Apple is upgrading the Mac Pro with new workstation graphics cards from AMD in the high-end segment. The previous Radeon Pro Vega II and Radeon Pro Vega II Duo based on GCN 5 will be replaced by the Radeon Pro W6800X, Radeon Pro W6900X and Radeon Pro W6800X Duo with RDNA 2. A maximum of four GPUs deliver 60.4 TFLOPS (FP32).
The Mac Pro in the new tower format, which has been available since the end of 2019, can now be ordered with new graphics cards from AMD from the RDNA 2 generation from 7 nm production. Apple is drawing a line under the no longer brand new GCN-5 graphics cards Radeon Pro Vega II and Radeon Pro Vega II Duo. With the Radeon Pro 580X as the base model, an older GCN-4 graphics card with Polaris GPU remains in the range. Radeon Pro W5500X and Radeon Pro W5700X with RDNA will also remain available.
Radeon Pro W6800X with 60 CUs for 3,220 euros
The entry into the GPU upper class of the Mac Pro is now the new Radeon Pro W6800X as a so-called MPX module (Mac Pro Expansion Module) for 3,220 euros. The graphics card offers 60 compute units, 3,840 stream processors, 32 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit interface, 128 MB Infinity Cache and 16 TFLOPS FP32 performance with a TGP of 300 watts.
Radeon Pro W6800X Duo with two RDNA-2 GPUs
Above this, the Radeon Pro W6800X Duo ranks with two GPUs on one board, which are connected to each other via Infinity Fabric Link with 84 GB/s per direction and thus five times faster than via PCI Express. On the MPX module for 5,750 euros, AMD combines a total of 120 compute units, 7,680 stream processors, 64 GB GDDR6 (32 GB each of 256 bits) and 256 MB Infinity Cache and thus provides 30.2 TFLOPS FP32 performance with a TGP of 400 Watt.
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Radeon Pro W6900X has 80 CUs
The top model is the Radeon Pro W6900X for 6,900 euros. The most powerful single GPU model offers 80 compute units, 5,120 stream processors, 32 GB GDDR6 (256 bit), 128 MB Infinity Cache and an FP32 performance of 22.2 TFLOPS with a TGP of 300 watts.
< h2 class = "text-width text-h2" id = "section_maximale_leistungs_mit_vier_gpus"> Maximum performance with four GPUs
Up to two MPX modules can be installed in the Mac Pro, so that a combination of two Radeon Pro W6800X Duo for 11,500 euros is required for maximum performance. This amalgamation of four GPUs delivers 60.4 TFLOPS FP32 performance. For comparison: a Radeon Pro Vega II previously achieved 14.2 TFLOPS, a Radeon Pro Vega II Duo to 28.4 TFLOPS and two Radeon Pro Vega II Duo correspondingly to 56.8 TFLOPS – not much less than now with RDNA 2.
Thunderbolt 3 and HDMI 2.0 as outputs
Apple has an updated one parallel to the announcement of the new graphics cards Mac Pro Technology Overview for August 2021 (PDF) published, in which, among other things, the new MPX modules are explained again in detail and the assignments of the PCIe lanes as well as Thunderbolt 3 and HDMI outputs are explained in several graphics.
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Thunderbolt is processed separately via PCIe x4
For the Radeon Pro W6800X and Radeon Pro W6900X, their GPUs are connected via PCIe 3.0 x16, two DisplayPorts lead to the Main Logic Board (MLB), offer an Infinity Fabric Link for a second MPX module, two each separately via PCIe 3.0 x4 connected Titan Ridge controllers for four Thunderbolt 3 and an HDMI controller for HDMI 2.0. The Radeon Pro W6800X Duo connects the two GPUs of the board via Infinity Fabric Link and also provides this for a second MPX module. Both GPUs are connected to the PCIe 3.0 x16 slot of the MLB via a PCIe switch with two PCIe 3.0 x16 units. The Radeon Pro W6800X Duo does not have a DisplayPort to the MLB, but it also offers two Titan Ridge controllers connected separately via PCIe 3.0 x4 for four Thunderbolt 3s in addition to HDMI 2.0.
For new purchases and as a kit
Apple sells the new MPX modules for new configurations of the Mac Pro as well as for existing systems as a standalone kit in order to retrofit them with more graphics performance. Apple has taken the MPX modules of the Radeon Pro Vega II and Radeon Pro Vega II Duo out of its range for new configurations, but is still offering them as a standalone kit for upgrading or as a spare part.
New Intel CPUs should follow
An upgrade in the CPU area has not yet taken place. The Mac Pro is said to be about to switch from Intel Cascade Lake to Ice Lake-W. The number of physical cores or available threads would increase from 28/56 to 38/72. In addition, the platform itself would bring a higher IPC and raise the DDR4 RAM limit from 1.5 TB to 4 TB. According to Apple insider Mark Gurman, the CPU upgrade will take place later in the year. The company will probably be the last to switch to Apple Silicon for the Mac Pro. When it announced its own processors, Apple had already said that new Intel Macs would continue to arrive until the end of 2022 until the conversion was complete.