[numerobis]

Actually, if they had an option for 3 modules... 2 cpu + 1 gpu, the 2 cpu one would be cooler.

i think this would have been the better solution... unless apple and amd can push opencl to the next level in a short
time so that a gpu will be the better option. But i don't think so. And even then 2 cpus + 1 gpu would have been better, because
you can add more external gpus with thunderbolt but no cpu...

[JDHill]

Actually, if they had an option for 3 modules...choose 2 gpu + 1 cpu or 2 cpu + 1 gpu, the 2 cpu one would be cooler.

That would be pretty cool, but just looking at the top cross-section on Apple's Mac Pro page, it seems as though it may be pretty specifically designed to have GPU cards in those two spots. Also, I wonder how important close proximity is for placement of dual E5 chips. I know you can get a SuperMicro machine that puts pairs of E7s on 4 daughterboards, but I don't recall having seen individual Xeons put on separate boards (btw, check out this recent auction).

you can add more external gpus with thunderbolt

My understanding is that this might not be too attractive: in addition to the question of latency, Thunderbolt 2 apparently has a bandwidth of ~2.5GBps (in each direction) vs PCIe 3.0 x16's ~16GBps.

[numerobis]

My understanding is that this might not be too attractive: in addition to the question of latency, Thunderbolt 2 apparently has a bandwidth of ~2.5GBps (in each direction) vs PCIe 3.0 x16's ~16GBps.

yes, you're right... i thought thunderbolt 2 would be faster, but it looks like it's only combining two channels without more Gbps per cable at all.

[Maximus3D]

I hope Apple will win an award for stupidest design ever! because this ugly trashbin is no good, no matter how shiny it is.

You can buy any $5 trashbin at your local supermarket and mod that with off the shelf PC components and still get away cheaper, if you want it to look more like the real thing, use crayons to paint on a Apple logotype on it.

/ Magnus

[Thomas An.]

I think the design is superior from an engineering sense. The thermal flow alone would be superb; using the natural tendency of rising warm air to its advantage and it would likely need to draw less energy for cooling fans and such (like an energy tower) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_tow ... wndraft%29

[Mihai]

That was what I thought of as well when I saw it. I'm sure someone will quickly copy this and put a liquid inside the empty central area for much better heat transfer than air. When you think about it, why are we still using these big silly boxes which are mostly empty space, to connect our components in the most awkward way possible on a big flat motherboard.

[Thomas An.]

That was what I thought of as well when I saw it. I'm sure someone will quickly copy this and put a liquid inside the empty central area for much better heat transfer than air. When you think about it, why are we still using these big silly boxes which are mostly empty space, to connect our components in the most awkward way possible on a big flat motherboard.

It's bold and daring. I like it !
I wouldn't mind if it was a hexagon too (get a honeycomb thing going on, that can be tiled neatly into a farm)

[wfstecko]

It looks a lot like the trash can in my bathroom.

[Fernando Tella]

That was what I thought of as well when I saw it. I'm sure someone will quickly copy this and put a liquid inside the empty central area for much better heat transfer than air. When you think about it, why are we still using these big silly boxes which are mostly empty space, to connect our components in the most awkward way possible on a big flat motherboard.

I guess it's like that to keep it modular and versatile. But I guess we could get an hexagonal standard too instead of ATX if it's well thought.

[joaomourao]

I see everyone would love to have one!
Lets see what happens with copycat companies... But I agree... boxes are too old!
At least they are doing design where no one was... But as usual it will be too much pricey!
Cheers!