Mac Pro: All-New Design, Starting at $5,999

The Mac Pro features the most powerful components Apple has ever put into a Mac, and the design of the device makes it customizable and upgradeable to meet every pro user’s needs.

It supports up to two MPX Modules or four PCI Express card slots, plus there are three full-length PCI Express Gen 3 slots and one half-length PCI Express Gen 3 slot with Apple I/O card, for a total of eight PCI Express expansion slots to work with.

Mac Pro Expansion Bays

The Mac Pro supports two Mac Pro Expansion Modules, or MPX Modules that house the Mac Pro’s GPUs. Each of the two MPX bays for the MPX Modules supports x16 gen 3 bandwidth for graphics, x8 gen 3 bandwidth for Thunderbolt, DisplayPort video routing, and up to 500W power.

Alternatively, MPX bay 1 supports one full-length, double-wide x16 gen 3 slot and one full-length double-wide x8 gen 3 slot. MPX bay 2 supports two full-length double-wide x16 gen 3 slots. Both offer up to 300W auxiliary power through two 8-pin connectors.

Each MPX Module, which fits inside the MPX bay, features an industry-standard PCI Express connector with additional PCIe lanes to integrate Thunderbolt, a first for graphics cards. The 500W of power each MPX Module has is a power capacity equivalent to the entire previous-generation Mac Pro.

Processors

The Mac Pro uses Intel’s Xeon W processors, ranging from 8 cores to 28 cores. 28 cores is the most ever that Apple has ever made available in a Mac, but there are also several other lower-end options.

Specific details on each processor option are listed below:

• 8-core – 3.5GHz Intel Xeon W, 8 cores/16 threads, Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz, 24.5MB cache.

• 12-core – 3.3GHz Intel Xeon W, 12 cores/24 threads, Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz, 31.25MB cache.

• 16-core – 3.2GHz Intel Xeon W, 16 cores/32 threads, Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz, 38MB cache.

• 24-core – 2.7GHz Intel Xeon W, 24 cores/48 threads, Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz, 57MB cache.

• 28-core – 2.5GHz Intel Xeon W, 28 cores/56 threads, Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz, 66.5MB cache.

The base version of the Mac Pro comes with the 8-core chip, with the other chips available as optional upgrades for an additional cost.

Based on Geekbench 5 benchmarks, the 8-core, 12-core, and 16-core Mac Pro processors offer performance similar to the processors in the 2017 iMac Pro models.

The base Mac Pro with an 8-core Xeon W chip, for example, has a single-core score of 1008 and a multi-core score of 7606, which is beaten out by the 8-core 2017 iMac Pro’s single core score of 1076 and multi-core score of 8120.

Similar scores can also be seen in the higher-core Mac Pro models as well. The 12-core Mac Pro earned a single-core score of 1090 and a multi-core score of 11599, while the 16-core machine earned a single-core score of 1104 and a multi-core score of 14285.

The higher-end Mac Pro models outperform the iMac Pro models, however, as the iMac Pro does not offer 24 and 28-core options.

T2 Chip

The Mac Pro features a T2 Security Chip that makes sure that the lowest levels of software aren’t tampered with and that only macOS loads at startup. There’s a Secure Enclave that provides encrypted storage and secure boot capabilities.

RAM

The Mac Pro supports up to 1.5TB of DDR4 ECC memory in 12 user-accessible DIMM slots, configured in different ways depending on the included amount of RAM.

• 32GB – Four 8GB DIMMs

• 48GB – Six 8GB DIMMs

• 96GB – Six 16GB DIMMs

• 192GB – Six 32GB DIMMs

• 384GB – Six 64GB DIMMs

• 768GB – Six 128GB DIMMs or 12 64GB DIMMs

• 1.5TB – 12 128GB DIMMs (24 or 28-core processor required)

Apple’s 8-core processor operates at 2666MHz, while the 12-core to 28-core processors operate memory at 2933MHz. All RAM is easy to access for upgrade purposes thanks to the dual access design of the Mac Pro. At the high end, the Mac Pro offers up to 140GB/s memory bandwidth.

RAM is user upgradeable and additional RAM can be added after purchase for those who don’t want to purchase Apple’s stock RAM options.

