 Home Members Only Membership Donations Reviews Store Mail List Legal  |
||
March 14, 2008
The AMUG Mac Pro 2.8 GHz Reference Guide
A Review of Upgrade Options, New Features & Performance Enhancements Available with the Apple Mac Pro 2.8 GHz
By Michael Bean
Introduction
On January 8, 2008 Apple announced the release of a new Mac Pro model with eight processor cores and a new system architecture that delivers significantly higher performance. The base Apple Mac Pro 2.8 GHz model MA970LL/A is $2,799. For those looking for slightly higher processor speeds, 3.0 GHz ($3,599) and 3.2 GHz ($4,399) models are also available. Apple offers custom configurations at the Apple Store which include a single quad-core Intel Xeon processor (-$500), additional memory, an $800 four-channel internal RAID 5 card, hard drive upgrades, video card upgrades, displays, wireless, fibre channel, modem, software, printers, AppleCare and more.
What's Included?
The stock Apple Mac Pro 2.8 GHz model includes two 2.8 GHz quad-core Intel Xeon "Harpertown" 45nm processors and a new PCI Express 2.0 architecture with an ATI radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB graphics card. Additional graphic card options are available including the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT ($200) and the NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 ($2850) at the Apple Store. The Mac Pro comes with 2GB of 800MHz DDR2 fully buffered EEC memory. It has eight memory slots that can be configured to support up to 32GB of memory using 4GB chips. Each 2.8 GHz quad-core Intel Xeon E5462 processor has 12MB of shared L2 cache per processor (5MB shared per pair of cores) and dual independent 1600MHz frontside buses.The Mac Pro includes a 320GB SATA hard drive and a 16x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW). One FireWire 800 port is provided on the rear and one on the front. Two FireWire 400 ports are provided with one in front and one in the rear. Five USB 2.0 ports are included. Three are located on the rear and two in front. Bluetooth 2.0 and two gigabit ethernet ports are also provided. Wireless airport and an external modem are optional. The external ports on the Mac Pro 2.8 GHz model are identical in number and layout to the original Mac Pro 2.66 model. I am unable to find any external appearance differences between the new Mac Pro (January 2008) and the original Mac Pro 2.66.
The Mac Pro package includes the new aluminum Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse, USB keyboard extension cable and a DVI to VGA adapter. The software provided with the Mac Pro includes Mac OS X (Leopard), iLife 08 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, iWeb and GarageBand), Front Row (no remote) and Xcode Development Tools.
800MHz DDR2 FB-DIMMs
The stock Mac Pro configuration includes 2GB of PC2-6400, 800MHz DDR2 fully buffered EEC DIMM memory. This is double the amount of memory that was provided with the original Mac Pro. The Apple memory specification includes advanced heat sinks that keep the memory from over heating. As PC2-6400, 800MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM memory is available without advanced heat sinks, I would only purchase additional memory that is advertised as "Mac Pro compatible" from a reputable company with a history of Macintosh support. Installing more memory will help users with applications that require Rosetta and when working with large multimedia files. Most users will want a minimum of 4GB of memory. However, if you are a new Mac Pro user don't be afraid to try the computer
with the stock 2GB and see how it performs for your needs. The stock Mac Pro will work for many uses with only 2GB of memory installed.The Mac Pro has two memory trays that are removed when installing memory. Once the aluminum side panel has been removed from the Mac Pro you will see the memory cage in the bottom right side of the case. The top memory tray is upside down inside the Mac Pro January 2008 model. Intel's 5400 MCH chipset provides the new Mac Pro with significantly higher quad-channel memory performance than the previous Mac Pro models. Each tray holds up to four FB-DIMMs, for a total of eight DIMMs. Memory is required to be installed in matched pairs. Page 43 of the Mac Pro manual provides detailed instructions for adding additional memory. The Mac Pro comes with a minimum of 2 GB of memory, installed as a pair of 1 GB fully buffered dual in-line memory modules (FB-DIMMs) with one DIMM in the rear slot of each tray. Users can install additional pairs of 1 GB, 2 GB, or 4 GB FB-DIMMs in the open DIMM slots, for a maximum of 32 GB of memory. According to Apple, it is important to install FB-DIMMs in matched pairs of equal size and specification. Clicking on the table below will display the Apple Mac Pro manual.
