Questions about buying a new Mac Pro for 4k video editing.

Hi everyone,
I'm currently looking into buying a new mac pro and I have a few questions. I'm a filmmaker/freelance editor looking to get a system that can handle any/at least most 4k formats that I might throw at it, and will hopefully last me around 7 years or so, like my last mac pro has. I've saved up about $5,300 and am becoming more obsessed with getting it asap, but am willing to wait a bit and save up more if necessary. I also play the occasional elder scrolls or civilization game, and might run windows on the new system as well. So here are my questions:
1. I've read rumors that a newer build could be released this year, with newer processors and graphics cards. Is there anything to point to when? I tend to buy things a month before a newer version is released, and I'd like to prevent myself from doing it this time around..
Here's the Build I'm looking at:
6 core
2 D700s
base ram to be upgraded myself to 32Gb (2x16Gb cards leaving 2 slots empty to expand to 64Gb later)
512Gb-1Tb internal hd
2. Should I be considering the 8 core? I'm not too excited about the additional $1500, but I want a system that will last.
3. Is getting the two 16Gb chips of ram and leaving two slots empty a bad idea?
4. I currently work with FCP studio 2 and love it. Not sure whether to go with FCP X, or adobe. Any thoughts?
5. I'm not finding many deals for cheaper ram and hard drives. OWC's prices seem to be comparable to Mac's. I want to do the ram so I have room to upgrade to 64Gb later, but are there any hard drives out there that would make it worth upgrading it myself?
I appreciate any insights you might have. I plan on getting a decent raid and 4k monitor in the next year or so, but for now just want a base system that will keep me editing and will be ready for 4k when I take that next step.

The late 2013 Mc Pro uses Intel Xeon ECC processors (error correction), and as far as I know Intel has not announced any newer Intel Xeon processors than those in the late 2013 Mac Pro. I would not expect to see an update to the 2013 Mac Pro until the end of 2015 at the earliest and probably later than that.
If time is not an issue, then you should be quite happy with the 6 core 2013 Mac Pro. It will do an excellent job with 4K video footage. And, yes, I would suggest getting the best raid system you can afford. That is actually more important than processor speed since I/O is frequently the bottleneck when doing multi camera video or 4K video.
I have the latest version of Adobe's Premiere Pro 2014 CC installed on my late 2013 Mac Pro and i have used it a bit without problems. However, I find it much much slower to edit with than FCP X. Also be advised that if you Google you will find several individuals on the Adobe Forums who purchased the late 2013 Mac Pro and have not been able to use it with Premiere Pro CC because of either a hardware incompatibility or software issues between Premiere Pro CC and BMD's Resolve. It is quite possible that I have not experienced these problems because I have not made very demanding projects with Premiere Pro CC on my 2013 Mac Pro.
I strongly recommend FCP X. Apple released FCP X before it was ready, and many early users were unwilling to take the time to learn how to use this very different NLE which is not track based. Apple has over the last 3 years since FCP X was released, issued more than 10 updates (all free), and the program is stable and blazingly fast. I urge you to check out the FCP X training offered by Ripple Training and/or Larry Jordan. Both are inexpensive, and worth every cent. Watch their training videos and you will be up to speed in FCP X in no time at all, and you will wish you had switched a long time ago.
If you can afford the 1 TB of PCie internal flash storage on your Mac Pro, then by all means get it. For me 1TB is well worth the cost.
As far as editing 4K video, the format of the video will be important to the ease of editing. For example, I am able to edit in its native format (XVAC S) several streams of 4K video form my Sony FDR-AX100 with no problems. If I were editing Sony's XVAC format used in their professional 4K cameras, that might pose a problem that would require transcoding. Similarly for other 4K formats. XVAC S is an easy format to edit natively because it is essentially a high bit rate h.264 format.
Best of luck on whatever you decide to do, and happy editing.
Tom

Similar Messages

New Mac Pro for photography (raw edition).

Hi,
I want to buy the new Mac Pro in december for use as my main works station. I work mainly with Photoshop CS6 and Capture one, editing/retouching big amounts of RAW and TIFF files from Nikon and Hasselblad.
Im thinking in buy the 6 cores version with 16Gb or 32Gb if I get the money, (I think the 16Gb is the basic configuration for the six core and looks really good). Like this is a big investment for me, I was wondering if this will be the right configuration for my work. I am a photographer and an advanced retoucher. But I'm not sure if the 6 cores are really necessary for what I do (serious photo edition, fashion and publicity.). Maybe the 4 cores with 32Gb (or more) of Ram is just enough or... Maybe, its the 8 cores the right option.
This machine should last at least five years.
Any advice is welcome.
By the way, anyone knows how to solve the Eizo Colornavigator 6 compatibility with the OS X Mavericks issue?.
Thanks a lot!.
Cristóbal.

