New Quadro Cards at Autodesk University
Nvidia will supposedly introduce three new Nvidia Quadro graphics cards at Autodesk University aimed at speeding up standard operations in programs like AutoCAD. The new Quadro FX 380 LP is aimed at the desktop while the Quadro FX 3800M and Quadro FX 2800M are aimed at mobile platforms.
The desktop solution is a low-profile card with 16 processing cores and 512MB of GDDR3 memory running on a 64-bit interface. You can read more here.
Next Apple Mac Pro Workstations to Be 6-12 Core Xeon Monsters
According to a Polish website called PCLab Intel’s upcoming new six-core Xeon microprocessors will be up to 50 percent faster than the previous generation four-core Xeons in parallel operations. And, get this, they will use 50 percent less power.
Intel’s code-named Gulftown” Xeons will be implemented on a new 32 nanometer fabrication process and will be the company’s first six-core processors. They will feature 12MB of L3 cache, and if paired with another chip as is typical of Apple for its high-end workstations the upcoming Mac Pros will feature up to 12 physical and 24 logical cores.
The next Mac Pros are rumored to be coming in the first quarter of 2010. Apple is also expected to have short-term exclusive use of the new i9 based Gulftown six-core Xeons and has enjoyed such exclusive access to leading edge Xeons for the past two generations with the Mac Pro. These new machines should make wonderful 3D CAD and 3D rendering machines! You can read some additional information here.
Parallels vs Fusion
For those who continue to follow the story on virtualization on the Mac there is a good indepth article comparing the two leading virtualization packages for the Mac over at the Inquirer. You can read it here.