Want a $50k Mac Pro Cheese Grater? Get a $60 PC Cheese Grater!
by Dr. Ian Cutress on January 14, 2020 4:00 PM EST
One of the more bemusing aspects of 2019 was the launch of the new Mac Pro. Powered by Intel’s Xeon W CPUs, it offered a range of options such that the most buoyant of budgets could splash out on a fully equipped $50k+ system from the fruit company. The chassis was a doozy: nicknamed the cheese grater, because it had a holey and angled design such that you could grate cheese on it. Some reviewers even did that in there reviews – no joke. The only problem with this case is that it is only available for Macs. Phanteks' gaming brand, Metallicgear, has the solution if you want it for PC, and it’s much cheaper.
This cheese grater is called the Metallicgear Neo Pro, and currently in the last stage of design before retailing later this year in March/April. The concept from Phanteks has, for lack of a better phrase, turned into a cheap knockoff, intentionally. Apple’s case is machined aluminum for that premium feel – this Neo Pro is by contrast a plastic design, hence its ability to be only $60.
The circular vents are different to the Apple design, and the feel of the material is definitely different. Not only this, but Phanteks is thinking on making a set of wheels for it – a steal at $395 (they’re not actually making wheels, that’s a joke). However at a distance, you would be none the wiser, for at least the first few seconds.
The chassis design fits an ATX motherboard, and the idea is to ship the black model first with two black fans. The side panel is tempered glass, and the power supply bay is covered compared to the rest of the design. The front IO panel is on the top of the case, with two USB ports and audio outputs. More details to come when Phanteks is ready to ship.
Part of me wants this case, just to build a more powerful system in it than the top-end Mac Pro. Either that, or fill it with more than $50k of hardware, just to see if it is possible.
Images provided by Phanteks - ours weren't that great.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
60 Comments
View All Comments
M O B - Tuesday, January 14, 2020 - link
You should really do some comparison shopping. Apple charges a 300% markup on their RAM upgrades, and similar markups on their SSDs. Thats not "marginally more expensive."Hopefully we don't even need to get into the fact that a 32-core Threadripper build stomps all over the MacPro while also costing far, far less money.
Want MacOS though? Then a 4.4GHz i9-10980XE beats the 28-core in pure CPU performance, plus some X299 boards have started adding support for RDIMMs in case you really need 1TB of RAM (granted, ECC is disabled thanks to Intel).
diehardmacfan - Tuesday, January 14, 2020 - link
Please let me know if you know where to get 2933mhz 128GB LRDIMM's for $520.RSAUser - Tuesday, January 14, 2020 - link
Check my memory dot net, they usually link to good prices, around the 1290 dollar mark for 128Gb 2933MHz currently.close - Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - link
Apple charged ~$25000 for that RAM if I remember correctly (12 modules, 1.5TB). You can get them of eBay at ~$16000 but let's be totally honest here, if you drop $16K on RAM you're not necessarily in the market for systems built from the bargain bin. Same for the $7K CPU which Intel sells for $4.5K.But for people like @M O B they'll just install 192 x 8GB modules of RAM for the same effect, and 6-8 GeForce 2080s instead of the $10k dual Radeon Pro Vega II Duo. And as many i3s as you can cram on the motherboard (40 should do it). ECC can be done by hand anyway.
Yes, at the very high end you may save even $15k by building something similar yourself (with more or less all the features) but you could probably do the same building your own fridge from parts. The package in this case is worth more than the sum of the parts.
Dug - Tuesday, January 14, 2020 - link
So much wrong with this comment. Not sure where to start.Zizy - Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - link
Typically one would start at the beginning. Not sure what is so difficult here. Let me help you:1. I can't be bothered to check, you can probably find one RAM upgrade where it is merely 50% more expensive than buying sticks on the market. 50% almost counts as marginally more expensive. Alternatively, point out that people buy from Dell/HP/Lenovo/… where markups are similar.
2. You can pick AVX 512 or memory intense workloads. STH likely has some suitable benchmarks for your purpose. Just don't make a mistake of looking at 1P EPYC.
3. Maybe point out warranty/support as he pointed out ECC already.
GreenReaper - Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - link
So... it's marginally marginal? Or are we just talking about it being Apple's margin?AshlayW - Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - link
Not really. Apple's markups are huge; and Threadripper does indeed crush the Xeon W. I'm just not so sure about the 10980XE beating the 28-core.airdrifting - Tuesday, January 14, 2020 - link
What fking weed are you smoking? Going from 32GB to 96GB, Apple is charging $1000 more for $64GB RAM. 64GB DDR4 RAM, ECC or not, does not cost $1000. And $3000 for 160GB RAM, are you sure? Also there is the $7000 28-Core Xeon that gets slapped around by a $2000 Threadripper, and which fking 2TB SSD cost $800?AshlayW - Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - link
No, hon, most high-end PC owners are fully aware of how overpriced Macs are. Apple unfortunately has a zealous fanbase of loyal thralls, uh, I mean "fans" that think the "Premium brand" is worth that money. If I had 35K to spend on a PC, custom built; it would absolutely take the biggest dump on that Xeon-W system. I'm thinking a 3990X system, you get me - $7500 on that Xeon is already a huge rip-off. And; 10% at 35K is 3500 USD, are you saying that is not a lot of money? And what caveats are you talking about? Not being able to build your PC properly? Speak for yourself not for everyone else.Apple/Intel fanboys are the worst; because they genuinely belive their favourite company's products are worth the ridiculous markup. But hey; it's your money, bud.
And not all PC owners love the RGB crap.