Hi FatMac and The hatter,
Thanks for yours suggestions, it's been very helpful!.
i'm using a MacBook Pro (6.2) 2.8GHz i7 8Gb Ram (not upgradable) and 500Gb SSD connected to an Eizo monitor. It does his job but lately having heavy overheating and slow down its performance in a notorius way. Its a good machine but is not made for serious editing.
Before that, I was using an imac 27 quad core 16Gb ram that I sold for get some money for the new Mac Pro.
This should be a notorious improvement for me.
Based on what you saying I think with the 6 cores at 32 Gb ram I will be ok. Im thinking on upgrade the Ram in the future. Probably the 8 cores will be too expensive for my budget and don't make a significant improvement for my work compared to the 6 cores.
Thank you very much for your advice and links!!.
Best,
C.

Questions about buying a new MacBook pro with SSD

Hello, I am about to buy a new MacBook pro. I'm going to get the 13 inch 2.8 dual core i7. I want a solid state drive also. I was going back and forth between the 128 gig or the 256 but I will probably get the 256. My computer will ship with lion but i am so confused about the TRIM support. Does lion take care of this? Dop I have to do anything like run a command or program to take care of TRIM? Also, are solid states reliable? Should I get apple care? ( i really don't want to. Lol)

I suggest you buy the notebook with the standard drive and the standard RAM, if you were thinking about upgrading the RAM.
You can replace the original drive with a SSD at a lower cost then what Apple charges You can also buy RAM for a MUCH lower price.
TRIM:
Lion only supports TRIM natively when used with a Apple SSD. BUT, REALLY BUT, You can enable TRIM support yourself on the SSD you install. I have a SSD in my MBP that I installed and I have enabled TRIM support on it.
Are SSDs reliable? As far as I can tell Yes they are. I have one in my Win 7 desktop PC for the last 9 months, No Problems. I have a SSD installed in my Dell Win 7 Notebook for the last 1.5 months, No Problems. I have a SSD installed in my MBP for the last month+, No problems. There are reports of SSDs failing but there are also report of standard hard drive failing all the time.
I used Intel 320 series SSDs in my 2 Windows PCs and a Kingston V200 SSD in my MBP. I switched to the Kingston because of the price and it runs on the higher SATA III bus speed, 6GB, where as the Intel 320 series only run at the 3GB speed, SATA II.

Buying the new Mac Pro

Hi there, I want to buy the new mac pro, I am a after effect user, need to know which graphic card to select, there is two option: 1-NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB four of them, or 2-ATI Radeon HD 4870 with 512MB of GDDR5 memory single one.
Thanks Edward.

true Andrew!!
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600XT (256 MB)
I have, works with AE CS4, basta.
no need for Photoshops' geeky eyedropping and GPU intense interface improvements.
anything else is pure hardware marketing insanity (not blaming Adobe directly, ok!?)
I think it's really time for a slowdown on new technology impacts and settle down to the key purposes and develop them. that would take a huge impact on operability, stability, exchange among other platforms.
this digital warfare must come to an end.
it kills creativity!
without creativity this planet will become dead...

About to buy a new Mac Pro

A few months ago I posted a very simlar question, but can't find it anymore.
I'm ready to purchase a new Mac Pro, now I have a 2008 8 Core 2.8GHz with 10 gig ram and was looking at the latest 8 core with a lesser speed of 2.4. GHz and cannot find a benchmark comparison of those two models. The closest I found was at Barefeat's site, where it show a chart with the difference of 6 seconds exporting 50 JPGs out of Aperture, 68 seconds on the new 8 core and 62 seconds on my 2008. My opinion is that the difference doesn't worth a $3,500 dollars purchase, unless there are numerous advantages I'm overlooking.
Another idea was to double the ram on mine and get a new video card, planing to keep my 2008 as a server in case I buy a new one.
Need advice and suggestions, making a decision this weekend before something else comes up and spend the money . As I said, purchasing a new one is not an issue, just want to make sure is worth it.