The initial 2GB of Apple memory is installed in the rear two slots of both memory trays. The next pair of FB-DIMMs should be installed in the two rear slots of the top tray and the Apple 1GB moved to the rear of the bottom tray. This method configures the stock Apple memory as a matched pair in the bottom tray. If you add additional memory it should be placed in the front two slots of the top tray as shown in figure "3" below. Figure "4" displays the last two slots of the bottom tray being filled when all eight memory slots are populated. The front of the Mac Pro memory trays provide circular cut outs in the left and right corners so that the boards can be easily removed from the memory cage.
Using both memory trays provides maximum Mac Pro memory performance by increasing the available bandwidth. If you want to increase the memory performance of the Mac Pro with quad-channel technology, a number of different configurations are available. Users can upgrade to 8GB by using 4 x 2GB DIMMs, with two in the rear of the top tray and two in the rear of the bottom tray. A 10GB configuration might use 4 x 2GB in the rear top and bottom trays and 2 x 1GB in the front top tray. A 16GB configuration would use 8 x 2GB in all of the available memory slots. 32GB would require 8 x 4GB FB-DIMMs.
In order to determine how the new Mac Pro 2.8 GHz memory performance compares to the original Mac Pro 2.66 GHz model several different memory configurations were tested with Xbench 1.3 and GeekBench. The results are provided in the table below.
Mac Pro 2.8 GHz (January 2008) Memory Performance
| Xbench 1.3 |
Mac Pro 2.8
Top 1GB Bottom 1GB |
Mac Pro 2.8
Top 2x2GB Bottom 2x1GB |
Mac Pro 2.8
Top 2x2GB Bottom 2x2GB |
Mac Pro 2.8
Top 4x2GB Bottom 2x2GB |
Mac Pro 2.8
Top 4x2GB Bottom 4x2GB |
| Memory Shown |
2GB
|
6GB
|
8GB
|
12GB
|
16GB
|
| Memory Test |
181.76
|
203.5
|
203.87
|
203.66
|
202.90
|
| Fill |
8376 MB/sec
|
11672 MB/sec
|
11775 MB/sec
|
11735 MB/sec
|
11808 MB/sec
|
| Copy |
4019 MB/sec
|
6298 MB/sec
|
6315 MB/sec
|
6309 MB/sec
|
6314 MB/sec
|
| Energy Idle |
135W
|
148W
|
148W
|
160W
|
172W
|
| GeekBench | |||||
| Memory Score |
2502
|
2912
|
2918
|
2888
|
2900
|
| Stream Score |
1983
|
1990
|
1994
|
1983
|
1974
|
Mac Pro 2.66 GHz (August 2006) Memory Performance
| Xbench 1.3 |
Mac Pro 2.66
Top 2x1GB Bottom 0GB |
Mac Pro 2.66
Top 2x2GB Bottom 2x1GB |
Mac Pro 2.66
Top 2x2GB Bottom 2x2GB |
Mac Pro 2.66
Top 4x2GB Bottom 2x2GB |
Mac Pro 2.66
Top 4x2GB Bottom 4x2GB |
| Memory Shown |
2GB
|
6GB
|
8GB
|
12GB
|
16GB
|
| Memory Test |
142.28
|
156
|
156.27
|
155.23
|
157.15
|
| Fill |
5641 MB/sec
|
7192 MB/sec
|
7221 MB/sec
|
7220 MB/sec
|
7210 MB/sec
|
| Copy |
2489 MB/sec
|
2832 MB/sec
|
2836 MB/sec
|
2798 MB/sec
|
2834 MB/sec
|
| Energy Idle |
142W
|
158W
|
158W
|
174W
|
189W
|
| GeekBench | |||||
| Memory Score |
2058
|
2185
|
2179
|
2175
|
2160
|
| Stream Score |
1772
|
1900
|
1902
|
1915
|
1908
|
Based on these test results, the new Mac Pro 2.8 GHz model is able to provide significantly higher memory performance while also requiring less energy than the original Mac Pro 2.66 model. The quad-channel performance of the new Mac Pro can provide 60% faster Xbench "Fill" rates and up to 120% faster "Copy" performance. The GeekBench "Memory Score" difference indicates that the new Mac Pro provides over 30% higher performance when each memory tray is populated with a matched pair of FB-DIMMs.
