Recommend Configuration for a Mac Pro

I need to spec out a suitable Mac Pro for tethered shooting with a Hasselblad 16-shot digital back that creates 500MB image files. Does anyone have any recommendation?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148134
2 7.2k drives in RAID-0 will probably give you the most bang for the buck. that's 1.5 TB for a working volume, or a little less than 3,000 photos at 500MB a piece.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136012
2 of these 10k drives in RAID-0 is actually a little bit cheaper, would have higher transfer rates, and would give you about 300 GB, or a little less than 600 photos.
now here is the real question... how important is it to not have to reshoot... or is the luxury of a faster transfer worth the repercussions of a hard drive failure? there is a compelling reason to actually put these drives in as RAID-1 instead, which would reduce the perormance somewhat, and decrease the storage by half. so that would be 1,500 photos or 300 photos for each of the examples above.
when i think workstation, I generally thing of the local drives being "scratch volumes" where any data loss is not critical because the main repository is a DAS or NAS server/RAID. here, it is a bit different, because until data is offloaded, it is vulnerable to loss due to hardware failure.

Similar Messages

  • "Best" configuration for new Mac Pro used for Aperture?

    I'm getting ready to order a new Mac Pro and would like to configure it to optimize Aperture performance.
    On CPUs - I have found no benchmarks which show whether Aperture would benefit from 2 quad core processors versus 1. Does anyone know of any benchmarks or have any experience using a single quad core? I don't want to spend $500 on a 2nd processor if Aperture can't use it.
    On Graphics cards - I was sold on the GForce 8800, due to it's supposed blazing speed for gaming and it's larger on board memory. However, after reading the following review http://www.barefeats.com/harper10.html , these guys seem to imply that applications such as Aperture actually run faster with the standard Radeon 2600 video card! If anyone has any experience or opinions on this review, I'd love to hear them!
    On memory - I know from experience that Aperture will use all of the physical memory you make available to it. I plan on ordering the standard 2GB from Apple, then adding 8GB from 3rd party for total of 10MB.
    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    I can only say that when faced with the same decision last month, I went with a 2.8 8-core/8800GT/10gb RAM/library stored on 2nd internal drive setup and am completely satisfied with Aperture's speed. Beyond satisfied, really, borderline thrilled to be honest. No beach balls, perfectly responsive adjustment sliders, smooth and quick scrolling through images (even with Quick Preview mode turned off). Aperture 2 definitely takes advantage of all 8 cores - I have MenuMeters installed and can watch its CPU usage across all 8 cores. Exporting, for example, is fast and uses all cores for background processing.
    I have seen a couple small anomalies though...when moving photos around in a light table, I get some odd flashing artifacts on the right side of screen that could be graphics card related. Visually annoying but it doesn't affect performance. I'm also seeing some weird behavior with keywords not appearing in Tooltips and in the Viewer, but it's intermittent and is most likely a software bug and not my hardware setup.

  • RAID setup for a Mac Pro

    I'm trying to figure out what would be the best configuration for my Mac Pro tower as far as storage and backup is concerned. I want a RAID drive with hot swappable slots but I'm not sure what the best solution is. Apple's SAN and xServe seem far too sophisticated for my needs (not to mention pricey). I bought a Norco DS-500B eSATA RAID storage array but the RAID controller card is a PCI-X and incompatible with my machine (although the documentation says it's totally compatible...weird). And so in my investigation as to what card to get to replace the one provided, I couldn't find any reviews on this product, save one which said that the array is very bad and will destroy all your hard drives. Sooo...I'm returning the array in search of a new one, but again my investigation has turned up very little. Am I the only one? Or am I out of touch with the real solution?

    What's missing in your post is two of the most important elements.
    How much storage do you need?
    There is a myriad of options if you want 2-5TB of space. Not so many if you want 2-5 petabytes of space
    How much are you prepared to spend?
    You have many, many options at $100,000, but no so many at $100
    The other thing to consider is that by and large, price reflects quality - either in reliability or performance (or both).
    If your budget is, say, $2000 you have to decide whether you're better off buying a budget 5TB system or a pro 2TB system - the latter system clearly has less capacity but may offer higher performance and/or reliability. Any RAID system is only as good as all the parts, and the physical drives are only a small element there. The controller, internal electronics, cabling and even interface can have just as much impact on a reliable RAID system (almost any RAID system can recover from a failed disk, but a burned-out controller is harder to recover from).

