pimp my mac dual 1.8…..;-)

[Steven Gonzales]

I think FCP 5 runs much better under 10.4, so I’d suggest that as a starting point.

[Mark Maness]

[Stefan Kroesbacher] “well, i don’t have the money to get me a new mac, so what are the cheapest and
best ways to pimp my mac???
more ram??
better Grafix-card??
update to 10.4??”

I understand you completely. To answer your question, do all of the above. The graphics card needs to be updated ONLY if you are planning to use Motion with it. Otherwise, don’t spend a whole lot of money on a new card. More RAM always helps. AND I would suggest that you do update to the latest version of OSX. I’m using 10.4.8 on a Dual 1 gig QuickSliver 2002 (now, my DVD encoding staion) and it works just fine.

And most importantly, UPGRADE FCP to 5.1! Its only $49 until the end of the year. After that, it will be $199.

[Stefan Kroesbacher] “I work mainly with hdv and FCP (well, AE as wel, but for this i’ll get gridiron software..)
and need more realtime power (if at all possible)”

As for this…. there’s not much you can do excpet what I said above. Realtime power comes mostly from the processors.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com

[Walter Biscardi]

First off, I really hate “pimp my” anything. Just a lousy term and really don’t know why that has to be so popular in the spoken language today. Just my own personal rant, nothing against you.

For your system.
Upgrade the OS to current
Update to FCP 5.1 (only $49)
Max your RAM
Get a faster hard drive array

Better graphics card will only help Motion. A video card such as a Kona card can increase your realtime by taking some HDV scaling work off the processors, but that’s $2,000 and won’t work in a new machine when you upgrade.

Fast hard drive arrays are the best way to increase realtime performance.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”

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

[Peter Wiggins]

[walter biscardi] “Better graphics card will only help Motion”

Could we all come an agreement that this is now not true?
FXPlug now works within FCP and I know you are having problems Walter,
but the whole FCP world is moving over to this plugin standard because it
is so dam fast. You are the first person I’ve heard of who has had to remove the plugs.

Take a look at what people are doing with FXPlug, FXFactory is one good example.
Our friend Graeme Nattress (Who is the Apple official No1 FCP plugin writer) is converting his stuff over
like mad when he manages to get time off from RED.

So do the extrapolation, the graphics card is going to become more & more important as
time goes on, especially around April would be my guess 😉

Peter

Free Motion Templates

peterwiggins.com

[Walter Biscardi]

[Peter Wiggins] “Could we all come an agreement that this is now not true?
FXPlug now works within FCP and I know you are having problems Walter,
but the whole FCP world is moving over to this plugin standard because it
is so dam fast. You are the first person I’ve heard of who has had to remove the plugs.”

Read down and you’ll see multiple threads with people who had to pull plugs out to get FCP 5.1.2 to work. They don’t all work.

[Peter Wiggins] “So do the extrapolation, the graphics card is going to become more & more important as
time goes on, especially around April would be my guess ;)”

Key statement, “as time goes on”. Today FCP barely uses FX Plugs and from what I’ve seen on this very forum and in our own shop, it’s not ready for prime time yet. So today, the graphics card is not very important with FCP. As I stated in another thread, in the future when FCP 6 comes out, I’m sure that will change. But I don’t buy for tomorrow. I buy for here and now. “as time goes on” we’ll see things come out that aren’t even on the drawing board yet. Preparing yourself today for “as time goes on” will leave you spending more money than you really need to, today, for the jobs at hand.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”

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

[Peter Wiggins]

Walter,

I had written a long rant but then I looked at your post again

[walter biscardi] “Better graphics card will only help Motion”

then I looked at your reply to my post

[walter biscardi] “Today FCP barely uses FX Plugs”

Well FCP does use FXPlug and very succesfully, therefore you cant say the second line.
Take a look at the render speeds for example and the light rays play back in realtime
in full quality on my MBP

As for your problems I would suggest you do all the things recommended so often
on this site.

Peter

Free Motion Templates

peterwiggins.com

[Stefan Kroesbacher]

Thanx for the info…

hmm, makes me think though:

i searched for fxfactory and found their site where it states to be nodebased…
well – can it be that Apple works on the new FCP with an integrated Shake??
I mean, Shake price dropped heavily, “nodebased” FXplug…

hmmm……

maybe i should wait and get me a new system in a year or so
after all….. and save every cent to get there ;-(

thanx for the help!

kind regards

stefan