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October 10, 2006
By Michael Bean
Introduction
On August 7, 2006 Apple announced the Intel based Mac Pro models which complete the Apple Intel transition. The Apple Mac Pro 2.66 GHz model ($2,499) is the stock version that you will find at retail outlets like Amazon. Apple also has custom versions available which can be ordered with 2.0 GHz or 3.0 GHz dual-core Intel Xeon processors. In addition, the Apple on-line store allows users to configure a Mac Pro with other memory, hard drive, SuperDrive, video card, displays, wireless and fibre channel options. All Mac Pro models utilize an external aluminum enclosure that is similar to the previous PowerMac G5 models.
What's Included?
The stock Apple Mac Pro 2.66 GHz model includes two 2.66 GHz dual-core Intel Xeon processors, a new Intel four slot PCI Express architecture with a NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB graphics card. Higher performance graphics options are available including the ATI Radeon X1900 XT ($250) and the NVIDIA’s Quadro FX 4500 ($1650) at the Apple Store. The Mac Pro comes with 1GB of 667MHz DDR2 fully buffered EEC memory. It has eight memory slots that can be used to upgrade to as much as 16GB of memory using 2GB chips. Each 2.66 GHz dual-core Intel Xeon 5100 series processor has 4MB of shared L2 cache and a front side bus speed of 1.33 GHz.The Mac Pro includes a 250GB 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 also 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. No modem is included but two gigabit ethernet ports are provided. Wireless airport, bluetooth and an external modem are all optional.
The Mac Pro package includes an 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, iLife (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, iWeb and GarageBand), iCal, DVD Player, Comic Life, OmniOutliner, QuickBooks, Xcode Development Tools and a demo of Office, iWork and FileMaker.
667MHz DDR2 FB-DIMMs
The stock Mac Pro configuration includes 1GB of 667MHz DDR2 fully buffered EEC DIMM memory. This is double the amount of memory that was provided with the PowerMac G5. This new Apple memory specification includes advanced heat sinks that keep the memory from over heating. As 667MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM memory is available without advanced heat sinks, I would only buy 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 heavy processing. Most users will want a minimum of 2-3 GB of memory. However, if you are a new Mac Pro user don't be afraid to try it
with the stock 1GB and see how it performs for your needs. The stock Mac Pro is much more responsive than the PowerMac G5 Quad was with only 512MB of memory installed.The Mac Pro has two memory trays that can be 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. Intel's 5000X MCH Chipset provides the Mac Pro with a quad-channel FBD memory controller. Two of these channels are linked to each memory tray. Four FB-DIMM slots are provided on each Mac Pro memory tray. Memory is required to be installed in matched pairs. The inside surface of the Mac Pro removable side cover provides user instructions for installing new memory upgrades. You can see the instructions in the image below . Clicking on the image below will display the Apple Mac Pro memory DIY install guide.
The initial 1GB of Apple memory is installed in the rear two slots of the top memory tray. The next pair of FB-DIMMs should be installed in the rear slots of 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 "2" above. Figure "3" displays the last two slots of the bottom tray being filled, should you require all eight memory slots. The front of the Mac Pro memory trays provide circular cut outs in the left and right sides so that the boards can be easily removed from the memory cage.
In theory, using both memory trays provides the maximum quad-channel Mac Pro memory performance by increasing the available bandwidth. However, testing by barefeats has shown that using both memory trays may not always translate into faster application performance. If you want to optimize the memory performance of the Mac Pro with quad-channel technology, users can upgrade to 2GB by using the 2 x 512MB of Apple memory in the top tray and adding 2 x 512MB FB-DIMMs in the bottom tray. A 4GB configuration would use 2 x 1GB in the top tray and 2 x 1GB in the bottom tray. By only using the rear two slots of each tray, performance will be optimized. Using the additional slots will add more memory but will also slightly increase the latency of the FB-DIMMs serial interface.
The Mac Pro will work with different memory sizes too. Using the Apple 2 x 512MB memory in the top tray and 2 x 1GB modules in the bottom tray is a good way to start your memory acquisition toward a 4GB setup. Once FB-DIMM memory prices drop to a comfortable price level users can acquire another pair of 1GB modules. If you plan your memory purchases to eventually provide an optimized quad-channel setup, it will provide the best memory configuration available for the Apple Mac Pro.
In order to determine how the Mac Pro 2.66 GHz 1GB stock memory setup might compare against several other memory configurations and a PPC PowerMac G5 Quad, Xbench 1.3 was utilized. The results are provided in the table below.
