Pci Express and quagd processing a big deal

[Michael Brennan]

Before anyone nicks it, “quagd processing” is my idea..:)

MB

[Peter Wiggins]

Michael,

The storage is cheap, but with Intel happening early next year the quad doesn’t add up for me.

Peter

https://www.peterwiggins.com

[Jeff Carpenter]

…but with Intel happening early next year the quad doesn’t add up for me.

===

It’s likely we won’t get Intel Powermacs until January of 2007. I certainly wouldn’t worry about what’s coming in 14 months when buying a computer. One could get a lot of work done in 14 months with a computer bought now. Not to mention that in 14 months we’ll all be looking forward to what’s coming out in 2008. There will always be something just around the corner, eventually you have to just jump on the train and hope for the best.

(And the 14-month number even assumes one would want to buy an Intel Powermac ASAP. I imagine most Final Cut users will wait for other early adopters to shake out the bugs.)

As you can tell, Michael, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with your iedea. If anything, I would suggest going with the dual-2.3 chip instead of the quad. You said you’d be working on short projects, correct? The biggest advantage to getting a faster computer is the render/compression times. Now, I don’t know what you mean by “short,” but if they’re under a certain length the difference in render times might not be worth the money.

In other words, a faster machine might knock 20 minutes off the render of a full-length movie, but it would only save 20 second off the render of a 30 second spot. I don’t know what you’re working on, but it’s possible that having the maximum speed chip isn’t worth the extra price. Put the money into more RAM or something.

Anyway, the short answer is I think your idea is fine. The long answer is: Tell us more about what you do and we can give even better advice as to what you should look at.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Michael Brennan] “Is the combination of PCI express and Quad processing a big deal?
If so how?”

Considering there are no systems out there just yet, kind of hard to say. Anything would be pure speculation at this point.

[Michael Brennan] “Looking at the prices Apple storage seems to be reasonably priced to store compliations.”

I recommend Medea Fibrechannel storage.

[Michael Brennan] “Have we reached a HD watershed?”

In what way? I’ve cut HD on FCP since Version 3.0 on a Dual 533. Cutting HD almost every day for over 6 months now on a Dual 2.0 with a Kona 2. Not really sure what you mean by “watershed.” HD’s been viable on FCP for quite a while.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Walter Biscardi]

[Jeff Carpenter] “It’s likely we won’t get Intel Powermacs until January of 2007.”

And you base that on what? Most folks, including myself, thought we would not see Dual Core processing until Intel, but here they are. I would be surprised to see Intel show up later than the Summer of next year considering the developers already got the machines back in June.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Jeff Carpenter]

I expect that we’ll see Intel chips replace the G4’s between April and June next year. I also expect that the G5 chips will hang on for 4 to 6 months after that until they get switched over. Like you, I take the dozens of contradicting reports I’ve read and try to filter all that data into what I think is “most likely.”

I am CERTAINLY willing to admit that this timeline could be sped up and happen sooner than I think. I mean, I don’t really know what’s going to happen either. BUT I feel very sure that we’ll see the G4s replaced several months before the G5s.

So that’s what we’re watching for…if we get Intel Powerbooks in January then, yes, Powermacs next July are likely. If not…then probably not.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Walter Biscardi] “I would be surprised to see Intel show up later than the Summer of next year considering the developers already got the machines back in June.”

Meant to say “I would NOT be surprised to see Intel show up no later than the summer.”

sorry.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Mitchji]

[Michael Brennan] “Is the combination of PCI express and Quad processing a big deal?”

Hi,

Quad is a big deal if you want faster rendering, twice as many CPU’s.

The main short term issue with PCI-E might be card compatibility (or lack of compatibility). Long term PCI-E is cheaper and faster than PCI-X but I’m not sure how big an issue that is for video pros.

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Michael Brennan]

Thanks for the feedback.

To clarify I am talking about digitising 10 second to 1 minute duration 4:2:2 1080p clips then exporting back to HDCAM or sometimes exporting sequential tiffs.

Also making some compilation showreels of 2 – 3 min duration.

Nothing long form although we could end up with 100 different compilations
I guess I’d start to do a little basic grading on some of the clips as I shoot flat.

It would be handy if more than one computer on site could have simultaneous access to the storage of the full res compilations…

In respect to the question is PCI express a watershed, well I’m hoping against hope that now is better time than last week to jump on board!
From the responses so far the improvement offered by PCI express and quad processing is not out of the ordinary?

Mike Brennan

[Mitchji]

[Michael Brennan] “In respect to the question is PCI express a watershed, well I’m hoping against hope that now is better time than last week to jump on board!”

Hi,

If you are going to purchase PCI cards you plan to use with FCP the PCI-X cards won’t work on the newer machines so those cards are going to be obsolete much sooner than the PCI-E cards.

Best Wishes,

Mitch