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Obsolete Mac Pro VS Windows PC – What should I expect?
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More detailed info in video on Performance Advisor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFBrTOM38Yo
Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.7.3
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3 -
If you are more comfortable on the Mac, my advice would be to get the 2012 Hexacore 3.33 Ghz with 24-32GB RAM and an NVidia card, Quadro 4000 or a GTX 285 from eBay, the GPU in my Mac Pro. That is the system I’m using and it works great on CS6 with a very low frustration level. There is more than raw performance to computer life.
Jim Wiseman
Sony PMW-EX1,Pana AJ-D810 DVCPro, DVX-100, Nikon D7000, Final Cut Studio 2 and 3, Media 100 Suite 2.1, Premiere Pro 5.5 and 6.0, AJA ioHD, AJA Kona LHi, Avid MC, Hexacore MacPro 3.33 Ghz 24Gb RAM GTX-285 120GB SSD, Macbook Pro 17″ 2011 2.2 Ghz Quadcore i7 8Gb SSD, G5 Quadcore PCIe -
[Tom Daigon] “Alex, we spoke on the phone several weeks ago. As a system integrator I understand your vested interest in folks buying from you.”
Tom, not sure which parts of my message you are responding to, with this. Could you clarify?
I did outline a couple of things we do with HP systems – but have no problem with anyone buying directly, just I as I mentioned to you on the phone. Your priority was the price point, on which we normally don’t compete with HP – or anyone else.
[Tom Daigon] “But for my money, it is well worth the expenditure to have the repair support done at my place of business. No one in my detailed research comes close to matching that.”
This seems to imply that buying an HP system from an integrator somehow limits HP on-site support. If so, this is not the case – far from it. Memory is one of the things that is relatively cheap to cross-ship when it fails, one of the reasons (besides reliability) we sometimes use 3rd party one, with lifetime warranty. If you prefer HP memory – that’s an option too – and there is a way to get it via CTO for half the price for self-install, with full support and warranty.
Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Integrator
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA -
[Tom Daigon] “More detailed info in video on Performance Advisor.”
Thanks for posting this: graphics card usage monitoring is not easily accessible via OS, so PA does have some useful functions – if not for Premiere Pro, then possibly for other apps.
Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Integrator
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA -
Yeah, this post quickly turned into a “What PC should I buy” which is somewhat of a testament to the scarcity or possibly shyness of Mac users in this forum. The switch from Mac to PC, if I do undertake it, will be major for me and debilitating in a lot of ways, just because I’m really in the Apple/Mac universe and I’m very proficient in it.
My limited experience with the ‘creative pro’ aspects of Windows (and I’m going to keep trying, I haven’t yet given up) leads me to the belief that it may be an ‘all or nothing’ switch. I don’t really see the practicality of just using the PC for Premiere Pro and keeping the rest of my creative life on Mac, the short amount of time I tried was quite inefficient.
However, it does seem that Premiere may work better on a PC, and PC hardware, at the current time, seems to be faster, possibly because Premiere just works better on PCs, or maybe because the latest Mac Pros are not that ‘cutting edge.’
Jim, I am particularly intrigued by your response that a 6 Core Mac is doing well for you. I have an 8 Core non-hyperthreaded Mac, and I find that most AVCHD, particularly AVCHD from my Sony FS100, is very sluggish and laggy. Even though I do have 24GB of RAM, an SSD Boot/Application drive, and an NVidia Quadro 4000 already, and very fast RAIDed internal and external eSATA drives. It really points to the fact that I have an ancient Mac. However for most other things, other than editing AVCHD, it’s plenty fast.
So can you tell me if you use AVCHD and how well it works with Premiere on your Mac Pro 6 Core? And if there are any others out there that have the 12-core models, please chime in!
Thanks much!
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Keith, its not all or nothing for me. I will keep my Mac Pro and use it for internet use, making music (Im a rock/blues guitarist) and a variety of other functions. Its still runs great.
I will use the PC exclusively for editorial stuff. I do need the raw performance of a PC in order to comfortably deal with the wide range of codecs out there. It will be on the internet only for updating and installing.
It seems like a logical way to proceed to me 😀Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.7.3
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3 -
Tom
It’s good to know there will still be some ‘Macness’ in your life. For me, it is hard for me to separate the editorial work from all the other media, sound, music composition, visual, writing, organization, database, email, web, podcasting, etc that I do, because a lot of that Mac stuff will need to integrate into my edits. I don’t go into an ‘office’ and sit down to work at my edit station, Premiere Pro is one of a dozen apps I have open and running at once in order to do what I do. I foresee it will be difficult to integrate the PC for just edit work, at least for me.
A while back I was a software developer among other things, and I developed for both Mac and Windows. I used Windows judiciously and where I needed to. When the Intel Mac’s came out, and even before, most of my Windows boxes were relegated to the dust bin, as virtualization on the Mac, such as with Parallels or more recently VMWare Fusion, there was really no need to have a a hardware PC anymore. The performance of Windows in virtualization was more than enough. I still use VMWare, as there are number of media utilities I need that are either not available or better on Windows. However it’s just a like an app within my Mac.
Back when I was developing software using PC hardware, I invested in a very high end “KVM” box that supported 4 PCs or Macs or Sun workstations with one Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse. It worked, but it was a pain. In my recent foray into PC land I also got a KVM and it’s a pain. Maybe because it doesn’t work that well, or maybe the cables they supply are low quality – it’s going back like the PC… but anyway it’s a big imposition, maybe one I’ll have to take as these days I’m editing a lot, but still, a major pain.
I am even considering getting a Mac Pro 12 core even though I know it is probably 1/2 the machine you just got from HP (if that – you really went to town on that one – congrats) just to get some usable performance for a year or 2 more until the ‘new’ Mac Pro or Mac Mini with extra Thunderbolts or whatever Apple comes up with appears.
Anyway, thanks for you input, all the information and research you have shared, your insights into the support issue, which I think is very, very wise. One of my first PCs was a server-class HP, and that HP in-home / office service came in handy multiple times!
-Keith
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You are very welcome Keith. I wish you happiness in whatever configuration you end up with.
Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.7.3
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3 -
Hi Keith,
Sorry, just noticed your question. In native mode, I am running XDCam EX, Nikon H264 .mov, and ProRes HQ. All are very responsive with 6 main cores and hyperthreads. Not maxed except on exports to ProRes HQ, my mastering and intermediate format. Sorry, no AVCHD. I do think the hexacore is the Mac sweet spot in price/performance.Jim Wiseman
Sony PMW-EX1,Pana AJ-D810 DVCPro, DVX-100, Nikon D7000, Final Cut Studio 2 and 3, Media 100 Suite 2.1, Premiere Pro 5.5 and 6.0, AJA ioHD, AJA Kona LHi, Avid MC, Hexacore MacPro 3.33 Ghz 24Gb RAM GTX-285 120GB SSD, Macbook Pro 17″ 2011 2.2 Ghz Quadcore i7 8Gb SSD, G5 Quadcore PCIe
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