Mac Pro 2009 and later have Multi-Threading and improved memory, so their specs for compute power are near double what 2008 and previous models were:
Primate Labs has posted Geekbench results for all the Mac Pro models since 2006. Here are some of the numbers in 32-bi/64-bit modes:
2.0 GHz 4-core 2006, 4011/4445
2.66 GHz 4-core 2006, 5178/5865
2.8 GHz 4-core 2008, 5650/6456
3.0 GHz 4-core 2006, 5768/6567
2.66 GHz 4-core 2009, 8265/9226
2.8 GHz 4-core 2010, 8629/9723
2.93 GHz 4-core 2009, 9072/10072
2.8 GHz 8-core 2008, 9105/10523
3.0 GHz 8-core 2007, 9172/10783
3.0 GHz 8-core 2008, 9460/11153
3.2 GHz 4-core 2010, 9829/10279
3.33 GHz 4-core 2009, x/11475
3.2 GHz 8-core 2008, 10108/11807
3.33 GHz 8-core 2009, 10304/11476
2.26 GHz 8-core 2009, 11831/13323
2.4 GHz 8-core 2010, 12722/14083
3.33 GHz 6-core 2010, 14049/15781
2.66 GHz 8-core 2009, 14330/16034
2.93 GHz 8-core 2009, 15529/17608
2.66 GHz 12-core 2010, 20226/22733
2.93 GHz 12-core 2010, 21661/24333
from: http://www.lowendmac.com/deals/best-mac-pro-prices.html
This chart shows that to EQUAL what you have now, buy a 2.93GHz FOUR-Core 2009 or later.
The real "sweet spot" in the current offerings is the six-core at only 1.5 times the entry models instead of 2x or 3x. (It's a build-to-order of the four-core.)
In case of a tie, always choose more MegaHertz over more processors.

Buying a new mac pro, new things to consider?

Hello all,
Below is the question I posted in may along with someone's response. I'm wondering if I should still go with the response I received considering the new release of the mac pro 12 core. Did anything change that I need to note in my purchase or is the below response suitable? THANKS!!!!!
my question:
I need some help in choosing the right specs for my mac pro. I am looking for a computer that will help me in running my small business and keep my art portfolio organized. I'll probably be running several programs at a time (ex. mozilla, itunes, adobe bridge, dreamweaver, illustrator, and photoshop). More specifics below
What i'll be using it for:
building a few websites
managing my small business
large photo file editing
keeping business files, artist receipts, etc
cataloging my art portfolio (large photo files)
storing photos, music, and short videos
graphic design
infrequent film editing
infrequent sound editing
what programs i'll be using:
CS5 (mostly photoshop, illustrator, bridge, dreamweaver)
iphoto
itunes
maybe minimal finalcut/soundtrack pro
maybe minimal aftereffects
Advice?
My concerns are that it needs to run pretty smoothly with multiple programs open, no overheating, plenty of space for file storage and application support.
Hello washleyill,
My advice would be to buy the standard configuration 2.66GHz Quad Core (i.e. 3 x 1GB RAM, 640GB hard drive) from the Apple store, with the exception of the graphics card which you can buy as a CTO option for $200.00. It is well worth the upgrade from the GT120 - I know, because I upgraded myself last November after using a GT120 for 4 months.
With regard to the memory, if you can afford it now, buy 4 x 4GB from OWC now. If not, I would suggest that you buy 2 x 4GB now, and then add another 2 x 4GB in the future. 16GB of RAM is a much better option than 8GB for your requirements. You can sell the 3 x 1GB RAM to OWC in "part exchange", and there would be little difference in price for 2 x 4GB to the CTO option of 4 x 2GB.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Mac-Pro-Memory#1066-memory
Instead of buying 2 x 1TB hard drives as a CTO option, you could purchase 2 x 1.5TB or 2 x 2TB HDDs for less money, and you would still have the 640GB. Spare drives are always useful. I use my original 640GB as a spare emergency system boot drive (OS and applications) in an external enclosure.
Another alternative is to wait a few more weeks, in case the rumours of the introduction of a new Mac Pro range in June have any foundation.
Regards,
Bill

Interesting questions you have posed here.
I am thinking about upgrading from my MB to a MBP and I too intend to run a similar set of programs, and with large RAW photo files in Aperture. I find my MB is struggling and I dont want to invest any money in upgrading it, I will use it as a back up. I like the MBP and the 13" screen version is so handy and portable.
Have you made your decision yet...or are you still sitting on the fence like myself..?
Regards
Paul

Should I buy a new Mac Pro or an iMac?

