MacPro 2010 3.33GHz 6-core “Westmere” vs Mac Pro 2009 3.33GHz 4-core “Nehalem” — Testing Underway

Update: RAW-file processing graph with 6 RAW converters for {iMac 2010, Mac Pro hexacore, Mac Pro Nehalem 3.33} sent to MPG mailing list, writeup to follow later today or tomorrow.

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Initial testing is now underway. Dual 200GB RAID-0 solid states drives and 24GB memory in both machines (3 X 8GB modules). In other words, the core of an MPG Pro Workstation.

I am focusing on these two machines for starters:

2009 Mac Pro “Nehalem” 4-core @ 3.33GHz
2010 Mac Pro “Westmere” 6-core @ 3.33GHz

Is the hexacore chip faster single-threaded? Are those two extra cores worth it? We shall soon know.