The original Mac Pro can utilize the same new 800MHz FB-DIMMs used by the new Mac Pro. The memory speed simply downshifts to accommodate the older 667MHz architecture. If you have an older Mac Pro and need more memory, I would suggest purchasing 800MHz FB-DIMMs so that they can be transferred to any future Mac Pro upgrade. The real beauty of new Mac Pro memory upgrades is how reasonable the price is compared to what users had to pay for the original 667MHz DDR2 FB-DIMMs. When AMUG reviewed the original Mac Pro 2.66 GHz a pair of 1GB chips were $438. Now Trans International has 4GB (2x2GB) 800MHz DDR2 FB-DIMMs specifically designed for the Mac Pro (January 2008) on sale for $204. An 8GB kit (4x2GB) is available for $398. As you can see, new Mac Pro users can now install 8GB of memory for less than what 2GB cost when the original Mac Pro was released.
The Trans International memory provides six heat sink fins versus four on the Apple memory. The additional cooling area provides increased protection for the Trans International memory. The gold fins on the 2GB Trans International memory looks very nice as well. I have used Trans International memory in my computers for many years and have found it to be of high quality and very reliable.
During these tests, using between 6-12GB of memory worked very well for most computing environments. Heavy audio/video and Photoshop users may want to install as much as 16GB. If you belong to the crowd that believes they can never be too thin or have too much memory, Trans International has a 16GB kit ($788) that will satisfy your needs. The kit provides 16GB of 800 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMMs (8x2GB) delivered in a ridged anti-static case. This upgrade option provides a huge amount of memory that can help multimedia creators manipulate the largest files with ease. Once the memory is installed in the Mac Pro, selecting "About this Mac" under the Apple will display how much memory is installed. System profiler can also be used to display the status of the memory configuration.
Energy conscious users may be interested to know that adding a pair of 2GB FB-DIMM modules increases the energy usage of the Mac Pro by 13 watts. Adding a third or fourth pair of FB-DIMMs increases the Mac Pro's energy requirements by an additional 12 watts per pair. Installing more memory than you actually need may not only drain your wallet from the initial purchase but also decrease the energy efficiency of the Apple Mac Pro. Installing 8GB of memory with four 2GB 800MHz DDR2 FB-DIMMs installed in the two rear slots of the memory trays seems to provide a nice balance. This configuration provides the new Mac Pro 2.8 GHz model with 8GB of memory while still maintaining an energy rating of 148W while idle.
Mac Pro 2.8 GHz Memory tray with 8GB of Trans International (4x2GB) 800 MHz FB-DIMMs installed.
Apple charges an additional $500 for purchasing a Mac Pro with 4GB (4x1GB) of memory and $1500 for 8GB (4x2GB). As most readers probably already know, buying memory from Apple is a very expensive option.
Why would someone pay Apple $500 for a 4GB memory configuration when installing the Trans International Mac Pro 2.8 GHz 2GB (2x1GB) memory kit for $116 provides the same amount of memory? In addition, a Trans International Mac Pro 4GB kit (2x2GB) is $204 and an 8GB kit (4x2GB) is available for $398. The $788 Trans International 16GB kit can fill all 8 slots of the Mac Pro memory trays for a fraction of what Apple charges. Macintosh users looking for high quality, fully Mac Pro compliant memory, at a reasonable price will find Trans International is a great source. In addition, Trans International offers a lifetime warranty. It doesn't take much calculating to figure out that significant savings and high performance can be obtained by installing Trans International memory in the new Mac Pro instead of Apple branded memory.
Xeon 5400 Processors
The Apple Mac Pro (January 2008) utilizes dual quad-core Intel Xeon "Harpertown" 45nm processors series 5400 with LGA-771 Xeon sockets. The Xeon 5462 (2.8 GHz), 5472 (3.0 GHz) and the 5482 (3.2 GHz) processors are all available in the various Mac Pro models. The Xeon 5400 "Harpertown" processors provide a break through in cooling and energy performance for the workstation and server market. They provide the ability to run in multi-processor configurations, support up to 32GB of memory in the Mac Pro, provide 64-bit data paths and registers, include 12MB of L2 cache per processor (each pair of cores shares 6MB), 128-bit SSE4 SIMD engine, are optimized for lower power usage and have 1600MHz, 64-bit dual independent frontside buses.
