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Did Some Testing...

byalexandr
By byalexandr
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So I was curious about the design of that trash can Mac Pro. I thought it was interesting how it managed to cool two workstation AMD cards and a 12 core Xeon, and then I was wondering how much Apple overcharged on this one. So I configured one machine on Apple's website, and it came out to:

 

2.7GHz 12-Core with 30MB of L3 Cache (which is a Xeon E5-2697 V2)

64GB (4x16GB) of 1866MHz DDR3 ECC

1TB PCI-E Flash Based Storage

Dual AMD FirePro D700 GPUs with 6GB GDDR5 VRAM each (which are AMD FirePro W9000 GPUs)

 

With no other accessories it came out to $9,599.00 and Free Shipping.

 

So I did as similar a build as I could on PCPartPicker, with the following:

 

 
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2697 V2 2.7GHz 12-Core Processor  ($2479.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Asus P9X79 LE ATX LGA2011 Motherboard  ($348.10 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Crucial 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($749.99 @ Newegg) This is ECC just like the Mac Pro. I couldn't find any 4x16GB kits but this will suffice.
Storage: Intel 750 Series 1.2TB PCI-E Solid State Drive  ($1086.35 @ Mac Mall) 
Video Card: AMD FirePro W9000 6GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire)  ($2994.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: AMD FirePro W9000 6GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire)  ($2994.99 @ SuperBiiz)
I think you can get these GPUs cheaper, not sure which one I threw in here.
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($47.99 @ Micro Center) 
Total: $10847.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-24 01:25 EST-0500
 
And it came out to $10847.37, which is a whopping $1,248.37 more expensive than the same spec Mac Pro. That coupled with the fact that I made the PC as cheap as possible (within reason) really shows something. You can get the Apple build quality, the convenient form factor and the quiet and elegant operation (I've used one in person and they are very quiet) for over a $1000 cheaper. I'd say that's not bad, just pick up the Mac Pro and a copy of Windows to replace that useless OSX and you're golden.
 
Please don't hurt me.
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Oh so now a 5960X isn't good enough for anyone, I see how it is....

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One day I will have my GTX 970. One day. PC specs are at my profile.

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Yeah correction, I accidentally chose the more expensive option for the two FirePro cards. Here is the corrected list:

 

 
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2697 V2 2.7GHz 12-Core Processor  ($2479.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Asus P9X79 LE ATX LGA2011 Motherboard  ($348.10 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Crucial 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($749.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Intel 750 Series 1.2TB PCI-E Solid State Drive  ($1086.35 @ Mac Mall) 
Video Card: ATI FirePro W9000 6GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire)  ($2015.42 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: ATI FirePro W9000 6GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire)  ($2015.42 @ Amazon) 
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($47.99 @ Micro Center) 
Total: $8888.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-24 01:31 EST-0500
 
Not sure if my point is even valid anymore.
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omg did you get this from watching unbox therapy?

No I was thinking of ways to cool my 290 in a custom chassis and then I thought of the Mac Pro and that lead to this.

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No I was thinking of ways to cool my 290 and then I thought of the Mac Pro and that lead to this.

oh, lol unbox tharapey did a setup tour and it had this, and i facepalmed on how useless the pro is compared to a custom pc ;)

FPS <3

Flick G1 Review

Nixeus Revel Review

 

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Oh so now a 5960X isn't good enough for anyone, I see how it is....

We don't need the plebeian shit.

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oh, lol unbox tharapey did a setup tour and it had this, and i facepalmed on how useless the pro is compared to a custom pc ;)

They're actually quite powerful.

 

I'll admit though, if you got desktop cards that are much more powerful than those FirePro cards for cheaper, it'd whip the shit out of the Mac Pro. I'm going to see what I can do for... Hmm... $7K. See if I can beat the Mac Pro.

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who would want a trash can anyways...

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K @ 4.1GHZ | MOBO: Asus Rampage Extreme V Eatx LGA2011-3 | RAM: 16.00GB DDR4 G-Skills Ripjaws @2400Mhz | GPU: 2x Gtx 980 | CASE: Cooler Master Cosmos 2 | STORAGE: 400GB INTEL 750 Series PCI-E SSD/ 3TB Western Digital WDC | PSU: Corsair AXi 1200w | DISPLAYS: ASUS PB287Q (3840x2160@60Hz) And LG27MU67 (3840x2160@60Hz)

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Would you be able to install OSX on this? I kinda wanted to install OSX on my PC but iTunes really turned me off from Apple with its bullcrap but still interested lol.

Mid-range Emulation Gaming and Video Rendering PC

[CPU] i7 4790k 4.7GHz & 1.233v Delidded w/ CLU & vice method [Cooling] Corsair H100i [Mobo] Asus Z97-A [GPU] MSI GTX 1070 SeaHawk X[RAM] G.Skill TridentX 2400 9-11-11-30 CR1 [PSU] Corsair 750M 

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who would want a trash can anyways...

Im actually looking into getting the DIY Mac Pro case made by that Japanese company, can fit an ITX board and a Quadro in it :D

4690K // 212 EVO // Z97-PRO // Vengeance 16GB // GTX 770 GTX 970 // MX100 128GB // Toshiba 1TB // Air 540 // HX650

Logitech G502 RGB // Corsair K65 RGB (MX Red)

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Yeah correction, I accidentally chose the more expensive option for the two FirePro cards. Here is the corrected list:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2697 V2 2.7GHz 12-Core Processor  ($2479.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.98 @ OutletPC) 

Motherboard: Asus P9X79 LE ATX LGA2011 Motherboard  ($348.10 @ Amazon) 

Memory: Crucial 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($749.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Intel 750 Series 1.2TB PCI-E Solid State Drive  ($1086.35 @ Mac Mall) 

Video Card: ATI FirePro W9000 6GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire)  ($2015.42 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: ATI FirePro W9000 6GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire)  ($2015.42 @ Amazon) 

Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($47.99 @ Micro Center) 

Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($119.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $8888.23

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-24 01:31 EST-0500

 

Not sure if my point is even valid anymore.