Mac Pro Memory Performance
| Xbench 1.3 |
Mac Pro 2.66
1GB Top 2x512MB |
Mac Pro 2.66
2GB Top 2x1GB |
Mac Pro 2.66
3GB Top 2x512MB Bottom 2x1GB |
PPC Quad 2.5
2.5GB |
| Memory Test |
113.43
|
132.31
|
144.71
|
137.59
|
| Fill |
5.21 GB/sec
|
5.67 GB/sec
|
7.2 GB/sec
|
8.25 GB/sec
|
| Copy |
2.3 GB/sec
|
2.55 GB/sec
|
2.81 GB/sec
|
2.1 GB/sec
|
Based on these Xbench results, the Quad seems to be able to provide a faster memory fill rate even though the Mac Pro 3GB configuration has a higher overall score. Mac Pro users will need to utilize the rear slots of both Mac Pro memory boards to exceed the memory performance of the PPC PowerMac G5 Quad. The memory bandwidth of the Mac Pro seems to have some limitations. While the Xeon family has a theoretical 21 GB/s memory bandwidth when using a quad-channel FB-DIMM configuration, performance results available on the web indicate that 4.22GB/sec to 6GB/sec may be a more realistic figure. Anandtech.com has posted an article on Mac Pro memory performance that suggests that the memory in a dual channel Core 2 computer can out perform the quad-channel FB-DIMM memory configuration of the Mac Pro. This is disappointing as the 667MHz DDR2 FB-DIMMs are not inexpensive.
The current price of Mac Pro memory is approximately $230 per GB. That is almost twice as much as the cost of memory for the Apple PowerMac G5 Quad. As this is the case, I would suggest purchasing a 2GB memory upgrade kit for the Mac Pro and adding another 2GB kit on price dips.
Most Mac Pro users will find using between 2-4GB of memory works very well for most situations. Heavy Photoshop users may want to install as much as 8GB and there are some users (yes, you know who you are) that will want as much memory as they can install in the Mac Pro. Energy conscious users will want to know that each pair of 512MB FB-DIMM modules added to the Mac Pro will increase energy requirements by approximately 15 watts and each pair of 1GB FB-DIMM modules can add as much as 17 watts of extra energy usage to the otherwise energy thrifty Mac Pro. 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. Using 2-4GB of memory seems to provide a nice balance. When using a fast hard drive, I do not find a little disk caching with the Mac Pro to be objectionable.
Mac Pro Memory tray with Trans International 2GB kit and the Apple (black) stock 512MB FB-DIMMs.
Apple charges $300 on-line for purchasing a Mac Pro with 2GB of memory (4 x 512MB). You can also purchase two 512MB FB-DIMM Mac Pro memory chips separately for $300 from Apple. As most readers probably already know, buying memory from Apple is usually an expensive option.
Another option is the Trans International 2GB memory kit ($438). This Mac Pro memory kit provides a matched pair of high quality 1GB 667MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM chips with advanced aluminum heat sinks. The Apple chips provide four heat sink fins on each side, while the Trans International memory supports six fins. From my testing the Trans International 2GB kit is fully Mac Pro compliant, looks great and performs very well. The Apple on-line store charges $700 for two 1GB chips for the Mac Pro while the Trans International 2GB memory kit is $438. In addition, Trans International offers a lifetime warranty. It doesn't take much calculating to figure out that savings can be obtained by installing the Trans International 2GB kit in a Mac Pro instead of Apple branded memory. I have purchased memory from Trans International for several Macintosh models and they have always provided high quality memory at a reasonable price.
Xeon 5100 Processors
The Apple Mac Pro utilizes two dual-core Intel Xeon "Woodcrest" processors series 5100 with LGA-771 Xeon sockets. The Xeon 5130 (2.0 GHz), 5150 (2.66 GHz) and the 5160 (3.0 GHz) processors are all available in the various Mac Pro models. You can see pictures of the processors mounted in a Mac Pro at the PowerMax website. The Xeon 5100 "Woodcrest" 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 16GB of memory in the Mac Pro, provide 64-bit data paths, use 4MB of shared L2 cache, are optimized for lower power usage and have 1.33 GHz dual independent frontside buses.