The dual quad-core Intel Xeon E5462 processors installed in the Apple Mac Pro 2.8 GHz model provide a nice value in terms of price to performance. While its clock speed is only 7% slower than the 3.0 GHz model it is 28% less expensive. In addition, the Xeon E5462 has a thermal design power (TDP) rating of 80 watts which meets Energy Star requirements. The cool running 45nm technology of the "Harpertown" processors allow the Mac Pro to operate very quiet while providing amazing high performance. The Xeon E5462 mounted in the Mac Pro 2.8 GHz automatically reduces the number of cores working when idle. This energy saving design allows the Mac Pro to utilize less power and stay cooler during periods of low activity. Once the processors have work to perform all eight cores are active again.
In order to demonstrate the cooling capability of the Apple Mac Pro 2.8 GHz, a CPU intensive test was performed consisting of compressing video (stored on the hard drive) for 30 minutes. Handbrake 0.9.2 was used to create an AVC/H.264 file with ACC+AC-3 audio tracks during this test. Hardware Monitor was used to display the CPU temperatures of the Mac Pro 2.8 GHz (Harpertown) and the original Mac Pro (Woodcrest). Temperatures were recorded during the 30 minute compression task, after the task had stopped, once the computer was idle for two minutes and again after being idle for ten minutes. The goal of this test was to discover how hot the CPUs would get when using all cores with Handbrake and to determine how quickly they might cool down. The same WD 750GB hard drive was used in each Mac Pro to provide similar hardware/software conditions.Mac Pro 2.8 GHz Harpertown vs 2.66 GHz Woodcrest CPU Temperatures
| Temperatures in Fahrenheit |
Mac Pro 2.8
Compress 30 min. |
Mac Pro 2.8
2 min. Idle |
Mac Pro 2.8
10 min. Idle |
| CPU A Diode |
120.2F
|
96.8F
|
86F
|
| CPU B Diode |
120.2
|
95
|
84.2
|
| CPU C Diode |
118.4
|
96.8
|
86
|
| CPU D Diode |
118.4
|
95
|
86
|
| Watts |
220-231
|
138
|
137
|
| CPU Usage |
600-640%
|
-
|
-
|
| Frame Rates |
166 fps
|
-
|
-
|
| Memory A1 |
134.6F
|
131F
|
116.6F
|
| Memory B1 |
147.2F
|
143.6F
|
129.2.6F
|
| - |
-
|
||
| Temperatures in Fahrenheit |
Mac Pro 2.66
Compress 30 min. |
Mac Pro 2.66
2 min. Idle |
Mac Pro 2.66
10 min. Idle |
|
CPU Core 1
|
134.6
|
95
|
84.2
|
|
CPU Core 2
|
131
|
95
|
82.4
|
|
CPU Core 3
|
134.6
|
96.8
|
86
|
|
CPU Core 4
|
132.8
|
95
|
84.2
|
|
Watts
|
219--223
|
145
|
143
|
|
CPU Usage
|
340-356%
|
-
|
-
|
|
Frame Rates
|
83 fps
|
-
|
-
|
| Memory A1 |
167F
|
159.8
|
149
|
| Memory A2 |
185F
|
176
|
165.2
|
Mac Pro 2.66 GHz has 2GB of memory and WD 750GB hard drive.
Mac OS X 10.5.2 is installed. Hardware Monitor 4.4 provided Temperatures.
All temperatures are in Fahrenheit.
The new Xeon E5462 based Mac Pro 2.8 GHz provides amazing video compression performance. As you can see in the table above, when converting a 98 minute movie to H.264 format the 8-core
Mac Pro was able to process significantly more frames per second with very similar energy usage. In addition, the new 8-core Mac Pro completed the process while the memory and the CPUs operated slightly cooler than the original Mac Pro 2.66 GHz model.The Intel processors provided in the new Apple Mac Pro 2.8 enhance the available processing power (with 8-cores instead of four), while providing energy requirements that are similar to the earlier 4-core Mac Pro 2.66 GHz model. The "Harpertown" 45nm Xeon 5400 architecture provides a significantly faster memory bus along with double the processing power and the new 1600MHz, 64-bit dual independent frontside buses.
WD 320GB Caviar SE
The Mac Pro internal hard drive backplane mounting system is a very nice feature. It comes with four trays and supports up to four internal 3.5" SATA hard drives. Users simply unlatch the Mac Pro side panel and lower it to access the hard drive bays. The Mac Pro hard drives can easily be replaced and the user never needs to attach any cables. Simply screw the hard drive to the Apple tray and slide it into place. Removing a hard drive? Simply shutdown the computer and pull the tray out. Each hard drive is locked in place once the rear latch is secured.