Also 2x32gb is far more expensive then 4x16gb. The Mac pro is also in a small form factor but Lew said that he's gone through a couple because they overheated. The pro also has only lightning connectors which is dumb... Also why would I get the exact specs that are in the Mac pro when I could do better then that.

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Im actually looking into getting the DIY Mac Pro case made by that Japanese company, can fit an ITX board and a Quadro in it :D

 

That'd be a good idea... Really smart move, Apple. Disguise your expensive computer as a trashcan. Love it

Mid-range Emulation Gaming and Video Rendering PC

[CPU] i7 4790k 4.7GHz & 1.233v Delidded w/ CLU & vice method [Cooling] Corsair H100i [Mobo] Asus Z97-A [GPU] MSI GTX 1070 SeaHawk X[RAM] G.Skill TridentX 2400 9-11-11-30 CR1 [PSU] Corsair 750M 

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Yeah... For less than $6K I was able to make a PC that would shit on the $10K Mac Pro:

 

 
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2690 V3 2.6GHz 12-Core Processor  ($1989.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: ASRock X99M Extreme4 Micro ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($168.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Kingston 64GB (4 x 16GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory  ($437.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Intel 750 Series 1.2TB PCI-E Solid State Drive  ($1006.81 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX Titan X 12GB Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($993.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX Titan X 12GB Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($993.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $5766.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-24 01:36 EST-0500
 
Guess my point isn't valid anymore. But part for part and spec for spec the Mac Pro isn't that overpriced compared to what you can get with separate parts.
 
Edit: Holy hell the amount you save with desktop cards... And I even went for Titan X cards xD
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That'd be a good idea... Really smart move, Apple. Disguise your expensive computer as a trashcan. Love it

It looks good, and is portable. Nice to have for a small photo editing computer that I can take around if Im traveling.

4690K // 212 EVO // Z97-PRO // Vengeance 16GB // GTX 770 GTX 970 // MX100 128GB // Toshiba 1TB // Air 540 // HX650

Logitech G502 RGB // Corsair K65 RGB (MX Red)

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It looks good, and is portable. Nice to have for a small photo editing computer that I can take around if Im traveling.

I'll stick with my SG05 :)

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It looks good, and is portable. Nice to have for a small photo editing computer that I can take around if Im traveling.

 

True. I'd be nice to see Apple get some laptops with a trackpoint (or mouse nipple, depending on how you view it). It's a must for typists on the go, less hand and finger movement while typing. Video editing though, not so great.

Mid-range Emulation Gaming and Video Rendering PC

[CPU] i7 4790k 4.7GHz & 1.233v Delidded w/ CLU & vice method [Cooling] Corsair H100i [Mobo] Asus Z97-A [GPU] MSI GTX 1070 SeaHawk X[RAM] G.Skill TridentX 2400 9-11-11-30 CR1 [PSU] Corsair 750M 

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Would you be able to install OSX on this? I kinda wanted to install OSX on my PC but iTunes really turned me off from Apple with its bullcrap but still interested lol.

I don't see why not, just flash the FirePro cards with the D700 BIOS and it should work.

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Very interesting.  I never would have guessed it possible.  Now we need to see how much a machine of equivalent performance would cost, allowing this time for any components that will accomplish this.  My guess is going non-ECC memory, regular GPUs instead of workstation cards, and something other than a xeon will make a huge difference in price and not much if any in performance.

Solve your own audio issues  |  First Steps with RPi 3  |  Humidity & Condensation  |  Sleep & Hibernation  |  Overclocking RAM  |  Making Backups  |  Displays  |  4K / 8K / 16K / etc.  |  Do I need 80+ Platinum?

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Very interesting.  I never would have guessed it possible.  Now we need to see how much a machine of equivalent performance would cost, allowing this time for any components that will accomplish this.  My guess is going non-ECC memory, regular GPUs instead of workstation cards, and something other than a xeon will make a huge difference in price and not much if any in performance.

I just made one for under $6K that has dual Titan X in SLI and a 2011-3 12-core Xeon, with 64GB of registered ECC and a 750 Sereis 1.2TB PCI-E drive. I think that does it.

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I just made one for under $6K that has dual Titan X in SLI and a 2011-3 12-core Xeon, with 64GB of registered ECC and a 750 Sereis 1.2TB PCI-E drive. I think that does it.

yeah I started writing before that popped up.  I saw that after and liked it :)

Solve your own audio issues  |  First Steps with RPi 3  |  Humidity & Condensation  |  Sleep & Hibernation  |  Overclocking RAM  |  Making Backups  |  Displays  |  4K / 8K / 16K / etc.  |  Do I need 80+ Platinum?

If you can read this you're using the wrong theme.  You can change it at the bottom.

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lol theres so many ways you could have cut costs in the original one, but cool nonetheless 

restarted my account

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True. I'd be nice to see Apple get some laptops with a trackpoint (or mouse nipple, depending on how you view it). It's a must for typists on the go, less hand and finger movement while typing. Video editing though, not so great.

I loved the mouse nipple on my dad's Dell XPS laptop, it's a shame they're not on many laptops anymore. 

I used to be quite active here.

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lol theres so many ways you could have cut costs in the original one, but cool nonetheless 

Yeah I know, I fixed it multiple times in later posts. But I'm surprised that part for part, there isn't that big of a price premium for the Mac Pro over the PC, and the Mac Pro has much better build quality compared to the parts I chose.

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