Introduzione
Abbiamo speso 5599€ per mettere le mani sui nuovi Magic Mouse e Magic Keyboard space gray, ed Apple è stata così gentile da includere un nuovo iMac Pro senza costi aggiuntivi! Smontiamolo e vediamo cosa lo fa funzionare.
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Cosa ti serve
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Il nostro iMac Pro per lo smontaggio ha queste caratteristiche "di base":
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Processore Intel Xeon W 8-core 3.2 GHz con Turbo Boost fino a 4.2 GHz
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32 GB (4 × 8 GB) di RAM 2,666 MHz DDR4 ECC
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GPU AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 con 8 GB di memoria HBM2
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Schermo da 27" in 5120 × 2880 e supporto per un miliardo di colori (gamut P3)
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SSD da 1 TB
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Le configurazioni più costose con un processore con 18 core saranno disponibili in qualche settimana, sempre che tu voglia spendere 14000 € o più.
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Possiamo a malapena contenere l'entusiasmo mentre scartiamo gli accessori space gray: il Magic Mouse, la Magic Keyboard, e... *gasp*
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...un cavo da Lightning ad USB nero.
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Torneremo allo smontaggio dopo esserci ripresi dal colpo e aver guardato fuori dalla finestra in cerca di un ungulato aereo.
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Stranamente non c'è nulla, né adattatori né altro, per utilizzare le EarPods Lightning incluse con gli iPhone 7, 8 o X nell'iMac Pro. Sembra stano che questi prodotti incompatibili siano, fra tutti, proprio da Apple?
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Rimuoviamo il fantasioso tessuto che avvolge l'iMac Pro e controlliamo la situazione porte... solo per essere sicuri.
Every iPhone has an adapter for that headphone jack right there on the back where it always was.
Not so, Devin. That adaptor is to plug regular headphones into an iPhone, not Lighting EarPods into a Mac, for example.
Don’t be the person using plug in, free EarPods on a $5000+ computer.
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Ecco il resoconto della connettività:
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Presa jack da 3,5 mm
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Slot per schede SDXC
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Quattro porte USB 3
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Quattro porte Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C)
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Porta ethernet da 10 Gb
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Nel caso te lo stessi chiedendo, ecco il codice modello Apple A1862.
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Abbiamo provato ad infilare dei banchi di RAM in queste prese sul retro. Non ha funzionato.
Humor is appreciated, but sometimes not recognized…
Dan and George, I’m almost certain it’s DDR7. Apple would never be caught with something as outdated as DDR6 in a high-end machine like this.
If anyone happens to look back at these comments in about 2040 when DDR6/7 SDRAM is a brand-new thing, you guys are going to have them very confused.
Curious about the 3.5mm jack, does it have optical support? Or can it be replaced with one that does? :)
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Scommettiamo che la procedura di apertura sarà la stessa dell'iMac 5K, che, tanto per dire, se sai usare un tagliapizza, sai aprire un iMac Pro.
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Dopo aver rimosso il vetro, abbiamo una perfetta vista dell'interno incontaminato dell'iMac Pro. Per dire, non sarebbe una perfetta carta da parati per qualcuno?
It’s on my iMac Pro. Right after this guide was published, I spent a lot of time carefully sizing the image and cropping it to make it “just right” — and it’s awesome. The iFixit team is welcome to contact me and I’ll gladly provide them a copy to redistribute (since I’m not the copyright holder on the image).
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La prima componente a venire fuori è un enorme dissipatore a doppia ventola.
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Sembra che Apple abbia sacrificato il disco rigido da desktop del modello 5K (non che ti serva in un dispositivo pro) per fare spazio qui.
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Altra vittima sacrificale degli dei del raffreddamento: lo sportello di accesso esterno alla RAM. Faccina triste.
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In cambio abbiamo ottenuto una presa d'aria posteriore più grande e una capacità di raffreddamento migliorata dell'80%.
Compared to a Tower-Workstation the cooling solution is tiny for a 120-140 W TDP Xeon and a 175W Vega 56 PRO ?!
You completely skipped how to remove the super small iSight camera connector from the main board. I have never even seen one of these before and have no clue how to remove, still looking on internet.
This is the teardown not a repair guide
Duck -
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Le funzioni della scheda scheda AirPort si sono consolidate sulla scheda madre: per qualche strano motivo Apple ha scartato la modularità del modello 5K. Ma abbiamo guadagnato questa strana staffa di bloccaggio per i cavi coassiali.