Hi,
I co-run a video production company in the UK. We have an old 2009 iMac, a MacBook Pro from 2010/11 ish, and a PC all used for video editing, and some other intensive apps like Photoshop and Adobe After Effects.
We're about to spend some money on either a fully specced 2013 iMac or a new Mac Pro. The mac Pro we'd be able to afford would be £1500 more than the iMac (which includes purchasing an external display, mouse and keyboard - all of which an iMac obviously already includes so the price comparison is valid).
The Mac Pro would be a 3.7 quad-core processor, 256ssd, 12gig ram - which I would then upgrade to 64gig (somewhere else for financial reasons) and finally Dual AMD GPUs with 3gig of ram each. That's all we can afford unfortunately!
The iMac would be a 3.5 quad core, 1TB fusion drive, and 8gig of ram that I would then max out externally to 32gig, and finally NVidia Geforce 4gig GPU.
Either one we buy we'd get Applecare.
Any suggestions as to which would be better to purchase? Our difficulty comes with the fact that we don't have an awful lot of cash to spare, and we also have other things we'd like to invest in (building improvements etc). The guys who work at the company are naturally leaning towards the Mac Pro, as was I intially, but my job is also to spend our money as wisely as possible, so I'd like some advice on whether the Mac Pro is worth spending that extra £1500 on.
Obviously I understand the Mac Pro will be faster generally speaking, but will it really make a big difference when using Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects and Photoshop? Or is a fully specced iMac going to be just as good?
Also what other advantages, other than just speed, would a Mac Pro bring?
Cheers in advance,
Phil

One question to ask yourself is how long you need this machine to do these tasks and what future programs/tasks will you need?
While both machines can handle everything you mentioned now, the MAc Pro will be faster now, and easier to expand in the future. The iMac will simply not be as cost effective long term. If however your needs wont change or you don't plan to use the machine more than 3-4 years, the iMac is going to get the job done and of course be much cheaper.

Buying a new Mac Pro

Hello,
After many happy years with my G4 and using my MacBook Pro for higher end editing I am finally getting around to replacing the G4 with a brand new Mac Pro.
It will be used manly for video editing so I will get the best model available.
Here is my questions.
1. Does anyone know when the next best thing, so to speak, will be released by mac? If I buy the Two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, will a better one be released soon after.
2. Does anyone know a good graphic card for video editing? I have been cutting HD projects but have never really been techy enough to know how to configure to get the best out of a computer.
3. Is it worth filling all the drive space with drives and RAIDing them up.
4. Is there anything else I maybe forgetting?

1. Does anyone know when the next best thing, so to speak, will be released by mac? If I buy the Two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, will a better one be released soon after.
Only Apple knows the answer to this question. We have no insights or information on what new products/software Apple may introduce in the future.
2. Does anyone know a good graphic card for video editing? I have been cutting HD projects but have never really been techy enough to know how to configure to get the best out of a computer.
There are presently only three video cards from which you can choose. All are generally more than adequate for video editing. If high speed video is a must then you should upgrade to the ATI X1900 card.
3. Is it worth filling all the drive space with drives and RAIDing them up.
Only if you need the storage space. However, you will find it is cheaper to buy additional drives third-party than have them pre-installed at purchase. You might consider reading this article to learn more about RAIDs.
4. Is there anything else I maybe forgetting?
Only you know.

Help with buying a new Mac Pro

Hi all,
I'm currently in the market for a new Mac Pro, as I seem to be stretching the boundaries of what my MBP can do in a reasonable amount of time. After reading these forums for a while, I still have some questions/concerns about my needs that I hope someone can answer.
I will be using the Mac Pro for web development (CS4 and CS5 down the road), video editing on FCE, and possibly audio work in the future. I'm about to graduate college and am still somewhat unsure if I will be using more powerful software in the immediate future. One other thing, I tend to have a bunch of apps open at once (Mail, Safari, FF, VMWare, MSOffice, iCal, etc.), and I don't want to have to close them all out to get decent speeds when rendering video. I currently don't use any "Pro" apps (FCP/LogicPro), but I haven't ruled them out for future use.
Would I be better suited with the 2.66 Quad (possibly 2.93) or with a 2.26 Octo? I'm concerned the Quad would have a much shorter life with the 4 RAM slot limitation, but paying for the Octo and leaving a bunch of cores idle would not be ideal either. I'm planning on buying before SL release, because I want to be able to install it on my own terms.
Any input appreciated,
Ty