  • What is a recommended internal hard drive for a Mac Pro 1,1 (2006)?

    What is a recommended internal hard drive for a Mac Pro 1,1 (2006) model? I would like to
    add more hard drive space by utilizing the three available slots. However, from my understanding,
    Apple does not produce hard drives for my older computer so I'll need to turn to a third party.

    You are very much over-due for some new larger more efficient drives.
    the most common best approach goes something like this....
    SSD 120GB for system
    WD Black 1-2TB for data (and  put all your data and media files, all your home account sub-folders)
    Backup. I use WD Green but use what you want. I have a small boot volume, TimeMachine, and 3rd that is a clone image of the boot drive volume.
    Very fond of WD 10K VelociRaptor drives. Not much louder now than the WD Black 2TB, $100-200 for 250GB to 1TB.
    You can use any size SATA 3.5" drive, most now are 1TB and up to 4TB.
    You should have always bought Amazon or Newegg or outside of Apple, Apple can often charge 3x what those places charge.
    Probably want to add or replace FBDIMMs you have, these are excellent and price in the last year has fallen.
    2x2GB FBDIMM DDR2 667MHz @ $29
    http://www.amazon.com/BUFFERED-PC2-5300-FB-DIMM-APPLE-Memory/dp/B002ORUUAC/
    WD Black 1TB $93
    http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Internal-Desktop/dp/B0036Q7MV0/
    WD Green 3TB $149 - backup
    http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Green-Desktop/dp/B004RORMF6/
    WD VR 10K 250GB $103 200MB/sec boot drive :
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007V5A1BK/
    Those last and last and make a nice boot drive.
    SSD: Samsung 840 128GB
    http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series-120GB-internal-MZ-7TD120BW/dp/B009NHAF06/
    Over-due to upgrade and replace the graphic card most likely it sounds like also:
    ATI Radeon 5770
    http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC742ZM/A
    http://www.amazon.com/Apple-ATI-Radeon-5770-MC742ZM/dp/B003Z6QH6M
    http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/726537-REG/Apple_MC742ZM_A_ATI_Radeon_HD_5 770.html
    Your OEM 7300GT isn't helping now and with Lion or the X1900 dust magnet and out of date too. If you have a functional 8800GT still working you are lucky and no need.

  • Power consumption for latest mac pros?

    I read on Apple.com somewhere that the 2008 Mac pro's maximum power consumption is 260+ Watts for a Quad-core. How different is it for the new Mac pros?

    I guess English is a lost language now.
    For the Mac Pro it is really really simple and based on 7 yrs of PowerMac G5s and then Mac Pro owners: 1500VA - you can get by with slightly smaller 1300VA and some people, because of better build, used SMART UPS 1000VA.
    And as I said in another thread, the Mac Pro 'suffers' from inrush current that can knock out smaller UPS, and people that have tried to use 500-900VA units got into a lot of trouble and had to upgrade.
    No one can know the total system watts used other than use a KILLAWATT on the power cord.
    Look at the case, can an iMac dispel as much heat as easily? no. It is designed for lower power and much fewer components.
    Core i7 has HyperTransport and Turbo boost for one thing. Apple had a huge coding problem with audio (incl iTunes and others), flash and Nehalem based systems. High cpu temperature and lost processor cycles and performance.
    The 2010 Mac Pro can do more for the same, and DDR3 lowered heat and watts noticeably.
    There are sites where you can plug in various components and get an idea of how large a PSU would be needed. Try one of those, too. PSU efficiency, and there is "overhead" needed for the motherboard chips and to run PCI Express for graphics, Firewire, etc. It all adds up.
    Apple's example is low-end system configuration, the chart says CPU MAX, not SYSTEM (but then, most everything on hardware requirements lately needs a grain of salt).
    Quad-core 2.66GHz configuration:
    One 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Nehalem" 3500 series processor,
    3GB memory (three 1GB 1066MHz DDR3 ECC DIMMs),
    640 GB Serial ATA 3 Gb/s 7200-rpm hard drive,
    18x double-layer SuperDrive,
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB of GDDR3 memory
    APC we know, whether PowerMac 2.0DP from 2003 or Quad G5, or Mac Pro, that 1500VA is strongly recommended.

