MacPro: More RAM or GPU

[Helmut Kobler]

I’m angling for the 6 core option as well.

Personally, I would put the money into the GPU because you can always add more ram later when your cash frees up. Upgrading GPUs after purchase is far more difficult, if not impossible (we don’t know enough yet about that issue).

Apple seems confident that GPUs, going forward, will have a big role to play in video — that’s why they put two of them in the machine as a standard configuration. I would definitely secure as much GPU power as possible….

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Los Angeles Cameraman
Canon C300 (x2), Zeiss CP.2 lenses, P2 Varicam, etc.
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[Lance Bachelder]

Agree – I’m looking at the Quad 3.7 with maxed out GPU’s assuming they’ll configure it that way. So many apps and plug-ins off-load heavy lifting to GPU’s I think that will work best for me…

Lance Bachelder
Writer, Editor, Director
Downtown Long Beach, California
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1680680/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

[Scott Williams]

Thanks to both of you. That was my inclination. Glad to hear I’m not way off base.

[Andre Van berlo]

But for whom would each GPU set be? Doesn’t the GPU option kinda depend on your workload?

I’m doing 1080p HD video and not going to be doing any 4K in the coming 2-3years. I can imagine peope like Larry Jordan having need for a D700 set but you’d think the D500’s are quite capable too. Even if they’re only midrange you’re going to be paying a hefty price to go from D500 to D700. When you need it that’s the way to go but if not it’s a waste of power.

Could anyone give an indication to which GPU would suit which type of workload?

[Bernard Newnham]

There are lots of links on Google that compare the Xeon to the i7 – well worth a read before you chuck huge amounts of money at Apple – but I can’t find one that compares Xeon versions, maybe someone else can. It’s all so incredibly far from what you actually need to run 1080p. Xeons aren’t meant for this job, they’re optimised for servers – I’m using a quite old (in computer terms) Core i5 to run PPro, and it works fine.

Bernie

[Scott Williams]

A couple of points of clarification.

I too work with 1080p rather than 4k. Hence my concern with the overkill on gpu.

I don’t find many problems running Premiere Pro on my current high end iMac but I do note delays in heavy work in After Effects and C4D which is what I really need to address with the new machine.

I have my footage on a separate RAID 5 hard drive and my apps on an ssd drive in the IMAC.

[Marcus Moore]

I don’t think people should be confused that the GPUs only facilitate 4K resolutions (though they do). With FCPX and Motion (and seemingly with updates to Resolve, and Adobe CC) the Render speed benefits will be noticeable at ANY resolution. Complex AE (some things) or Motion comps, noise reduction in Resolve, FCPX effects that support Open CL- all these will see HUGE boots in speed. I think the performance of 2 D700s is going to shock a lot of people (compared to existing Mac systems)

[Rick Lang]

I lean to agreeing with Marcus (again) that the trend is greater reliance on GPU for more uses. At this point a 6-core D700 looks worthwhile although a D500 could be the sweet spot in terms of value. If the applications that use the GPU are programmed to use what they can of the GPU (rather than assuming an arbitrary upper floor like 2 GB VRAM), then you’ll see real world benefits handling 4K and most anything with heavy calculations as previously identified. Even FCP X has had apparently almost all functions coded to take advantage of the dual GPUs and Apple has published some impressive performance improvements over a maxed out current generation Mac Pro.

As for those who don’t plan on doing 4K, if 4K proves to be very beneficial for keying, effects, improved detail and colour after downscaling to 2K or HD, you may find yourself working with 4K in post sooner than later. It does give you the option of delivering in 2K and HD, so don’t say your clients don’t need it: it may give you a competitive edge and that might accelerate your move to 4K. 4K is not 3D. By that I mean, 4K won’t make anyone feel disoriented, uncomfortable, dizzy or strain to find a good viewing angle. For your end viewer, 4K even downscaled is not going to be rejected if you offer it. Your downside will be more costly hardware and storage, but hopefully that’s offset by ‘more better’ clients who appreciate your work.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Andre Van berlo]

I understand that the D700’s are going to kick ass on that machine, but what’s the difference with the D500’s. For someone who renders a project on a D500 and it takes 3hrs, the D700 would be best but if rendering with the D500 takes 10min, is it worth it to pay the extra $2-2.5k?

But I guess we’ll know once the first people make their Bruce-X tests 🙂 with their MP’s

[Marcus Moore]

Exactly- for those who need to pick their battles with the price, waiting on app specific benchmarks is going to be crucial. If something take 10min to render with D700s, and twice that with D500s, the user will have to decide if they can take that hit, depending on how graphics intensive their workflow is.