FCP X on a 2008 mac pro

[Darren Roark]

The 2008 MP hot rodded with used parts hunted off ebay can be turned into a more than capable machine without breaking the bank.

If you are going for FCP X and the Creative Cloud version of PP, a made for Mac 7950 is a great deal. (The CS6 version relies on CUDA for the realtime performance) Assuming you have at least 16GB of RAM as Alban said, the GPU is the most important thing to upgrade if you want FCP X to run well. If you ever get a newer tower, you can just move it to that one. This should be a good card for the next few years.

If it’s not already dual processor, you can pick up used CPUs on ebay for really cheap now which makes a huge difference. If you have ever built a PC, this isn’t that tough of a job.

Used RAM that’s been tested and from a reputable seller is a good way to save some money. (some would disagree) The RAM for that tower can be really spendy.

Get a good USB 3.0 card (they are not created equal) and you should be in great shape.

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

[Darren Roark] “Get a good USB 3.0 card (they are not created equal) and you should be in great shape.”

I got a Fresco Logic two ports, but it died quite quickly. The led lights up, the system sees the card, but drives can’t be seen even when powering the card. Which one would you suggest?

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy
early 2008 MacPro, BM Intensity Pro, early 2008 iMac, 2011 MacBook Pro, FCP7, FCPX, OSX 10.8.3

[Darren Roark]

[Fabrizio D'Agnano] ” Which one would you suggest?”

I have had good luck with the CalDigit cards. If you do some research about which controller chips work best in OS X, you could find less expensive ones if you want to put in the time.

They have a four port card for $140 and a two port card for $79.

[Phillip Todd]

I have been eyeing this card for my MP 2008 3,1. Any thoughts on it?
https://www.amazon.com/Compatible-Windows-ORICO-PFU3-4P-Controller/dp/B008V3THAC/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8&colid=31ATNWYK27CA7&coliid=I2HE2J1T6B9P20

Phillip Todd
Cinematographer
http://www.phillip-todd.com

[Darren Roark]

It has a lot of positive reviews from mac users. For $20 you can’t really go wrong considering if it goes south, you can always buy two so you can have a backup.

I’ve had cheap firewire/usb cards outlive the tower it was added to, and ones that died within a few months. It’s the warranty I spend money on at this point and an extra $20 for the piece of mind that you can get up and running again.

[Phillip Todd]

Thanks for the confirmation Darren.

I read the Barefeats article: https://barefeats.com/tube05.html

and contacted Rob-ART@barefeats regarding his exclusion of the 2008 MP 3,1 from his final statement:

Question:
You (Rob) wrote: “Good news for those who are continuing with their 2009 – 2012 Mac Pro tower: You will benefit from the optimizations made in FCPX 10.1 and Motion 5.1 for the 2013 Mac Pro . And with high-end GPUs, you can get close to the render speeds of the 2013.”

Is there a reason the 2008 MP 3,1 is NOT included in this list?

Answer:
The 2008 has some issues with some of the fast GPUs. Like the 7970 and 7950 never get to full speed in 3,1 in 10.9. Yet others, like the GTX 780, work fine.

Plus the two 4-lane slots are PCIe 1.1 instead of 2.0. That means won’t get the speed with PCIe flash storage you will experience on the 2009 – 2012.

It’s not ‘upgrade caveat free’ like the 2009 – 2012 Mac Pros. But if you are willing to navigate the pitfalls, there are ways to boost its performance.

-Rob

I thought we would all benefit from this info from Rob-ART @ barefeats.

Phillip Todd
Cinematographer
http://www.phillip-todd.com

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

Precious info, thanks for sharing.

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy
early 2008 MacPro, BM Intensity Pro, early 2008 iMac, 2011 MacBook Pro, FCP7, FCPX, OSX 10.8.3