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L'alimentatore si collega alla scheda madre con non uno, non due, ma ben quattro contatti tenuti fermi con delle viti Torx.
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Rende anche possibile accedere alle componenti della scheda madre in modo molto più semplice (tranne che per la RAM, ovviamente). Con l'alimentatore infilato nella copertura posteriore, possiamo rimuovere la scheda fin da subito. Facciamolo!
There are quite a few screws to remove to get the motherboard out. Getting the board out means tilting it to the right as you gentlybslide it out. It tough as the usb and thunderbolt ports are right there. I ended up damaging the ethernet port doing this piece. Would never do this again! I highly recommend not doing this upgrade yourself. I had to take the unit back to the reseller and get it repaired under the $129 extra I paid for accidental damage. This operation completely voids the Apple warranty according to the reseller because you remove the motherboard they will know because of the non Apple ram.
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Dopo aver rimosso la scheda, la prima cosa da fare è controllare la RAM.
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Non c'è dubbio: arrivare fin qui è stata un'impresa a confronto con il comodissimo sportello di accesso alla RAM sul retro di tutti i precedenti iMac da 27".
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Detto ciò, abbiamo anche una buona notizia: questi sono dei normali banchi RAM DDR4 ECC a 288 pin, con dei normali chip a bordo.
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SKhynix H5AN8G8NAFR-VKC 2,666 MHz DDR4
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Non abbiamo perso tempo e abbiamo provato un piccolo aggiornamento: che te ne pare di quattro banchi da 32 GB per un totale di 128 GB?
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Dopo un veloce rimontaggio, siamo lieti di annunciarvi che il risultato è epico. Se vuoi provare a farlo a casa, acquista un kit di aggiornamento della RAM Memory Maxxer.
Heatpipes are on TOP! of thermal block? Half the pipe is cooling the air instead of the processor?!
Are Apple Engineers mildly stupid or did they have other problems or was this the cheapest solution?
If you take a look at any good custom CPU-cooler the heat-pipes are touching the Heatspreader directly for a reason.
@Animarkzero Noctua uses the same arrangement in its high-end air coolers - heat pipes on top of thermal block.
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Torniamo allo smontaggio: i prossimi sulla lista sono questi nuovi "SSD" gemelli.
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Sotto un paio di adesivi abbiamo trovato delle viti Torx, che se ne vanno!
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Ogni lama è chiamata Apple EMC 3197, modello 656-0061A.
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Rimuovendo le schermature, abbiamo trovato qualche chip:
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SanDisk SDRQF8DC8-128G (quattro per scheda, due sopra e due sotto, per un totale di 512 GB × 2 = 1024 GB)
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(Probabilmente) IC di gestione dell'alimentazione Apple 338S00285
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A differenza dei normali SSD, che hanno il controller a bordo, questi moduli di memoria flash grezzi hanno solo un buffer di interfaccia, ma il controller PCIe/NVMe è da qualche altra parte. Dove lo vedremo tra poco.
Of course, since there is no SSD controller (see below), you can’t really call these “NVMe SSSDs”. They are flash storage devices, but they only form an “SSD” when connected to the controller, which is part of the T2. And that PCIe bus (assuming it is PCIe), is carrying data between the flash chips and the SSD controller, which means it is definitely not NVMe.
Looks like this is a new and unique Apple-designed flash memory storage system.
But one where upgrades could theoretically cost a bit less than normal, since replacement flash boards won’t require SSD controllers (assuming that custom Apple chip isn’t too horribly expensive to reverse engineer, of course).
Yes, not a NVMe/PCIe SSD drive! Just the raw flash chips in a frame. The data width is kinda narrow as well…
Still a very different design than the Function Key MacBook 13” SSD https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/ig... It’s design appeared to be a wider PCIe bus (x8).
So the question is how wide is the I/O here as that will be the limitation of how big the flash unit could be besides the limitation in the physical size. Why would Apple go with such a small footprint unit? At least make the space larger so in the future a larger unit could be put in. There’s doesn’t appear to be space to put a larger unit in
Here’s an example of a similar device “Linus TechTips: DIY SSD made of SD Cards!”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3frnBoqq...
