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Considering that Mac Pro is a special purpose machine, maybe it can be possible to have an architecture with multiple M2 Ultra chips and expansion options for s
by mrtksn 4y ago
Considering that Mac Pro is a special purpose machine, maybe it can be possible to have an architecture with multiple M2 Ultra chips and expansion options for special purpose hardware? Highly parallelizable workloads and use cases with special hardware requirements(like encoding media, ML computations etc.) can benefit from this stuff. Apple already sells cards like this for Mac Pro.
Surely that would require architectural changes and the software would need to be adapted but since these machines are niche, so is the software and Apple can sponsor the development of the few software people are using on that kind of machines. Apple is sponsoring Blender for example.
- zozbot234 4y agoWell, the Ultra is already multiple silicon dies (chiplets) on an interposer. So this would have to be multiple packages, sitting in separate sockets on the same logic board. I agree that this seems like it could be a viable strategy to get around any packaging constraints that they might have.
- silvestrov 4y agoI see 3 steps: a) Mac Studio, b) MacPro with PCI/MPX modules, c) Dedicated HW boxes. I think the size of the step between a and b is becoming too small to be viable: not enough extra performance, and too high price compared to step c. Dedicated HW boxes connected using Ethernet/Thunderbolt/USB-C have the great advantage that you are no longer bound to whatever Apple offers this year. You will just use the Mac/Windows as a "advanced graphical terminal". Same for hardware developers. Looking back at the past 10 years of MacPro shows great uncertainties in what Apple offers going forward. Why would you spend time making a PCI card for MacPro when Apple so easily abandons support for PCI with the TrashCan while you could have a reliable market with a thunderbolt/ethernet accessory?