• On The Insider: Britney's Bikini-Clad Top 10
April 4, 2007 6:40 AM PDT

Eight-core Mac Pros arrive

by Rich Brown
  • Font size
  • Print
  • 10 comments

To the surprise of exactly no one, Apple announced an update to its Mac Pro workstation PC this morning, moving to eight CPU cores via two, 3.0GHz quad-core Intel Xeon processors. This upgrade doubles the number of processing threads from Apple's available flagship desktop. Pricing for the eight-core model begins at $3,997, although you can still get a quad-core Mac Pro for less. And as usual, Apple is taking orders immediately, with its Web site listing a 3-5 day shipping window.

Apple's Mac Pro gets twice the horsepower with today's upgrade to eight processing cores.

(Credit: CNET)

If you'd like a preview of how an eight-core Mac might perform, check out this "unofficial" eight-core Apple post that we did at the end of last year. Intel had a older quad-core Xeon chip that was compatible with the Mac Pro's motherboard, so we swapped in two of them and ran a few multicore benchmarks. As you might suspect, eight cores are indeed better than four, provided you use software that will put all of the cores to work. The chips we tested were only 2.66GHz models, so expect the real eight-core Mac Pro and its 3.0GHz Xeons to perform even better.

Rich Brown reviews desktops and various other components and peripherals for CNET. E-mail Rich.
Recent posts from Crave
Gadgettes 162: The Swank Pad Episode
Cowon iAudio 9 first impressons
Hands-on: Samsung Behold II, plus release details
Razer Abyssus aims for simplicity
Lenovo about to launch smartbook with AT&T
The Real Deal 187:Should you buy that warranty?
Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm hit Xbox 360 on Tuesday
Eneloop battery wand powers devices on the go
Add a Comment (Log in or register) (10 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
The link to the post is dead. Can you correct it?
by zorrillaj April 4, 2007 7:12 AM PDT
Reply to this comment
It's working now
by Mike Yamamoto April 4, 2007 7:53 AM PDT
Thanks for the catch! --Mike
The link to the post is dead. Can you correct it?
by zorrillaj April 4, 2007 7:12 AM PDT
Reply to this comment
It's working now
by Mike Yamamoto April 4, 2007 7:53 AM PDT
Thanks for the catch! --Mike
The link to the post is dead. Can you correct it?
by zorrillaj April 4, 2007 7:12 AM PDT
Reply to this comment
It's working now
by Mike Yamamoto April 4, 2007 7:53 AM PDT
Thanks for the catch! --Mike
No you dont have this you gamer bitches
by mrpiddly1 April 6, 2007 12:32 PM PDT
First dont go say oh i have this already because the chip in it hasent been
anounced yet and only apple can get them right now. Also, it is highly unlikly
you like PC **** box can handle 16 gb of ram, Vista only adresses 4gb of ram
which i laugh at becasue thats how much i have in my laptop. OSX on the
other hand can adress as much ram as you can put in the system and it also
manages ram differently so it is quicker. Finally dont say the 8800 is better
becase its so good. Try compressing some ******* video with that 8800 crap.
It cant handle real time editing of photos, video, or music to like one tenth
the power as the 4500.
Reply to this comment
No you dont have this you gamer bitches
by mrpiddly1 April 6, 2007 12:32 PM PDT
First dont go say oh i have this already because the chip in it hasent been
anounced yet and only apple can get them right now. Also, it is highly unlikly
you like PC **** box can handle 16 gb of ram, Vista only adresses 4gb of ram
which i laugh at becasue thats how much i have in my laptop. OSX on the
other hand can adress as much ram as you can put in the system and it also
manages ram differently so it is quicker. Finally dont say the 8800 is better
becase its so good. Try compressing some ******* video with that 8800 crap.
It cant handle real time editing of photos, video, or music to like one tenth
the power as the 4500.
Reply to this comment
So what? Long live Windows.
by junchao8 April 10, 2007 10:49 AM PDT
So what? most people can do with a good 2 gigs of ram,also vista x64 bit can handle much more ram.

F4500 Is for doing , not gaming, specialized drivers makes hardware acceleration better, it's based on the last gen GPU articuiture, new F4600 is based on 8800 GTX and got i.5 Gigs of ram.

People use NV pro series to render images, etc, not to compress some pirated mp3 file, beside, that's why you got the 8 core CPU.
Reply to this comment
So what? Long live Windows.
by junchao8 April 10, 2007 10:49 AM PDT
So what? most people can do with a good 2 gigs of ram,also vista x64 bit can handle much more ram.

F4500 Is for doing , not gaming, specialized drivers makes hardware acceleration better, it's based on the last gen GPU articuiture, new F4600 is based on 8800 GTX and got i.5 Gigs of ram.

People use NV pro series to render images, etc, not to compress some pirated mp3 file, beside, that's why you got the 8 core CPU.
Reply to this comment
(10 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next

About Crave

The name says it all. Crave is our blog about gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. If you would like to contact Crave with a tip or comment, please write to: crave@cnet.com

Add this feed to your online news reader

Crave topics

13 games for newer iPhones

So you've got an old iPhone or iPod and want to see what some of the latest games are doing with the newer hardware? We've checked out 11 titles to show you the differences.
• Images: Old vs. new

Intel to pay AMD $1.25B in settlement

Antitrust and intellectual property fights come to an end for now. AMD will drop pending litigation, and Intel will "abide by" a long list of prohibitions.
• AMD: Our claims are 'ratified'