Mac Pro 8 Core - Intel Xeon page 5 April 2007

Home > Hardware > Mac Pro > Intel Xeon

64-bit Intel Xeon. Up to 3.0GHz.

Inside each Mac Pro reside either two Quad-Core or two Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors. Running at up to 3.0GHz, they bring industry-leading 64-bit performance to every Mac Pro.

8-core or quad-core. It's all Xeon.

Based on Intel’s Core microarchitecture and designed for systems with multiple processors, the two 64-bit Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Clovertown” processors in the new 8-core Mac Pro set a blistering 3GHz pace.

And the 64-bit Dual-Core Intel Xeon “Woodcrest” processors that power the quad-core Mac Pro run at clock speeds of 2.0GHz, 2.66GHz, or 3.0GHz. That translates to up to 2x the performance of the Power Mac G5 Quad.¹

More power using less power

Because Intel designed its Xeon processors to be more efficient, they consume less power than similar workstation-level processors, so your system fans don’t have to work as hard to keep them cool. Working hand in glove with Mac OS X Tiger, Xeon also continues the tradition of enabling 64-bit computation. Ideal for demanding creative and scientific applications, the 64-bit Intel Xeon processors can manage the precision needed for floating-point mathematics that express integers up to 18 billion billion. They also allow Mac Pro to surpass the 4GB memory limit of 32-bit processors.

Speedy system architecture

Augmenting the speed of its processors, the Mac Pro system architecture features 1.33GHz dual independent frontside buses that maximize performance and deliver total processor bandwidth of up to 21.3GB/s. Every Intel Xeon processor also offers an enhanced SSE3 vector engine. Capable of completing 128-bit vector computations in a single cycle, the SSE3 vector engine accelerates data manipulation by simultaneously applying a single instruction to multiple data — ideal for transforming large sets of data, such as applying a filter to an image or rendering a video effect.

Count on the cache

The L2 cache — 8MB per processor on the 8-core Mac Pro (16MB total) and 4MB per processor on the quad-core Mac Pro (8MB total) — keeps data and instructions closer to the processor cores, enhancing performance. And every Mac Pro features Intel’s Advanced Smart Cache technology, which allows each processor core access up to 4MB of L2 cache.

Up to 16GB of fully buffered memory

All Mac Pro workstations support a fully buffered memory standard that allows for more memory capacity, higher-speed memory, and better memory reliability. You can install up to 16GB of 667MHz DDR2 Error Correction Code (ECC) fully buffered memory in every Mac Pro system. And with its 256-bit-wide memory architecture, Mac Pro offers twice the width of the memory architecture in the Power Mac G5.

Mac Pro Performance

3D Rendering²

Luxology modo 203 3D rendering

3GHz 8-core 3.1x 3GHz Quad1.9x

Maya 8.5 / Mental Ray 3D rendering

3GHz 8-core 2.6x 3GHz Quad1.4x

Cinebench 9.5 Multiple-processor rendering test

3GHz 8-core 2.0x 3GHz Quad1.3x

Power Mac G5 Quad 2.5GHz

Baseline

Science and Technical Computing³

Linpack Double Precision

3GHz 8-core 2.2x 3GHz Quad 1.4x

PyMOL Multi-thread ray trace

3GHz 8-core 1.9x 3GHz Quad1.4x

Mathematica MathematicaMark5.2

3GHz 8-core 1.8x 3GHz Quad1.5x

HMMER hmmcalibrate

3GHz 8-core 1.4x 3GHz Quad1.2x

Power Mac G5 Quad 2.5GHz

Baseline

3GHz Quad

Up to 2x Faster Than Power Mac G5 Quad¹

SPEC CPU2000 performance

Quad G5	Quad Xeon	Δ
53.8	115.3	2.1X
SPECint_rate_base2000 Integer calculation (estimate)

Quad G5	Quad Xeon	Δ
47.9	76.4	1.6X
SPECfp_rate_base2000 Floating-point calculation (estimate)

3GHz 8-core

Up to 1.4x Faster Than Quad Xeon⁴

SPEC CPU2006 performance

Quad Xeon	8-core Xeon	Δ
50.4	69.5	1.4X
SPECint_rate_base2006 Integer calculation (estimate)

Quad Xeon	8-core Xeon	Δ
41.2	52.1	1.3X
SPECfp_rate_base2006 Floating-point calculation (estimate)

• 3GHz 8-core
• 3GHz Quad

1. Testing conducted by Apple in July 2006 using preproduction 3.0GHz quad-core Mac Pro units and shipping 2.5GHz Power Mac G5 Quad units. SPEC® is a registered trademark of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC); see www.spec.org for more information. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro.
2. Testing conducted by Apple in March 2007 using preproduction 3.0GHz 8-core Mac Pro units and shipping 3.0GHz quad-core Mac Pro and 2.5GHz Power Mac G5 Quad units. Testing was conducted with a beta version of modo. All systems were configured with 4 gigabytes of RAM. Modo test files = BathFaucet.lxo and Couch.lxo, Maya test file = Benchmark_Maya.mb from http://www.zoorender.com/benchmark/. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro.
3. Testing conducted by Apple in March 2007 using preproduction 3.0GHz 8-core Mac Pro units and shipping 3.0GHz quad-core Mac Pro and 2.5GHz Power Mac G5 Quad units. All systems were configured with 4 gigabytes of RAM. Linpack results are based on the 1000s and 1000d Linpack benchmarks available from www.netlib.org/benchmark using the Accelerate Framework and a matrix size of 16,000. PyMOL results are based on ray trace-based tests from the built-in PyMOL Wizard Benchmark, modified for 4 threads for the quad-core systems and 8 threads for the 8-core system. For HMMER tests, Power Mac G5 was tested with the binary distribution available at hmmer.janelia.org; Mac Pro was tested with source, compiled using the patch available from www.scalableinformatics.com and the following compile-time options: -O3 --enable-threads. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro.
4. Testing conducted by Apple in March 2007 using preproduction 3.0GHz 8-core Mac Pro units and shipping 3.0GHz quad-core Mac Pro units. SPEC® is a registered trademark of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC); see www.spec.org for more information. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro.