  • How do I use Airport Extreme to act as a wireless receiver for a Mac Pro?

    Hello -
    I'm trying to use an Airport Extreme (1st Generation) as a wireless receiver for a Mac Pro but I can't figure out how.  My main modem / wireless router (non-Apple) is upstairs.  My Mac Pro is down stairs.  I'm looking to get internet connection for that Mac Pro downstairs.  Is it possible to use the Airport Extreme to connect the Mac Pro to the wireless internet provided by my wireless router?
    Thanks for the help.
    Nathan

    Is it possible to use the Airport Extreme to connect the Mac Pro to the wireless internet provided by my wireless router?
    Unfortunately, Apple designed their routers to work with other Apple routers. It would be extremely unilikely that the AirPort Exteme could be configured to work with a router from another manufacturer.
    The AirPort Extreme would need to be configured to "Extend a wireless network", but an error message is almost surely to occur when you try this.
    There are other alternatives, but they would involve more hardware. Post back if you are interested.

  • How can I configure my new Mac Pro to output the timeline via HDMI

    How can I configure my new Mac Pro to output the timeline in FCP 7 (yes, I have X, but I'm using 7 right now). I have two monitors running from TB2, but want to have the third for a client monitor.
    If I use all three via TB2, it's literally three monitors, and I want to edit on my CineDisplay. I only want the client to see the timeline video on the third monitor. When I hook up HDMI I get no signal, in fact, I can't have the HDMI cable hooked up for TB2 to work with the third.
    Thanks,
    GEvans
    DarthPro
    3.7 QCIntelXeonE5
    12 GB
    AMD FirePro dual D300 2048MB
    OSX 10.9.2

    If you use all ThunderBolt displays, or stick with DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort (free conversion between the two with only a cheap cable) you can have up to six displays.
    If you attach "legacy" displays with "any-old adapter", you can have up to two, and the built-in HDMI counts as one if you use it.
    Any more requires ACTIVE Adapters.
    The US$100 Apple ACTIVE Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapter works in every case, even displays over 1920 wide.
    StarTech and Accell make US$35 ACTIVE adpters that work for displays up to 1920 wide.

  • Internal Hard Drives for Apple Mac Pro

    Hello there,
    Does any one have some advice on the following internal HDs. I am in Germany and this is what I have found that I am interested in. I just don't know if they all are for Apple Mac Pro because the provider doesn't specify.
    1) HD 1000GB Western Digital RE2 GP, SATA, intern, 3,5'', 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, RoHS compliant, 5 years warranty (not bad eh?) = 139,00 €
    2) HD 1000GB Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ SATA intern 7200rpm 32MB Cache 8,9ms: 109,00 €
    3) HD Seagate Barracuda ES.2, 1000GB, SAS, intern, 3,5'', 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 8,5ms, 5 years warranty: 214,00 €
    Any bad experience with Wester Digital? Or recommendations for internal hard drives, they are greatly appreciated!
    I was wondering too, does it affect the hard drive, that the bigger it is the shorter it will live? I love having 1T, and I already got 2T EXTERNALS from WesternDigital. But I am certainly concerned that the bigger they get, the more chances to fail the might have. Does this make sense?
    I am also a little doubtful about internals, they seem to fail faster than the externals, is this true in most cases?
    I just want to have the capability of storing my Aperture Library in an internal HD, for easy access and all the images on an external drive.
    Thank you for the advice!!
    Cheers!
    E.

    http://www.barefeats.com/hard94.html
    I would get WD Black, Hitachi (latest, not their earlier model) or Seagate (no need to spend on ES).
    WD has been excellent in Mac Pro, I just would skip on GP.
    I only had one drive with 4 bad blocks in 20 WD drives.
    Personally, I would get 4 x 640GB WD Caviar drives for internal. They are fast, quiet, and run cool. And sells for US$80.
    http://www.wdc.com/th/products/products.asp?driveid=394
    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Western%20Digital/WD6400AAKS/
    http://www.barefeats.com/harper14.html

  • Shall i buy anti virus software for my MAC pro lion

    Do I need to install anti-virus software for my Mac pro?