I think the quad has a lot of potential and even with 'only' 16GB RAM (4 x 4GB) you shouldn't be hurting.
Nothing you listed should be a significant bottleneck. And if that day comes, there will be equally more powerful bass level systems.
Most of the non-intense apps will only use a small small fraction of your resources. The 2.66 is nice and will throttle up or down as needed, and just surfing etc run @ 1.6GHz. iTunes for now is 'out of control' and buggy.
Q: you want to buy now also to use your student discount I assume.
Check these Store Specials for price / config
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/mac_pro

General questions on buying a new Mac...

hey guys, i am looking to buy a new mac in the next year or so. i currently have the powerbook g4 from when i went to school and its running very slow these days and i couldnt upgrade past leopard because of the processor. anyways, im wondering what you guys think as far as laptops go, im not very savy when it comes to this stuff but it seems the macbook pro is the best of the best when it comes to laptops, especially as far as apple goes.
one of my main questions is about how far this laptop will take me, i was very upset about my powerbook not being able to go further than the leopard upgrade. does apple offer anything as far as being able to upgrade for x amount of years? its an expensive piece of equipment and im just wondering what the life expectancy is for something thats $2,500 lol. is apple planning on unveiling a new macbook pro with an even newer processor that is gonna outdate the current intel based?
would i be better off buying the computer tower and monitor that way i can replace things if they get outdated? i have no experience in that but i have heard that when it comes to upgrading a laptop its near impossible compared to a tower that you can open up and change things out?
what do you guys think? any tips would be great, im kinda torn because of the money and i wanna make sure im making the best investment i can and one that will last me as long as it possibly can. like i said guys, im not up to date with tech news so if you guys can help me out i would appreciate it.
thanks again

