Apple looks set to pinch all Intel's top-bin Penryns
Axis of weavil
REMEMBER OUR Harpertown (Penryn Xeon for the laymen) review series recently, all based on a 3GHz X5472 chip?
Yeah, it is fast, but, since April's Beijing Spring IDF, Intel have been showing 3.2GHz X5482 Xeon-type and 3.33GHz extreme desktop type Penryn parts in almost all demo systems. How come there aren't more of these top bin parts now?
One answer, of course, is that, until that long-awaited B2F/BA/B3 - whatever spin of Barcelona and Phenom comes out - running at north of 2.6GHz, Intel's got little reason to actually do anything about 3GHz on Penryn, as the performance advantage is still there.
So, to get Intel back into the aggressive overdrive mode, we need AMD to speed up its schedule, very literally.
However, the high-rpm hummingbirds buzzing around Tokyo told us another reason yesterday, which sounds far more plausible to - Apple loves the Penryn. It covets both the Yorkfield Extreme for its mainstream boxes and Harpertown Xeons for the next Mac Pro. In particular, the massive memory throughput and SSE4 improvements help Mac-type apps shine more - think about an in-memory huge image manipulation task than needs both of these features.
So, the rumour says that Apple pretty much pre-booked all the amounts of top Penryn bins that could be booked for this year - especially the X548". This excludes the minimum quantities for other big vendors so that they will be able to claim at least starting to ship their stuff. Those other vendors will, in reality, mostly have to count on the "standard" Penryn speed bins, a notch or two below the top ones.
Of course, Apple could be paying a premium for this "privilege". It might also pass any such premium, multiplied by three or more, on to its unimaginably faithful flock of customers.
All is not lost. Bear in mind that, right after the 12 Nov launch of X5482, QX9650 and a few other extreme Penryns, we'll also have the "unlocked Harpertown " version for the Skulltrail dual-socket gaming monster, as well as other similar platforms that may come out from one or two Taiwanese vendors.
So, if you want your own - not Apple's iDiotised - dual socket desktop supercomputer, just grab a few of these. µ
Comments
should have something better to be doing right now
ahahahaapple can only do right by the stupid people that buy their products, correct? :) can't even leave that out when talking about the processors they may be buying, but hey, it's about the money for everyone, including apple... (and maybe u?)
funny
Appleinsider.com has rehashed this story, prefixing it with "The Inquirer, whose Apple-related track record is debatable..."So true.
Must be lots of stupid people
Given that Apple just blasted past 160 and now has a market cap of $140 billion dollars—and is worth four times what they were worth about a year ago—you should probably question who the stupid person really is. But, then again, you probably use Vista, so I already have my answer.Premium?
Well, I suppose Apple *might* be paying a premium, or there again they might be getting them cheap. It seems pretty clear that Apple got preferential access to new Intel processors in exchange for switching from PPC, and not going to AMD.I love it!
Finally the top notch intel box is a Mac!!!Will the gamers switch too?
Wouldn't that be a hoot.
un'imaginably faithful flock'
Has a nice ring to it, but maybe a less hyped, less anti-mac-loaded perspective would simply be that people that need high performance in their work, many who happen to use macs for that very same reason, will pay to get it asap. Simple enough, right?Penryn shortage
We will just overclock the hell out of the cheap end chips because we buy top shelf mobos and ram ... the processor speed isn't an issue unless your a noob.The only ones who pay a premium are the dumb Joe Sixpacks and the rich ... oops ... did I quote from Ed??
Spank me Charlie ... heh heh.
use vista?
no, i don't think u caught the sarcasm, mark... i'm no market expert, tho, but i'd be concerned about what may come to pass if i had my life depending on it. anyone hear of the ipod nano's exploding battery? it's not just dell anymore, someone said. surprised the inquirer hasn't caught on to that one yet... hint hint...no vista here, a mac and an old compaq that still kicks from before HP bought em out.
Mac Users
I'd think that the Mac Users ready and willing to buy a Penryn Xeon equipped future Mac Pro have real work to do and are not playing games like some teenager or some IT "professional" squashing spyware. Mac users can be more productive and thus can afford a $2500 computer. So who's the stupid ones now? I intend to buy one. Good luck with your Vista crapware.Professionals
The commentor who stated that professionals would have more need of the top end parts for their work was dead on. A good portion of the people creating artistic or scientific things of value in the world are working on macs. I would rather they be able to do their work better and faster than have random idiots get 20more fps in some meaningless game. I'm on a PC, but value the contributions to society and humanity that people with abilities I don't have make, and many of them are "made on a mac".Switch to a Mac for gaming?
Well, if Apple started taking seriously the gaming industry (and if i could stick a high-end 8800 in there) i would switch to Mac in no time.Guess jobs have enough money by pulling his iHypes to mindless fanbois already.
Mac Pros are actually cheaper. . .
"Of course, Apple could be paying a premium for this "privilege". It might also pass any such premium, multiplied by three or more, on to its unimaginably faithful flock of customers."Funny. . . but every matchup of Apple's Mac Pro workstations versus other PC vendors has the Mac being considerably cheaper for the same configuration. For instance:
http://www.internet-nexus.com/2006/08/mac-pro-vs-dell-precision-price.htm
Show me another comparable dual quad core Xeon workstation from any vendor cheaper than Apple's $4000 Mac Pro.
Not the first time
Same thing happened with the 3GHz Clovertowns - Apple had exclusive access to them for some time while everyone else was at 2.66GHz. Not really a big deal at the end of the dayApple Superior?
Only for those who can't figure out how to run the more complicated PCs.If Apple is superior, then why does have so little software made for it?
Apple: Made for rich people with more money than intelligence.
Don't forget.
Computer industry works this way:1.Game First (hence the need for huge improvments on CPU , Memory, GPU).
2.Other entertaiment Second (hence the need for huge improvments in storage per sq-inch).
3.Work Third & Last (hence the need for better OS and software).
Only because of Games the industry made enourmous advances in 3D, superspeed CPU & GPU, graphics (HD). And that's the incontestable truth. I'm waiting for arguments if you have any.
Work related computers are just taking for granted all the improvments that the human need for entairtaiment put under they're PC or MAC hood.
They schould be thankful to gamers and respect the human freedom of dreaming. It is more important than what a worker can ever DO. The creative part of the human being is shown in games, the rest is just tools.