Hard drives mounted in the Mac Pro are not hot swappable which means users will need to shutdown when making any hard drive changes. It would be nice if this system was upgraded to provide hot swap support in the future. The backplane connection hardware is certainly capable.
Mounted at the rear of each hard drive tray is a backplane connector that provides power to each SATA hard drive and data connections. This system reduces the wire mess inside the Mac Pro and provides one of the easiest methods available today for mounting or replacing hard drives inside a desktop computer. The hard drive trays fit snugly inside the Mac Pro to eliminate any vibrations. In addition, small rubber grommets are included on the HD mounting screws to reduce vibration.
Each aluminum drive tray has a designated number printed on the right lower corner. This number allows users to easily identify each internal hard drive connected to the Mac Pro. When users launch Disk Utility and select any internal hard drive, they are able to see which bay the hard drive is located in by examining the bottom of the Disk Utility screen. An example is shown below.
As shown in the image above, the hard drive selected in Disk Utility is mounted in bay three. Disk Utility lists it as "Connection ID: "Bay 3". A list of details about the hard drive are also provided. This system provides easy verification of the location of any internal hard drive in the Mac Pro.
The Mac Pro utilizes the South Bridge I/0 device and disk controller for interfacing with the SATA hard drives. It provides six independent internal Mac Pro SATA channels that support SATA I and SATA II hard drives. A block diagram of the Mac Pro hardware design is provided below.
Image courtesy of Apple
Motherboard Dual SATA PortsIn addition to the Mac Pro SATA 4-bay tray system, there are also two more SATA ports on the motherboard just under the front fan assembly. They are marked "ODD SATA". These ports are much easier to access with the new Mac Pro front fan access design. The CPU cover is held in place with several magnets which allow it to be removed easily. Next, the top fan screw is removed and then the bottom screw is removed under the lower magnet. Within a few minutes the front fan assembly can be removed for access to the motherboard SATA ports. The original Mac Pro required moving the memory bay to remove the CPU panel which was a nightmare if too much loctite was placed on the screws. The new design provides superior access to the on-board SATA ports.
During this review, a SATA cable was connected to one of the motherboard SATA ports while used with an external SATA PM enclosure. As these ports do not support SATA port multipliers, the Mac Pro was only able to recognize the top hard drive in the PM enclosure. I also connected the SATA port to an external direct connect SATA enclosure. This works fine. However, these SATA ports do not support hot swap. As a result, the Mac Pro needs to be shutdown each time the hard drive configuration is changed. Personally, I would rather utilize a PCI Express (PCIe) SATA host adapter that supports hot swap and SATA PM connections.
iPass SATA Connector
As you can see in the image above, just to the left of the extra motherboard SATA ports is the new Mac Pro iPass connector. This connector is used to interface the internal 4-bay SATA tray system with the motherboard or the Apple RAID card. I would expect to see 3rd party SATA host adapters support this connector in the future. We might also see an iPass extension cable that would allow the motherboard iPass SATA ports to be connected to a PCI cover plate for external access.
HD PerformanceIn order to see how the Mac Pro 2.8 GHz with 8GB of memory would perform with different boot drives, several different model SATA hard drives were installed. Each hard drive was tested while it was the boot drive. The exact same 29GB of data was duplicated on each hard drive. Mac OS X 10.5.2 was utilized. A five disk 1.45TB striped RAID set mounted in a FirmTek SeriTek/5PM external enclosure was used for the RAID copy tests.
