NAB attendee's: Soooo... how do the 8 Core Mac's handle?

[Gene Crucean]

Anyone test the new 8 core macs yet? How do they handle? I've been waiting on these for a little while now.

Any Red demo's on one?


Ciao

[casey warren]

Yeah I am also curious. Since I am thinking of either getting and 8-core now or waiting untill Apple release a new generation of computers....hopefully within the next 6mo. I am somewhat dissappointed in Apple. Although I am really excited about the new Final Cut Studio installment, I just wish they totally re-updated their computers.

[Yash Keough]

Ya a total revamp of the systems is needed. Maybe this simple 8 core update though is only to allow developers to catch up to the processing. Then later this year maybe we'll see a totally revamped Mac Pro with the same 8 cores (though maybe faster? I'm not familiar with Intel's roadmap really) but with new design, graphics cards, hard drive options, etc. Who knows. We can only hope! :)

[Häakon]

What concerned me the most from talking to the Apple reps at NAB was that the entire new Final Cut suite is already programmed and running on Tiger, and Leopard is still over 6 months away. I wonder how well it can truly be optimized for the next OS release if it's already finished.

That being said, ProRes 422 looks quite cool and the fact that you can edit REDCODE clips natively is a godsend. I think Apple still has more up their sleeve than they're giving away just yet and the WWDC in June should shine some light on most of those innovations.

[casey warren]

Yeah, it seems as if Apple is silently waiting to release something totally awesome...(i hope). I also hope with Leopard that they do release a new gen of towers/screens and most of all graphics cards...

I think for the most part that the 8 cores are a good thing, but I also think that they needed to release them to get rid of the stock of the Macpro titanium bodies that they have before they revamp the looks and design of the towers, etc.

Hopefully our wishes will be granted this June for some machines that can fully display and crank in/out RED footage like none other.

[hmurchison]

Leopard will definitely make a difference in multicore performance for applications. The problem in a nutshell now is that Tiger doesn't guarantee that a multithreaded app has its threads "locked" to a particular core. The minute the OS re-assigns the thread to a different core you lose all that cached data in some cases so you're constantly filling up the caches with redundant info.

Leopard fixes this...but wait! There's more! The next Intel CPU/Chipset coming is the 45nanometer Penryn which has 50 new SSE4 instructions. How does up to %40 improvements in encoding speeds in media apps sound? There's also a snoop filter that helps with steering data for 4 cores.

If you want a new Mac Pro but can wait until late this year or early next year you'll be getting a fully 64-bit Leopard with faster graphics and the nextgen CPU/chipset architecture which is %20-40 faster at given tasks with more speed emphasis on exactly what we like. Media encoding.

[Ace]

I really wouldve hoped that Intel followed AMD's processor model of having the cores interface inside the single chip, rather than the dies having to communicate to each other through an external bus driver. Its kind of cheating in a sense. From what I know, theres alot to be improved on the current intel multicore designs as they have somewhat compromised in areas in order to beat AMD. Which is why I was surprised at the quadcore macs being released at the time they did, because the technology is no where near mature yet. There WILL be improvements to come in a short time.

[dalen johnson]

Yeah, it seems as if Apple is silently waiting to release something totally awesome...(i hope). I also hope with Leopard that they do release a new gen of towers/screens and most of all graphics cards...

Personally, I dig the way the towers look...the bullet hole titanium look.
Looks rugged, tough, strong, like it would match the red camera.
Not some plastic case like the G4s or the uber ugly look and plasticness of PCs.

It is human nature, so it seems, to always want something new...which is not always better.

Take a look at the imac...a total flop...again my opinion.
I liked when they came out with the imac that could swivel in any position...then they made the monitor imac - would have been nice, if it had 'lost some weight' at the bottom. The big white chunk of plastic under the screen was the fist comment I heard out of 'regular' folks who walked into the apple store for the first apple...'ugh, kind of strange looking', yet trying to convince themselves that its cool, cause everyone says apple is cool.

So, for me, keep the design...its cool...whats more important is function and how well it performs...how hot it gets, how long components last without burning up.

apple had battery issues with the powerbooks...I saw my pismo powerbook actually burnt on the inside and took it back. Well, apple fixed the problem by making sure you could never see in the clear power box...but give you a opaque power brick. Now I have had issues for some time now with the electricity going off and on, needing to plug and unplug it...(different gen of powerbook) and awhile back had the electricity sparks...what can I say, probably they have the same issues. - after all, they just had with sony, the battery issue.

point is...quality folks...build something that looks like it will last...which they have done, but make the inside last to.

I appreciate your eagerness to see something new, I was in that boat a lot until I realized that it doesnt always look better.

Peace

Dalen

[hmurchison]

I really wouldve hoped that Intel followed AMD's processor model of having the cores interface inside the single chip, rather than the dies having to communicate to each other through an external bus driver. Its kind of cheating in a sense. From what I know, theres alot to be improved on the current intel multicore designs as they have somewhat compromised in areas in order to beat AMD. Which is why I was surprised at the quadcore macs being released at the time they did, because the technology is no where near mature yet. There WILL be improvements to come in a short time.

Intel has given a glimpse about their next major core update that addresses this. AMD better be ready because if Intel hits with this proc in late 2008 catching up could be very hard.

Nehalem- Will succeed Penryn which is due late 2007.

Dynamic management- Your cores, cache, threads, interfaces and power are all managed dynamically. This should mean cpu that adapt somewhat to flexible demands of your computing environment.

Multi-core with SMT- Nehalem will support up to 8-cores per processor and each core will support up to 2 threads. So if you have an 8/16 core computer your OS could spawn a total of 16/32 threads.

Integrated Memory Controller- The cores now will talk to memory via IMC which should reduce latency and improve memory bandwidth just like AMD.

Fast Procesor Interconnect- AMD uses hypertransport for CPU to CPU links. Intel has CSI bus (which will probably be renamed) to handle CPU to CPU communication. They will also have some setups where a GPU is integrated right into the processor package

I know a lot of people are looking at 4K workflows as something that is pretty far off but providing there are no delays we should have the power to edit and apply effects soon. Maybe not fully in realtime but who knows? Imagine 16 4Ghz processors in a Mac Pro that each are %30 faster per core than what he have now.

Frankly I'm more worried about 4K display options and how that bandwidth is going to traverse a link from computer to display.