    You do not need any anti-virus for a Mac.
    Do not download any software from the web to protect your Mac.
    Apple releases updates that will offer all the protection a Mac needs.
    Keep the software updated.
    Many in this community use ClamXav and recommend using it.
    Best.

  • Do i need a antivirus for my mac pro?

    do i need a antivirus for my mac pro?

    do i need a antivirus for my mac pro?
    At this time, you do not need it. There are ways that your Mac can get infected, but anti-virus software will not necessarily protect you, and certainly won't protect you better than other measures you could take instead. When it comes to anti-virus software, you have to balance the benefit of an added layer of security against the liklihood of problems caused by running anti-virus software, and have to also consider the effectiveness of the anti-virus software. See my Mac Malware Guide for more details. If, after reading that, you decide that you would like to use anti-virus software as an added layer of security, use one of the programs it recommends.

  • Configuring a New Mac Pro

    Hi, pro users! This is technically a bit off-topic, but this still seems like the right forum for my question. I have a dual-G5 Power Mac and am thinking about upgrading to a Mac Pro before Apple starts reducing the FireWire support on that one, too. The most demanding things I use are Mathematica, Aperture (with a very large library) and Logic Studio. I am interested in the opinions of you experienced users in three areas:
    1) Processors - I will get eight cores. Is it really worth $4/MHz to get the 3.0 or 3.2 GHz machines? More precisely, will most things run at a speed that is proportional to the nominal clock rate - or do other limitations reduce the advantage?
    2) RAM - I am getting by with 4.5 GB on my G5. It is not enough - particularly with Aperture, I sometimes fill it up. Should I order 8GB from Apple? Should I order the minimum from Apple, throw it away and replace it with Crucial??
    3) Graphics card. I am running a single 23" display now. I don't foresee using more than one 30" display, or maybe 2 23"s. I'm not a gamer, although I might try X-Plane some day. I know that Aperture performance benefits from a good graphics card - when I upgraded the one in my G5, it helped a lot...
    Thank you for your help and long live FireWire!

    Stephen, here's my thoughts:
    1) Processors> Yes, you will see some difference by going with the faster machine. I can't, tell you whether or not it would be worth the extra price, as this is a determination that you'll have to make. If you are using the machine in a commercial environment, i.e. you make your living off the work you do with it, and time being money in such a situation, it may be worth the price difference. The 3.0GHz machine may be a nice compromise if you're not comfortable plunking down an extra $1600 for the 3.2GHz machine.
    2) Memory> 8GB of RAM from Apple will set you back $1500. For $1595 at [OWC|http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Mac-Pro-Memory], you can get 32GB of RAM or for the same 8GB you were suggesting, you would pay either $260 or $400 depending on whether you selected 2GB or 4GB modules. I've ordered RAM for my Mac Pro from OWC and have never had an issue with it. They are a very reputable company and I believe that their RAM is covered by a lifetime warranty. All of the RAM in all of my Macs comes from OWC and I've never had one issue with them. I can wholeheartedly recommend them. And yes, more RAM is generally better....
    3) Graphics> I don't know exactly what your graphics processing needs are, but I doubt that you probably need the $2850 Quadro FX 5600. For me, anyway, the extra performance of the GeForce 8800GT at such a modest price of $150 is a no-brainer...

  • SSDs for 2008 Mac Pro

    I'm thinking about buying an SSD for my Mac Pro (see specs in my signature), any recommendations?  I've been a big fan of products from OWC in the past, so I'm considering their Mercury line.  On the other hand, Crucial drives are a bit cheaper (especially on Amazon).  Question: would there be any point in my getting an M4 from Crucial rather than a V4?  My understanding is that the primary difference is the 6gb/s vs. 3gb/s transfer rates, but that my Mac Pro can only handle 3gb/s anyway.
    I'm still on Snow Leopard for now, but I'm looking into whether or not Mountain Lion will be a worthwhile upgrade for me--still not sure about compatibility of certain key apps in my workflow.

