Apple’s new Mac Pro, now featuring M2 Ultra, combines the unprecedented performance of Apple’s most powerful chip with the versatility of PCIe expansion. Mac Pro is up to 3x faster than the previous-generation Intel-based model. Featuring up to 192GB of unified memory, the Mac Pro has far more memory than the most advanced workstation graphics cards, taking on demanding workloads other systems can’t even process.
The new Mac Pro completes the Mac transition to Apple silicon and, together with the rest of Apple’s pro systems, gives users the most powerful and capable lineup of pro products Apple has ever offered.
The Mac Pro introduced in 2023 has seven PCIe slots:
• Two double-wide full length x16 gen4 slots
• Two double-wide full length x8 gen4 slots
• Two single-wide full length x8 gen4 slots
• One single-wide half length x4 gen3 slot preconfigured with the Apple Thunderbolt I/O card
The Apple Thunderbolt I/O card has six Thunderbolt 4 ports and is installed in its own dedicated slot.
Apple Thunderbolt I/O card
Mac Pro comes preinstalled with the Apple Thunderbolt I/O card in slot 7, which has a 3.5mm headphone jack with support for high-impedence headphones, two HDMI ports, and two USB-A ports. The Apple I/O card can’t be installed in another slot, but it can be removed to allow for installation of another half-length, x4 PCIe card instead.
Note: The Apple I/O card included with Mac Pro (2019) is not compatible with Mac Pro (2023).
Graphics cards
Mac Pro is powered by the M2 Ultra chip which features a GPU configurable with up to 76 cores. The GPU is integrated into the M2 Ultra chip and doesn’t support additional graphics processors such as PCIe graphics cards or MPX modules. You can configure the number of GPU cores in your Mac Pro when you purchase it.
Other third-party PCIe cards
You can install many different PCIe cards in your Mac Pro, such as fibre channel cards, fiber networking cards, video and audio I/O cards, storage cards, and ethernet cards. After you install a PCIe card, check with the card’s manufacturer to see if you need to install a driver in macOS to enable full functionality of your card.
Note: PCI cards that use 32-bit Option ROMs aren’t compatible with your Mac Pro.
Auxiliary power
The PCIe slots on your Mac Pro each provide up to 75W of power. Mac Pro also provides up to 300W of AUX power through two 6-pin (75W each) and one 8-pin (150W) connectors.
MacDailyNews Note: If your PCIe card requires additional power, use the Belkin Aux Power Cable.
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[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
The post Here are the PCIe cards that can be installed in the M2 Ultra Mac Pro appeared first on MacDailyNews.
