The new Mac Pro

[edwardo]

I'm a mac guy, and long overdue a new machine. Obviously im going to wait and see how the new mac pro (the big black ashtray) looks and what it costs when it is released. Apple have released a provisional spec listing. Do any tech-minded people on this forum have any thoughts or comments on how this machine is shaping up? I imagine, apple being apple, that its not going to be the best 'bang for your buck' due to a high price tag, but cost aside...

This machine seems to be CPU orientated, with a potentially efficient cooling system, so seems perfect for keyshot, no?

Macs have always been let down by GPU power in my opinion, but finally this one sounds ok on that front.

Any helpful comments would be appreciated.

[EGON]

Reminds me of The Cube. Didn't go over too well.

[DriesV]

Hmm, I'm absolutely loving the "think-outside-the-box" approach to space-saving and cooling.
I'm less enthusiastic about it's potential as a KeyShot workhorse.

It's going to be a single socket machine, sporting max. 12 cores (Intel Xeon E5-2600 V2 Ivy Bridge-EP). When you come from a previous generation Mac Pro (Intel Westmere) this might be worthwile upgrade. You get the same amount of cores, with higher efficiency, higher speeds and rooted on a more advanced platform.
However, PC manufacturers (HP, Dell...) will probably be releasing dual socket machines -using the new Xeon generation too- around the same time. The top-end of the range will sport two of those beastly 12 core Xeons.

So if you're looking for ultimate realtime rendering performance on a single machine, I would look at PC.

Dries

[number12]

I'm also loving the next Mac Pro, I'm hoping this software will be optimised to run on it. Spec sounds good to me... maybe not quite as high as some P.C's but still good. 

[edwardo]

Ahhhh, but can you dispense paper handkerchiefs, chill champagne, or cook rice in a PC....... Dont think so!!

Truly multitasking machines!!

[NDenekamp]

What i've been wondering is, was it rendered in KeyShot?! i mean that introductory movie, and the currently preview website!

Very excited about is as a concept, probably not too excited about the price tag.. Trying to manage my expectations..

Are there any CPU benches yet for that Xeon E5 already available?

Based on a thread over in the KeyShot performance forum you could maybe make an estimation of the FPS for the upcoming Mac Pro

.....
I would guess this value should be around 1.7 for Keyshot 4 on most machines. So if you are choosing computers or building computers with Keyshot rendering performance in mind, just simply (number hyperthreads) * (clock speed) *1.7, and result a rough fps you can get in Keyshot.
.....

The 12 core xeon would give 24 threads. times (at least?) 3.2 GHz times 1.7 factor would say around 130 FPS?


N

[DriesV]

The most powerful workstation CPU in the 'Ivy Bridge' E5-2600 V2 range will be the 10-core E5-2687W v2. I make this assumption based on TDP (which is a pretty good performance indicator overall if you compare CPUs from within the same family). It has a TDP of 150W, the 12-core parts only go as high as 130W (lower frequencies).

The current E5-2687W is an 8-core CPU (3.1GHz-3.8GHz boost). It scores 180fps in KS4 in a dual socket configuration, according to the camera benchmark section.

The new E5-2687W V2 is a 10-core CPU (3.4GHz-? boost). Let's assume each core is 10% faster than in E5-2687W (that's quite a conservative estimation as the base clock is higher). A dual socket machine with two of these would score around 248fps. Or 124fps for a single socket machine. If my numbers are correct, than it will be blazing fast!

Dries