The dual Xeon 5150 processors installed in the Mac Pro 2.66 GHz model provide a nice deal in terms of price/performance. While its clock speed is 11% slower than the 3.0 GHz model it is 24% less expensive. In addition, the Xeon 5150 has a thermal design power (TDP) rating of 65 watts versus the 80 watt TDP rating of the 3.0 GHz 5160 model. The cool running 65nm technology of the "Woodcrest" processors allow the Mac Pro to operate quieter than the previous PowerMac G5 models while supporting additional internal hard drives. If you utilize Hardware Monitor to examine the CPU clock frequency of the Mac Pro 2.66 GHz, you can see that the Xeon 5150 automatically reduces the CPU clock
frequency from 2667 MHz to 2000 MHz 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 the clock frequency returns to 2667 MHz.In order to demonstrate the cooler operating capability of the Apple Mac Pro 2.66 GHz, a CPU intensive test was performed consisting of compressing video for 30 minutes using Handbrake to create an AVI file with AC-3 audio tracks. Hardware Monitor was used to display the CPU temperatures of a Mac Pro 2.66 GHz and a PowerMac G5 Quad. Temperatures were recorded during the 30 minute compression task, after the task had stopped and 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 four cores with Handbrake and to see how quickly they might cool down. The results were compared to the performance of a PowerMac G5 Quad and provided in the table below.
Intel Mac Pro 2.66 GHz vs PPC Quad 2.5 GHz CPU Temperatures
| 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 |
122
|
107.6
|
96.8
|
| CPU Core 2 |
122
|
107.6
|
96.8
|
| CPU Core 3 |
125.6
|
111.2
|
104
|
| CPU Core 4 |
122
|
109.4
|
98.6
|
| Watts |
198-202
|
160
|
160
|
| Frame Rates |
117.6 fps
|
-
|
-
|
| - |
-
|
||
| Temperatures in Fahrenheit |
Quad 2.5
Compress 30 min. |
Quad 2.5
2 min. Idle |
Quad 2.5
10 min. Idle |
| CPU Core 1 |
137.2
|
108.7
|
109.9
|
| CPU Core 2 |
138.4
|
108.7
|
109.9
|
| CPU Core 3 |
133.8
|
107.2
|
108
|
| CPU Core 4 |
134.5
|
105.7
|
106.6
|
| Watts |
240-311
|
160
|
160
|
| Frame Rates |
96.9 fps
|
-
|
-
|
PowerMac G5 Quad 2.5 GHz has 2.5GB of memory and stock Maxtor 250GB hard drive.
As you can see in the table above, the Mac Pro 2.66 GHz is able to provide a little faster performance while using less energy when Handbrake is creating an AVI. The Mac Pro 2.66 GHz is able to convert a 7GB video into AVI format in 23 minutes while the Quad required 25 minutes. At the same time, the Mac Pro Intel 5150 CPU cores operate between 7-12% cooler while under a four processor Handbrake load. When idle for 10 minutes the Mac Pro 2.66 GHz CPU cores were able to operate between 4-13% cooler than the PPC PowerMac G5 Quad CPU cores.
The use of Intel processors in Apple Macintosh models will allow users to examine the Intel road map to determine where Macintosh performance is headed. In addition, the ability to upgrade MacTel models with new Intel CPUs as they become available will provide added life to many Apple Macintosh models. Prices of the various CPUs are always dropping, which allows users to choose a price point that meets their needs.Anandtech has published an article demonstrating how they were able to upgrade the Mac Pro 2.0 GHz model to a 3.0 GHz CPU using Intel 5160 processors. While this sounds good in theory, the Intel 5160 processors are $850 each and you would need two of them. The difference in price between the Mac Pro 2.0 GHz model and the Mac Pro 3.0 GHz unit is $1,100. As such, at todays prices it would cost the purchaser $600 extra to make this conversion rather than buy the 3.0 GHz model to begin with. However, once the Intel 5160 processor drops to below $500 this upgrade starts to make sense. It will happen, it's just a matter of time. This same article also indicates that the new quad-core "Clovertown" Xeon quad-core processors should be able to be installed into the two Mac Pro LGA-771 sockets. This could dramatically improve performance for the Mac Pro and provide users with another new upgrade option. The one difficult part of the upgrade is that the two front screws in the memory cage may have too much loctite on them causing them to be difficult to remove. The new Mac Pro with Intel processors has the capability of being much more upgradable than previous versions of Apple desktops.
WD 250GB Caviar SE
The Mac Pro utilized in this review shipped with a Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB hard drive model WD2500JS. This is a SATA II 3.5" 7200 RPM hard drive with an 8MB cache. The Mac Pro case design provides a four bay 3.5" SATA hard drive system that utilizes a backplane design for mounting each hard drive.