Here it’s using SD cards with a SATA controller. In the case of Apple they are using a PCIe interface via the T2
To gain speed beyond what other NVMe/PCIe SSD’s can offer, Apple interleaves across the two flash modules. Think how RAM is interleaved https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interleave... Apple is using the same technique here.
Any idea if that flash is MLC or TLC?
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Vuoi sapere cosa si nasconde sotto quell'enorme dissipatore? Beh, anche noi. Dopo aver svitato qualche altra vite Torx e messo da parte le molle di montaggio, ecco la risposta:
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Una GPU, che è tristemente saldata sulla scheda madre. E, dal lato opposto, un processore per postazioni di lavoro Xenon, non saldato sulla scheda.
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Potrebbe essere carino se la tua postazione da più di 5000€ potesse ricevere un aggiornamento ogni tanto, piuttosto che un'intera sostituzione... giusto?
What socket type is the Xeon CPU? Does it have an integrated heat spreader?
It’s a LGA 2066. Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvvBh3CI...
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Dopo aver smontato la scheda, è il momento per un resoconto sul silicio:
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CPU Intel Xeon W-2140B (Skylake, 14 nm—probabilmente un W-2145 downclockato per tenere le temperature sotto controllo) a 3.2 GHz con Turbo Boost fino a 4.2 GHz, accoppiato con quella che potrebbe essere una normale presa LGA 2066.
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GPU AMD S5J68 1747 GPEW0333S3 SS63HBN181747US40104 Radeon Pro Vega 56 con 8 GB di memoria HBM2 integrata.
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Intel X723D733 E1 05780 (SR3PV?) - probabilmente l'hub di controllo della piattaforma
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Controller da PCIe a ethernet multi-gigabit AQUANTIA AQtion AQC107-B1-C
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Pericom Semiconductors PI3PCIE3412AZHE PCIE 3.0 mux/demux switch
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Modulo WiFi/Bluetooth Apple/Universal Scientific Industrial (USI) 339S00428 00012021
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Controller della scheda di memoria Genesys Logic GL3227A SD 4.0 e Texas Instruments LP8565A13 (probabilmente il driver della retroilluminazione LED)
FoxCon assemblers are over doing the thermal paste on the GPU’s! Getting it all over the caps! I hope it’s not conductive paste!
Dan- all GPUs have way more thermal compound than needed because they don’t have an integrated heat spreader like the xeon shown earlier. It helps to cool them and conductive thermal compound isn’t used.
Calvin H -
An interesting question here related to T2 and the SSDs is why they have the Pericom PCIe mux. It seems from the earlier section that the SSD assemblies are raw flash enclosures, or perhaps at most a custom Apple chip doing Toggle to Flash and PCIe out to the T2. One possibility is that the mux allows for one SSD slot to be unpopulated— if it is empty, the mux configues 2x the PCIe lanes to the T2 from the one populated slot. Another possibility is that mux can re-route the SSDs to the Intel PCH bypassing the T2 under some circumstances. It would be interesting to follow the traces and get the block diagram of the PCH, T2, Pericom mux, and SSDs.
Mike, The Pericom PCIe switch is more likely for the USB-C ports
Dan -
原文为PCIe to multi-gigabit ethernet controller，更正为PCIe至多千兆位以太网控制器。感谢指正！
More specs on xeon W-2140B microprocessor:
is the chipset c422?
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Sull'altro lato:
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Audio/DAC Cirrus Logic CS42L83
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Controller digitali multifase 3x Infineon (exPrimarion) PXE1110CDM and PXE1610CDN
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2x controller Intel JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3
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Power stage controller International Rectifiers IR35217
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Memoria flash CMOS serial Macronix MXIC MX25L4006EZNI
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Espansione I/O NXP PCAL6524
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Amplificatori audio 4x Texas Instruments TAS5764L
Should be Cirrus Logic CS42L83 audio/DAC
How about an explanation for what a `PXE1110CDM 1YUS7Q84 H1746 8F4 PMC005` is?
It is the “Digital DC-DC Multiphase Controller” solution from infineon.
JJ Wu -
What is the silkscreen marking on the 2 devices (speaker drivers) at the bottom left corner of the PCB?
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Per ultimi ma non meno importante, vicino alle prese degli SSD, abbiamo due chip proprietari di Apple:
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Apple T2 339S00467 appoggiato sopra un SK Hynix H9HKNNNBRUMUVR-NLH LPDDR4
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Apple 338S00268: questo chip è misterioso. Nell'eccitazione iniziale abbiamo pensato fosse il vociferato coprocessore A10 Fusion, visto per la prima volta nell'iPhone 7, ma le dimensioni sono troppo piccole (circa 7,4 mm su ogni lato). Miglior ipotesi: questo è un IC di controllo dell'alimentazione Apple/Dialog Semi.