Graphics

In August 2021, Apple introduced three high-end graphics options for the Mac Pro, meaning that the Mac Pro’s two Mac Pro Expansion (MPX) Modules can now be configured with six different GPUs. Apple offers the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X, the AMD Radeon Pro W6600X, the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X, the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X, the AMD Radeon Pro W6900X, and the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo graphics options are no longer available, and as of March 2022, the previous AMD Radeon Pro 580X base GPU has also been discontinued.

The AMD Radeon Pro W5500X features 8GB of GDDR6 memory, offering up to 5.6 teraflops of single-precision performance or 11.2 teraflops of half-precision computing. It supports up to four 4K displays, one 5K display, or one Pro Display XDR. The Radeon Pro W5500X comes in a half-height MPX Module that fits in one MPX bay and enables PCIe slot 2 for additional expansion. Up to two Radeon Pro W5500X MPX Modules can be installed in the Mac Pro, with one in each MPX bay.

The AMD Radeon Pro W6600X features 8GB of GDDR6 memory, offering 9.8 teraflops single precision or 19.6 teraflops half precision computing. It supports up to four 4K displays, one 5K display, or two Pro Display XDRs. The Radeon Pro W6600X comes in a half-height MPX Module that fits in an MPX bay and enables PCIe slot 2 for additional expansion.

The Radeon Pro W5700X with 16GB of GDDR6 memory is a full-size MPX Module with four Thunderbolt 3 ports and one HDMI 2.0 port, and features up to 9.4 teraflops of single-precision or 18.9 teraflops of half-precision computing. It supports up to six 4K displays, three 5K displays, or three Pro Display XDRs.

The AMD Radeon Pro W6800X with 32GB of GDDR6 memory is designed for workstation-class graphics and demanding pro applications delivers up to 512GB/s memory bandwidth and up to 16.0 teraflops of single-precision or 32.0 teraflops of half-precision computing. It is a full-height MPX Module, meaning it can offer four additional Thunderbolt 3 ports and an HDMI 2.0 port on the card.

The AMD Radeon Pro W6900X with 32GB of GDDR6 memory is designed for maximum workstation-class graphics and demanding pro applications, offering up to 512GB/s memory bandwidth and up to 22.2 teraflops of single-precision or 44.4 teraflops of half-precision computing.

The Radeon Pro W6800X Duo MPX Module is designed for the most demanding multi-GPU pro applications. The module has two W6800X GPUs, each with 32GB of GDDR6 memory delivering up to 512GB/s memory bandwidth. The Radeon Pro W6800X Duo is a full-height MPX Module and supports up to eight 4K displays, four 5K displays, or six Pro Display XDRs.

Apple Afterburner

Apple has included a ProRes and ProRes RAW accelerator card that it calls Afterburner. The PCI Express x16 card is designed to accelerate ProRes and ProRes RAW codecs in Final Cut Pro X, QuickTime Player X, and other third-party apps that use ProRes.

Afterburner supports playback of up to 3 streams of 8K ProRes RAW or 12 streams of 4K ProRes RAW.

As of March 2020, Apple is offering the $2000 Mac Pro Afterburner Card as separate purchase, allowing it to be bought after purchase. Previously, the Afterburner Card had to be purchased as a build-to-order option when configuring a Mac Pro.

Storage

The Mac Pro can be configured with up to 8TB of SSD storage that offers up to 2.6GB/s sequential read and 2.7GB/s sequential write performance. All Mac Pro storage is encrypted with the T2 chip.

The base Mac Pro comes with a 512GB SSD (increased from 256GB as of March 2022), which can be upgraded to 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB. Apple says that SSD replacements must be done at an Apple Store or by an Apple Authorized Service Provider, but additional SSD storage space can be added alongside the built-in SSD, as demonstrated in the video below.

Apple in June 2020 introduced SSD upgrade kits for the Mac Pro with 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB storage modules, allowing users to upgrade their SSDs without needing to rely on a service provider. Kits are priced starting at $600.

Ports

The Mac Pro features two USB-A ports (up to 5Gb/s transfer speeds), two Thunderbolt 3 ports (up to 40Gb/s TB3 and 10Gb/s USB-C) with support for DisplayPort, and two 10Gb Ethernet ports available through an I/O card in the half-length PCI Express slot.

There are an additional two Thunderbolt 3 ports at the top of the Mac Pro’s enclosure. With the MPX Modules, there are a total of up to 12 Thunderbolt 3 ports available at the high-end.

The total number of available Thunderbolt 3 ports depends on the graphics configuration of the machine.