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Apple Mac Pro (Early 2009) vs Apple Mac Pro (Late 2013)

Every spec side by side, from each maker's published figures.

Better figure, where one is clearly better

AppleMac Pro (Early 2009)AppleMac Pro (Late 2013)
Overview
ReleasedMarch 2009December 2013
Performance
ProcessorIntel Xeon W3520, Intel Xeon W3540, Intel Xeon W3580, 2 × Intel Xeon E5520, 2 × Intel Xeon X5550 or 2 × Intel Xeon X5570Intel Xeon E5-1620 v2, Intel Xeon E5-1650 v2, Intel Xeon E5-1680 v2 or Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2
CPU cores4 or 84, 6, 8 or 12
CPU threads8 or 168, 12, 16 or 24
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GT 120 (512 MB GDDR3), ATI Radeon HD 4870 (512 MB GDDR5), 2 × NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 (512 MB GDDR3 per card), 3 × NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 (512 MB GDDR3 per card) or 4 × NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 (512 MB GDDR3 per card)Dual AMD FirePro D300 (2 GB GDDR5 each), Dual AMD FirePro D500 (3 GB GDDR5 each) or Dual AMD FirePro D700 (6 GB GDDR5 each)
Memory3 GB, 6 GB, 8 GB, 12 GB, 16 GB or 32 GB12 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB
Storage640 GB to 1 TB256 GB to 1 TB
CPUSingle quad-core Xeon W3520 at 2.66 GHz or W3540 at 2.93 GHz; the current support sheet also includes the later 3.33 GHz W3580 option with Turbo Boost up to 3.6 GHz. Dual-processor choices are two quad-core E5520 at 2.26 GHz, X5550 at 2.66 GHz or X5570 at 2.93 GHz (the latter up to 3.33 GHz). Exact processor identities are cross-checked with EveryMac and Intel's server processor table. All have 8 MB L3 cache per processor and Hyper-Threading; dual systems have eight physical cores and sixteen threads. Processor count means physical sockets, and chip cores/threads are per processor.3.7 GHz quad-core, 3.5 GHz six-core, 3.0 GHz eight-core or 2.7 GHz twelve-core Intel Xeon E5. Exact identities are E5-1620 v2, E5-1650 v2, E5-1680 v2 and E5-2697 v2, cross-checked against Geekbench device records and Ars hardware testing; Intel specifications supply thread counts and maximum Turbo frequencies.
GPUNVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512 MB GDDR3 or ATI Radeon HD 4870 with 512 MB GDDR5. Factory upgrades include two, three or four GT 120 cards, with memory per card. Each card has a Mini DisplayPort and a dual-link DVI port.Dual AMD FirePro D300 with 2 GB GDDR5 per GPU, D500 with 3 GB per GPU, or D700 with 6 GB per GPU. Memory is specified separately for each GPU, rather than pooled. All graphics options are available by upgrading the original quad-core base configuration.
Memory type1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM; four slots for single-processor systems and eight for dual systems. The current factory tables list 3, 6, 8, 12 or 16 GB for single systems and 6, 8, 12, 16 or 32 GB for dual systems. The original launch announcement limited the single-processor model to 8 GB; the higher current support limit is distinguished here.Four user-accessible slots for 1866 MHz DDR3 ECC memory; 12 GB (three 4 GB modules), 16 GB (four 4 GB), 32 GB (four 8 GB) or 64 GB (four 16 GB)
Storage typeFour 3.5-inch cable-free bays with independent 3 Gb/s SATA channels and included carriers. Factory order tables list a 640 GB 7200 rpm drive with 16 MB cache or a 1 TB 7200 rpm drive with 32 MB cache; configurations represent one selected drive. The current support sheet additionally lists 2 TB drives and a 2 TB upgrade kit, allowing up to 8 TB with four drives, versus the launch announcement's 4 TB maximum. Optional Mac Pro RAID Card has 512 MB cache and a 72-hour backup battery. Standard 18x double-layer SuperDrive; optional second optical drive.PCIe-based SSD; 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB. No internal hard-drive bays or optical drive.
Expansion slotsDouble-wide PCI Express 2.0 x16 graphics slot and three open full-length slots (one x16 and two x4), with 300 W combined maximum. All slots mechanically accept x16 cards; PCI and PCI-X cards are unsupported. Optional dual- or quad-channel 4 Gb Fibre Channel card.No internal PCIe card slots; peripherals and compatible external expansion chassis connect through Thunderbolt
Display
