-
YOUR OPINION
Hello Everyone,
The company that I work for is thinking about upgrading the Quad G5 into one of the Intel MacPros.
So, you opinion: For FINAL CUT PRO – should we go with the 3.0GHZ Quad or an 8Core computer? And with how much ram?
Its a debate, because is the extra money for the 8 core isnt worth using the saved money towards Memory for a 3.0 Quad, then we would do the Quad 3.0 with around 6-8 GB of RAM.
We at the moment have a Quad 2.5 G5 with 8GB of Ram. So, to us rendering is a huge issue, Lots of projects tight deadlines (you all know what I mean)
So again: 8core with 4GB of RAM OR Quad 3.0 with around 8 GB of RAM? Intel Mac Pros.
Thanks for you opinions.
-Raymond-
Houston Editor -
9 Replies
-
Definitely octocore. Save money by buying the 2.66ghz machine instead of getting the 3.0 machine which sells at a huge premium. The 3.0ghz machines have a slight performance increase, but at 24% additional cost.
“No job is worth doing more than once…”
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Post-production Supervisor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles -
[David Roth Weiss] “Definitely octocore. Save money by buying the 2.66ghz machine instead of getting the 3.0 machine which sells at a huge premium. The 3.0ghz machines have a slight performance increase, but at 24% additional cost.”
The 2.66ghz is only a quad. The only 8 processor system is a 3.0ghz.
I’d go with the 8 processors because you can always add more RAM later, but you can’t just upgrade the processors. It’s a better long term investment. I think you’ll get better performance that way too.
-Russ
-
[Russell Lasson] “The 2.66ghz is only a quad. The only 8 processor system is a 3.0ghz.”
Oops!!! Thanks for correcting me on that one Russell, I was under the mistaken impression that both were octos.
-
I appreciate both of your inputs. So, if I were to go with the Octo… what would be a good amount of RAM to move up on from a Quad G5 with 8GBs? Again I am looking to cut rendering time.
I have found that my G5 Quad can render a 20-25min HDV project for SD set in about 45mins to an hour. I hope to reduce that time to at least 30 mins. the same kind of project.
Also, I use AE and CS3 a whole lot as well. So, these things are what I am going for…and if the price is high for just a small change between each, I would go for the lower cost.
I am not able to test this anywhere either (not an Apple Store or a company in town) …another reason why it is taken some hard thinking to decide.
but thanks again for your input.
-Raymond-
-
Put it this way, you aren’t going to lose performance with a faster computer, especially with Leopard and such coming out.
Get the 8 core. It will last longer, and has been said, you can always get more RAM.
Start with 4GBs of RAM and see how you do.
Jeremy
-
-
RayRayT,
I’ve seen benchmarks (I believe Russell just linked to them) showing how well new versions of Compressor and AE can utilize the 8-cores by creating “virtual clusters”, and how the 8-cores can help you multitask (having multiple CPU hungry apps going smoothly at the same time), but I haven’t seen any benchmarks showing how will FCP 6 utilizes the 8-cores for rendering and RT streams/effects. So if your main reason for looking at the 8-core is to drop your render times inside FCP 6 you might wait and see if anyone has benchmarks comparing FCP 6 on various Mac Pros to see if the 8-core provides enough of a speed boost to offset the cost.
-A
-
I am purchasing an 8 core for the facility I work at, but we are waiting to see how Leopard
enhances the speed and power of FCPS2. By then prices will probably be down abit as well. -
WE just added an 8-core with 16GB of ram and it’s been running great. We went with the 250GB int HD and X1900 video card. We are using the Sonnet eSATA Fusion 500 bay for all media storage.
AE7 has been running well with the standard/production plug-ins, but would not render older projects built with BCC & FEC plugs. We are getting ready to test drive CS3 with the problem projects.
FCP studio 2 has been great. We just edited a dozen 3-5 minute shows without a hitch. We are digitizing DVCPro50 via FW.
So far, FCP renders and DVD SPro are much faster than the G5 2.0ghz/DP the 8-core replaced. AE is also faster, but we don’t expect to see a real speed boost until we switch over to CS3.
We bought ram from OWC, around $1300 for 16GB. We figure the 8-core was about $1300 more than a Quad if you include the extra 8GB of ram.
Last, we installed the smcFANCONTROL software to dial up the LOW speed of the 8-core fans. It works big time at keeping temps in the 8-core on a low boil. 🙂
I’ll be looking to upgrade my home office G5 soon, maybe near the end of the summer. I don’t know what to get.
Happy shopping
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up