The new Mac Pro internal hard drive backplane mounting system is very nice. 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. This hard drive mounting system is far superior to the PowerMac G5 dual drive slide in drive cage. 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 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 you will need to restart after 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 snuggly inside the Mac Pro to eliminate any vibrations.
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 that is 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 you can see the hard drive selected in Disk Utility is mounted in bay one. Disk Utility lists it as "Connection ID: "Bay 1". A list of details about the hard drive are also provided. This system makes it very easy to identify the location of any internal hard drive in the Mac Pro and access it quickly.
The Mac Pro utilizes the Intel ESB2 SATA Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) for interfacing the SATA hard drives with the computer. It provides six independent internal Mac Pro SATA channels that support SATA I and SATA II hard drives, Spread Spectrum Clocking (SSC) and Native Command Queuing (NCQ). The Intel AHCI specification revision 1.1 supports hot swap and SATA Port Multiplier capability but the Mac Pro implementation does not provide support for either of these features.
Motherboard Dual SATA PortsIn addition to the Mac Pro SATA 4-bay tray system, there are also two more SATA ports on the Mac Pro motherboard just under the front fan assembly. They are marked as "ODD SATA" on the mother board. It appears these ports are to be used in the future to support SATA optical disk drives. During this review, a SATA cable was connected to one of the ports and it was used with an external SATA PM enclosure. As these ports do not support SATA port multipliers, the Mac Pro was only able to recognize one hard drive in the 5-bay enclosure. I also connected the SATA port to an external direct connect SATA enclosure. This worked fine, but these SATA ports do not support hot swap. As a result, I had to restart the Mac Pro every time I changed the hard drive configuration on that port. Personally, I would rather utilize a PCI Express (PCIe) SATA host adapter that supports hot swap and SATA PM connections.
HD PerformanceIn order to see how the Mac Pro 2.66 GHz with 3GB of memory would perform with different single volume boot drives, several different model SATA hard drives were tested. Each hard drive was tested while it was the boot drive. The exact same 16GB of data was duplicated on each hard drive. Mac OS X 10.4.7 was utilized. A six drive 1.74TB external striped RAID set was used for the RAID copy tests.
Single Drive Boot Test
| Mac Pro 2.66 | WD 250GB WD2500JS |
Maxline III 300GB 7V300F0 |
Seagate 250GB 7200.10 |
Hitachi 160GB |
| Startup | 15 sec. | 15 sec. | 15 sec. | 15 sec. |
| Shutdown | 15 sec. | 15 sec. | 15 sec. | 15 sec. |
| Duplicate 4.25GB | 2:40 min. | 2:22 min. | 2:33 min. | 2:35 min. |
| Repair Permissions | 7 sec. | 7 sec. | 7 sec. | 7 sec. |
| Copy 4.25GB to RAID | 1:14 min. | 1:03 min. | 55 sec. | 1:24 min. |
| Copy 4.25GB from RAID | 1:14 min. | 1:03 min. | 1:32 min. | 1:15 min. |
| Xbench Drive score | 71 | 110.16 | 57.86 | 63.93 |
| Xbench Overall Score | 160.68 | 183.91 | 148.54 | 154.16 |
| DiskTester Read/Write | 58.2 / 57.6 | 67.3 / 64 | 77.7 / 50.1 | 43.5 / 55.8 |
In the test above, the WD 250GB is the stock hard drive that shipped with the Mac Pro. The Maxline III 300GB 7V300F0 is my favorite in the Mac Pro when an individual boot drive is used. It is inexpensive, provides 279GB formatted, is very quiet and comes with a 5 year warranty. The Seagate 250GB is the fastest 7200.10 model hard drive that AMUG has tested. However, when it is used as a single boot drive in the Mac Pro the write speeds are 35% slower than when it is used on a SATA host adapter. The firmware in the Seagate 7200.10 hard drives have a write bug that shows itself when mounted on the internal Mac Pro SATA bus. AMUG has informed Seagate of this issue but no fix was available at the time this article was written.
