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Apple Mac Pro (Late 2013) vs Apple Mac Pro (Mid 2010)

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

Better figure, where one is clearly better

AppleMac Pro (Late 2013)AppleMac Pro (Mid 2010)
Overview
ReleasedDecember 2013August 2010
Performance
ProcessorIntel Xeon E5-1620 v2, Intel Xeon E5-1650 v2, Intel Xeon E5-1680 v2 or Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2Intel Xeon W3530, Intel Xeon W3565, Intel Xeon W3680, 2 × Intel Xeon E5620, 2 × Intel Xeon X5650 or 2 × Intel Xeon X5670
CPU cores4, 6, 8 or 124, 6, 8 or 12
CPU threads8, 12, 16 or 248, 12, 16 or 24
GraphicsDual AMD FirePro D300 (2 GB GDDR5 each), Dual AMD FirePro D500 (3 GB GDDR5 each) or Dual AMD FirePro D700 (6 GB GDDR5 each)ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1 GB GDDR5), ATI Radeon HD 5870 (1 GB GDDR5) or 2 × ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1 GB GDDR5 per card)
Memory12 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB3 GB, 6 GB, 8 GB, 12 GB, 16 GB, 24 GB or 32 GB
Storage256 GB to 1 TB512 GB to 2 TB
CPU3.7 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.Standard single 2.8 GHz quad-core Xeon W3530 (Turbo Boost up to 3.06 GHz) or two 2.4 GHz quad-core Xeon E5620 processors (up to 2.66 GHz; eight physical cores and sixteen threads in total). Maker factory upgrades are a single 3.2 GHz quad-core W3565 or 3.33 GHz six-core W3680, or two six-core X5650 at 2.66 GHz or X5670 at 2.93 GHz. Processor count means physical sockets; chip core and thread figures are per processor.
GPUDual 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.ATI Radeon HD 5770 or HD 5870 with 1 GB GDDR5; optional two HD 5770 cards with 1 GB each. Both cards have two Mini DisplayPort outputs and one dual-link DVI port. Graphics memory is per card.
Memory typeFour 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)Single-processor systems have four slots and dual-processor systems eight slots for DDR3 ECC SDRAM. Memory runs at 1066 MHz with 2.8/3.2 GHz single and 2.4 GHz dual processors, or 1333 MHz with the six-core processors. Factory order tables list 3, 6, 8, 12 or 16 GB for single-processor systems and 6, 8, 12, 16, 24 or 32 GB for dual systems. The current maker support sheet gives higher supported upgrade limits of 32 and 64 GB respectively using up to 8 GB DIMMs; these are distinguished from the original factory rows.
Storage typePCIe-based SSD; 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB. No internal hard-drive bays or optical drive.Four 3.5-inch cable-free drive bays with independent 3 Gb/s SATA channels and included carriers. Factory choices per bay are a 1 or 2 TB 7200 rpm hard drive with 32 MB cache, or a 512 GB SSD; up to 8 TB with four hard drives or 2 TB with four SSDs. Configurations list one selected drive, with optional additional drives described here. Optional Mac Pro RAID Card has 512 MB cache and 72-hour battery backup; SSDs are not compatible with this card in RAID or Enhanced JBOD mode. Standard 18x double-layer SuperDrive, optional second optical drive.
Expansion slotsNo internal PCIe card slots; peripherals and compatible external expansion chassis connect through ThunderboltOne double-wide PCI Express 2.0 x16 graphics slot and three further full-length slots (one x16 and two x4); 300 W combined maximum. All slots mechanically accept x16 cards. Optional dual- or quad-channel 4 Gb Fibre Channel card.
Display
ScreenNone built inNone built in
Connections
Ports4 × USB-A, 6 × Thunderbolt 2, 2 × Ethernet, HDMI, headphone jack5 × USB-A, 2 × Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet1 Gb/s1 Gb/s
External displaysUp to 6–
Wi-Fi802.11ac802.11n
Bluetooth4.02.1 + EDR
Front ports–Two USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire 800 ports and a headphone minijack
Back portsFour 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.Three USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire 800 ports, two independent Gigabit Ethernet ports with jumbo-frame support, optical TOSLINK audio input and output, and analogue stereo line input and output. Graphics outputs vary by card; FireWire and DVI are described here because the main port list has no fields for them. Included keyboard has two additional USB 2.0 ports, excluded from chassis counts.
External displaysApple'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.Up to three displays with one graphics card, or six with two HD 5770 cards. Digital resolution up to 2560 × 1600 and analogue up to 2048 × 1536; optional Mini DisplayPort/DVI/VGA adapters. Multichannel audio through Mini DisplayPort.
SpeakersBuilt-in speaker; HDMI supports multichannel audio outputInternal speaker and front headphone output; optical and analogue audio input/output
Keyboard and mouseKeyboard, mouse and display sold separatelyApple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad and Magic Mouse; optional Apple Wireless Keyboard, Apple Mouse or Magic Trackpad
Design and power
TypeCompactTower
Weight5 kg–
Width × depth × height167 × 167 × 251 mm206 × 475 × 511 mm
Operating systemmacOSmacOS
Size and weight detailCylindrical 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.Standard 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.
Power supply100–240 V AC, 50–60 Hz, single phase; maximum continuous power 450 WAC input 100–120 V or 200–240 V, 50–60 Hz; maximum current 12 A at low voltage or 5 A at high voltage
NoiseApple'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.Apple gives operator-position sound pressure of 26 dB for the 2.8 GHz model and 25 dB for the 2.4 GHz dual-processor model at idle, 26 dB for both during hard-drive access and 37 dB during optical access. Sound power is 3.6 B at idle, 3.7/3.6 B during hard-drive access and 4.6 B during optical access.
MaterialsHighly recyclable enclosure; BFR-free and PVC-free, with regional exceptions for the power leadRecyclable aluminium enclosure; BFR-free and internal cables PVC-free
In the boxMac 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.Mac Pro, power cord, Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad, Magic Mouse, USB keyboard extension cable, install/restore DVDs and documentation. Mac OS X Snow Leopard and iLife included; Mac OS X Server and professional applications optional.

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