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buying a G5 for FCP
I really need to make the move to FCP. I’ve been on Media 100 for 7 years. I’m on a G-4 owned by someone else (long story). I need to buy a G5 and I’ve been looking at the 2.3 ghz. But what confuses me is what else I need.
1. Is there a specific graphics card I should avoid or purchase with a G5? is the G force 6600 256 MB sufficient or do I need an upgrade. Is there anything I should avoid?
2. I edit on Beta SP, Mini DV, and Jdigital S. Output to tape or DVD. What videocard would you suggest? AJA? Deck link?
3. How much RAM do I need? Which RAM would you buy? From Apple or somewhere else?
4. Love the Apple Cinema displays, but is there a cheaper set of displays I could buy that would work just as well?
5. If I bought 2 500GB G-raids, would that work with this set-up? I’d like to have more RT effeccts if possible. I also would like to put Photoshop and Aftereffects on this G5
6. Where would you buy this G5? Apple? BH Photo? Mac all? or Ebay?Thanks so much.
Greg
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18 Replies
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1. That card is fine for FCP, but for Motion you will want something better, like the 9800pro from Nvidia.
2. Both are really good cards and produce great results. AJA’s advantage is better tech support.
3. 2-4GB is RAM is a good comfort factor. And from http://www.crucial.com, not Apple. Apple is overpriced.
4. Look at the Dell 2405 24″ LCD. I have two of them and they are great. Tested better than the Apple 23″ in every way at http://www.barfeats.com/lcd
5. 2 G-RAIDs are great. You can do DV, HDV, Uncompressed 8-bit SD, Uncompressed 10-bit SD and DVCPRO HD. They are great drives. I have two myself and have used them for 8-but uncompressed and DVCPRO HD.
6. Anyplace that is an authorized Apple reseller, or Apple itself. Never use ebay for a machine you want to make a living with.Shane
Alokut Productions
http://www.lfhd.net -
Just bought the G5 Quad myself and love it. I would strongly suggest you order directly from Apple and choose the nVidia 7800 graphics card upgrade. This is a very powerful card and works excellent with Motion. You can only buy this card as a build-to-order option – there is no retail version and other after market cards like the ATI’s are more expensive and not as powerful.
Agree with Shane – don’t buy your RAM from Apple when you order your machine – the money saved will pay for the 7800 card.
Lance Bachelder
Southern California
Cow Forum Host- Magic Bullet -
[Shane Ross] “5. 2 G-RAIDs are great. You can do DV, HDV, Uncompressed 8-bit SD, Uncompressed 10-bit SD and DVCPRO HD. They are great drives.”
10bit SD Uncompressed barely. 1 stream and zero realtime effects. It does work, but I would not recommend the G-RAID’s for 10bit SD work.
DVCPro HD and 8bit SD, it’s just fine.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.comDirector, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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[Lance Bachelder] “. I would strongly suggest you order directly from Apple and choose the nVidia 7800 graphics card upgrade. This is a very powerful card and works excellent with Motion. You can only buy this card as a build-to-order option – there is no retail version and other after market cards like the ATI’s are more expensive and not as powerful.”
I honestly would not purchase the nVidia. I considered it for my Quad so I can run Final Touch HD on it, but haven’t heard all that many great things about it. I’m looking for ATI to be releasing a new card that builds on the x800XT for PCIe machines.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.comDirector, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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[walter biscardi] “10bit SD Uncompressed barely. 1 stream and zero realtime effects. It does work, but I would not recommend the G-RAID’s for 10bit SD work.”
I’m just saying that it is rated for it. I’d never use them for that either. The highest I went was 8-bit uncompressed.
Shane
Alokut Productions
http://www.lfhd.net -
Hey Walter,
A long time ago I read your article on striping 2 x Lacie FW800 drives together, connecting them to a fw800 card (2 seperate channels) and striping them. I’ve been running this as a 1TB raid for quite a while now and editing at least 2 streams 10bit uncompressed with effects in realtime (must check the data rate again).
Basicly I’ve never looked back (one drive did go down but they replaced it pronto).
Saying that I’ve just bought a 2TB S-ATA tower as I needed more space and more speed can only help.
Haven’t got it yet but I’m looking at a SeriTek /2eVen4 4 bay S-ata bundled with a card ($630) and 4×500 gig barracudas (about 1000 euro) got the tip on another post.
Johnny -
[Greg] “1. Is there a specific graphics card I should avoid or purchase with a G5? is the G force 6600 256 MB sufficient or do I need an upgrade. Is there anything I should avoid?”
As others have said, if you want to be productive in Motion then you need an upgrade. Otherwise, it’s fine.
[Greg] “2. I edit on Beta SP, Mini DV, and Jdigital S. Output to tape or DVD. What videocard would you suggest? AJA? Deck link?”
You may want to consider the Aja iO. It will give you some flexability.
[Greg] “6. Where would you buy this G5? Apple? BH Photo? Mac all? or Ebay?”
Be sure to check Apple’s “Special Deals” section. You can save quite a bit in there and still get the full warranty with the option to go 3 years.
-gl
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Walter – appreciate the contradiction – since you DON’T own the nVidia and don’t have any professional experience with it, why even respond? I had the retail ATI800 on my last dual G5 and liked it a lot, but it wasn’t even close to the Motion performance I get with the nVidia 7800. This card is a BTO bargain and makes designing in Motion a real pleasure.
Having used both brands for years on both Macs and PC’s I can honestly say that nVidia always wins! Better performance, better drivers, more innovative company.
I also have the PNY Quadro4500 in my current dualcore XP workstation – great card! Ironically replaced an ATI 850. Go figure…
Lance Bachelder
Southern California
Cow Forum Host- Magic Bullet -
[Lance Bachelder] “Walter – appreciate the contradiction – since you DON’T own the nVidia and don’t have any professional experience with it, why even respond?”
I was letting the user know that I did not purchase that card because I was told by several professionals it was overpriced and not worth the money. These are professionals whom I talk to before making major investments since that card is $2,300 if purchased after market, and yes it is available. Since I highly trust these professionals, I am mentioning it in this thread so Greg can have another viewpoint.
[Lance Bachelder] “Having used both brands for years on both Macs and PC’s I can honestly say that nVidia always wins! Better performance, better drivers, more innovative company.”
We have two identical G5 Dual 2.0’s here. One is running the nVidia Ultra 6800 and the other the ATI x800XT. No difference in performance and the ATI takes up only one slot instead of two and the ATI was less money. Honestly, I prefer the ATI since we don’t lose the card slot and it’s a quieter card in the machine since the fan is much smaller.
But as far as performance… no difference.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.comDirector, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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Walter – I think you’re talking about the Quadro 4500 – I’m talking about the 7800 – big price difference yet small performance difference. The 7800 is only $350 more than the stock card when ordered from Apple yet 2 to 3 times better Motion performance. It is not available as a retail item.
The 4500 is really designed for high-end 3D app’s like Maya etc.
Lance Bachelder
Southern California
Cow Forum Host- Magic Bullet
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