Dual Drive Striped RAID Boot Test
| Mac Pro 2.66 | Maxline III 300GB 7V300F0 |
Seagate 250GB 7200.10 |
Seagate 320GB 7200.10 |
Maxline III 300GB 7L300S0 |
| Startup | 14 sec. | 14 sec. | 15 sec. | 15 sec. |
| Shutdown | 15 sec. | 15 sec. | 15 sec. | 15 sec. |
| Duplicate 4.25GB | 1:14 min. | 1:01 min. | 1:03 min. | 1:22 |
| Copy 4.25GB to RAID | 33 sec. | 29 sec. | 29 sec. | 34 sec. |
| Copy 4.25GB from RAID | 31 sec. | 27 sec. | 30 sec. | 38 sec. |
| Xbench Drive score | 183.08 | 100.57 | 101.95 | 182.77 |
| Xbench Overall Score | 201.68 | 179.81 | 180.22 | 198.2 |
| DiskTester Read/Write | 138 / 131 | 154 / 153 | 146 / 146 | 125 / 112 |
| Volume Size | 558.3GB | 465.1GB | 595.5GB | 558.3GB |
| Type | SATA II | SATA II | SATA II | SATA I |
In the table above, all of the hard drives were tested as striped RAID sets. The Seagate 320GB 7200.10 was added along with the older Maxline III 300GB model 7L300S0 which is a SATA I hard drive. The Seagate 250GB provided the fastest large file copy performance. The Seagate 320GB 7200.10 was almost as fast. You can see that once you RAID the Seagate 7200.10 hard drives the poor write performance disappears. The Xbench tests focus on both sequential and random read and write performance. The Seagate 7200.10 random read and write performance is slower than the Maxline III 300GB 7V300F0. As a result, a Mac Pro system with a Maxline III 7V300F0 installed will have much higher Xbench scores. The Maxline III 7V300F0 provides the best overall performance but the Seagate 7200.10 is a little faster for copying large video files.
Three Drive Striped RAID Boot Test
| Mac Pro 2.66 | Maxline III 300GB 7V300F0 |
Seagate 250GB 7200.10 |
Seagate 320GB 7200.10 |
| Startup | 15 sec. | 15 sec. | 15 sec. |
| Shutdown | 15 sec. | 15 sec. | 15 sec. |
| Duplicate 4.25GB | 50 sec. | 43 sec. | 43 sec. |
| Copy 4.25GB to RAID | 21 sec. | 19 sec. | 19 sec. |
| Copy 4.25GB from RAID | 21 sec. | 18 sec. | 19 sec. |
| Xbench Drive score | 227.37 | 121.09 | 130.19 |
| Xbench Overall Score | 209.45 | 186.74 | 190.46 |
| DiskTester Read/Write | 206 / 197 | 232 / 230 | 219 / 218 |
| Volume Size | 837.5GB | 697.7GB | 893.3GB |
| Idle Power Usage | 188 watts | 181 watts | 182 watts |
| Copying Power Use | 199 watts | 193 watts | 194 watts |
| 90 min. Copy Temperatures | in Fahrenheit | Room Temp. 81F | |
|
Bay 1
|
empty | empty | empty |
|
Bay 2
|
118.4F | 114.8F | 116.6F |
|
Bay 3
|
127.4 | 122 | 122 |
|
Bay 4
|
129.2 | 123.8 | 127.4 |
| 60 min. Idle Test | in Fahrenheit | ||
|
Bay 1
|
empty | empty | empty |
|
Bay 2
|
109.4F | 107.6 | 111.2 |
|
Bay 3
|
116.6 | 113 | 116.6 |
|
Bay 4
|
120.2 | 116.6 | 122 |
| Acoustics | Low pitch hum. HD access noise. |
Quiet, but more HD access noise. |
Quiet, little less HD access noise. |
In the test above, a three drive striped RAID set was used with each model hard drive model listed. The Mac Pro was booted with the striped RAID set while the tests were run. Using a striped RAID set as a boot drive does not provide significant increased performance for launching applications but it does provide significant performance advantages when working with large data files. During these tests, HD bay #2 provided the best cooling. The Mac Pro does not provide much air flow for cooling hard drives. As a result, many external hard drive enclosures will provide better cooling than the Mac Pro. The room temperature for these tests was 81F. If your room is cooler, the hard drive temperatures will be lower. All of these hard drives provided nice performance results.
