# Will the new MAC Pro support 10 bit colour?



## wopbv4 (Nov 6, 2013)

The new Mac Pro will have dual AMD Firepro Graphics cards.
Does this open up the possibility of supporting 10 bit colour or is the MAC OSX Mavericks operating system still the bottleneck?

I ask this because I intend to spend $$$$ on an Eizo CG267 and a new Mac pro once it will be out in December


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## RLPhoto (Nov 6, 2013)

It should. All workstation cards support 10 bit color.


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## nightbreath (Nov 6, 2013)

It seems that D300 is AMD FirePro W7000 that supports 10-bit output: http://architosh.com/2013/10/the-mac-pro-so-whats-a-d300-d500-and-d700-anyway-we-have-answers/

I believe you can call Apple and ask whenever you decide to buy a Mac Pro. Though I feel that a Xeon processor is an overkill for photo editing and is a waste of money :-\


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## bchernicoff (Nov 6, 2013)

This article says yes: 
"The guys at BasicColor have also informed us that Mavericks now supports full 10 bit video output via Thunderbolt, with a compatible video card."

http://nativedigital.co.uk/site/2013/10/os-x-mavericks-compatibility-is-10-bit-finally-here-for-the-mac/


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## Brand B (Nov 10, 2013)

nightbreath said:


> It seems that D300 is AMD FirePro W7000 that supports 10-bit output: http://architosh.com/2013/10/the-mac-pro-so-whats-a-d300-d500-and-d700-anyway-we-have-answers/
> 
> I believe you can call Apple and ask whenever you decide to buy a Mac Pro. Though I feel that a Xeon processor is an overkill for photo editing and is a waste of money :-\



The Xeon in the upcoming low end Mac Pro is only a $280 chip or so. Not too big a deal.


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## dolina (Nov 10, 2013)

The big question would be, will you have a 10 bit display to drive with?


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## Roger Jones (Nov 10, 2013)

Brand B said:


> The Xeon in the upcoming low end Mac Pro is only a $280 chip or so. Not too big a deal.



Uhh no. The mac pro is unreleased and so are the Xeon chips it will use so pricing is not known. The Mac Pro will have options for 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 cores on a single die. The closest available current E5 Xeon models (clocks/core) range from ~$800 to $4000.


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## Lichtgestalt (Nov 10, 2013)

wopbv4 said:


> The new Mac Pro will have dual AMD Firepro Graphics cards.
> Does this open up the possibility of supporting 10 bit colour or is the MAC OSX Mavericks operating system still the bottleneck?
> 
> I ask this because I intend to spend $$$$ on an Eizo CG267 and a new Mac pro once it will be out in December



the eizo (i guess you meant CG276) has a fan.. i hope your not to picky about noise.

i found the CX line to have a fan you can only hear when your ear is close to the monitor.
the CG line has fans that can be heard.. and they tend to get noisier.
otherwise the eizo is sure a great monitor.



> The big question would be, will you have a 10 bit display to drive with?



that question is answerd when you read his posting carefully. :


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## wopbv4 (Nov 10, 2013)

Thanks for all the good advice.

I am a bit worried about the fan, I will go and check it out before I buy one.

Indeed it is CG276 (that was a typo).

Still in doubt if a top end NEC (PA271) is not a better option then the Eizo CG276.


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## LookingThroughMyLens81 (Nov 10, 2013)

wopbv4 said:


> The new Mac Pro will have dual AMD Firepro Graphics cards.
> Does this open up the possibility of supporting 10 bit colour or is the MAC OSX Mavericks operating system still the bottleneck?
> 
> I ask this because I intend to spend $$$$ on an Eizo CG267 and a new Mac pro once it will be out in December



Apple won't have 10-bit color for a long time, certainly not until they introduce their own 4K display. The good news is that the 4K panels being made are almost all 10-bit panels, so you can likely expect it in the next refresh of MacPro in 2015 when many monitor makers will have 4K displays of their own at lower prices than the $3000-$6000 displays out now and OLED may be hitting the market then too, which would be a potent seller for an Apple display.


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## dolina (Nov 10, 2013)

Lichtgestalt said:


> that question is answerd when you read his posting carefully. :



Can't be bothered.


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## nightbreath (Nov 10, 2013)

wopbv4 said:


> Still in doubt if a top end NEC (PA271) is not a better option then the Eizo CG276.


You should definitely look at the NEC PA272w.


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## Brand B (Nov 19, 2013)

Roger Jones said:


> Brand B said:
> 
> 
> > The Xeon in the upcoming low end Mac Pro is only a $280 chip or so. Not too big a deal.
> ...



Uhh yes, the half dozen or so places I have seen do some sleuthing to figure out which Xeon will be in the base model have all concluded it will be the Xeon E5-1620 v2, like here:

http://www.primatelabs.com/blog/2013/11/estimating-mac-pro-performance/

and all have noted it is a sub-$300 chip. The specific Xeon chips it will use are not "known", but the general specs are and it can be surmised from those which model it is.

You can price it here:

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=E5-1620V2

That aside, my point was not to belittle the Pro, but rather to say I disagree that the base model Pro's Xeon is "overkill" for photo editing, as it is not a super high end chip.


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