2023-06-14 16:47:31
The new Mac Pro with the M2 Ultra chip is a machine to say the least… weird. In terms of performance, it’s virtually identical to the Mac Studio with the same processor — and which, by the way, costs $3,000 less. Also, it doesn’t even come close to having the same modularity as the last Mac Pro with an Intel chip, released in 2019 and which allowed you to upgrade things like RAM.Random access memoryor random access memory.”>1 and the video card.
If we put its more advanced cooling system aside — which should allow for slightly better performance — the only thing that differentiates the Mac Pro from the Mac Studio right now are its PCIe ports for expansion cards, located on the logic board. As noted by 9to5Machowever, the range of things that can be “skewered” on these connectors may be a little smaller than most people imagine.
To the sadness of many, it is not possible to install external graphics cards, for example, forcing the user to settle for the GPUGraphics processing unitor graphics processing unit.”>2 built-in M2 Ultra — which can have 60 or 76 cores, depending on how you configure your machine at the time of purchase. The computer also does not support cards that use 32-bit Option ROMs or extra memory sticks.
Apple also makes it clear that each PCIe connector can deliver up to 75W of power, which may be insufficient for some components on the market. However, there is a solution: Mac Pro comes with a second 8-pin connector capable of delivering up to 150W of power that can be used to power one of the cards installed in the machine. For this, Apple recommends that the user use a Belkin special cable kit.
In addition, by default, the Mac Pro is already equipped with a card that adds a 3.5mm output for high-impedance headphones, an HDMI port and two USB-A ports to the computer, which occupies the seventh PCIe connector — and that can only be installed on it. According to Apple, however, it can be removed without any problems if the user needs one more free connector on his machine.
In addition to a page that says exactly what kind of cards the Mac Pro with the M2 Ultra chip supports, Apple has also put up a guide that helps the user to make the upgrades, as well as to identify which is the best PCIe port for each type of card.
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