Mac Pro April 2007 Intel Xeon Page

Home > Hardware > Mac Pro > Intel Xeon

64-bit Quad Xeon. Up to 3GHz.

Inside every Mac Pro resides two new Dual-Core Intel Xeon “Woodcrest” processors. Running at up to 3GHz, they bring industry-leading, 64-bit, quad-core performance to every Mac Pro.

A+ to Xeon

Based on Intel’s next-generation Core micro-architecture, the 64-bit Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor combines both high performance and power efficiency. Designed for systems with multiple processors — like Mac Pro — it runs at clock speeds of 2GHz, 2.66GHz, or 3GHz. And it delivers the fastest Mac ever, one that runs up to 2x faster than the Power Mac G5 Quad.¹

Yet, because Intel designed this dual-core Xeon to be more efficient, it consumes less power than similar workstation-level processors, so your system fans don’t have to work as hard to keep them cool. Working hand in glove with Mac OS X Tiger, it also continues the tradition of enabling 64-bit computation. Ideal for scientific applications, the 64-bit Intel Xeon processors can express the extreme precision needed for floating-point mathematics and to express integers up to 18 billion billion. It also allows Mac Pro to surpass the 4GB memory limit of 32-bit processors.

Speedy System Architecture

Augmenting the speed delivered by the processors, the system architecture features 1.33GHz dual independent front-side buses that maximize the performance of the dual-core, dual-processor system and deliver maximum processor bandwidth of up to 21.3 GB/s. The Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor also offers an enhanced SSE3 vector engine. Capable of delivering 128-bit vector computations in a single cycle, the SSE3 vector engine accelerates data manipulation by simultaneously applying a single instruction to multiple data — ideal for transforming large sets of data, such as applying a filter to an image or rendering a video effect.

Count on the Cache

Performance also benefits from 4MB of shared L2 cache per processor. The availability of that much L2 cache enhances processor performance by keeping data and instructions closer to the processor cores. What’s more, the Dual-Core Intel Xeon takes advantage of Intel Advanced Smart Cache technology. Smart Cache allows either of the two cores to utilize all 4MB of cache if the other core happens to be idle.

A new Fully-Buffered Memory Standard

All Mac Pro workstations support a new, fully-buffered memory standard that allows for more memory capacity, higher speed memory, and better memory reliability. You can install up to 16GB of 667MHz DDR2 fully-buffered Error-Correcting Code (ECC) memory in every Mac Pro system.

And with its 256-bit-wide memory architecture, Mac Pro offers 2x the width of the memory architecture in the Power Mac G5. If you’re looking to see a boost in application performance, the new Mac Pro will make your wildest performance dreams come true.

Mac Pro Application Performance²

Luxology modo 202 (3D Rendering)

1.8x

Logic Pro 7.2.2 (Reverb plug-ins)

1.8x

Soundtrack Pro 1.1 (Common application tasks)

1.6x

Final Cut Pro (HDV render and encode)

1.4x

Cinebench 9.5 (Multiple-processor rendering test)

1.4x

Power Mac G5 (Quad 2.5GHz G5)

Baseline

Mac Pro Science and Technology Performance ³

Xcode 2.3 (Build project)

1.8x

PyMOL .99 (CPU performance)

1.5x

OsiriX 2.4 (Volume and surface render)

1.4x

Mathematica 5.2.2 (MathematicaMark5.2)

1.4

Power Mac G5 (Quad 2.5GHz G5)

Baseline

Up to 2x Faster Than Power Mac G5 Quad¹

^{SPEC CPU2000 performance}

Quad G5	Quad Xeon	Δ
53.8	115.3	2.1X
SPECint_rate_base2000 Integer calculation (estimate)

Quad G5	Quad Xeon	Δ
47.9	76.4	1.6X
SPECfp_rate_base2000 Floating-point calculation (estimate)

1. Testing conducted by Apple in July 2006 using preproduction 3GHz Mac Pro units and shipping 2.5GHz Power Mac G5 Quad units. SPEC® is a registered trademark of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC); see www.spec.org for more information.
2. Testing conducted by Apple in July 2006 using preproduction 3GHz Mac Pro units and shipping 2.5GHz Power Mac G5 Quad units. Mac Pro testing was conducted with beta versions of modo, Logic Pro, and Final Cut Pro. All systems were configured with 4 gigabytes of RAM. modo test files = BathFaucet.lxo and Couch.lxo.
3. Testing conducted by Apple in July 2006 using preproduction 3GHz Mac Pro units and shipping 2.5GHz Power Mac G5 Quad units. All systems were configured with 4 gigabytes of RAM. Xcode results based on build time of AdiumX 0.89. PyMOL results based on CPU-based tests from the built-in PyMOL Wizard Benchmark. OsiriX test file = DICOM sample image set MANIX.