GPUs too... If you can find a set of GPUs that are identical in shape to the Dx00s used in the machine. But you can actually buy those from certain places. Some of the point is lost, but if we pretend they either break, or Apple releases a new Mac Pro with similarly shaped chips, you could theoretically chop those in.
CPU is apparently a desktop Skylake so it's easily upgradable. GPUs are however (standardized) MXM graphics cards, so they're upgradable but it'll be hard to find components that match.
I doubt that - The highest end laptop graphics card that Nvidia supplies is the GTX 980 - Essentially a desktop GTX 980 with more VRAM and a stricter power budget.
I've seen other articles explicitly claiming both custom desktop and MXM GPUs. Until MSI speaks up I think this is going to remain ambiguous. I suppose it's possible that they took a 980Ti and made a custom MXM form factor module with it which'd agree with both versions of the reporting; but half the tech press having gotten a garbled version of the story is more likely.
Eh, I think the current Mac Pro looks like a literal trash can and has no real redeeming quality aesthetically. I hear it's well engineered, but that doesn't make it any prettier.
This tries to ape the Mac Pro but seems to lose the engineering benefits without being any prettier. Both designs could stand with a complete rethink.
What makes you think that this msi pos is poorly engineered?
In spirit, it's using a cooling design very similar to the Mac pro, so I would assume that it's similarly well performing. The fact that uses beefy gpus makes me nervous, but at this point I'm only concerned that it's ugly af.
Ventilation grills seem to have been added in various places, but there's supposedly still just one fan. To me that sounds like you'll lose the advantage of having all the air coming from one intake and going out of one exhaust. Granted, the Mac Pro does run pretty warm, but this MSI just has grilles and shit everywhere and the top of the machine trades off one big exhaust for three weirdly shaped ones.
Maybe I'm wrong and it'll be really well cooled, but I'm far from convinced.
No redeeming quality? I guess it is in the eye of the beholder. When we received them at work, and actually got to handle them, it's amazing what went into that design. Especially when you watch the video on how they are made.
Comapred to this MSI, the Mac Pro is a work of art.
I must agree, even teen gamers must hate MSI designs.
They could have just simply copycat Apple's design and throw only logo of evil gaming dragon or whatever it is there. No need for any silly shapes or LEDs
"Because the fan is on top blowing up, there is no real fan filter to speak of. I postulated to MSI that my cat might sit on the top because it is warm, or during extended periods of ‘off’ time that dust would fall in and settle. I was told it shouldn’t be an issue, but the engineer did have a good think about it."
I think the bigger problem would be that if you put it on the floor, it'll suck an inordinate amount of dust up. I've had cases with down mounted PSU intake fans, and the relative rate that that dust filter got fitlhy compared to my other intake filters was appalling.
Does anyone of any pre-built gaming PCs that have a more "minimal" look? Something with maybe only 2 small LEDs (power and HDD) and mostly has shades of gray (no red, yellow, green, orange, etc.).
All the gaming PCs I've seen have gaudy bright LEDs and accents with dragon, alien, robot, etc. logos on them. I'd have liked these designs when I was 10 but now that I'm older, they no longer appeal to me.
If I were going the desktop route ever again, I'd go for a beige or black ATX case and just buy the parts myself to get around the modern gaudy design trends.
I wish someone design and create a system such to allow generic PC parts to be installed. I love the idea of the shared cooling and single fan cooling.
When the Mac Pro appeared I was just amazed at the conceptual elegance. With indications that GPUs are becoming both smaller and more power efficient so it should be possible from that angle but a new standard would probably have to materialize, for motherboards, and PSUs. Alternatively if MSI, or one of the others, sees this segment as lucrative and offers a platform where you purchase motherboards and GPU upgrades through them, i e make the unit upgradeable rather than replaceable, perhaps it could happen. I certainly find these tiny but powerful PCs attractive. People are looking for ways to expand the number of GPUs on a M-ITX, so perhaps a first step would be to offer BIOS:es for splittable PCI-e, and surely there could be a place for a standard where more than one PCI-e x16 is available on boards smaller than M-ATX. I would welcome it.
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tipoo - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
To what degree is this going to be upgradable post-purchase?id4andrei - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
If it's identical to the mac pro, then the most likely answer is 0 upgradability.beardsquad - Friday, January 15, 2016 - link
Actually you can upgrade the CPU, RAM and SSD in the 2013 Mac Pro, so that's fairly upgradable.casperes1996 - Friday, January 15, 2016 - link
GPUs too... If you can find a set of GPUs that are identical in shape to the Dx00s used in the machine. But you can actually buy those from certain places. Some of the point is lost, but if we pretend they either break, or Apple releases a new Mac Pro with similarly shaped chips, you could theoretically chop those in.makerofthegames - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
Fully upgradeable, obviously!(In that, to upgrade it, you replace the full thing with this year's model)
Mobile-Dom - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
as far as i know at least the CPU is fully socketedValkyrierie - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
CPU is apparently a desktop Skylake so it's easily upgradable. GPUs are however (standardized) MXM graphics cards, so they're upgradable but it'll be hard to find components that match.ImSpartacus - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
Does the 980 ti come in mxm?I know that the 980 does and I think a 960 lookalike does as well, but the 980 ti is a lot gpu to feed with only 100w (MXM 3's max power spec).
