2010 Mac Pro 12-core @ 3.33GHz —  Reviewed!

To my review of the 2010 Mac Pro, I’ve added a 12-core Mac Pro running at 3.33GHz, courtesy of the new OWC CPU Upgrade Program.

The fastest model that Apple will sell you is a 12-core 2.93GHz model; the 3.33GHz clock speed is 13.6% faster than 2.93GHz.

The 12-core 3.33GHz model makes an apples-to-apples comparison possible between these three machines:

• 4-core @ 3.33GHz;
• 6-core @ 3.33GHz;
• 12-core @ 3.33GHz.

Can you believe that the 12-core model is the slowest machine with Photoshop?! That’s a fact, and it’s the fault of Adobe’s code, not the Mac Pro.

But you’ll like the 12-core model for other things, like encoding video with Handbrake, including my handy tip for gaining an extra 30% speed increase.

But bottom line is this: if you’re a Photoshop user, the hexacore is your best choice, so long as you don’t edit monster files, where max memory becomes the dominating factor.