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L'altro lato della medaglia di tutte queste funzioni e sicurezza aggiuntive è un forte mal di testa se il tuo iMac Pro dovesse mai venire ripristinato.
I believe it to be an i/o bus.
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Dopo aver finito con la scheda madre, possiamo rimuovere l'alimentatore da 500W.
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Prodotto da AcBel Polytech Inc., prende in entrata 100-240 V AC e contiene anche lui del silicio:
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STMicroelectronics STD4N80K5 3 A N-channel MOSFET
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Controller di risonanza ad alte tensioni STMicroelectronics L6599A
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Controller della modalità di corrente ON Semiconductor NCP1336B
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Doppio amplificatore operazionale Diodes Incorporated AP4310A con tensione di riferimento
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Controller del fattore di alimentazione a 2 fasi ON Semiconductor NCP1631
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Regolatore Diodes Incorporated AP2125K-4.2TRG1 300 mA LDO
You guys should let people know not to touch the circuitry of the AC/DC PSU. There is danger in touching certain parts of the internals of PC AC/DC PSUs, even if the PSU has been left alone for a long time the capacitors could still be holding charge. Not only are you showing people how to access the PSU, but you aren’t letting them know to be extremely cautious about handling it.
You’re right about the dangers, and as stated in the banner at the top, this isn’t meant to be used as a guide. There are no instructions here and hence no guidance on what to do or not do. iFixit teardowns are a first look at the hardware and construction highlights, nothing more.
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Questa copertura dell'iMac sembra un po' spoglia, ma non abbiamo finito: gli "speaker migliorati" sono i prossimi.
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Le prime impressioni sono che questi speaker soddisfino le aspettative: sono gli speaker che puoi avere su un Mac che suonano meglio.
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...finché, supponiamo, potremo accoppiarli ad un Homepod, che migliorerà non di poco l'intera esperienza. Non lo potremo sapere finché l'Homepod non sarà in vendita nel 2018. (è solo una coincidenza che sembri un Mac Pro?)
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Abbiamo ispezionato la copertura per altre componenti, ma non rimane molto, ad eccezione dello scandalosamente eccezionale meccanismo a molla che supporta lo schermo.
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Questa è probabilmente l'unica volta che Apple ti venderà un cacciavite e ti dirà di usarlo.
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Naturalmente, se stai leggendo questo, c'è una buona probabilità tu sia già completamente attrezzato.
Can you use that adapter for an iMac 21.5” (2017) too?
Sorry Guy the hinge part is internal which would need to be replaced to the other version.
Dan -
I wonder if you can order this spring mechanism as a replacement part and put it into a normal 5k 27” iMac
Knowing Apple I doubt it mechanically fits! We’ll need wait until we see the parts listing for the system
FYI: The current foot/VESA mounts for the 21.5 or 27” Thin Mac’s are dedicated. They are not user interchangeable like the iMac Pro!
Dan -
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È il momento di dare un'occhiata più da vicino allo schermo. Abbiamo scoperto che utilizza lo stesso pannello dello schermo che abbiamo trovato nell'iMac 5K: LG Display modello LM270QQ1.
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Abbiamo rimosso la lunga striscia di protezioni lungo la parte inferiore per scoprire i chip:
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Bus Transceiver Texas Instruments NH245 8-Bit Dual-Supply
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Generatore programmabile Gamma-Voltage e calibratore Vcom Texas Instruments BUF16821
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Timing Controller Parade Technologies DP665 LCD
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Convertitore Texas Instruments TPS54320 3A synchronous step-down SWIFT™
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LCD Bias IC per TV ad alta risoluzione completamente programmabile Texas Instruments TPS65168
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- La RAM e la CPU sono entrambe modulari, il che significa che le riparazioni e gli aggiornamenti sono possibili, a differenza di quanto sostiene Apple.
- Il doppio SSD è modulare, ma fatto su isura da Apple, complicandone la sostituzione.
- Tagliare l'adesivo per aprire l'iMac non è troppo difficile (con i giusti strumenti), ma dovrà essere sostituito per completare qualsiasi riparazione.
