G5 for Final Cut Studio 2

[Walter Biscardi]

[James Eckhouse] “Wondering if a G5 with Intel Dual 2.5, 8 gigs ram
will be sufficient for smallish projects using Final Cut Studio 2
Any help on this will be hugely appreciated!”

You need to clarify this machine. A G5 runs the PowerPC Processor. The Intel processors are on the Mac Pros.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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[Boyd Mccollum]

If it’s the Mac Pro, it should work well for “smallish” projects in FCS 2. I’d recommend getting a good graphics card.

[Phil Balsdon]

Either way G5 Dual or Mac Pro Intel it should work fine for your “smallish projects” requirement.

I’m running the full FCS2 (including Motion and Color) on a G5 Dual 2.7 with 4.5Gb RAM. Occasionally I use the second internal E-Sata drive as my media drive but most of the time it runs fine on Firewire 800 external RAID. Motion runs a little slow but is okay if you follow all the rules.

Most of my work is with Uncompressed 8 bit PAL, DV PAL or HDV 720p which I import as Apple Pro Res SQ.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Arnie Schlissel]

You can definately run FCS2 on a G5 dual 2.5 (PPC). I run it on one myself. You’ll probably want at least 4GB of RAM, & try to find an ATI X800 graphics card (they’ll be very hard to find).

Arnie
Post production is not an afterthought!
https://www.arniepix.com/

[James Eckhouse]

Thanks all for quck response.
Machine I am looking at is dual 2.5 G5.
(Now realize that is before the Intel chip)
Has 8 MEGs of RAM which sounds quite decent.
the Vid card is a RADEON ATI 9600 (seller says it has 256MEGS)…
Is that adequate?

(At this point I’m working with “smallish” DV projects. Docs shot with XL2’s. Assuming I might need something added to the system if I move into HD)
Regards, James

[Walter Biscardi]

[James Eckhouse] “Is that adequate?”

More than adequate. We were still cutting one-hour HD Documentaries with our G5 Dual 2.0 until we retired that machine last week with our G5 Quad 2.5. I used that Dual 2.0 for almost 4 years cutting everything from short documentaries to network HD broadcasts. It will render slower than the current machines, but you can run Studio 2 just fine on there.

[James Eckhouse] “(At this point I’m working with “smallish” DV projects. Docs shot with XL2’s. Assuming I might need something added to the system if I move into HD)”

That would be an AJA Kona 2 or a Kona 3X, PCI-X cards. I actually am about to sell my Dual 2.0 that includes a Kona 2 card. If you’re interested in that card, just email me off forum. It’s more or less the same specs as the Kona 3X except it can’t do the HD Cross Conversion.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
Read my Blog!

[James Eckhouse]

Thanks Walter – very reassuring.
should probably wait on adding the Kona. Imagine it will take some time to retrain my PC/Avid addled ancient brain to Mac/Fcut format.
Enjoyed your site. Molly clearly overqualified…
Best, James

[Walter Biscardi]

[James Eckhouse] “Enjoyed your site. Molly clearly overqualified…”

Much appreciated.

[James Eckhouse] “Imagine it will take some time to retrain my PC/Avid addled ancient brain to Mac/Fcut format.”

Here’s an excellent book for transitioning from Avid to FCP:

https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Pro-Training-Final-Editors/dp/0321515390/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214776650&sr=8-2

Also, go into the Creative Cow Store and pick up Shane Ross’ “Getting Organized in Final Cut Pro” DVD. Excellent strategies for working on a myriad of projects within FCP.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
Read my Blog!

[Deleted User]

G5 suits my editing needs. However, a warning: if you are considering editing Red Camera projects in the future, you will need an Intel Mac to run the Red software.

[Chris Borjis]

James be sure and check what type of slots you have,
there are a number of late model G5’s dual & quad systems
that have PCI-E slots and not PCI-X.