| Mac Pro 2.8 | WD 320GB WD3200AAJS |
WD 750GB WD7500AAKS |
WD 750 RE2 WD7500AYYS |
Hitachi 1TB A7K1000 |
| Startup | 33 sec. | 29 sec. | 36 sec. | 32 sec. |
| Shutdown | 8 sec. | 7 sec. | 8 sec. | 7 sec. |
| Duplicate 4.25GB | 2:07 min. | 1:43 min. | 1:43 min. | 1:48 min. |
| Repair Permissions | 4:06 min. | 4:11 min. | 4:17 min. | 4:13 min. |
| Copy 4.25GB to RAID | 1:03 min. | 46 sec. | 49 sec. | 1:02 min. |
| Copy 4.25GB from RAID | 1:02 min. | 45 sec. | 48 sec. | 54 sec. |
| Xbench Drive score | 79.11 | 91.07 | 88.22 | 70.22 |
| Xbench Overall Score | 192.02 | 200.88 | 197.49 | 182.37 |
| DiskTester Read/Write | 70.5 / 71.2 | 94.5 / 94.5 | 90.7 / 90.5 | 82.2 / 82.6 |
These results are just as much a test of Mac OS X 10.5.2 as a test of the individual hard drives. During the "Shutdown" test it was discovered that using the "Restore" tab in Disk Utility to clone each hard drive resulted in a slow shutdown performance on the cloned drive of approximately 40 seconds. Once the Mac OS X 10.5.2 Combo update was applied the "Shutdown" time for each hard drive was reduced to approximately 8 seconds. It is also interesting that Mac OS X 10.4 can "Repair Permissions" in 7 seconds while Mac OS X 10.5.2 requires over 4 minutes.
If you compare the hard drive performance provided in the table above to the AMUG Mac Pro 2.66 GHz results you will find that there has been a substantial improvement in the duplicate, copy and DiskTester scores. This is a result of superior hard drive technology that has appeared in the last year. The WD 750GB model WD7500AAKS provided the best performance in these tests. I found it interesting that the basic WD 750GB SE 16 hard drive provided higher performance in the Mac Pro 2.8 GHz than the WD RE2 enterprise version when used as a single drive.
Dual Drive Striped RAID Boot Test
| Mac Pro 2.8 | WD150 Raptor WD1500ADFD |
WD 750GB WD7500AAKS |
WD 750 RE2 WD7500AYYS |
Hitachi 1TB A7K1000 |
| Startup | 26 sec. | 25 sec. | 25 sec. | 31 sec. |
| Shutdown | 7 sec. | 7 sec. | 7 sec. | 7 sec. |
| Duplicate 4.25GB | 55 sec. | 49 sec. | 52 sec. | 53 sec. |
| Copy 4.25GB to RAID | 26 sec. | 24 sec. | 24 sec. | 26 sec. |
| Copy 4.25GB from RAID | 26 sec. | 24 sec. | 24 sec. | 26 sec. |
| Xbench Drive score | 138.22 | 146.39 | 148.38 | 126.12 |
| Xbench Overall Score | 223.21 | 224.77 | 225.08 | 220.12 |
| DiskTester Read/Write | 163 / 172 | 186 / 183 | 179 / 180 | 163 / 167 |
| Volume Size | 278.83GB | 1.36TB | 1.36TB | 1.82TB |
| Type | SATA I | SATA II | SATA II | SATA II |
In the table above, all of the hard drives were tested as bootable striped RAID sets. A pair of WD 150GB Raptor hard drives were added to the sample to see if this configuration might provide faster performance than the larger 7200 RPM drives. Interestingly, the WD 750GB hard drive models provided slightly higher performance. While the WD 750GB model WD7500AAKS provides faster performance when used as a single boot drive, the WD 750GB RE2 (WD7500AYYS) and the WD7500AAKS seem to provide very similar performance results when configured as a bootable dual drive striped RAID set inside the Apple Mac Pro. The bottom line is that there was no measurable performance gain from using the Raptor configuration in these tests and all of these hard drives configurations performed very well.