gconley wrote:
im wondering what you guys think as far as laptops go,
Well there has been some changes, Intel processors with integrated graphics that are lousy in performance (scores only 11) and no dedicated video cards.
So watch out the MBP your buying (usually the 13") doesn't have "only Intel HD 3000 graphics" or it will be hot and lousy at 3D games.
The higher end 15" or 17" antiglare screens are your best options for longer use and performance (can 3D game online for about 1.5 years before a upgrade hobbles you) Score 35-45 on Cinebench, as they also have a dedicated video card and you can turn off Graphics Switching in Energy Saver to run off the video card all the time. (nice)
seems the macbook pro is the best of the best when it comes to laptops, especially as far as apple goes.
It's all that Apple carries now, no more MacBooks, unless you want to count the 13" MBP as a MacBook which it's more like that than a "Pro" machine.
I'd advise the anti-glare screen option on the 15", so you can see the screen anywhere like your present machine. The new ones with nicer looking glossy screens are a pain to use, may hurt your eyes, headaches etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X0wo6dIsMU
one of my main questions is about how far this laptop will take me
MacBook Pro's now are lasting about 4 years with about daily use with care, lesser of course with no care.
AppleCare is a must, so figure another 10% for that and tax. $100 case and a $100 external drive for backup (you really need two)
does apple offer anything as far as being able to upgrade for x amount of years?
No, you have to buy each new OS X version and upgrade all your third party software and go through lots of pains doing so.
I can give you this expereince, your good to upgrade the OS 2x, after that you should stop.
10.8 is being released this summer, I would wait a few months afterwards when it comes on new hardware, you will be glad you did. 10.7 is not working out right, 10.8 is going to fix things we hope.
its an expensive piece of equipment and im just wondering what the life expectancy is for something thats $2,500 lol.
4 years, $700 a year.
is apple planning on unveiling a new macbook pro with an even newer processor that is gonna outdate the current intel based?
We cant' speculate on future Apple hardware, but I gave my advice about 10.8 above.
would i be better off buying the computer tower and monitor that way i can replace things if they get outdated?
Yes that would be a much more cost effective method, however this is the problem.
You would have to buy the MacPro Tower and you could change the hard drives, RAM and monitor, but you can't get any video card upgrades for them.
Once your three year AppleCare ran out and your video card died, your bummed. So much for that plan.
Also Apple has increased their OS X release cycle (like because 10.7 was so bad) but you don't get security updates unless your on the last two operating systems in circulation.
So your 10.4 and 10.5 machines are currently insecure online, and 10.6 will also be when 10.8 is released this summer. So Apple gets you to force upgrade that way.
what do you guys think? any tips would be great, im kinda torn because of the money and i wanna make sure im making the best investment i can and one that will last me as long as it possibly can.
I'll give you my honest opinion being a lifelong Mac user.
Get a Windows 7 64 bit 3D gaming tower, 4GB of RAM expandable to 8GB or even 16GB and a decent power supply.
Why?
1: Because Microsoft supports their OS version for 10 years with security and stability updates.
2: Because you can get video card upgrades as well as hard drives, optical drives, RAM and external devices like monitors etc.
3: You'll have more software to choose from, and especially 3D games.
4: Microsoft provides free Security Essentials anti-malware,
5: When you get the machine, you make System Restore Images, DVD's and boot disks to restore your own system pre-malware and immedialty Windows Update and make new ones.
Case in point, my friends XP Tower has lasted him 10 years, he paid $1200 for it new, for $120 a year.
Sure he's had the OS replaced a few times, I've done it for dinner once or twice. Others did it for a case of beer. Cant't beat that!
In the last 10 years with Apple I have spent over $9,000 in their hardware for 3 computers that I've used myself, in fact I'm looking at my dead 4 year old 15" MBP right now which the video card failed a few months outside the 4 year recall notice.
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377
That's $900 a year and 2 of them are laptops, one was the PowerMac G5 that Apple decided they were not going to support the 10.5 OS anymore so it made a bad decision to keep it, despite it being almost as powerful as most Mac laptops today. I could have kept that one, but with no OS X support, what can I do?
So if you toss $1600 into a 3D gaming tower, that's $160 a year verses $700 a year with the MBP AND you can upgrade it. You can replace the video card or hard drive or anything else that fails! Not so with a Mac.
http://www.cbscores.com/index.php?sort=ogl&order=desc
Let's face it, you and quite possible me now, are in not Apple's target market anymore, you need to save money and Apple no longer offers any longterm value like they used to.
Microsoft has fixed Windows with Win 7, it's not that bad actually provided you get a good machine and a decent quality monitor. The security of Windows 7 is better than OS X now and on top of that, you can reinstall the entire boot drive yourself easily if you make advanced preparations.
Also Win 7 doesn't look as bad as before, the Aero glass is pretty neat. It's made a lof of Windows users happy. Still though OS X is a much nicer OS that Windows, but the thing with Windows, it stays the same. Apple changes OS X almost constantly, 10.7 last summer, 10.8 this summer!!!
So I know this is going against everything my avatar is, but I don't want you to throw your money away if you really need to hold on to it.
I know times are not good, Apple has billions upon billions they don't need your money. Save your money and get what you need that just does the job.
I don't drive around wreacking $200,000 sports cars and I don't expect you too neither.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

About to purchase new Mac Pro - Need Advice

I am about to purchase a new mac pro and have some questions
I am planning to use final cut pro as well as Edius on Boot Camp.
I intend to edit footage in HDV from a sony Z1 and also from the new sony - pmw -ex3 which i will be planning to edit in HD and 24p.
1) the default config for the mac pro is dual 2.8.ghz processors, what advantage gain will i get i upgrade to 3.0 or 3.2, is the extra power worth the money? will this give me more real-time editing
How many layers of HD 1920 x 1080 from the sony pmw-ex3, will i be able to edit in FCP 6.0 without any problems? would you advise more ram
2) i prefer to work from RAID 5 drives and keep system drive separate, this is how i have worked on in PC/Windows environment. Can anyone confirm if i can have one JBOD drive for the system and 3 drives configured as a RAID 5 drive?
Will i be able to use a boot to run windows and also be able to use the RAID 5 drive on windows side?
3) Is anyone using the 3ware RAID 5 side car? what is experienece is this compatible on the windows partition from boot camp
4) How will i be able to preview HD footage?
5) Do i need to invest in a better Graphics
Thanks in advance

