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Apple Mac Pro (M2 Ultra) vs Apple Mac Pro (Mid 2012)

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

Better figure, where one is clearly better

AppleMac Pro (M2 Ultra)AppleMac Pro (Mid 2012)
Overview
ReleasedJune 2023June 2012
Performance
ProcessorApple M2 UltraIntel Xeon W3565, 2 × Intel Xeon E5645, Intel Xeon W3680, 2 × Intel Xeon X5650 or 2 × Intel Xeon X5675
CPU cores244, 6 or 12
CPU threads–8, 12 or 24
Graphics60-core GPU or 76-core GPUATI Radeon HD 5770 (1 GB GDDR5), ATI Radeon HD 5870 (1 GB GDDR5) or 2 × ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1 GB GDDR5 per card)
Memory64 GB, 128 GB or 192 GB6 GB, 8 GB, 12 GB, 16 GB, 24 GB, 32 GB, 48 GB or 64 GB
Storage1 TB to 8 TB512 GB to 2 TB
CPU24-core CPU with 16 performance cores and 8 efficiency coresStandard single 3.2 GHz quad-core Xeon W3565 (up to 3.46 GHz Turbo Boost) or two 2.4 GHz six-core Xeon E5645 processors (up to 2.67 GHz; twelve physical cores and 24 threads in total). Apple offers a single 3.33 GHz six-core processor or two six-core processors at 2.66 or 3.06 GHz; EveryMac identifies these original factory options as W3680, X5650 and X5675 respectively. Processor count in configurations means physical sockets, with chip figures per processor.
GPU60-core or 76-core GPU; additional graphics cards and MPX modules are not supportedATI 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 type–Single-processor systems have four slots and maker-supported memory up to 32 GB; dual-processor systems have eight slots and up to 64 GB. DDR3 ECC SDRAM at 1066 MHz with the 3.2 GHz CPU and 1333 MHz with the other listed CPUs; 1, 2, 4 or 8 GB DIMMs.
AI engine32-core Neural Engine–
Memory bandwidth800 GB/s–
Storage type1 TB SSD, configurable to 2 TB, 4 TB or 8 TB; two internal SATA connectors up to 6 Gb/sFour 3.5-inch cable-free drive bays with independent 3 Gb/s SATA channels and included carriers. Each factory bay can hold a 1 or 2 TB 7200 rpm hard drive with 32 MB cache, or a 512 GB SSD. Listed configurations describe one selected drive; optional extra drives can bring total hard-drive capacity to 8 TB. One 18x double-layer SuperDrive is standard, with an optional second optical drive.
Media engineHardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW; two video decode engines, four video encode engines and four ProRes encode and decode engines–
Expansion slotsSix full-length PCIe 4.0 slots (two x16 and four x8); one half-length x4 PCIe 3.0 slot with Apple I/O card installed; up to 300 W auxiliary power through two 75 W six-pin and one 150 W eight-pin connectorsOne 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
Ports8 × Thunderbolt 4, 2 × USB-A, 2 × HDMI, 2 × Ethernet, headphone jack5 × USB-A, 2 × Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet10 Gb/s1 Gb/s
External displaysUp to 8–
Wi-FiWi-Fi 6E802.11n
Bluetooth5.32.1 + EDR
Front portsTwo Thunderbolt 4 ports on top of the tower or at the front of the rack enclosureTwo USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire 800 ports and a headphone minijack
Back portsSix Thunderbolt 4 ports with DisplayPort, USB 4 up to 40 Gb/s and USB 3.1 Gen 2 up to 10 Gb/s; two USB-A up to 5 Gb/s; two HDMI; two 10 Gb Ethernet supporting 1, 2.5, 5 and 10 Gb/s; 3.5 mm jack with high-impedance headphone support; additional internal USB-A up to 5 Gb/sThree 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 displaysUp to eight displays at 4K 60 Hz, six at 6K 60 Hz or three at 8K 60 Hz; each HDMI port supports one at 8K 60 Hz or 4K 240 Hz, with VRR, HDR and multichannel audioUp 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 multichannel audio outputInternal speaker and front headphone output; optical and analogue audio input/output
Keyboard and mouseMagic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad, Magic Mouse; optional Magic TrackpadApple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad and Magic Mouse; optional Apple Wireless Keyboard, Apple Mouse or Magic Trackpad
Design and power
TypeTowerTower
Weight16.86 kg–
Width × depth × height218 × 450 × 529 mm206 × 475 × 511 mm
Operating systemmacOSmacOS
Size and weight detailTower with feet is 529 × 218 × 450 mm and 16.86 kg; optional wheels increase height to 557 mm. Rack enclosure is 5U, 220.2 × 482 × 539.5 mm including handles (493.5 mm from fascia), and 17.21 kg; rack depth range 609.6–1,066.8 mmQuad-core standard configuration weighs 18.1 kg; standard twelve-core configuration 18.7 kg. Actual weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process, so a shared weight is omitted.
Power supplyBuilt-in; maximum continuous power 1,280 W at 108–125 V or 220–240 V, or 1,180 W at 100–107 VAC input 100–120 V or 200–240 V, 50–60 Hz; maximum current 12 A at low voltage or 5 A at high voltage
Noise–Apple gives operator-position sound pressure of 26 dB for the 3.2 GHz model and 25 dB for the 2.4 GHz dual-processor model at idle or during hard-drive access; 42 dB during optical-drive access. Corresponding sound power is 3.7/3.5 B at idle and 4.7/5.1 B during optical access.
Materials70% recycled aluminium in the enclosureRecyclable aluminium enclosure; BFR-free and internal cables PVC-free
ColoursSilver–
In the boxMac Pro, Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad, Magic Mouse, 2 m power lead, 1 m USB-C charge cable; rack mount rails included with the rack enclosure, shipped separatelyMac Pro, power cord, keyboard, Magic Mouse, USB keyboard extension cable and documentation. Current maker sheet describes OS X Mountain Lion and iLife; the generation was introduced before Mountain Lion. Apple also offered a server configuration with OS X Server, 8 GB memory and two 1 TB drives, supplied without keyboard or mouse; its distinct bundled software and drive arrangement are described here.

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