- Le componenti chiave sostituibili sono nascoste dietro la scheda madre, richiedendo un lungo smontaggio per accedervi.
- La perdita dello sportello di accesso esterno alla RAM rende molto più difficili gli aggiornamenti a confronto con l'iMac 5K da 27".
- La GPU è saldata sulla scheda madre: probabilmente un grosso inconveniente in un dispositivo "Pro". Non sono possibili dei semplici aggiornamenti della grafica, quindi scegli saggiamente la tua configurazione.
Considerazioni Finali
Punteggio Riparabilità
(10 è il più facile da riparare)
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101 Commenti
OOH FIRST COMMENT! either way, Apples getting closer and closer to the point where a mac will literally be one single part that will not be modular in any way. Apple says they save the environment as much as possible while sweeping the fact that they make their machines as hard to fix as possible under the carpet.
Wow you got here first!
Apple bounces back and forth between more and less modularity with most new architectures. Claiming that there is some obvious trend here is silly and baseless.
Mark -
This comment aged like fine wine with the launch of the M1-based iMacs.
Liquid cooling? SSD in RAID 0?
It’s one SSD controller on two sticks of dumb NAND, no need for a RAID.
tipoo -
Liquid cooling requires a quite grand radiator/pump ! So NO this wont be possible in this very tightly packed overheated ALL-IN-ONE-MAC(PC)!
What does the SSD shows at “Apple - About This Mac - System Report - Hardware - Storage?
The SSDs are hardware-encrypted by the T2. If the drive(s) are removed, the data is unreadable.
The modules are just Raw Flash it’s not a real SSD
Dan -
@Peter Gamble, probably a special controller on those things, because they didn’t find a controller for the SSD’s on the logic board.
“Conspicuously absent here is any sign of an SSD controller. More on that in a minute. “
“ The successor to the T1 chip introduced in 2016's MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, the T2 is tasked here with all the functions of the SMC, image signal processing for the camera, audio control, and SSD controller, and Secure Enclave, and a hardware encryption engine. Whew! “
Meaning that the T1 is controlling how the SSD’s send and receive data and the SSD’s are designed to work with the T1. Mind you that the T1 is an arm based co processor (if I’m not mistaken). They’ll probably do some testing but I would bet that they are not being controlled by an AHCI spec.
No iMac Pros were harmed in the making of this teardown. :)
Each stick of NAND not having an SSD controller validates what I was thinking. Since the T2 houses the SSD controller, calling this a RAID isn't quite right, since each drive doesn't have a controller, it's just one controller looking in two places.
Think of it more like a bank of RAM. Each operation is bounced between the two modules (inter-leaved)
Dan -
“It’s one SSD controller on two sticks of dumb NAND, no need for a RAID”.
Really? Do you mean that the iMac Pro has 2.8 GB/s read & 3.3 GB/s write without RAID 0? Why not use then a single SSD blade-stick instead if two?
Think of it more like a bank of RAM. Each operation is bounced between the two modules (inter-leaved)
Dan -
Shouldn’t be much of a surprise that there’s no need for Raid 0 since standard iMac and MacBook Pro have similar Flash speeds also with a single SSD.
MrUNIMOG -
dgramatzki - The speed is much faster for both read & write on the iMac Pro’s SSD setup than what the MacBook Pro’s offer.
Dan -
Is the SSD encryption mandatory? Can it be turned off or disabled? Thanks.
Is the SSD paired to logic board? If the logic board fails, can the data in SSD be recovered? Thanks.
Is it possible to run Windows 10 via Bootcamp on it?
Don’t see why not!
Hi!
Maybe instead of teardown the whole iMac it would be easier to cut holes in the back around RAM?
I hope you’re kidding!
Dan -
Himm no A10 ARM CPU? Where the rumors false?
No iPhone APU, but the T2 chip does have a micro-controller (SMC) and also deals with encryption both functions could be run on an ARM based solution.
Dan -
The T2 might have some similarities to the A10, just as the T1 had to the Apple Watch SiPs. Perhaps that’s where the rumors came from.
MrUNIMOG -
Try to repair on a Black PCB….. nice eyestrain!
2 things. First off, did you guys really not think to try and replace the CPU with a standard Xeon part? Second, has anyone documented the installation of the VESA mount?