Hi,
Here are a few answers.
1. The Mac Pro 2.8 GHz model performs so well that it is difficult to justify paying 28% more for 7% of additional processor power in the case of the Mac Pro 3.0 GHz or 56% more for 14% additional processor power with the Mac Pro 3.2 GHz model. You might see a small 5-10% increase in performance when compressing video with the 3.2GHz model but it certainly would not be worth paying 50% more to me. In addition, Amazon has the 2.8 on sale for $2599 after an easy rebate:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000VR4F2Q/arizomacinusergr
That is a $200 savings off the retail price.
2. If you want to use boot camp I would NOT recommend the Apple RAID card. Boot camp does not work with this card which leaves you wondering why you bought the card and how to get around this HUGE limitation. Instead, I would recommend the Areca ARC-1221x, HighPoint RR 3522 or the ARC-1680x if you want a SAS card. All of these cards have new firmware available that provide awesome performance and boot capability with the Mac Pro 2008. I would also get a SeriTek/2eEN4 4-bay and 1TB Samsung HDs. This gives a solid, quiet 4-bay enclosure that can support RAID 5 with any of the cards and you can add a second enclosure later if you want to use all eight external ports with RAID 6 (for added redundancy and increased volume size). This leaves the internal bays available for Boot Camp, Mac OS X, backups or mirrors and provides RAID 5/6 capability that can be configured to perform almost twice as fast as the Apple RAID card and provide double the redundancy with RAID 6. Links with more information are found here:
http://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/sata2een4.html
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152102
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/highpoint/3522/
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/areca/1221x/
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/areca/1680x/
3. The 3Ware RAID 5 card is not a top pick in the Macintosh market. The options outlined above will provide much better performance and RAID 6 capabilities.
4. You can view the the HD footage on the monitor.
5. You may want a better graphics card but I would try the stock card first. I was surprised how well the ATI radeon HD 2600 XT card performs with Apple applications.
Have fun!

Which new Mac Pro for Logic?

Well, they're out and on the AppleStore and I have about £2800 burning a hole in my pocket...
My question is, for that money I can configure either an 8-core machine running at 2.26GHz, or a quad-core running at 2.93GHz. Can anyone tell me which route is likely to be better for running Logic with lots of tasty plug-ins? I've budgeted for 8Gb of RAM and a second hard drive for sample data, so it's just the processor(s) left to decide on.
At the moment I'm running it on a 1.83GHz Core Duo MacBook Pro, where it limps along painfully, so I don't really have any experience of how well it utilises extra processing cores. I'd welcome any advice.

Hey MIke I agree that some thought should given to technology 5 years down the road but you are making my point about chasing technology. Its all a guessing game. Look at TVs. Look at phones. Etc.
Technology is moving so fast that you have to just use your gear in the moment and hope for the best.
It is not realistic in 2009 to predict 5 years down the road. Its just a big guess. What about the Mac pros that come out in 2 years. Will they make this years new Mac Pro obsolete? People will be having this same discussion in 2 years? They might not even make a desktop in 5 years. Look at the power of laptops now. Desktop sales are very weak and if this trend continues they will fade. I bought my 8 core almost a year ago and I would have had to wait a year if I chose to chase technolgy. When I bought my Apogee Ensemble I did think to myself that great they will probably release a new Ensemble with more Mic inputs. But I am glad I got it and use it and no worries. We are at the mercy of Apple so they will dictate the future and they arent going to tell consumers their 5 year plan anyway. Ok I will shut up.

Which new Mac Pro for Logic Studio?

Hi everyone,
I'm on the verge of ordering a new Mac Pro, but am tossed up over the quad 2.93 or the Octa 2.26. I'll be using it mainly for composing with Logic Studio. I find its a bit of a pain to record the sounds from my Motif ES8, so I'm going to start using software instruments more.
Does anyone know if Logic uses multiple cores? I googled this and couldn't find much on it.
If I get the quad, I'm going to load it to the max of 8G RAM. If I get the Octa 2.26, I will get 12G RAM. Will Logic take advantage of the extra RAM?
Right now, I'm leaning towards the quad 2.26. I keep my Macs for a long time. I currently have a 4 year old G5 iMac with 2G RAM.
Thanks for any opinions.

