Yes you can get a faster/larger SSD in an AMD based Windows computer right now. If you’re referring to a Threadripper processor, then yes they’re less expensive than Intel (but then it’s not Apples and Oranges while using the same exact Intel Xeon parts). Yes you can buy RAM cheaper and install it yourself versus obtaining it from Apple. Yes, NVidia RTX cards are great... they’re designed around gaming performance primarily though... and I say that as a person that is also a gamer. The AMD GPU’s in the Mac Pro are better in some ways for doing work and multitasking IMO though - and again you can only really get those specific cards in the Mac Pro (though I accept that they are essentially two Radeon VII’s bonded into one board with twice the amount of HBM Memory). You can also install what is essentially 4 cards for a total of up to 128 GB of VRAM alone Yes it’s pricy but there really isn’t a comparable Nvidia RTX that isn’t priced similarly. A 24TB RTX Titan Card is going to cost upwards of $2k+ depending on what GPU prices are doing. 2080 Ti RTX is going to run you $1200+ but isn’t going to have the same amount of VRAM. It’s an excellent card but you aren’t comparing apples to oranges. A lot of less expensive cards like the 2070 Super or the 5700 XT offer great price to performance alternatives as well and can be had for $500 or less of one is focused on value but again none of these are workstation class cards.
Here’s one (of many videos) that compare comparable setups that aren’t individually built. Even still, Xeon W parts are on the pricy side and before Intel cut prices on consumer desktop parts last fall the same could be said of Core parts. AMD Ryzen, Threadripper, and the like are better values in every way as of today and I would not mind at all if Apple either moved to AMD parts with Intel supply and development issues or at least gave users the option.
https://youtu.be/fsHWHaXrWAM
When you price out a prebuilt workstation from Dell, HP, etc. (with comparable or the same components) you will see that the price of the Mac Pro is NOT over priced but it may be overkill for what you personally do.
I’ll leave it at that.
This isn’t to start an argument (because no one really wants to read pages of disagreement) but it is to add nuance when comparing the Mac Pro (which is designed to be a professional workstation) on price to performance with a custom built PC that is largely derived of a mix of workstation and/or high end consumer parts. That’s the beauty of going Windows PC (if you will) in that you can pick and choose from a litany of parts... unfortunately there’s no way to currently have that option in a Mac OS X system that’s fully/natively supported system. Personally I’d prefer to pay the “Apple premium” on a less customized system that I prefer to use once and if they release the system I’m willing to pay for. I agree that the Mac Pro is overkill for the vast majority of pure photographers. An iMac or Mac Mini is likely a better option with the caveat that it limits future upgrade ability. The iMac Pro is great too but again it is limited in the ability to self upgrade. Hopefully Apple drops the iMac Pro and places a “non-Pro” Modular Mac that is based on consumer desktop Intel Core (or AMD Zen architecture since there’s some efficiency benefits to using AMD Zen based CPU’s with their RDNA based GPU’s) but then once would presumably lose Intel Quick Sync.