Three Drive Striped RAID Boot Test
| Mac Pro 2.8 | Samsung 1TB HE103UJ |
WD 750 RE2 WD7500AYYS |
Hitachi 1TB A7K1000 |
| Startup | 27 sec. | 27 sec. | 33 sec. |
| Shutdown | 8 sec. | 7 sec. | 8 sec. |
| Duplicate 4.25GB | 31 sec. | 35 sec. | 35 sec. |
| Copy 4.25GB to RAID | 13 sec. | 15 sec. | 16 sec. |
| Copy 4.25GB from RAID | 13 sec. | 15 sec. | 16 sec. |
| Xbench Drive score | 237.76 | 186.11 | 174.57 |
| Xbench Overall Score | 247.92 | 239.09 | 236.56 |
| DiskTester Read/Write | 298 / 295 | 261 / 262 | 243 / 253 |
| Volume Size | 2.73TB | 2.05TB | 2.73TB |
| Idle Power Usage | 171 watts | 176 watts | 176 watts |
| Copying Power Use | 182 watts | 190 watts | 194 watts |
| 90 min. Copy Temperatures | in Fahrenheit | Room Temp. 73F | |
|
Bay 1
|
empty | empty | empty |
|
Bay 2
|
84.2F | 98.6F | 102.2F |
|
Bay 3
|
87.8 | 102.2 | 113 |
|
Bay 4
|
89.6 | 107.6 | 116.6 |
| Memory Module A1 | 149F | 147.2F | 149F |
| Memory Module B1 | 156.2 | 154.4 | 154.4 |
| Memory Module A2 | 152.6 | 152.6 | 152.6 |
| Memory Module B2 | 163.4 | 161.6 | 165.2 |
| 60 min. Idle Test | in Fahrenheit | ||
|
Bay 1
|
empty | empty | empty |
|
Bay 2
|
80.6F | 95F | 96.8F |
|
Bay 3
|
84.2 | 96.8 | 102.2 |
|
Bay 4
|
84.2 | 102.2 | 105.8 |
| Memory Module A1 | 143.6F | 141.8 | 145.4 |
| Memory Module B1 | 150.8 | 147.2 | 150.8 |
| Memory Module A2 | 149 | 145.4 | 147.2 |
| Memory Module B2 | 158 | 154.4 | 158 |
| Acoustics | Amazingly Quiet. Lowest HD noise. |
Quiet, very little HD access noise. |
Quiet, very little HD access noise. |
In the test above, a DAT Optic eSATA_PCIe8 4-port PCIe host adapter was installed in slot 4. Mac OS X 10.5.2 was installed along with 8GB of memory. A three drive striped RAID set was used with each hard drive model listed. The Mac Pro 2.8 GHz was booted with the striped RAID set while the tests were completed. Using a striped RAID set as a boot drive does not provide significant performance improvement for launching applications but it does provide performance advantages when working with large data files. During these tests, HD bay #2 provided the best cooling. The room temperature for these tests was 73F. If your room is cooler, the hard drive temperatures will be lower. While all of these hard drives provided very nice performance, the Samsung 1TB provided slightly better performance while running cooler and requiring less energy.
A bootable striped RAID set may not be needed all the time, but having the ability to load one internally in the Mac Pro for working with large video files is a nice option. Being able to duplicate 4.25GB in 35 seconds or copy the same data to an external RAID in 15 seconds is awesome.
The 4-bay hard drive mounting system in the Mac Pro is an awesome feature. I only wish that Apple sold additional hard drive carriers for less than $20 each. Using different sets of hard drives without having to screw and unscrew them into the drive trays would make the installation process much easier.
SuperDriveThe Mac Pro 2.8 GHz in this review arrived with a Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7170A optical drive installed. According to Apple, the 16x SuperDrive provides double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) with the following specifications:
• Writes DVD+R and DVD-R discs at up to 16x speed
• Writes DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL discs at up to 8x speed
• Writes DVD+RW discs at up to 8x speed
• Writes DVD-RW discs at up to 6x speed
• Reads DVDs at up to 16x speed
• Writes CD-R and CD-RW discs at up to 32x speed
• Reads CDs at up to 32x speed
As you can see in the System Profiler data provided below for the Mac Pro 2.8 GHz model, the Optiarc AD-7170A provides -R DL capability that was not available with the Sony DW-D150A that shipped in many of the previous Mac Pro 2.66 GHz models. In addition, the Optiarc AD-7170A is able to read DVD-RAM with the 1.NC stock firmware installed. The only complaint that I have with the Optiarc AD-7170A optical drive is that it imports DVD slowly and does not support writing to DVD-RAM.
The DVD import speed of the Optiarc AD-7170A can be increased by approximately 300% by installing Liggy's AD-7170A Bitsetting Firmware 1.02c. However, the optical drive will no longer be quiet when playing CDs or DVDs and I could not mount my Maxell DVD-RAM disk even though system profiler indicated DVD-RAM was supported. The image below displays the System Profiler data for the various optical drives that were tested with the Mac Pro 2.8 GHz.
