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A similar (but slower) workstation from Dell (28C Xeon 8180, 2.5 GHz/3.8GHz turbo) tops out at $49k: https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/workstations-isv-cert

A similar (but slower) workstation from Dell (28C Xeon 8180, 2.5 GHz/3.8GHz turbo) tops out at $49k: https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/workstations-isv-certified/precision-7920-tower-workstation/spd/precision-7920-workstation/xctopt7920us_3 https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/workstations-isv-certif... Also note this configuration from Dell uses 24x64GB memory sticks. If configured for equivalency with the Mac Pro (12x128GB) it tops out at $70k. (12 sticks isn't superior to 24; actually, 24 is theoretically better because it is more parallelized, but only if the processors and system bus can handle the full theoretical bandwidth of that much memory...)

Scipio_Afri 7y ago
So never buy a high end computer, build it yourself.
- toasterlovin 7y ago
  If you're doing something professionally that actually requires a $50k computer, your hourly rate is so insanely high that there's no way it makes financial sense to build and repair a computer like that on your own.
  - stagger87 7y ago
    The markup on these types of PC's is ~100%. If you needed to build even a few of these per year, the savings in buying the components yourself would pay for an employee to maintain them, (not even including the deep discount you could get negotiating prices on high end parts from a vendor). Not that you would even need a full time employee to maintain them...
    - Scipio_Afri 7y ago
      That was my point, the markup is insane for it to be $50k.
  - mc32 7y ago
    Plus you want the 4-4hr warranty support for bad components. And with Dell you’re not paying full price as an ENT customer.
  - SkyPuncher 7y ago
    I strongly disagree. 1. You're probably not building it yourself anyways (IT is probably doing it). 2. The difference between building A computer and building a $50k computer is trivial.
  - semi-extrinsic 7y ago
    Not true. We build our own desktop machines for computational work, lately using the 32-core Threadripper 2990wx and 64 GB ECC RAM, a couple 1TB M.2 SSDs and liquid cooling. Even increasing the amount of RAM to 1 TB, the total BOM for that comes to below $9k, and the performance is about the same as the $50k computers listed here. It takes you at most two days to fully assemble this machine. The breakeven then becomes an hourly rate of $2.5k.
- sydney6 7y ago
  For this much money, i'd rather buy a system than parts.
thdrdt 7y ago
But with Dell you get professional support. No need to get to a support center. They will fix it next day at your location.
FireBeyond 7y ago
If you're working at a company that needs these, you have a reseller and are getting 20-30% discounts at least, off list. If your reseller offers an Apple discount, and that's a big if, it's likely to be in the order of 2-3%.
- auggierose 7y ago
  I got 6% on an iMac Pro directly from Apple. So I imagine if you buy the fully maxed out Mac Pro, you can get an even better deal.
- bluedino 7y ago
  Apple has a thing right at the top of the page that mentions business discounts.
undersuit 7y ago
>(12 sticks isn't superior to 24; actually, 24 is theoretically better because it is more parallelized, but only if the processors and system bus can handle the full theoretical bandwidth of that much memory...) The hexa-channel DDR4 used by these systems doesn't improve in bandwidth past 6 channels. The Dell has 4 sticks on each channel to address(through the Register chip which adds additional latency), Apple has 2 sticks on each channel and apparently isn't used registered DIMMs which means it should be faster.

Scipio_Afri 7y ago

So never buy a high end computer, build it yourself.

toasterlovin 7y ago
If you're doing something professionally that actually requires a $50k computer, your hourly rate is so insanely high that there's no way it makes financial sense to build and repair a computer like that on your own.
- stagger87 7y ago
  The markup on these types of PC's is ~100%. If you needed to build even a few of these per year, the savings in buying the components yourself would pay for an employee to maintain them, (not even including the deep discount you could get negotiating prices on high end parts from a vendor). Not that you would even need a full time employee to maintain them...
  - Scipio_Afri 7y ago
    That was my point, the markup is insane for it to be $50k.
- mc32 7y ago
  Plus you want the 4-4hr warranty support for bad components. And with Dell you’re not paying full price as an ENT customer.
- SkyPuncher 7y ago
  I strongly disagree. 1. You're probably not building it yourself anyways (IT is probably doing it). 2. The difference between building A computer and building a $50k computer is trivial.
- semi-extrinsic 7y ago
  Not true. We build our own desktop machines for computational work, lately using the 32-core Threadripper 2990wx and 64 GB ECC RAM, a couple 1TB M.2 SSDs and liquid cooling. Even increasing the amount of RAM to 1 TB, the total BOM for that comes to below $9k, and the performance is about the same as the $50k computers listed here. It takes you at most two days to fully assemble this machine. The breakeven then becomes an hourly rate of $2.5k.
sydney6 7y ago
For this much money, i'd rather buy a system than parts.

thdrdt 7y ago

But with Dell you get professional support. No need to get to a support center. They will fix it next day at your location.

FireBeyond 7y ago

If you're working at a company that needs these, you have a reseller and are getting 20-30% discounts at least, off list. If your reseller offers an Apple discount, and that's a big if, it's likely to be in the order of 2-3%.

auggierose 7y ago
I got 6% on an iMac Pro directly from Apple. So I imagine if you buy the fully maxed out Mac Pro, you can get an even better deal.
bluedino 7y ago
Apple has a thing right at the top of the page that mentions business discounts.

undersuit 7y ago

>(12 sticks isn't superior to 24; actually, 24 is theoretically better because it is more parallelized, but only if the processors and system bus can handle the full theoretical bandwidth of that much memory...) The hexa-channel DDR4 used by these systems doesn't improve in bandwidth past 6 channels. The Dell has 4 sticks on each channel to address(through the Register chip which adds additional latency), Apple has 2 sticks on each channel and apparently isn't used registered DIMMs which means it should be faster.