If you look at the VESA mount instructions that came with the Apple VESA mount for the iMac 27” 2011 its the exact same part! Apple was roasted on switching out to a fixed foot or fixed VESA mount. It took awhile!
But, I’m thinking if people really need it, one could upgrade their older 27” 2012 > 2017 models using the same parts this model has as it looks like the same mount points. Will need to double check to be sure,
Dan -
Really nothing is “Pro” in this design. Apple learned nothing. They want to continue to sell their super proprietary nonsense hardware. As a pro, you expect easy exchangeable, compatible components, like RAM, CPU, GPU, harddrives, and PCIe-slots, 2 x 16x, etc. In the highest available standards. The new Mac”Pro” just is the new regular iMac. I bet the upcoming MacPro will be a total disaster.
“Pro” is not a universal term. For some users, this Mac will be great. For others, not so much. What you want and need isn’t what everyone else wants and needs.
Dongboat -
The numbers tell us it’s a more powerful box than anything Apple has produced so far. So from that perspective it’s a Pro box.
As to being the kind of box a Pro would own that gets into what his/her needs are. This system will serve many pro level user.
It still may not meet the real heavy weight users and clearly it’s a closed system with limited upgradability. That’s where the Mac Pro will be the true expandable system.
I’m hoping we see the AMD ThreadRipper CPU in it! Heavy weight pro’s need lots of threads and PCIe lanes, which is were the ThreadRipper shines!
Dan -
@DAN Threadripper has a TDP of 180W !!
How in the world do you think this will end with the Mac Pro(sumer) if Apple is not willing to cool the Xeon W in the iMac Pro properly!
Glad you guys got it back together! I’d hate to lose a $5K machine for no good reason :/
It’s okay if it’s in the name of SCIENCE!
I am curious about the SSD. I don’t like the idea of RAID-0 in a “pro” machine. Double the chance of failure, and a failure of one drive means loss of data on both. I am hoping it can be configured as two separate drives, so I can have half a TB for macOS, and half a TB for Bootcamp/Windows10/Autodesk bloatware like Revit. Curious how the inscription works in Bootcamp too. Does it require some special Windows driver for the T2 SSD controller? Mine arrived today, 2 days early, but I have no time to do more than open the brown box. Which was a mistake, because now I get to look at the picture on the inner box for three days before I can actually set it up. The agony. ;)
Also curious how soon someone with a maxed out machine breaks the screen, writes the whole thing off, and “upgrade CPU and SSD” parts are available second hand. I would assume you could even replace the MB this way to upgrade the GPU as well. It will be a niche market in a niche market, but it WILL be a market.
Please, let is know if you can configure it as two separate SSD.
You could already open another box while writing this.. :D
It’s not a RAID’ed drive but something similar! Think of it like how RAM inter-leaving works this is who Apple is doing it. Inter-leaving the operations across the two SSD' sets.
As for RAID the type of RAID makes a big difference! As well as what the drives are. Here using SSD’s it’s a lot more reliable than a spinning disk HDD. So if this was a RAID 0 drive I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Then there is Apple’s new file system! Which offers a better write operation so data loss is less likely. We have some large RAID 0 drive sets (all SSD’s) and they are very dependable. Our HDD RAID sets are all RAID 5 and we sync them in pairs to make sure we don’t loose anything.
Frankly, the dependability of your power will be a bigger risk! I hope you have a good back-filling UPS for your new system.
Dan -
Mini U.2 PCIe NVME SSD?
Nope something new! Raw flash inter-leaved. The T2 chip manages the read/write to the modules. If you remember back in the original IBM PC day we press fitted DIP memory into sockets on the logic board. At one point we had stacked chips soldered onto each other! This is in the same approach Apple is using, just within Flash.
Dan -
Here’s a good image of these old stacked chips: https://eda360insider.files.wordpress.co...
Dan -
It is a bit sad to make a ‘PRO’ machine with an underclocked XEON to keep the temps in check.
Form over function rules at Apple
Why do you say that?
Sure the server based chips run faster but at a cost, more power is needed and heat created. The Workstation class chips make sense.
The real question is when does it throttle (load wise). If it doesn’t then Apple has found the sweet spot for this design. So we’ll need to wait for the results from people testing it out.
Sure, I think a lot of people are waiting for the other shoe to drop, the specs of the new Mac Pro!
Dan -
Um, why? How would this be any different than if they had used an overclocked version of a slower chip? The speed is what it is, carefully balanced with other system hardware.
