As 38% of my readers use a Mac, my PC based friends will have to excuse this rather biased post.
It all comes from my online window-shopping that I am currently engaged in as I am lusting after a new machine a few weeks before I can actually afford one, or, to be more precise, before my credit card can afford one.
It seems that the new Mac Pro, and possibly others, will be announced within a fortnight, from what the Mac watchers (MacRumors and HardMacare) are saying.
According to HardMac the next generation of processors will be...Intel Xeon Core i7 Hexa Core, yep, 6 core, also known as Gulftown...and this new 6 core processor will be exclusive to Mac for a few weeks, possibly a couple of months it is rumoured.
Now, I am not a geek (i.e. I don't understand much), but from what I do understand this won’t make any difference to me as it seems that it is professional video makers who will benefit most as most of the software that could take advantage of 6 core hasn’t been written yet....but... tests apparently show it to be "50%" faster.... lol
It has already tho started to send prices on the Old Dual Core down to a slightly less ridiculous level ... i.e. Lasky’s are offering a £240 reduction on the Apple Store book price for the standard Mac Pro...... and I am hopeful of further reductions......that's why I'm interested..:)))
Now, whether the new Macs will be able to be fitted with the new Radeon HD5870 as an upgrade option seems open to debate, I understand it is a really power hungry chip..... and whether the new ’basic’ model will upgrade from the rather poor Nvidia GT120 to the hyper-fast GTX 480 is impossible as it is over £400... more likely the GT220 I am told.
But one thing is for sure, according to all the blog comments on geeky posts, that the days when the iMac out-performed the Mac Pro are due (if consumers are heeded) to end.
The date is believed to be March 16th, so ....more news then, then.
:))
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Soror, you are right - a new core/cpu won't help you as much as a new video card for SL unless you are doing offline machinima or nonlinear video editing, and current software hardly uses dual or 4 cores yet with a very few exceptions.
ReplyDeleteFor a good cheap video card I highly recommend the nVidia 9600 GSO with 1GB DDR2 - just got one and all sliders are maxed and 4xAA/shaders - I am loving it! You can go with DDR3/512 if you want for an extra hundred or more but i went for the most oomph for the $, and 1GB DDR2 rawks SL smooth as buttah. You'd be better off getting a great deal on a dual- or quad-core cpu that will work for you for at least the next 2-3 yrs and spend the extra on RAM and video.
nVidia 9600 GSO (rebranded 8800 with RAM upgrade and smaller core (less heat)
80$USD @New Egg or Tiger.
Thanks Miso, that is really useful info.... xxx
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