I'm With Dual G5 PowerPC version 3.1 (90nm thecnology)
Logic works fine, but when I need to recording with Omnisphere or Kontakt 3... or any Live Instruments... (anyway I'm able to use the Maximum power request patches of all 3rd party plugs that are installed in My G5)
I need MORE SINGLE THREAD POWER... because Logic and most of 3rdparty plugs allow you to use ONLY ONE CORE (or processor).
The ability to overclocking of the Nehalem processor is very interesting...
you will be able to have up to 3.3Ghz in a single thread operation!
So... I'm not sure to buy a new Mac before Snow Leopard... because I can use my G5 smoothly and if needed I have my Black Macbook for adding power (I have 2X Motu interface (828 MK3 and Mk2).
But if hypothetically I were to buy now...: the best Mac value for money semms to be the Quad 2.93 with full Ram set 8GB!
I don't believe about Multitrhead is needed for Live Audio performances
The power on the single core is very important...
I love to export as Audio the tracks
when I use 3rd party Instruments the ammount of crash risk during the Mix down the percentage are:
with Instruments in Live mode about 80% during professional mixdown
With Audio tracks 0% of crash diring professional Mixdown
Logic Pro is a rock solid DAW if used only with Audio tracks and Logic native instruments!
I'm able to MIX more than 160 Stereo tracks with My System...
I can wait for Snow Leopard Machines.
G

New Mac Pro for Photoshop

Hi,
I currently have a 2008 Mac Pro 2 x 2.8 Quad Core Intel Xeon that I am thinking of upgrading.
My questions are as follows.
Which set up would be best for photography based work, mainly Photoshops CS6 and Lightroom 4
I use a Drobo as my main working raid style hard drive.
I'm happy to spend money on a quality system but want to know it will be optimum for what I am using and dont want to just go for the 'top of the range' if it is pointless for the type of work I am doing (I never use video software at all)
Would there be a 3rd party company that would be better suited to set it up exactly for photography based work.
Am I right in saying the current Mac Pro's do not have thunderbolt or USB 3.0, so with that in mind, how long do people speculate that the new Mac Pro's will be available.
Thanks in advance.
Jason

YOU can see what Intel says (said?) at the Intel Conference this fall where they lay out for their vendors and everyonne what they plan and have in the oven for the next year.
Intel fell behind last year's plans with the complexity and issues they ran into, plus changes in the landscape. So did Nvidia with their new line. Hence everyone's plans went bonkers. And any IvyBridge Xeon? doesn't look like anything until this time next year, end of 2013. 2014 does have the next tic-toc and improved chips and memory architecture. DDR4 may get out of the labs.
That much is knowable.
But what you can do today: 2010 6-core 3.33 w/ 4x8GB and GTX 670 plus some nice storage hardware.
See this guy's articles and advice, a heavy graphics perspective:
www.macperformanceguide.com
Oh, and just my own personal.... a lot of 2008 owners are not happy campers for various reasons with power, stabilty, sleep/wake/freezes and maybe that 'first Mac Pro w/ EFI64" is showing crack in seams.
2010 for $1800 and up to around $3k - and your system is worth over a grand still once you can move over.

Need to buy a new mac pro

I read some reviews and tests on web, but didnt get a conclusion... What config is better to buy:
1. Mac Pro 2008 3,1 8 core 3.0mhz 8gb RAM 500gb HD nivida geforce 8800gt - U$1.000
2. Mac Pro 2010 4 cores 2.8mhz 3gb RAM 1tb HD Ati radeon HD 5770 - U$1800

On CPU testing, the numbers are only about 18 percent different:
Primate Labs has posted Geekbench results for all the Mac Pro models since 2006. Here are some of the numbers in 64-bit mode:
2.0 GHz 4-core 2006, 4506
2.66 GHz 4-core 2006, 5933
2.8 GHz 4-core 2008, 6543
3.0 GHz 4-core 2006, 6661
2.66 GHz 4-core 2009, 9225
2.8 GHz 4-core 2010, 9659
2.93 GHz 4-core 2009, 10119
2.8 GHz 8-core 2008, 10715
3.2 GHz 4-core 2010, 10834
3.0 GHz 8-core 2007, 11014
3.0 GHz 8-core 2008, 11376
3.2 GHz 8-core 2008, 12054
2.26 GHz 8-core 2009, 13400
2.4 GHz 8-core 2010, 14174
3.33 GHz 6-core 2010, 15574
2.66 GHz 8-core 2009, 16066
2.93 GHz 8-core 2009, 17608
2.66 GHz 12-core 2010, 22418
2.93 GHz 12-core 2010, 24219
3.06 GHz 12-core 2010, 25375
--from http://lowendmac.com/deals/best-mac-pro-prices.html

Questions about buying a new Mac Pro for 4k video editing.

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for