ScreenNone built inNone built in
Connections
Ports5 × USB-A, 2 × Ethernet, headphone jack4 × USB-A, 6 × Thunderbolt 2, 2 × Ethernet, HDMI, headphone jack
Ethernet1 Gb/s1 Gb/s
External displays–Up to 6
Wi-Fi–802.11ac
Bluetooth2.1 + EDR4.0
Front portsTwo USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire 800 ports and a headphone minijack–
Back portsThree USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire 800 ports, two independent Gigabit Ethernet ports, optical TOSLINK audio input/output and analogue stereo line input/output. Optional AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi card; Wi-Fi is not standard. Included keyboard has two further USB 2.0 ports, excluded from chassis counts. Graphics outputs vary by card; FireWire, DVI and optical audio are described here because the main port list has no fields for them.Four USB 3 USB-A ports, six Thunderbolt 2 ports, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, HDMI 1.4 Ultra HD, 3.5 mm headphone jack with headset support, and a separate combined optical digital audio output/analogue line-out minijack. Thunderbolt ports are divided across three controllers, as explained in Macworld and Ars reviews.
External displaysUp to two displays per graphics card or eight with four GT 120 cards. Digital resolution up to 2560 × 1600 and analogue up to 2048 × 1536; optional Mini DisplayPort and DVI adapters.Apple's current support specifications allow six Thunderbolt displays or three dual-cable 5K displays. The launch announcement specified support for three 4K displays; the later 5K statement should not be read as launch-day capability.
SpeakersInternal speaker, front headphone output and optical/analogue audio input/outputBuilt-in speaker; HDMI supports multichannel audio output
Keyboard and mouseApple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad and Apple Mouse; optional Apple Wireless Keyboard. The original announcement names the included mouse as Mighty Mouse.Keyboard, mouse and display sold separately
Design and power
TypeTowerCompact
Weight–5 kg
Width × depth × height206 × 475 × 511 mm167 × 167 × 251 mm
Operating systemmacOSmacOS
Size and weight detailStandard quad-core configuration weighs 18.1 kg; standard eight-core configuration 18.7 kg. Actual weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process; a shared weight is omitted.Cylindrical enclosure; 251 mm high and 167 mm in diameter, with 5 kg weight from Apple's Japanese specification sheet. Weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process.
Power supplyAC input 100–120 V or 200–240 V, 50–60 Hz; maximum current 12 A at low voltage or 6 A at high voltage100–240 V AC, 50–60 Hz, single phase; maximum continuous power 450 W
NoiseApple gives operator-position sound pressure of 26/25 dB at idle, 26/25 dB during hard-drive access and 41 dB during optical access for the 2.66 GHz single/2.26 GHz dual models respectively. Sound power is 3.7/3.5 B at idle, 3.7/3.6 B during hard-drive access and 4.9/5.2 B during optical access.Apple's overview reports 12 dBA operator-position sound pressure at idle, while the acoustic table reports 14 dB at idle and 14.5 dB during wireless web. These are conflicting maker statements; no single noise value is selected.
MaterialsRecyclable aluminium enclosure; BFR-free and internal cables PVC-freeHighly recyclable enclosure; BFR-free and PVC-free, with regional exceptions for the power lead
In the boxMac Pro, power cord, Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad, Apple Mouse, USB keyboard extension cable, install/restore DVDs and documentation. Launch announcement includes Mac OS X Leopard and iLife '09; the later support sheet lists Snow Leopard.Mac Pro and power lead. Launched with OS X Mavericks; the current support page describes the later macOS Mojave release. Original standard configurations were quad-core with 12 GB memory and D300 graphics, and six-core with 16 GB and D500. The current support sheet also lists an eight-core standard configuration with 16 GB and D700. Configurations below include independent processor, memory, graphics and storage upgrades of the original quad-core base, so 12 GB or D300 with a higher-core processor represents a customised base model.

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