Four Drive Striped RAID Boot Test
| Mac Pro 2.66 | Maxline III 300GB 7V300F0 |
Seagate 250GB 7200.10 |
Seagate 320GB 7200.10 |
| Startup | 16 sec. | 16 sec. | 16 sec. |
| Shutdown | 16 sec. | 16 sec. | 16 sec. |
| Duplicate 4.25GB | 38 sec. | 33 sec. | 34 sec. |
| Copy 4.25GB to RAID | 15 sec. | 15 sec. | 15 sec. |
| Copy 4.25GB from RAID | 15 sec. | 13 sec. | 15 sec. |
| Xbench Drive score | 272.55 | 149.77 | 149.39 |
| Xbench Overall Score | 215.06 | 195.38 | 195.61 |
| DiskTester Read/Write | 276 / 258 | 307 / 305 | 293 / 271 |
| Volume Size | 1.09TB | 930.3GB | 1.16TB |
| Idle Power Usage | 198 watts | 188 watts | 191 watts |
| Copying Power Use | 212 watts | 201 watts | 202 watts |
| 90 min. Copy Temperatures | in Fahrenheit | Room Temp. 81F | |
|
Bay 1
|
129.2F | 125.6F | 125.6F |
|
Bay 2
|
120.2 | 120.2 | 122 |
|
Bay 3
|
129.2 | 123.8 | 125.6 |
|
Bay 4
|
127.4 | 125.6 | 129.2 |
| 60 min. Idle Test | in Fahrenheit | ||
|
Bay 1
|
122F | 116.6F | 118.4F |
|
Bay 2
|
116.6 | 111.2 | 113 |
|
Bay 3
|
120.2 | 114.8 | 116.6 |
|
Bay 4
|
118.4 | 118.4 | 122 |
| Acoustics | Low pitch hum. HD access noise. |
Quiet, but more HD access noise. |
Quiet, little less HD access noise. |
In the test above, a four drive striped RAID set was created internally in the Mac Pro 2.66 GHz. A FW800 hard drive was used to clone a Mac OS X 10.4.7 system to the striped RAID set using the Restore tab in Disk Utility. The FW800 hard drive was removed once the Mac Pro was booted with the striped RAID set. With four drives installed the hard drive temperatures climbed a little higher. It would be nice if Mac Pro users had a way to increase the speed of the top front Mac Pro fan. The bottom fan provides plenty of air flow to keep the processors cool but the top fan is really running too slow to provide good hard drive cooling for 3-4 hard drives. A fan speed knob or a software controller could allow users to increase the top fan speed to a level they are comfortable with. If you are not going to fill the hard drive bays in a Mac Pro, I would use bays #2 and #3. Bay #1 sits on top of the fan and gets no direct air flow and bay #4 sits above the PCIe cards and is farthest away from the fan.
A bootable four drive 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 setup. Being able to duplicate 4.25GB in 32-39 seconds or copy the same data to an external RAID in 13-15 seconds is awesome.
The new 4-bay hard drive setup in the Mac Pro is great. However, I wish that Apple sold additional hard drive carriers. Using different sets of hard drives without having to screw and unscrew them from the original four drive trays would make the process much easier.
SuperDriveThe Mac Pro 2.66 GHz in this review arrived with a Sony DW-D150A optical drive installed. Some Mac Pro users are reporting that their Mac Pro arrived with a Pioneer 111D installed instead. It is difficult to find any specs for the Sony DW-D150A except for those that are posted on the Apple Mac Pro web site.
Sony DW-D150A to NEC ND-4570A
Our friends at Hardmac.com wanted to find the source of the Sony DW-D150A. They took it apart and found that it is a clone of the NEC ND-4570. With that information, they utilized Binflash and the region-free (RPC-1) version of Liggy's ND-4570 bitsetting firmware 1.03 to transform the Sony DW-D150A into a NEC ND-4570. The conversion allows the Sony DW-D150A to read and write DVD-RAM and improves the read speed.
As I was dissatisfied with the features of the Sony DW-D150A, I used the instructions found in the Hardmac article to convert the Sony DW-D150A to the NEC ND-4570A. I was unable to get the dump oldfirm.bin command to work, but I was successful at using the "./necflash -flash 103bt_rpc1.bin A:" command to convert the firmware. After the firmware was converted the Sony DW-D150A was recognized in the Apple Mac Pro System Profiler as a NEC DVD_RW ND-4570A.
The downside to using Liggy's ND-4570 firmware with the Sony DW-D150A is that the drive becomes quite loud when playing CD and DVD discs. The ND-4570A firmware turns the Sony DW-D150A into a fast copy device, but I prefer the speed and quiet playing features of the Pioneer 111D. Lionel at macbidouille.com is working on a new firmware version that allows the Sony to still be recognized as a Sony DW-D150A, while retaining the speed of the ND-4570 patch and running quieter. This may be a better option for Mac Pro users that want to remove the copy speed limiations of the Sony DW-D150A. Please understand that if you convert the original Sony DW-D150A firmware you do so at your own risk.