Mark -
“Think of it more like a bank of RAM. Each operation is bounced between the two modules (inter-leaved)”.
Then it is equivalent to RAID 0 in relation to data protection: if one SSD fails, all is lost. Or if the controller chip fails. Or if the main board fails in this case, since the SSD is paired with it. You cannot take the SSD out for troubleshooting or data recovery or booting in other Mac.
This is no different than with a single-board SSD, not more points of failure than that. This isn’t hard drives where each HDD adds a spinning disk and doubles the risk of failure.
MrUNIMOG -
@dgramatzki
I see a big difference. If data is stripped between two SSD, it is like RAID 0 for data protection by definition.
The data isn’t striped. As already alluded to, that implies to separate controllers on two separate drives. This is one controller accessing chips on two separate boards. As the previous poster pointed out, this would be no different that putting all the chips on a single board, just less flexible in terms of space. which is at a premium inside this enclosure.
Mark -
You said: "The data isn’t striped. As already alluded to, that implies to separate controllers on two separate drives. This is one controller accessing chips on two separate boards. As the previous poster pointed out, this would be no different that putting all the chips on a single board, just less flexible in terms of space. which is at a premium inside this enclosure”.
Data not stripped on SSD? Do you have a proof of that? How can it achieve 3.3GB/s write and 2.8GB/s read without RAID 0 ?
Anyway, even if data is not striped, do you mean that if one SSD fails, data can be recovered on the other? If not, it is like RAID 0 in relation to data protection.
Interleaved flash is not the same as RAID!
There is no recovery with RAID 0, you’re thinking RAID 1 (mirroring). There is very little risk here, HDD’s are much more prone to failure than SSD’s. In any case you should have a current backup.
Dan -
Miss the “old” Mac Pro 2008-2012. Think what this mac could have been with updated hardware.
I think that Apple does not love companies and "pro". Definitively.
It's like Apple said << Long life to assembled PCs >>. OK. I will buy an assembled PC.
All you complainers seem not to have heard that there’s a new Mac Pro coming out some time in the future, explicitly announced by Apple to be modular and upgradeable?
MrUNIMOG -
(i am replying to ‘dgramatzki’ … )
‘The Outsider’ is talking about a beautiful modular design of more than a decade ago…
Since then nothing really happened until that round one came in 2013…
Apple is now so briljant to reinvent a modular system …. again in …. 2018?
yes there is enough to complain…
reuze -
What iMac from a decade ago had a “beautiful, modular design”?
Mark -
Thanks so much for the breakdown. Was worth reading and looking at all of the images and comments..
Can’t imagine a pair of heat pipes having enough cooling capacity. Just have a feeling this will overheat like a MAC mini. Why don’t they ever employ some kind of self contained liquid cooler?
The old Mac pros had “self contained liquid cooler”.
Those liquid-cooled Power Mac G5 models were a nightmare. The design put the cooler right over the 1000W power supply. Then the liquid cooler started to leak. This shorted out the power supply, often killing the entire machine. Apple had a replacement program in place that if any sign of leakage was detected, they would replace the entire unit whether the customer wanted to or not. The best part was this was in the middle of the transition from PPC to Intel, so most of the customers’ pro applications were useless on the Intel Mac Pro. It was a total disaster. Liquid cooling is not a good idea in a computer case this small with a power supply this small.
As a holdout waiting for a replacement for my 2010 Mac Pro Tower I’m saddened that this all in one because I’ve have iMacs sitting in boxes because the screens were cooked along with some of the internals. My Tower has gone through 3 monitors over the years that I cheaply replaced.
Uh, every one of those iMacs can be repaired. What site are you on again?
Mark -
Great teardown and review.
In summary:
- One can upgrade RAM later on - saving a lot of $$ up-front. I got mine w/ 64GB - which should suffice until then.
- GPU does not matter, this one is “good enough” to be considered Pro workstation. Nothing stops one from adding another GPU via Thunderbolt 3 to PCI-e making it actually quite upgradeable (prosumers of this type of device already have a ton of storage via Thunderbolt on their desk, adding another box w/ a GPU is not a big deal)
- CPU is actually upgradeable. Sure, someone’s yet to test this but I am 99.9999% certain this is the case, so down the line in 2-3 years, pop it open, add a new-er xeon in and voila.
