Is the 2008 Mac Pro fine or does the 2010 offer that much more?

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

Is the 2008 Mac Pro fine or does the 2010 offer that much more?

Posted by Pat Defilippo on November 29, 2011 at 6:42 pm

Hello,

I’m just moving in to Adobe Premiere Pro, and took advantage of the Production Premium upgrade to CS5.5 that ends today. I also plan to continue to edit with Final Cut Studio 3 and have bought Avid MC 5.5 (which I’ll upgrade to 6 by the end of the year).

I need to replace my G5 Quad and am leaning toward an 8-core Mac Pro over the 4-core MacBook Pro. Does anyone know if there are major advantages in operating these three pieces of software with the 2010 “Westmere” Mac Pro over the 2008 “Nehelam” Mac Pro? They’re both 8-cores of 2.8ghz processors.

Would 8gb of RAM be adequate as well?

What AJA card is best for a BetaSP deck (albeit rarely used!) and HD monitoring? I currently have the AJA Io LA (SD component/composite/S-Video I/O via FW400).

Is there a better and/or less expensive 8TB eSata solution than the GTech Q (it also needs to work with my 17″ MacBook Pro).

Thanks in advance for your advice!
-Pat

G5 Quad Desktop with 4GB Ram, 750GB HD & eSata ~ 30″ Cinema Display & 17″ Sony SVGA
~ Swift Data 200 Internal 1.6TB SATA II RAID 0 ~
2.33gz Intel MacBook Pro with 3GB Ram, 500GB HD
AJA Io LA
Final Cut Studio 2 on G5 & 3 on MBP
Sony UVW-1800 Beta-SP
Sony DSR-40 DVCam

P D Post Productions, Inc.
TV~DVD~WEB-Device
for Corporate Communications, Commercials, Infomercials, Television Programs and Family Occasions since 1983
E-mail **@****st.com
Website http://www.PDPost.com
Business/Cell Phone (847) 275-5671

Chris Tompkins replied 14 years, 5 months ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
2 Replies

Shane Ross
November 29, 2011 at 7:33 pm

[Pat DeFilippo] “Does anyone know if there are major advantages in operating these three pieces of software with the 2010 “Westmere” Mac Pro over the 2008 “Nehelam” Mac Pro? They’re both 8-cores of 2.8ghz processors. “

Not sure, so can’t comment. I have the Westmere and it’s fine.

[Pat DeFilippo] “Would 8gb of RAM be adequate as well? “

Going to use Adobe? Get more. Actually, with 64 bit apps, the more the better. I suggest 12-16GB minimum.

[Pat DeFilippo] “What AJA card is best for a BetaSP deck (albeit rarely used!) and HD monitoring?”

AJA LHi. Analog in and out, SD/HD…upconvert SD to HD, downconvert HD to SD, cross convert 720/1080 and vise versa.

[Pat DeFilippo] “Is there a better and/or less expensive 8TB eSata solution than the GTech Q (it also needs to work with my 17″ MacBook Pro).”

Edit Star from Maxx Digital…possible: https://www.maxxdigital.com/edit-star-5-bay-sata.html
Haven’t used it, but like their stuff. Personally I have a SAS raid, and for eSATA, a SANS DIGITAL box that houses 5 drives, separately…no raid. But they are easily swappable…and I like that. But that’s more of a do-it-yourself kit.

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def
Chris Tompkins
November 29, 2011 at 8:06 pm

I would hang tight, wait until apple makes a move – which is overdue.
You best option come spring might be a iMac and Thunderbolt raid.

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC

Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up

Creative Communities of the World Forums