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Filed under: *VIDEO* •Editing •Hardware •Post Production •

Inside the New Mac Pros

DECISION TIME:

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In any case, remember the other year when I recommended systems based on users of class 1, 2, or 3? Class 1 was starving indie, Class 2 was average user, class 3 was power user.

Class 1 folks - if you already have a 4 or 8 core Mac Pro, don’t make the move - not worth it. If older system, take a look at the new iMacs depending on your needs - I’ll have an article on those as well. If ya just GOTSTA have the 8 core, make sure you already have enough RAM before bumping up.

Class 2 folks - a four core box will let you cut a feature just FINE. Got lots of processing to do? Step up to an 8 core, but think twice before jumping up processor class. Also think twice about what apps you are running, and which of those are only single threaded. I am using Crimson quite a bit these days, and its single threadedness is a bit maddening.  A $3000 2.93GHz 4 Core will beat the pants off a $3200 2.26GHz 8 core on single threaded apps - I SWEAR.  No matter how kewl it is to say you got an 8 core, if you’re still twiddlin’ your thumbs waiting, and know you could be done already if you’d bought a LESS expensive machine, hard nawt to feel a lewser. Also, make sure you’ve got all the RAM you want BEFORE you contemplate more or faster cores in your budget. It’ll be money better spent, TRUST ME.

Class 3 folks - I’m presuming the Mac is just the core (haha) of your system - you’re going to be putting high speed, fault tolerant external storage on it, driven by a fiber channel channel or SATA or SAS card, with an AJA Kona 3 (Kona Red? Someday perhaps?), a broadcast monitor, etc. etc. etc. If this is the case, go for the gusto and nearly double the price to get the 2.93 GHz. If not, think carefully, remembering that a 30% increase in clock speed (2.26-2.93) does not Not NOT equate to a 30% increase in render times!!! Would you rather have an assistant’s station (if you had another monitor sitting around) for that same $2600? A smart production would (presuming you had budget for an assistant).

These are new, faster Macs, but at some kinda painful price points. While there are numerous improvements, it isn’t as much as I’d hoped for with all the buzziness about 2x faster. For what we care about, mostly FCP and Compressor related stuff….not so much.

I’ve decided that I’m waiting for NAB to see if there’s any Blu-ray news. Without authoring software, it wouldn’t make sense for Apple to include it at this time, as it would also only aid the competition at this time. So likely Apple won’t release a Blu-ray burner option until they have an Apple branded Blu-ray authoring solution which…I haven’t heard peep about. Nor about prospects of a new Final Cut Studio at NAB. Not that I’ve been looking, but that’s the nothing I’ve heard.

I just came up with what I hereby dub Mike’s Rules on Mac Configuring for once you’ve picked the basic family or model you want:

Rule 1: Get “plenty enough” RAM FIRST

Rule 2: THEN upgrade the GPU to adequate/really good - NO, I said GPU, not CPU

Rule 3: THEN get the accessories you need - video I/O cards, RAIDs, addl storage, broadcase monitors, etc. that you need.

Rule 4: THEN think about getting more/faster CPUs

Rule 5: THEN think about getting overkill/way plenty RAM

By those rules, you’d start with a 4 core Mac Pro, bump up to 6GB of RAM, add the Radeon 4870 GPU, get any cards/storage you need, then think about spending $500 to bump up to 2.93 GHz from 2.66GHz, or $800 to drop from 2.66 to 2.26 GHz but adding 4 more cores. Doing basic editing and single threaded apps? Consider sticking with the 4 core. Doing lots of HD rendering, Compressor-ing, working with Red? Eight cores. Still got money left over? Make sure you have plenty of RAM, although you do NOT have to buy from Apple. Historically, I get a decently sized boot drive and minimal RAM config from Apple, then buy additional drives and RAM from reputable third parties like TekServe or Silverado. RAM is getting so cheap, however, I might not bother unless getting LOTS AND LOTS of RAM. Hard drives are so easy to install, I don’t blink to get those elsewhere - Apple is only offering up to 1TB drives, 1.5 and 2.0 TB drives are out on the market now at reasonable prices (like $300ish for 2TB drives).

OK, enough of all that…for now…until I can get my hands on one to further benchmark Final Cut Pro, but especially for Color, Redcine, Redline, and Motion with that 4870 GPU (review unit request already sent to my editor).

-mike

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I’m confused about the Apple Raid card.  On the Apple store, it doesn’t say if its SAS or SATA… what is it?  Also, does OSX have software Raid similar to WinXP/Vista?  If so, can I stripe 3 drives (keeping 1 for system) and get performance for HD editing?

Posted by lmerino  on  03/09  at  10:50 AM

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“Wireless - Airport Extreme with 802.11n is $50. I recommend it - NEVER hurts. I’m getting ready to doodle with ethernet based SAN stuff, so having Internet on WiFI helps as an option”

Do you mean NAS? Or something new?
Do you mean fast storage over ethernet? As opposed to just a wicked fast eSATA RAID?

Maybe both Gigabits ports can be used simultaneously to double network throughput + jumbo frames.

How would you separate data over ethernet versus internet over WiFi?

“I wonder if the FW800 ports are all on the same bus still? I’m betting likely - which could create potential issues if recording to FW based drives - dunno if that is true, just something I want to verify.”

If Apple gave each FW800 port its own buss, or even one each for front and back, you know they’d tout the heck out of it!

Posted by IEBA  on  03/09  at  11:36 AM

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Mike,
Thanks for the quick, funny and useful advise.

Posted by Snow  on  03/25  at  03:30 PM

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Wow very complex review.  Now that I made my decision on this I need to go put on my italian shoes
and go buy this thing!

Posted by wean02  on  09/21  at  11:00 AM

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