All in all - awesome machine. It actually replaced my whole VMware LAB, as I can now run it all on this iMac, in Fusion.
Just looking at the CPU speeds on the Apple site. As mentioned here, the 8 core is not the same part available to anyone from intel. It is slower. The 10 core is also slower. But the 14 and 18 core chips Apple use match the speed of what intel has on their site. The faster 8 and 10 as well as the same speed 14 and 18 all run at the same 140 Watt Total Design Power. Thus Apple may not be using the lower speed 8 and 10 core to save on heat. Apple likely has to deal with the 140W TDP of the 14 and 18.
Perhaps Apple are saving money by buying the 8/10 core chips from intel that don’t pass the first test?
It would seem that way, until you consider the cache sizes.
Apple has a much bigger L3 caches than Intel offers in their Xeon Ws.
Thanks guys, What a wonderful teardown of the iMac Pro 2018. The pictures and the read was spot on and surely worth the time spent. I appreciate now, knowing what I buy, before I put down the money, and my late 2011 27” iMac needs a new partner this year.
I have planned to upgrade the memory and the SSD, but it is for sure a much greater job than upgrading the 2011 iMac. Armed with the ifixit teardown it’s time to prepare the action.
Hi, the display is definitely different than the Late 2014/2015 iMac. In that teardown, you posted an image of the model number/serial number sticker from the display. It would be much appreciated if you did the same for the iMac Pro.
@knyc Sure thing! Here you go.
Thank you Jeff, I don’t suppose you guys know where to find a spec sheet for this panel? I’m trying to understand the differences in the backlight technology between this one and the one from the 2014 model.
Unfortunately no, I haven’t seen a spec sheet anywhere as yet. There are a few prior revisions listed on public sites like Panelook, but they don’t include the iMac Pro panel… so far.
Hi
What's the specifications of the motherboard of the iMac
In this configuration (motherboard to be vertical once re-assembled), would liquid metal thermal “paste” accumulate and drip down to other parts of the motherboard over time due to constant heat and gravity?
Would have been nice to see more info on the display, just googling LG LM270QQ1 brings up -SDA2, -SDB1, -SDC1, etc.
See the first link in Step 16—the panel is labeled LM270QQ1 (SD)(D1).
Technically, you could add multiple external GPUs for upgrades through the thunderbolt 3 ports
I think Time Machine renders all of these arguments about RAID 0 and interleaving flash modules moot. For ~$100 I can have a living copy of my data that can easily be recovered to another Mac, or simply browsed by another Mac or PC with little effort. I leave a 4TB drive hanging off of my iMac 5k at all times for very little cost to me. The backup drive and the iMac are on their own over-sized UPS. All of that cost me about an extra $250. Why are you all worried about data recovery when some simple backup discipline would solve all of those problems. If you’re really a “Pro” it seems to me that you should have multiple contingencies around data loss and in the unlikely event of flash failure, you’d be fine.
¡Excelente, solo recomendaría el uso de pulsera anti-estatica o guantes anti-estaticos, por lo demás muy buena guía, gracias!
Hola buen día, gracias David por tus comentarios estamos a la orden, saludos
Miguel -
@dragonboy5499 Hopefully we’ll have a proper guide for that eventually, but for now, the iMac 5K Display Replacement Guide should get you by—other than a slightly different cable arrangement, the procedure is identical. Have fun! :)
Does anyone know where iMac pro screens can be purchased??
I’m confused: about the RAM you wrote: 288-pin DDR4 ECC RAM. But if i follow the link to the upgrade kitcthe ram modules are labeled 260pin. so what is correct?
can I replace mount for vesa to imac 27 2017 ?
I have got Imac 27 2017 - but I want VESA to mount for this mac. Once i did fully resemble this machine -if i find stand from imac pro or previous imac -with supporting stand for vesa is it possible?
Will you post an instruction how to reattach the display after removing the glue stripe with the pizza cutter ?
Anyone know if the FaceTime HD 1080p Camera on the iMac Pro is available as a spare part?
Toying with the idea of installing it into an older iMac. (If it’s compatible.)
Did you ever find one? Please respond https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/st... here we need the help!
I want to upgrade the CPU inside my iMac Pro but I don’t have enough courage to open it up lol.
I believe that t2 chip is nick named the death chip and will be soon removed and getting integrated with the cpu
My webcam doesn’t work after a screen replacement! PLEASE HELP!
i really enjoy reading your blog!
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