How stable is CS5 Mac?

[Doug Nash]

Thanks, and I couldn’t agree more about waiting for a spell, before upgrading hardware & software.

However, I’m cranking through a bunch of work right now, and AE is becoming a bit of a bottleneck. Apple isn’t helping, by turning its back on us professionals with a lack of Pro updates, so in the meanwhile, I’m updating certain key apps.

I’d have to imagine that there are some significant render speed boosts, going from CS3 to CS5.

So, unfortunately, my happiness has to be based on some quantifiable results. Who is using CS5 in the workflow, right now, and can you please advise on speed gains over CS4 & CS3?

Thanks.

[Uli Plank]

Don’t expect massive speed gains, this is not Premiere Pro. You may get some 30% on average if you have plenty of RAM (minimum 2 GB per core). Stability got much better when working with large images, though (we use 4K).

Director of the Institute of Media Research (IMF) at Braunschweig University of Arts

[Dean Sensui]

I did some work with it and it allows you to use all the RAM in your Mac, as opposed to the 4-gig limit.

However, Primatte and other Red Giant plug-ins that I use aren’t available for CS5 yet. Due this summer. You might want to see if your plugins are compatible before making the jump.

For any upgrade, I make a complete working copy of my HDD before installing any changes. If it doesn’t prove totally functional I can always jump back to the previous setup.

Dean Sensui — Hawaii Goes Fishing

[Doug Nash]

Thanks for the continued input. I’ve already done the due-diligence on my mandatory plugs, and they’re all 64-bit compliant.

I’m not especially worried about redundancy, as CS5 will be a fresh install. CS3 will work just fine, if I have to fall back for any reason. Out of curiosity, why do make such a thorough copy before installing an app?

Cheers.

[Doug Nash]

Uli. Thirty-percent is a huge margin, when applied to day-long renders. Are you just throwing that out, very much off the cuff? Or have you calculated that by comparing identical projects, between the older version of AE?

Thanks.

[Dean Sensui]

[doug nash] “why do make such a thorough copy before installing an app?”

One never knows what might trip up things. It’s just a precaution. Like wearing seatbelts or having a fire extinguisher in the house.

Dean Sensui — Hawaii Goes Fishing

[Doug Nash]

Can’t argue with that. Out of further curiosity, how do you go about making your back-up system drive? Do you use Time Machine, and an external drive? Is it a perfect duplicate, in that you could simply swap that drive for the system, and boot right up without a hitch?

Thanks.

[Dean Sensui]

I use “Super Duper” and make a duplicate on an internal HDD that’s inside the MacPro itself.

Then it’s just a matter of assigning it as the “boot drive”. Pretty easy to flip-flop from one to the other.

Dean Sensui — Hawaii Goes Fishing

[Doug Nash]

Sweet. I think I’ll give that a go, myself. I’ve got a number of separate computers for redundancy, but with the absurdly low cost for HD’s, that would be a smart move.

[Uli Plank]

It’s an average. There are huge differences depending on the filters and functions you use, it can range from a tad slower all the way to nearly 50% faster. You’ll need to fine-tune the use of your cores and RAM too, Todd Kopriva is giving some very good info about that. So, it’s hard to give a straight number – too many variables.

Director of the Institute of Media Research (IMF) at Braunschweig University of Arts