact you are doing it is also important.
 

RampantAndroid

Diamond Member
Jun 27, 2004
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Because it does this a lot. The air doesn't quite have enough cooling either, but its OK because the CPU will throttle down to compensate. Its more important for it to be quiet and thin than it is to extract the maximum turbo boost.

Agreed. The air isn't meant to be a powerhouse and be making video. It's meant for consumption while being small. This is no different than many of the current cell phones having amazing advertised CPU frequencies on them. Sure, the S3 and S4 can hit high freqs, but they can't sustain them for very long. Welcome to modern computing...
 

MrX8503

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2005
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Just took a look at the new MacPro and they have to taking the mickey. The CPU and GPU components draw a maximum of about 640 Watts and they have the lot essentially passively cooled.

I just wonder how long the system will run full whack before thermal throttling sends the performance through the floor.

The setup is certainly not designed to be used at high load for any period of time, let alone extended periods.

Ok Mr. Engineer, you know this how?

The Mac Pro is essentially a turbine with a massive center heat sink. Heat rises and the Mac Pro will blow a cyclone of air from the bottom to the top. I'm sure it'll cool fine.
 

Nec_V20

Senior member
May 7, 2013
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slide_321493_3018314_free.jpg
 

MrX8503

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2005
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Looking at the OP's latest post, I don't think he can be taken seriously. Also not one ounce of proof that the Mac Pro will have thermal issues.
 

Nec_V20

Senior member
May 7, 2013
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I'm going to hazard a guess that it might be possible that the hardware engineers at Apple know a little more about thermal dynamics than the OP. I would wait until reviews are out before cranking up the outrage.

Apple is more of a marketdroid company than anything else :)
 

RampantAndroid

Diamond Member
Jun 27, 2004
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Apple is more of a marketdroid company than anything else :)

Your evidence thus far has been the "$2000 facebook machines" photo which is...well, nothing beyond an image. The Macbook pros remain among the best made laptops. You pay a premium, but you get a very well made laptop. For heat, it can get warm. But the fans kick in and get noisy - Apple prefers to let it got hot then to have a jet engine going all the time. Other laptops just turn on the jet engine at boot. You can of course override the fan logic in OSX and speed the fan up if you so desire.

Regardless, the current OSX machines are well built and work quite well. I think I'll reserve judgement on the Mac Pro until real reviewers get to play with it and ignore the forum posters who are simply looking for ways to complain about Apple.
 

Rakehellion

Lifer
Jan 15, 2013
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Just took a look at the new MacPro and they have to taking the mickey. The CPU and GPU components draw a maximum of about 640 Watts and they have the lot essentially passively cooled.

I just wonder how long the system will run full whack before thermal throttling sends the performance through the floor.

The setup is certainly not designed to be used at high load for any period of time, let alone extended periods.

It has a giant fan at the top that cools the whole thing.
 

Rakehellion

Lifer
Jan 15, 2013
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You can get an AMD FirePro D300, D500, or D700. How do those compare to other GPUs on the market?
 

Nec_V20

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May 7, 2013
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The fact of the matter is that at some point someone will subject the new MacPro to a proper benchmark test to max it out - disabling throttling - and I just wonder how long it will take before it fries.

Guesses anyone? One minute? Two?

The thing has no active cooling of the main components and has one single chassis fan.
 
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