Pioneer 111D
The Pioneer 111D specs include 16X DVD+R, 8X DVD+RW, 8X DVD+R DL, 16X DVD-R, 6X DVD-RW, 16X DVD-ROM, 40X CD-R, 32X CD-RW, 40X CD-ROM and 5X DVD-RAM read capability. The Pioneer 111D is fast at reading data from DVD and is quiet when playing music or movies. The Sony DW-D150A is a capable optical drive. However, the stock Sony firmware has an artificially slow read speed limit that some users may find annoying. In addition, the stock Pioneer 111D can read DVD-RAM media while the standard Sony DW-D150A cannot. Users that value the extra features of the Pioneer 111D will find that they can purchase it for $37. Since the Mac Pro has two optical bays, users can install a new Pioneer 111D in optical bay #2 and have two DVD burners available.
If you are unsure which formats that your DVD burner supports you can open System Profiler and select "Disc Burning". Clicking on the Optical drive that you want information about will display its capabilities. Details shown by System Profiler for the Sony DW-D150A using NEC 4570A firmware, the stock Sony DW-D150A and the Pioneer 111 are displayed below.
The Pioneer 111D is a popular optical drive. As this is the case there are unauthorized alternative firmware hacks available for it. One of these "hacks" allows Pioneer 111D owners to cross flash the firmware in the Pioneer 111D to the Pioneer 111 version which provides DVD-RAM write capabilities. You can find this firmware at the db web site. The flashing process requires Windows. 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 several users. The stock Pioneer 111D works great just the way it is and unless you need DVD-RAM write capability I would keep its firmware setup as a Pioneer 111D.
To display how the Sony artificially slow read speed can impact performance, the Sony DW-D150A with stock firmware was compared against a Pioneer 111D, the Pioneer 109 and the same Sony DW-D150A with the ND-4570A firmware flashed to the drive. Each optical drive was installed in the Mac Pro 2.66 GHz running Mac OS X 10.4.7. The same DVD content was copied to the internal Apple shipped WD 250GB hard drive in each test. The results are provided in the table below.
SuperDrive Comparison
| Function | NEC ND-4570A | Pioneer 109 | Pioneer 111 | Sony DW-D150A |
| Import 4.2GB DVD | 4:55 minutes | 5:41 minutes | 6:26 minutes | 15:34 minutes |
| DVD-RAM Write | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| DVD-RAM Read | 5x | No | 5x | No |
| iLife 06 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 |
| 4x DVD±R DL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 8x DVD±R DL | Yes | 6x | Yes | Yes |
| 40X CD-R | 48x | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 32X CD-RW | Yes | 24x | Yes | Yes |
If your Apple Mac Pro came with a Pioneer 111D you will be able to import a DVD more than twice as fast as when using the stock Sony DW-D150A. It is interesting that the Sony DW-D150A flashed with ND-4570A firmware was the fastest at reading data. It is too bad that this firmware makes the drive loud when playing CD and DVD media. If two SuperDrives are installed, the new dual optical drive bay of the Mac Pro allows users to copy from one optical drive to another or perform two different optical drive tasks at the same time. In that situation, a Sony DW-D150A with the ND-4570A firmware installed could be used for fast copying and the Pioneer 111D could be used when the user wanted quiet CD and DVD playback.
The Mac Pro optical drive bay provides a dual device IDE cable and molex power plugs for powering up to two SuperDrives. These cables are about 7" longer than the ones provided in the PowerMac G5 Quad. A light weight aluminum mounting cage is used to house the optical drives. Its 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 pretty 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, you are ready to slide the aluminum cage back into the Mac Pro. Don't force it as this usually indicates that a wire is caught on one of the metal guides.
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 easily do this by removing the SuperDrive cage, attach the power cable to the new 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.
Blu-ray Disc Writers
Another option for the vacant optical spot in the Mac Pro is a Blu-ray drive. The Pioneer BDR-101A ($999) is one of the first shipping computer devices with Blu-ray record capability. It uses blue laser technology to burn up to 25GB of data onto a single layer Blu-ray disc. The Pioneer BDR-101A reads and writes to Blu-Ray and DVD discs. As CD media is not supported users will still need a standard SuperDrive too. The unit supports TDK single layer BDE discs at a price of approximately $26. The Pioneer BDR-101A can burn 22GB of data to a BD-R disc in 45 minutes according to PC World. Once Blu-ray recordable technology prices decline we will find Blu-ray recorders as a standard option in many computers.