    The main improvement in performance in a Mac Pro is establishing a boot drive with only System, Library, Applications and the hidden Unix files including paging/swap.
    The bulk of the performance increase is not from the speed of the Boot Drive, but from what it is NOT doing -- it is not moving the Data Drive heads away from your data files to go "snacking" for system files or Paging in the middle of your production work. At a cost of tens of milliseconds for every access plus that much time again to get back to the Data areas.
    ANY separate drive will produce the majority of  the improvement.
    A faster drive will produce a slight incremental improvement. A low-latency SSD will produce another slight incremental improvement. These incremental improvements will be most perceptible in a very slightly faster boot-up time and very slightly faster Application launch times.
    You are concentrating on the absolute LEAST important issues, that will have the smallest, possibly not even perceptible performance impacts.
    My Advice: Get a Boot Drive that is cheap and live happily ever after.

  • Better for gaming: Mac Pro or 24-inch iMac?

    Well, I was already considering a Mac Pro since after I got my G5 iMac I started playing games like WoW and Sims 2 that really push the graphics card to its limit (especially the Sims).
    Considering that the iMac setup I want (2.33 GHz, 2GB RAM, 7600GT card) would cost me $2500 before tax, and that I would still have to buy a separate monitor for the Mac Pro, which is the better deal? Is the 7600GT better enough than my current FX5200 that I won't feel the need to upgrade the graphics card in six months?
    I'm not one of those that always gets the latest and greatest, but I've been mulling over an Intel Mac purchase for a while now, and I need some help with this decision.
    20-inch iMac G5; black iPod nano   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

    Hello,
    I'm sorry, but I believe that an Intel Core 2 Duo is
    much faster than the MacPro's processors. Having 4
    processors does not mean that the machine will be
    faster.
    Also, please note that the MacPro and iMac both have
    different processors from a different family. Tha
    MacPro's processors are designed for servers and
    multi-tasking. Playing games is not multi-tasking.
    Also, most high-end Windows XP machines have Intel
    Core 2 Duo processors in them rather than the
    processors that the Mac Pro has.
    Sure, the MacPro can be upgraded but there is only a
    limited number of hardware that can be put into a
    Mac. With Apple, you probably won't need to
    upgrade... atleast for 4 or 5 years, depending on
    one's usage.
    Please consider this,
    Robert
    I'm sorry, but you are very mistaken. The processors in the iMac are low-power (i.e. laptop) version of those found in the Mac Pro's. The Mac Pro's processors are even faster than the iMac, and not because there is more cores. The Mac Pro is powered by Core 2 Extreme processors, while the iMac is powered by a Core 2 Duo. Intel even quotes the Core 2 Extreme to be "the world's best gaming processor". So the Mac Pro is no doubt more powerful, but since we talking games here, the 2nd processor (3rd and 4th cores) won't get used. A wast of money to get them IMHO. So my recommendation is get the iMac with a 7600GT and 2GB of RAM (or more).
    Further reading on the subject:
    Intel's Core 2 Extreme (aka Xeon): http://www.intel.com/products/processor/core2XE/index.htm
    Intel's Core 2 Duo (aka Merom): http://www.intel.com/products/processor/core2duo/index.htm
    iMac 1.83Ghz, 1.5GB RAM (Jan 2006)   Mac OS X (10.4.7)  

  • 4K Monitor and Display card for a Mac Pro 2012.

    I am looking for a 4K monitor and a Display Card for my Mac Pro 2012. Do you guys recommend any that is presently available in market?

    <http://store.apple.com/us/product/HA959LL/A/nvidia-quadro-k5000-gpu-for-mac>

  • Can an iMac be used as a monitor for a Mac Pro?

    Hi all,
    I'm getting nowhere looking in the search, so I'm hoping someone can clear something up for me:
    is it possible to use an iMac as a display for a Mac Pro?
    I am beginning to think I'd better get a Mac Pro, but I already have an iMac, for which I've been researching getting external storage so I can do Final Cut Studio editing and back up of it all... as someone suggested, might be better in the long run to just get it all in the Mac Pro, and have the option and simplicity to upgrade as and when... but then there's the need for a display for the Mac Pro, which does whack the price up... but if I could use this iMac, what a beautiful monitor...
    I thought someone said that Final Cut would not allow another computer to be attached though... is that the case, anyone know?
    Thanks for any knowledge and help, much appreciated... I'm learning to not rush into anything, as you learn more the whole picture seems to change!
    Cheers, Syd

    The current 27-inch iMac can. Other iMac models can't outside of a VNC setup or ScreenRecycler; all such solutions require a standalone monitor for setup and troubleshooting.
    (51433)

Maybe you are looking for