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Graphics Card Upgrade to Improve FCPX Performance?
Since new Mac Pros are a long way off (Thanks, Tim) I need to see what I can do with my current box.
FCPX has been beach balling/stuttering/hanging like crazy on my early 2009 Mac Pro with a stock card.
I have 16 Gigs of RAM so absent adding any more memory…will adding a card like the ATI Radion 5870 (which is spec’d for my box) help improve performance.
I expect it will help a lot but would appreciate any real world experience input.
Thanks.
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3 Replies
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Yes, it will help. FCP uses the GPU while editing and rendering. It uses the processors when exporting. Not sure what other cards you can use or if a cuda card like the Quadro 4000 might provide better speeds. I went with 5870 on my 2008 Mac Pro and it helped a lot with playback.
Michael Garber
5th Wall – a post production company -
I had to take out a Cuda card (GTX285) and put in an ATI5770. Once I did that, FCPX went from running like a stubborn mule to smooth and fast.
I’ve now learned that you can keep the NVidea card in the Mac Pro but you’ll need to get a power cable splitter. The NVidea card will accelerate Adobe apps. Another poster on this site taught me that the Mac Pro has plenty of power for both cards. He uses the AIT card as the ‘boot’ card in the bottom slot and the displays connected to it, and then splits off power for the GTX card so it can accelerate CUDA software.
NewsVideo.com
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I recently got a 5870 fro my 2009 tower. It’s definitely been helpful. Not a massive difference but an appreciable one.
I chose to get mine from Apple for warranty reasons but you can get them off eBay for about half the price. Installation was easy-peasy.
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