PCI Express
The Mac Pro 2.66 GHz standard configuration arrives with three open PCI Express (PCIe) expansion slots and the NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT video card installed in slot 1. The total bandwidth of the Intel PCIe bus in the Mac Pro has been reduced to 26 lanes versus the 32 lane PCIe bus provided with the Apple G5 Dual Core models.
The Mac Pro PCI Express bus bandwidth is user configurable. If a PCIe card is installed in a slot that Mac OS X determines is not providing the full bandwidth for the card, the "Expansion Slot Utility" will automatically launch the first time that the computer is restarted. The user can change the configuration and restart or leave it as is by pushing the "Quit" button. Should a user want to view details about what cards are installed or modify the PCI Express profile currently selected, they can launch the "Expansion Slot Utility" application located at Macintosh HD:System:Library:CoreServices:Expansion Slot Utility.
This utility allows users to view the speed of the cards installed. In addition, four preset PCIe bus bandwidth options are available. This utility is very nice as it can display cards that are installed even if the proper drivers are not loaded yet.
For many generations, PowerMac models utilized the PCI bus as the chief vehicle for internal expansion. However, with the introduction of the PowerMac G5 "Oct 2005" Dual and Quad-Core PPC models, Apple has abandoned this standard and replaced all of the PCI slots with PCI Express slots also known as PCIe. PCI and PCI-X cards are not compatible with PCI Express (PCIe) slots. The Intel 5000X MCH chipset specification provides for an optional 6700PXH 64-bit PCI Hub that allows Xeon processors to interface with PCI-X cards but Apple has not implemented this option in the Mac Pro design. As such, the Apple Mac Pro is limited to supporting cards that utilize the PCI Express (PCIe) interface.
If you look at the PCIe bus of the Mac Pro vs the PPC G5 Quad you will find several changes. The new design provides extra space for a double wide video card. Even users that do not utilize a "fat" video card will still enjoy the benefits that extra PCIe space provides. This area seemed cramped in the Quad design, but the new larger PCIe expansion area in the Mac Pro provides much better access. In addition, this design provides an extra empty PCI cover that could be used with SATA brackets that convert internal SATA connections to external ports. If you have internal SATA ports that you want to convert to external ports this extra metal cover allows you to do so without loosing a PCIe slot. When using this method a multilane or a eSATA connection bracket could be used to provide up to four external ports.
Another upgrade to the Mac Pro PCIe area is the use of an install bracket with two captive screws to keep PCIe cards in place. This is a vast improvement over using small screws to install PCIe cards. If you have ever accidently dropped a small PCIe screw into a PowerMac and had it roll into a location that you could not reach you will appreciate this new feature.
From Open Firmware to EFI
When the PowerMac G5 Quad was introduced there were no SATA host adapter cards available that would work with it for several months. Now that there is a pretty good selection of SATA host adapters available for the PowerMac G5 Dual-Core PCIe models, the rules have changed again.
With the introduction of the Mac Pro using Intel chips, open firmware is no longer supported. It has been replaced with the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI). SATA host adapter manufacturers that use open firmware to load their drivers have to write new drivers to allow the SATA host adapters to work with the Mac Pro. The coolest SATA host adapters are those that require no extra drivers to work with Mac OS X. Their driver is loaded from firmware on the card upon booting. For this to occur with the Apple Mac Pro the firmware will need to be re-written to properly interface with EFI.
While several SATA host adapters work with the Mac Pro, none of them utilize EFI for boot capability or for working without installing their drivers on the boot drive yet. Several SATA host adapter manufacturers are trying to implement EFI into their products and this may take a few months to achieve. In the meantime, several SATA host adapters that require the installation of Mac drivers are available for Mac Pro use. SATA host adapters that AMUG has tested with the Mac Pro are listed below.
Mac Pro SATA Host Adapters
| Company |
Model
|
MSRP
|
Ports
|
Type
|
Mac Driver
|
Review
|
| Addonics |
2
|
PCIe
|
SiI-3132 1.1.6
|
|||
| FirmTek |
2
|
PCIe
|
2SM2-E driver
|
|||
| HighPoint |
$299
|
8
|
PCIe
|
Universal v1.02
|
||
| Sonnet |
$299
|
4
|
PCIe
|
|||
| WiebeTech |
Tera Card TCES0-2e
|
2
|
PCIe
|
SiI-3132 1.1.6
|
|