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How to configure a new MacPro for Premiere
I’m asking the brain trust for advice on purchasing a new MacPro for 75% Pr use, and 25% Ae use, which is my average use for my home based business.
My initial budget is around $12K for a base model I can add more RAM to later. My Q is about whether I should put more focus on cores or GPU. My initial thought is a choice between these two builds:
16-core
32G RAM (base)
Radeon Pro Vega II with 32GB of HBM2 memory (+$2400 over the base GPU)
1 TB SSD
$10,799 from Appleor
24-core
32G RAM (base)
Radeon Pro 580X with 8GB of GDDR5 memory (base)
1 TB SSD
$12,399 from AppleAny advice you’d care to share about these, or maybe other options?
I’m not being given any ProRes RAW yet, so on looking at the AfterBurner at this point.Thanks in advance for your input.
Jim Curtis
jamesphilipcurtis.comMacPro 5,1; 6-core 3.46 GHz; 128 GB DDR3 RAM all the same brand; 10.13.6; QT 7.6.6; Primary display: 4K HP Dreamcolor; secondary: 24\” HP DreamColor; Nvidia TITAN X GPU; ATTO R680 RAID5 16TB; ATTO H680 HBA for HP LTO5 tape; USB3 PCIe card; latest drivers all around
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3 Replies
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What are you trying to accomplish? Looks like your existing system, while older certainly can handle the heft of most any 4K project if you’re running CUDA with Sierra. Are you looking for real time performance/rendering? Want to handle 6, 8K footage, or VR?
With Apple’s focus now on Metal which for me looks promising. The reason I write that Metal looks promising is because I have an older 15″ 2014 MacBook Pro 2.5 i7 and 2GB Nividia GT 750M graphics running Mojave that I travel with. I have no problems editing 4K (full or half rez) with three layers for quick projects on the go. External drives of course for Cache and Footage. I also use Neat Video a lot to clean up 4K footage from a DJI Mavic Pro 1 which is a very GPU and CPU intensive software because it works at the pixel level. I used to have the CUDA driver when I used Sierra on the machine before Mojave which Neat Video preferred, however I have to admit the renders are equal to and sometimes literally faster than CUDA was for me. Metal may not be fully implemented, but it seems to work very well. I’m sure (hope) it will get better.
Back to your question…More is always better. More Cores. More RAM. More GPU Memory.
25+ year roller coaster ride in production and post production. The most fun in my life.
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I’m leaning toward the 12 core….not sure apps are taking as much advantage of the processors as they do the GPU. So I’m leaning toward the dual GPU card so it only takes up one slot. Also 96 gigs of RAM should be enough for the 12 cores, but I will start with 32 gig and buy 3rd party RAM after the fact….same with hard drive….unless the drive is proprietary going with a 1TB and grow from there.
My biggest issue is OS.
I’ve had MacPros since the early 2000s and ran them for more than a decade. I know this one will probably be my last tower and will get upgrades as software and workloads demand it.
Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production, Post, Studio Sound Stage
Founder/President/Editor/Designer/Animator
https://www.tiltmedia.com -
I’m back to thank you for your advice. I ordered the second configuration on my OP, but went ahead with the Radeon Pro Vega II GPU. What the hell. I didn’t want to regret buying an under-powered GPU in a few months.
And let me offer this advice, if anybody else is considering this. I bought from an authorized Apple VAR, and saved about $700 from Apple’s price on their web site. I also ordered the 6 x 64 GB RAM kit from OWC for less than a third of Apple’s price.
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