Installing a Pioneer 112D in the Mac Pro 2.8 GHz and cross flashing the firmware to the DVR-A12XL version while in Boot Camp provides DVD-RAM write
capabilities, high speed DVD import performance and quiet operation while watching DVDs or listening to CDs. If you are not able to find a Pioneer 112 you should be able to enjoy the same features with a Pioneer 115. Specialized firmware is available for the Pioneer 115 at the RPC web site. The flashing process requires Windows. With Boot Camp installed this can easily be completed with the Mac Pro. As always, this type of unauthorized hack is done at your own risk and may turn your optical drive into a door stop, but it has worked for many users. The stock Pioneer 115D works great just the way it is and unless you need a feature that is not supported I would stay with the stock firmware.To display how slow the Optiarc AD-7170A really is when importing video, a DVD was imported to the hard drive with the stock Apple 1.NC firmware installed versus Liggy's 1.02c firmware installed. As you can see in the results provided below, the same Optiarc AD-7170A optical drive required 4:54 minutes to complete the import with the Liggy 1.02c hacked firmware versus 15:30 minutes with the Apple stock 1.NC firmware. If speed is all that matters, the Liggy's 1.02c firmware is hard to beat. However, if you insert a DVD to watch it on the computer or listen with a CD inserted in the Mac Pro the Liggy firmware keeps the drive spinning at full speed which is loud. The Pioneer optical drive firmware provides high performance and a quiet listening environment which makes it my favorite DVD drive option for the Mac Pro.
SuperDrive Comparison
| Function | AD-7170A | AD-7170A | Pioneer 112 | Sony DW-D150A |
| Firmware | 1.NC | Liggys 1.02c | 1.15 | 1.MD |
| Import 4.2GB DVD | 15:30 minutes | 4:54 minutes | 5:26 minutes | 15:34 minutes |
| Acoustics | Quiet | Loud | Quiet | Quiet |
| DVD-RAM Write | No | ??? | Yes | No |
| DVD-RAM Read | 12x | ??? | 5x | No |
| iLife DL Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 16x DVD±R | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 8x DVD+RW | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 6x DVD-RW | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 8x DVD±R DL | Yes | 6x | Yes | Yes |
| 40X CD-R | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 32X CD-RW | Yes | 24x | Yes | Yes |
The optical drive cage provided with the new Mac Pro 2008 is identical to the one included with the original Mac Pro 2.66 GHz (part HH 805-7092). This allows optical drives to be switched between the old Mac Pro model and the new Mac Pro without removing the optical drive from the cage. The Mac Pro 2.8 GHz has a new optical cable design that protects the molex power cables. The ATA cable harness provides a sleeve for the power cable which helps protect it from damage when installing devices in the optical bay.
If two SuperDrives are installed, the dual optical drive bay allows users to copy from one optical drive to another or perform two different optical drive tasks at the same time. In that situation, an Optiarc AD-7170A with the Liggy 1.02c firmware installed might be used for fast copying and a Pioneer 112 could be used when the user wanted quiet CD or DVD playback.
The Mac Pro optical drive bay provides a dual device IDE cable and molex power plugs for powering up to two SuperDrives. A light weight aluminum mounting cage is used to house the optical drives. The design functions as a baffle to direct air flow from the power supply across the optical devices. Four additional screws are attached to the side of the cage for adding a second optical drive.
I found installing new optical drives in the Mac Pro SuperDrive cage was easy if the computer was placed on its side. If you are installing a second optical drive, loosening the screws on the sides of the existing optical drive may help when sliding the second unit in place. Once the IDE cables and the power plugs are attached, the aluminum SuperDrive cage can be easily re-inserted into the Mac Pro.
Pioneer Install Tip
If you are installing a Pioneer optical drive be sure to remove the plastic front tray bezel before installing it into the Mac Pro. Otherwise, the tray will not be able to eject. You can do this by removing the SuperDrive cage, attach the power cable to the Pioneer drive and push the eject button. Now turn off the Mac Pro and remove the front bezel of the Pioneer drive by gently pulling it out and up from the bottom.
PCI Express
The Mac Pro 2.8 GHz standard configuration arrives with three open PCI Express (PCIe) expansion slots and the ATI radeon HD 2600 XT video card installed in slot 1. The total bandwidth of the Intel PCIe bus in the Mac Pro has been increased to 40 lanes versus the 26 lane PCIe bus provided with the original Mac Pro model. In addition, two of the lanes are designed to meet PCIe 2.0 specifications.
The Mac Pro (January 2008) PCI Express bus bandwidth is no longer user configured. Slots one (video card) and two are configured as PCI Express 2.0 sixteen-lane PCIe slots. PCI Express slots 3 and 4 each provide PCIe revision 1, four-lane bandwidth. All slots provide mechanical support for 16-lane cards and the combined maximum power demand for all PCI Express cards installed