Intel's 18-core Xeon CPU might be coming to the iMac Pro

[Drak3]

2 hours ago, TheCherryKing said:

It will be on the LGA 3647 socket. There will not be any Xeons that use the LGA 2066 socket. In theory, they could have a 28-Core model but a 205W CPU will be even more difficult to cool.

Xeon-W is LGA-2066. Specifically for workstations, like the Mac Pro and iMac Pro.

 

2 hours ago, Sauron said:

Besides, Apple has always been a few generations behind with the hardware in their products.

Not in the past few years. And even then, only because older hardware has had more bugs ironed out by the time Apple uses it.

Not like Xeon-W or HCC SLX is readily available.

2 hours ago, Sauron said:

Not that you're going to notice even if you had 100 on an AiO.

Think about all the Thunderbolt 3!

 

[TheCherryKing]

6 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Xeon-W is LGA-2066. Specifically for workstations, like the Mac Pro and iMac Pro.

 

Not in the past few years. And even then, only because older hardware has had more bugs ironed out by the time Apple uses it.

Not like Xeon-W or HCC SLX is readily available.

Think about all the Thunderbolt 3!

 

Xeon-W? Of course Intel had to make this product lineup even more confusing!

[TheCherryKing]

It looks like Intel will be sticking with the Xeon E3 naming scheme for the entry level processors. Xeon-W is nothing exitcing or special. Xeon-W processors are literary non-scalable versions of Skylake-SP in a smaller package.

[Drak3]

2 minutes ago, TheCherryKing said:

Xeon-W? Of course Intel had to make this product lineup even more confusing!

Xeon Workstation. Recently announced. Likely the SLX silicon that can't achieve as high a clock overall, but is damn efficient at the clocks it sits at.

 

Just now, TheCherryKing said:

Xeon-W processors are literary non-scalable versions of Skylake-SP in a smaller package.

More like Skylake-X processors with ECC.

[TheCherryKing]

It's ridiculous how confusing this new platform is! Now we have CPU's across three different sockets(LGA 1151, LGA 2066, LGA 3647) with confusing naming schemes such as Core, Core-X, Xeon, Xeon-W, Xeon Bronze, Xeon Silver, Xeon Gold, and Xeon Platinum! What a mess! They should have just simplified their old naming scheme like this:

 

Xeon E3: Solo CPU LGA 1151

Xeon E5: Dual CPU LGA 3647

Xeon E7: Quad CPU LGA 3647

Xeon E9: Octo CPU LGA 3647

 

All of the Intel Core-X processors should have used the LGA 3647 socket along with the mid-range and high-end Xeons. It's too late the damage has already been done. I'm glad to see that AMD is pursuing a simpler product lineup with only two different sockets. 

[Brooksie359]

4 hours ago, Sauron said:

Not that you're going to notice even if you had 100 on an AiO.

An edge over what? Professionals can already buy 18 core workstations and more...

Epyc is too new, it's still too early for companies to adopt it in bulk. Besides, Apple has always been a few generations behind with the hardware in their products. Also, the package is massive so maybe it's hard to fit into an AiO.

My bet is 15k

But isn't the 18 core even newer?

[Drak3]

7 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

But isn't the 18 core even newer?

18 core Xeons have been available with Haswell Xeons. Prior to that: multisocket.

[mynameisjuan]

12 hours ago, Dabombinable said:

Only 48 PCIe lanes.....

Whats with everyone now and needing so many lanes? Since Ryzen and TR apparently everyone needs 16 cores and enough lanes to saturate 4 GPUs, 4 NVME drives and a 20TB external TB raid. 

 

Its an AIO....its not like you will be able to have enough hardware to even get close to using all the lanes anyway, even when using TB.

[Drak3]

Just now, mynameisjuan said:

Whats with everyone now and needing so many lanes?

PCIe SSDs are becoming pretty affordable. Something attractive for a workstation.

[Spenser1337]

9 hours ago, Drak3 said:

Xeon-W is LGA-2066. Specifically for workstations, like the Mac Pro and iMac Pro.

 

Not in the past few years. And even then, only because older hardware has had more bugs ironed out by the time Apple uses it.

Not like Xeon-W or HCC SLX is readily available.

Think about all the Thunderbolt 3!

 

Excuses

[Drak3]

22 minutes ago, Spenser1337 said:

Excuses

For an equivalent Windows or Linux workstation WITH the same level of optimization, you're looking at the same prices and compromises.

 

Apple is only behind the game as far as home use systems are concerned, and mostly at the budget end and gaming.

