RAM or Processor? Which one should I prioritize?

[Debe]

Time may tell about Intel processor upgrades, but the one thing to consider is that a FCP editing system is more than the sum of it’s parts. What would remain a mystery is if a processor upgrade to an otherwise stable system would introduce unforseen issues because the other hardware in that computer has likely never been tested with an “upgraded” processor.

Upgrades have always been available on PowerPC Macs. How reliable they are/were has always been the issue. They have not been encouraged here or on any other pro forum that I frequent for likely that very reason.

A stable FCP system is a finely-tuned system. Swapping out hardware components has the chance of introducing instabilities that Apple has, at least in the recent past, never supported and never tested against the software. That’s an incredibly huge aspect of this discussion to consider.

I’m all for upgrading a system, if it works. We dispose of much too much in our computing world, and I certainly would support ways to increase the life cycle of the computers I buy. That being said, I also earn my living with these computers, and I need to know that they are stable and are going to continue to function in the manner to which I’m accustomed, as well. I know I can’t be that guinea pig.

Time will tell. I’m hoping sooner rather than later.

debe

[David Anderson]

I’m looking to upgrade as well. I ordered the quad 3.0GHZ just a day before the 8 core was announced. So I ordered that with the idea that I would refuse the quad delivery. As I type this, the quad is sitting here just begging to be opened, and the 8 core should show up about a week from now.

My delima is that everything I’m reading says that there’s not much out there that can take advantage of 8 cores. Would Final Cut see much of an improvement? How about AE renders?
What to do, what to do…..

Thanks.

[Ben Scott]

the graphics card can make a lot of difference to the render times as can the speed of raid sata hard drives (if you are going HD consider this very important).

If you are working HD get the fastest machine you can for final renders and ouputting to HD dvd. if you are working in complex 3d this also matters

if you are looking to create complex titles and 2d effects the graphics card really matters.

heres some good links for hardware tests
https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/video_cards_mac_pro.html
https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/raid_it_young.html
https://www.barefeats.com/

the sort of kit you should be thinking long term should be something like a good RAID and a good HD uncompressed card for outputting to tape.

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