Apple Testing 6-Core Mac Pro Using Intel ‘Gulftown’ Chip

Ed Sutherland ()

Credit: Steve Kay/Flickr

Credit: Steve Kay/Flickr

Apple is testing a new version of its Mac Pro equipped with a six-core processor from Intel. The new computer could be introduced in the first quarter of 2010 and may prompt a discount for earlier Mac Pro machines. The report by Hardmac is based on an unnamed source.

If correct, the new Mac Pro desktop will boost the current 8MB L3 cache to 12MB using the Gulftown Xeon chip. The update would permit 12 threads for each CPU. Apple will likely double the six-core to 12, reports said. The Gulftown is the codename of Intel’s unreleased chip expected to be named the Intel Core i9 or Xeon 5600 series for servers. The six-core processor will be Intel’s first and its as-yet unreleased status could give Apple a brief exclusivity.

Apple currently uses the Nahalem Xeon processor in its Mac Pro released earlier this year. The Mac Pro now offers 8 cores running two 2.26GHz quad-core Intel Xeon 5500 processors.

[Via HardMac and AppleInsider]

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Ed Sutherland

Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

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  • Steven

    I just bought a quad core, 2.93 when they came out 6 months or so ago. It just screams but cannot see much in the application world where all 4 of those cores are used (8 hyperthreaded cores actually) aside from Final cut and one or two others. Correct me if Im wrong but when I use any app in CS4, I see no more than two cores being used as well. 6 and 12 cores would make this thing a complete beast but is it really worth getting unless your someone like a movie producer? Sounds tempting though…