Wednesday, January 15th 2025

Apple's Custom "Hidra" SoC Reportedly Exclusive to Next-gen Mac Pro

by
T0@st
 Discuss (6 Comments)
Apple's top-end M4 Ultra desktop-class chipset is allegedly going to feature on upcoming Mac Pro and Mac Studio refreshes—new product unveilings could be on the company's schedule (WWDC 2025). Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has divulged intriguing M4-series information within his latest newsletter. The M4 Ultra SoC—codenamed "Hidra"—was previously believed to be the most powerful processor option available on both next-gen Mac Pro and Mac Studio platforms. Now, Gurman believes that Apple engineers have created a distinct custom chipset design—exclusively designed for the Mac Pro workstation product stack—that sits above their M4 Ultra SoC.

Somewhat confusingly he suggests that "Hidra" is the codename for this top-of-the-line processor. Rumors swirled last month about the cancellation of an alleged "Extreme" model, so there is a degree of uncertainty surrounding unannounced M4 SKUs. Potential customers could choose Apple's (potentially) more powerful "Hidra-equipped" Mac Pro workstation over the highest-end M4 Ultra-based Mac Studio model. Industry experts propose that "Hidra" will arrive with an increased number of CPU and GPU cores—exceeding the M4 Ultra's speculated makeup of a 32-core CPU and an 80-core GPU.
Sources: Mark Gurman/Bloomberg, Wccftech

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6 Comments on Apple's Custom "Hidra" SoC Reportedly Exclusive to Next-gen Mac Pro

#1
Daven
These Mac 'Pro' workstations have max of 192GB of RAM with no means to upgrade after purchase. They lack dual socket options. You cannot add Tegra, Instinct or client-based GPUs. The Mx SoC is not suitable for high-end workstations. They are basically a Mac Studio with PCIe slots for an additional $3000 with no real professional features.
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#2
ZoneDymo
DavenThese Mac 'Pro' workstations have max of 192GB of RAM with no means to upgrade after purchase. They lack dual socket options. You cannot add Tegra, Instinct or client-based GPUs. The Mx SoC is not suitable for high-end workstations. They are basically a Mac Studio with PCIe slots for an additional $3000 with no real professional features.
yeah but its the church of Apple, so it will sell.
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#3
kondamin
DavenThese Mac 'Pro' workstations have max of 192GB of RAM with no means to upgrade after purchase. They lack dual socket options. You cannot add Tegra, Instinct or client-based GPUs. The Mx SoC is not suitable for high-end workstations. They are basically a Mac Studio with PCIe slots for an additional $3000 with no real professional features.
That is their first iteration of the product, maybe they found out there are people willing to pay over 100k for a workstation making dual and quad socket solutions with terabytes of ram a thing with AI market potential
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#4
Daven
ZoneDymoyeah but its the church of Apple, so it will sell.
To be fair, the Mac Pro in its current form was designed originally for 300W Intel Xeon W processors with dozens of cores. It supported up to 1.5 TB of RAM and you could add two dual GPU boards for four total GPUs. Then Apple changed to their own silicon designed up from a smartphone SoC and surprise, surprise, the MX Ultra was a pathetic workstation CPU/GPU combo versus what you can buy from the X86, data center GPU world.
kondaminThat is their first iteration of the product, maybe they found out there are people willing to pay over 100k for a workstation making dual and quad socket solutions with terabytes of ram a thing with AI market potential
It's only the first iteration using Apple silicon. They already had support for Xeons and Radeon Pros. If they stayed on that path, they could have had 128 Core Epycs and Instinct/Tegra inside that box by now.
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#5
efikkan
DavenTo be fair, the Mac Pro in its current form was designed originally for 300W Intel Xeon W processors with dozens of cores. It supported up to 1.5 TB of RAM and you could add two dual GPU boards for four total GPUs. Then Apple changed to their own silicon designed up from a smartphone SoC and surprise, surprise, the MX Ultra was a pathetic workstation CPU/GPU combo versus what you can buy from the X86, data center GPU world.
Almost $10K for a "laptop" in a "cheese grater" (or perhaps more of an oversized phone if we're honest), and that's before adding multiple SSDs, HDDs etc. Oh wait, there is only 2 SATA ports. Shared memory, and no ECC, right? Not much of a workstation platform.

Just imagine what kind of Threadripper or Xeon W systems you can build for that price… (Or a modest one that still rocks this one and have money to spare.)

I wouldn't have high expectations for a custom new chip either, they simply can't compete without having special acceleration.
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#6
Darmok N Jalad
ZoneDymoyeah but its the church of Apple, so it will sell.
Actually from what I read, most “church going” Apple customers are disappointed with the current Mac Pro. The only reason to buy one right now is for very specific add-in cards. This chip might be a more legitimate attempt at appeasing the workstation crowd, but the current design strategy of Apple Silicon really sinks Apple’s workstation endeavors.
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Jan 15th, 2025 17:04 EST change timezone

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