[Spenser1337]

5 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

For an equivalent Windows or Linux workstation WITH the same level of optimization, you're looking at the same prices and compromises.

 

Apple is only behind the game as far as home use systems are concerned, and mostly at the budget end and gaming.

Assuming you're referencing the 18 core Xeon mac, it doesn't even exist yet and we have no idea if it ever will. As for Apples current workstation options, you couldn't be more wrong. Apple is "behind the game" in essentially every category besides their mobile devices, which could even be argued.

[The_Promised_End]

13 hours ago, Princess Cadence said:

About time? never understood how Apple sells the idea of top of the line without being top of the line.

It is probably because of software optimization they only have to code the os and other apps for specific hardware sets so they can make things like final cut render more than 2x as fast as premier on worse hardware this is also why they are so rich because they don't need to spend as much money on hardware

[The Benjamins]

1 hour ago, mynameisjuan said:

Whats with everyone now and needing so many lanes? Since Ryzen and TR apparently everyone needs 16 cores and enough lanes to saturate 4 GPUs, 4 NVME drives and a 20TB external TB raid. 

 

Its an AIO....its not like you will be able to have enough hardware to even get close to using all the lanes anyway, even when using TB.

 

For a workstation that will need a CPU like this might also need a lot of GPU power which would use a lot of the PCIe. and if that is in the system it would make sense it has at least 1 NVME drive (possibly more) and a 10Gb NIC, which could get you close to the limit fast. TR workstation boards could have 7 8x PCIe cards for really heavy workloads.

[Misanthrope]

They should do one with Epyc or Threadripper instead.

[Commodus]

15 minutes ago, Spenser1337 said:

Assuming you're referencing the 18 core Xeon mac, it doesn't even exist yet and we have no idea if it ever will. As for Apples current workstation options, you couldn't be more wrong. Apple is "behind the game" in essentially every category besides their mobile devices, which could even be argued.

Given that Apple announced that the iMac Pro would include an 18-core chip option, I'm pretty sure it will.

[Commodus]

6 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

They should do one with Epyc or Threadripper instead.

Not going to happen.  AMD still doesn't have the kind of Thunderbolt 3 support Apple would want, and I suspect Apple would want to optimize for AMD's designs even if support was there.

[Guest]

Let me guess, Apple is going to use the standard USB type c ports for the new imac pro.

[Misanthrope]

4 minutes ago, Commodus said:

Not going to happen.  AMD still doesn't have the kind of Thunderbolt 3 support Apple would want, and I suspect Apple would want to optimize for AMD's designs even if support was there.

They could work closely with them to get there: There's a business relationship already there with the GPUs anyways.

[Commodus]

Just now, Misanthrope said:

They could work closely with them to get there: There's a business relationship already there with the GPUs anyways.

They could, I'm just saying that we shouldn't expect an Epyc or Threadripper system any time soon.  I suspect many pros are just happy to see many-core Macs this year.

[Misanthrope]

2 minutes ago, Commodus said:

They could, I'm just saying that we shouldn't expect an Epyc or Threadripper system any time soon.  I suspect many pros are just happy to see many-core Macs this year.

Not soon I can see that being too complicated. But say by the time Zen 2 is ready and update to chipsets happens they could work in Thunderbolt and a real powerful threadripper/vega workstation to not only do twice as better but dominate the competition by a landslide with their software optimizations on top of rather powerful hardware that's also priced better for them than this Xeons.

[mynameisjuan]

22 minutes ago, The Benjamins said:

 

For a workstation that will need a CPU like this might also need a lot of GPU power which would use a lot of the PCIe. and if that is in the system it would make sense it has at least 1 NVME drive (possibly more) and a 10Gb NIC, which could get you close to the limit fast. TR workstation boards could have 7 8x PCIe cards for really heavy workloads.

Ok but this is still an AIO where you cant use 7 cards. 

[Drak3]

29 minutes ago, Spenser1337 said:

As for Apples current workstation options, you couldn't be more wrong. Apple is "behind the game" in essentially every category

Apple's current options are only slightly behind due to form factor choice. And they're still priced accordingly. When they came out, one could not build, using validated hardware, for less.

Now, it takes finding a good deal on hardware.

[The Benjamins]

11 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

Ok but this is still an AIO where you cant use 7 cards. 

The CPU is made for other machines in mind.

Apple is putting it in there for the ECC ram, core count and the Xeon name.

[Indus Monk]

14 hours ago, Drak3 said:

Not really news, seeing as we've got a thread on the 2K17 iMac Pro that specifies 'up to 18 core' and ECC support.

It was also specified in, what was it? an MKBHD Video?