4 ms·

Not sure why you'd want this over an apple setup. M4 max is 545GB/s of memory bandwidth - $2k for an entire Mac Studio with 48GB of RAM vs 32 for the B70.

hedgehog 7mo ago
Being able to keep infrastructure on Linux is a big advantage.
- RestartKernel 7mo ago
  How many compatibility issues is MacOS realistically expected to spur? Windows DX felt unusable to me without a Linux VM (and later WSL), but on MacOS most tooling just kinda seems to work the same.
  - einr 7mo ago
    It’s not the tooling for me, macOS is just bad as a server OS for many reasons. Weird collisions with desktop security features, aggressive power saving that you have to fight against, root not being allowed to do root stuff, no sane package management, no OOB management, ultra slow OS updates, and generally but most importantly: the UNIX underbelly of macOS has clearly not been a priority for a long time and is rotting with weird inconsistent and undocumented behaviour all over the place.
    - wolfhumble 7mo ago
      > Weird collisions with desktop security features Linux is not immune to BIOS/UEFI firmware attacks either. Secure Boot, TPM, and LUKS can work well together, but you still depend on proprietary firmware that you do not fully control. LogoFAIL is a good example of that risk, especially in an evil maid scenario involving temporary physical access. I think Apple has tighter control over this layer.
      - functional_dev 7mo ago
        Yeah... attacks like LogoFAIL hit during the DXE and BDS phases when the firmware is acting as its own 'mini OS' before the handoff Easier to comprehend here - https://vectree.io/c/uefi-firmware-architecture-principles https://vectree.io/c/uefi-firmware-architecture-principles
      - MrDrMcCoy 7mo ago
        You completely misunderstood the quoted remark you responded to. The desktop security features in MacOS that interfere with unblessed binaries and libraries loading is a huge pain in the ass, especially for headless server use.
  - hedgehog 7mo ago
    Provisioning, remote management, containers, virtualization, networking, graphics (and compute), storage, all very different on Mac. The real question is what you would expect to be the same.
  - bigyabai 7mo ago
    For server usage? macOS is the least-supported OS in terms of filesystems, hardware and software. It uses multiple gigabytes of memory to load unnecessary user runtime dependencies, wastes hard drive space on statically-linked binaries, and regularly breaks package management on system upgrades. At a certain point, even WSL becomes a more viable deployment platform.
cptskippy 7mo ago
Support for Single Root IO Virtualization (SR-IOV) to enable compute and Graphics workloads in virtualized environments.
wyre 7mo ago
one can upgrade and swap parts with a computer running an Intel GPU. Linux is very well supported compared to Mac hardware.
fvv 7mo ago
with those $2k you can have 2xB70, with 1.2Tb/sec and 64G Vram, on linux ( and you can scale further while mac prices increase are not linear 0
- Reubend 7mo ago
  You're absolutely right. And these Intel GPUs will also be much faster in terms of actual math than the M series GPUs that the Apple setup would have.
2OEH8eoCRo0 7mo ago
Funny, I not sure why anyone would use Apple over Linux.
- pjmlp 7mo ago
  Good support on laptops that I can buy at Media Market, FNAC, Cool Blue,.... Although personally I am more of the Windows/Linux VM workstation laptop kind.
protimewaster 7mo ago
My thinking is that I'd pick this, because I can't just plug a Mac into a slot in my server and have it easily integrate with all my other hardware across an ultra fast bus. If they made an M4 on a card that supported all the same standards and was price competitive, though, that might be a good option.
thesmart 7mo ago
Because the B70 cards can pipeline 500 tok/s on concurrent workloads. Apple Silicon and Nvidia consumer cards only work well w/ serial workloads.
pjmlp 7mo ago
Some folks care about the workstation market, and the flexibility it offers in choice.

hedgehog 7mo ago

Being able to keep infrastructure on Linux is a big advantage.

RestartKernel 7mo ago
How many compatibility issues is MacOS realistically expected to spur? Windows DX felt unusable to me without a Linux VM (and later WSL), but on MacOS most tooling just kinda seems to work the same.
- einr 7mo ago
  It’s not the tooling for me, macOS is just bad as a server OS for many reasons. Weird collisions with desktop security features, aggressive power saving that you have to fight against, root not being allowed to do root stuff, no sane package management, no OOB management, ultra slow OS updates, and generally but most importantly: the UNIX underbelly of macOS has clearly not been a priority for a long time and is rotting with weird inconsistent and undocumented behaviour all over the place.
  - wolfhumble 7mo ago
    > Weird collisions with desktop security features Linux is not immune to BIOS/UEFI firmware attacks either. Secure Boot, TPM, and LUKS can work well together, but you still depend on proprietary firmware that you do not fully control. LogoFAIL is a good example of that risk, especially in an evil maid scenario involving temporary physical access. I think Apple has tighter control over this layer.
    - functional_dev 7mo ago
      Yeah... attacks like LogoFAIL hit during the DXE and BDS phases when the firmware is acting as its own 'mini OS' before the handoff Easier to comprehend here - https://vectree.io/c/uefi-firmware-architecture-principles https://vectree.io/c/uefi-firmware-architecture-principles
    - MrDrMcCoy 7mo ago
      You completely misunderstood the quoted remark you responded to. The desktop security features in MacOS that interfere with unblessed binaries and libraries loading is a huge pain in the ass, especially for headless server use.
- hedgehog 7mo ago
  Provisioning, remote management, containers, virtualization, networking, graphics (and compute), storage, all very different on Mac. The real question is what you would expect to be the same.
- bigyabai 7mo ago
  For server usage? macOS is the least-supported OS in terms of filesystems, hardware and software. It uses multiple gigabytes of memory to load unnecessary user runtime dependencies, wastes hard drive space on statically-linked binaries, and regularly breaks package management on system upgrades. At a certain point, even WSL becomes a more viable deployment platform.

cptskippy 7mo ago

Support for Single Root IO Virtualization (SR-IOV) to enable compute and Graphics workloads in virtualized environments.

wyre 7mo ago

one can upgrade and swap parts with a computer running an Intel GPU. Linux is very well supported compared to Mac hardware.

fvv 7mo ago

with those $2k you can have 2xB70, with 1.2Tb/sec and 64G Vram, on linux ( and you can scale further while mac prices increase are not linear 0

Reubend 7mo ago
You're absolutely right. And these Intel GPUs will also be much faster in terms of actual math than the M series GPUs that the Apple setup would have.

2OEH8eoCRo0 7mo ago

Funny, I not sure why anyone would use Apple over Linux.

pjmlp 7mo ago
Good support on laptops that I can buy at Media Market, FNAC, Cool Blue,.... Although personally I am more of the Windows/Linux VM workstation laptop kind.

protimewaster 7mo ago

My thinking is that I'd pick this, because I can't just plug a Mac into a slot in my server and have it easily integrate with all my other hardware across an ultra fast bus. If they made an M4 on a card that supported all the same standards and was price competitive, though, that might be a good option.

thesmart 7mo ago

Because the B70 cards can pipeline 500 tok/s on concurrent workloads. Apple Silicon and Nvidia consumer cards only work well w/ serial workloads.

pjmlp 7mo ago

Some folks care about the workstation market, and the flexibility it offers in choice.