ATI Radeon 3870 & FCP X 10.0.0

[John Davidson]

Why don’t you just download a trial and see what it says when you try to open it?

John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.

[Mike Albertini]

Hi John,

I downloaded the trial from the Apple website before I posted the message – they only offer 10.0.5 now and it wouldn’t work on my computer because of the graphics card…a message came up telling me that.

Hence my google search for answers, which came to a potential – yes 10.0.0 works with the Radeon 3870 but all further updates require an open CL graphics card…and the Radeon 3870 doesn’t count…

I think I can get hold of a copy of 10.0.0 for a small fee but wanted to double check on here to see if anyone knows for sure…

Thanks,

Mike

[John Davidson]

Here’s a weird thing – and I can’t confirm it works anymore.

We got that notice on a mac pro that it was incompatible. I think it was a 2008 Mac pro. Anyways, we ended up getting a 5770 card and moving on. You really don’t want to work with 10.0.0 if you can help it. So much is better since that version.

Anyways, back to my weird thing. If you download the 10.0.5 update onto a mac that has the same store account as the Mac Pro (a laptop or anything like that), try copying it to the Mac Pro’s Applications folder either over the network or bounce the application to an HD and then copy it over. The Mac App store won’t even let you download it – but if you copy the application files over, you’ll find it might work. Don’t expect it to be amazing, but we did that with a previous project and it did in fact work.

It’s worth a try. You might also be a good candidate for a new iMac if an update comes out soon :).

John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.

[Mike Albertini]

Hi John,

Thanks for the tip…the company have actually given me the option of doing it in their office, on their imac, with their version of FCP X…but due to other editing commitments it only makes sense for me to do this project at home in between other stuff…

But, do you think that if I copy their copy of FCP X (apart from the app what other folders would I need to copy?) and put it on a hard-drive and then open it on my Mac Pro (with a newly installed Radeon 5770), it’ll work ok?…I could get their serial number if needed…or would I need their app store details?…they seem pretty open to this kind of thing…

Otherwise, I’ll get a copy from somewhere else…

Just one more thing…is there any advantage/need for me to upgrade to lion to do this?…I currently have snow leopard…

And just to confirm the Radeon 5770 will work on my Mac Pro 1.1 with two 23′ Silver Apple display monitors?

Thanks,

Mike

[John Davidson]

Copying the application from their system would be illegal. I can’t say if FCPX is going to work on your system, but if you install it with a 5770 card and it works, that would be the answer. I don’t have that version of mac pro so I can’t attest.

John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.

[Bret Williams]

I have a 2006 MacPro 1,1 with a 5770. It runs rather well. FCP has always required OpenCL. It’s the heart of the app alongside grand central dispatch. The latter only exists on sandy bridge machines like the iMac. It seems to run amazingly better on a latest gen iMac vs. any Mac pro.

Put in the card then go download the free demo from Apples website. It’ll download if you have a compatible card. You might need Lion. Your computer won’t ever run Mointain Lion, so don’t bother waiting for that.

If you’re making money with it, after the demo is up and you realize it’s pretty cool, then pay for it.

[Mike Albertini]

Hi Bret & John,

Thanks for your advice. In the end I decided to turn the job down, for a couple of reasons. I’ve got enough work at the moment so didn’t really need to do it and 95% of jobs I see advertised are still for FCP7 or Avid editors.

I use both, so I didn’t think it was worth learning FCP X or buying a new graphics card…if it had been mentioned in the ad that it was for FCP X I wouldn’t have applied in the first place…

Avid MC6 works fine on my computer as does FCP7, so think I’ll just hang in there with it for a while and then perhaps buy a powerful hackintosh next year.

Thanks,

Mike