Valkyrierie - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
I doubt that - The highest end laptop graphics card that Nvidia supplies is the GTX 980 - Essentially a desktop GTX 980 with more VRAM and a stricter power budget.ImSpartacus - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
I bet you're right. I bet it's either a fully custom pcb or a desktop pcb that mates with the custom cooler.Because if it can rock dual 980 tis as the article claims, then it's not using mxm gpus.
DanNeely - Friday, January 15, 2016 - link
I've seen other articles explicitly claiming both custom desktop and MXM GPUs. Until MSI speaks up I think this is going to remain ambiguous. I suppose it's possible that they took a 980Ti and made a custom MXM form factor module with it which'd agree with both versions of the reporting; but half the tech press having gotten a garbled version of the story is more likely.ruthan - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
I bet that sound system would be nice, vacuum cleaner included :)WorldWithoutMadness - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
I don't why but I think it is ugly, Is it ugly irl or just bad angle?ImSpartacus - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
It's ugly as sin and msi should feel bad for pushing that shit on us.I don't understand why they couldn't just rip off the Mac pro's aesthetic. It's fucking gorgeous.
Friendly0Fire - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
Eh, I think the current Mac Pro looks like a literal trash can and has no real redeeming quality aesthetically. I hear it's well engineered, but that doesn't make it any prettier.This tries to ape the Mac Pro but seems to lose the engineering benefits without being any prettier. Both designs could stand with a complete rethink.
ImSpartacus - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
What makes you think that this msi pos is poorly engineered?In spirit, it's using a cooling design very similar to the Mac pro, so I would assume that it's similarly well performing. The fact that uses beefy gpus makes me nervous, but at this point I'm only concerned that it's ugly af.
Friendly0Fire - Friday, January 15, 2016 - link
Ventilation grills seem to have been added in various places, but there's supposedly still just one fan. To me that sounds like you'll lose the advantage of having all the air coming from one intake and going out of one exhaust. Granted, the Mac Pro does run pretty warm, but this MSI just has grilles and shit everywhere and the top of the machine trades off one big exhaust for three weirdly shaped ones.Maybe I'm wrong and it'll be really well cooled, but I'm far from convinced.
Dug - Friday, January 15, 2016 - link
No redeeming quality? I guess it is in the eye of the beholder.When we received them at work, and actually got to handle them, it's amazing what went into that design.
Especially when you watch the video on how they are made.
Comapred to this MSI, the Mac Pro is a work of art.
milkod2001 - Wednesday, January 20, 2016 - link
I must agree, even teen gamers must hate MSI designs.They could have just simply copycat Apple's design and throw only logo of evil gaming dragon or whatever it is there. No need for any silly shapes or LEDs
fireduckzilla - Friday, January 15, 2016 - link
@worldwithoutmadness I think its just straight ugly from the other pictures I've seen. Nice concept though.DanNeely - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
"Because the fan is on top blowing up, there is no real fan filter to speak of. I postulated to MSI that my cat might sit on the top because it is warm, or during extended periods of ‘off’ time that dust would fall in and settle. I was told it shouldn’t be an issue, but the engineer did have a good think about it."I think the bigger problem would be that if you put it on the floor, it'll suck an inordinate amount of dust up. I've had cases with down mounted PSU intake fans, and the relative rate that that dust filter got fitlhy compared to my other intake filters was appalling.
Jonathan_Rung - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
On pricing, if they do intend putting in dual GTX 980 Tis, we could easily see the top model push $1600-$2000, depending on the other internals.Do any manufacturers/boutiques sell desktops with dual 980 Tis for less than two grand? My guess would be closer to $2600-3000.
modpr - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
Does anyone of any pre-built gaming PCs that have a more "minimal" look? Something with maybe only 2 small LEDs (power and HDD) and mostly has shades of gray (no red, yellow, green, orange, etc.).All the gaming PCs I've seen have gaudy bright LEDs and accents with dragon, alien, robot, etc. logos on them. I'd have liked these designs when I was 10 but now that I'm older, they no longer appeal to me.
BrokenCrayons - Friday, January 15, 2016 - link
If I were going the desktop route ever again, I'd go for a beige or black ATX case and just buy the parts myself to get around the modern gaudy design trends.zodiacfml - Friday, January 15, 2016 - link
I wish someone design and create a system such to allow generic PC parts to be installed. I love the idea of the shared cooling and single fan cooling.Gadgety - Friday, January 15, 2016 - link
When the Mac Pro appeared I was just amazed at the conceptual elegance. With indications that GPUs are becoming both smaller and more power efficient so it should be possible from that angle but a new standard would probably have to materialize, for motherboards, and PSUs. Alternatively if MSI, or one of the others, sees this segment as lucrative and offers a platform where you purchase motherboards and GPU upgrades through them, i e make the unit upgradeable rather than replaceable, perhaps it could happen. I certainly find these tiny but powerful PCs attractive. People are looking for ways to expand the number of GPUs on a M-ITX, so perhaps a first step would be to offer BIOS:es for splittable PCI-e, and surely there could be a place for a standard where more than one PCI-e x16 is available on boards smaller than M-ATX. I would welcome it.jtd871 - Friday, January 15, 2016 - link
PCIe bifurcation on mITX? Mission accomplished: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1870298eltira - Saturday, October 28, 2017 - link
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