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quad vs. 8 core on Mac Pro
Need new Mac. Have decided on Mac Pro. Over next 4 years I anticipate doing SD, HDV, and perhaps some other flavor of prosumer level HD. But I am also watching RED as possibility early next year if the reality meets the promise on their smaller new cam, and the workflow proves practical. Of the new Mac Pro models what would you recommend? Would one 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (quad-core) do the trick? Is it worth the extra $450 (ed discount) to go with 2.8 8 core? Do I need ram for each core? I have read here about matching ram sizes in pairs. But can I go with Apple’s stock 2 1 gigs and then add a pair of 2 gigs from crucial? Or would I need to stay with all 1 gigs? I plan to use it with FCP 2 suite with some dabbling in color. Mostly basic editing but some graphics and titling work.
I have spent some time doing a search here on the cow for these answers but have been left with these questions.
OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.
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5 Replies
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If you are going Red, you will need the fastest machine available and a Kona3 and a decent performing RAID.
Get at least 8GBs of RAM. Right now 8Gigs is $368.00 from transintl.com. 16 is $728. Don’t buy any extra RAM fro Apple, just take out the stuff they ship and store it.
https://www.transintl.com/store/category.cfm?Category=2728&RequestTimeOut=500
Jeremy
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Hi Jeremy,
Thanks for response. Scarlet is months away so for now I just need to order a new Mac and set it up for HDV and SD. When scarlet comes out, is 8 cores a must or just speeds up renders a bit. How can I monitor HDV for color correction? Is that where the Kona comes in as well? Any reasonably priced monitoring solution?
OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.
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Definitely spend the extra $450 for the 8core.
What kind of SD? Do you need analog capability?
Monitoring you will need a Kona card and a monitor. I really really like the JVC at the moment, but it’s not exactly cheap.
Jeremy
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Thanks. I guess if the 8 core allows me to hold on to it for an extra year it will pay for itself. If it’s just a question of somewhat faster renders…the set up is getting expensive for my budget. Do I need a ram module for each core or do they share what’s installed?
OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.
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[Craig Alan] “Do I need a ram module for each core or do they share what’s installed? “
They share what’s installed, but you’ll end up with better performance if each core has a gig or more. But starting with two gigs is okay to start with.
-Russ
Russell Lasson
Kaleidoscope Pictures
Provo, UT
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