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Buying a G5
I’m in the marking to upgrade my system, and have a couple of questions:
1) Buy the Quadcore G5 or wait for the Intel-based machine? I read the excellent thread started by Walter Biscardi on his pleasure with the rendering speed of the Quad machine. I understand that buying an Intel-based machine when it becomes available puts the buyer at risk of being a beta tester. I’m just concerned about the software and software support being there down the road as software development going forward stands behind the intel-based machines. All that being said, it’s been 3 months since Walter’s post, and alot can change in a short time. Is there any new advice on buying the quad now or waiting?
2) I have Final Cut Pro HD (v4) and DVD Studio Pro v1.5. I’m assuming I’ll have to upgrade to Final Cut Studio. Do I have to buy the retail version, or am I elgible for an upgrade version?
3) What’s the difference between ECC and Non-ECC RAM?
4) My rendering demands don’t seem to match many of you folks out there doing high-end commercial stuff. I’m working on docs and narrative films, typically rendering basic special effects, accessing a dozen or so audio tracks at most, and so on. I was planning on getting either 2.5 or 4 GB of RAM. Does it save to buy the RAM separately rather than bundled with the MAC? THe Apple Store charges $700 for Non-ECC 4GB and $1100 for ECC 4 GB.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Regards,
Dave Danesh
http://www.house-of-food.comDavid Danesh
http://www.house-of-food.com -
3 Replies
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Dave,
When you’re going with big amounts of RAM (more than a gig) I feel it’s definitely worth it to look at a vendor besides Apple. I’ve always heard good things about Crucial. Just don’t cheap out, as crappy memory can equal crappy performance and lower reliability.
From what little I know, ECC RAM is error correcting and is meant more for high-end scientific work where rounding errors can make a big difference. I’ve also heard it performs slower with media apps or in general, and is not what you want for a computer doing normal work… even a media workstation. I’d go with the cheap, but not too cheap stuff from somewhere else. Just remember you have to add memory to G5s in matched pairs.Zak
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I’ll weigh in with my 2 cents:
1. If you need/want a new machine now, get it. There’s never going to be an “optimal” time to buy a computer. I just bought a 2Gz, works fine for me. I’ll use it, make money, and when something better comes along, I’ll look into buying it. (I was also leery about being a beta tester for the new Intels, so I bought the current version.)
2. Take a look at this link for your upgrade question:
[url]https://www.apple.com/universal/crossgrade/[/url]
The upgrade is really nice. FYI, you assumed right: my 4.5 version wouldn’t work with the G5 graphics card, as has been covered in this forum before.4. Apple charges a lot for ram. You’d be much better off getting it from Crucial. I know that’s what I’m going to do.
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I’ll throw in my 2
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