Rendering Very Slowly

[Steve Eisen]

My guess is your RAM. I am running the MPro Dual 3GHz with 5GB of RAM and I have no problems with rendering.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Director-At-Large
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Cameron Campbell]

Steve:

I have 8GB of 667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM’s installed and all 8 show up in my ‘About this Mac’ dialog. My assumption is that should be plenty of RAM.

Any other ideas?

Cameron

[Steve Eisen]

FCP currently only uses a maximum of 4 GB. It is possible the the other RAM is conflicting. Does this problem happen all the time? Try restarting your system, trash your render files and trash your preferences.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Director-At-Large
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Bret Williams]

In my tests I’ve only seen FCP use 999mb of RAM. But it runs just fine.

I wonder if somehow he’s running in rosetta? Check the get info on the application and make sure the run under rosetta check box ISN’T checked.

[Cameron Campbell]

I tried throwing away all of the render files and the FCP preferences…but still no change in FCP.

Also, as suggested, I checked to see if it was running in Rosetta and it wasn’t.

Pretty frustrating. All I am doing is editing together a :30 spot with 10bit video files; one speed effect (not variable); one FCP generated text clip (not animated) and a push wipe. Pretty simple stuff I would think.

Any other ideas are always appreciated.

Thanks again.

Cameron

[Jeremy Garchow]

Did you run the PCIe slot configuration as explained in the Kona read me files or AJA website?

[Mark Maness]

Here’s probably the issue..

Memory is a main issue with the Mac Pro. Memory HAS to be installed in pairs across the two risers. Memory also needs to be from the same manufacturer along with the same size across risers. There are lots of memory companies on the market BUT only a select few make memory that is stable enough to run on the Mac Pro systems.

I had this same issue with my system. I called ProMax (whom I bought the system through) and talked with them on this issue. They have found out that most of the memory that is made for the Mac Pro is very unstable. So far, Kensington makes the most stable memory. ProMax swapped all 8 gig of my memory for Kensington and I haven’t seen any issues since. I did this about three weeks ago.

Also, check to see if you have the most recent drivers and correct slot arraigement.

_______________________________

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

[Jeremy Garchow]

Here’s a white-paper explaining how to install RAM in a MacPro:

https://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacPro_MemoryDIMM_DIY.pdf

Jeremy

[Cameron Campbell]

Wayne:

Thanks for the advice. So far that seems like the most logical explanation yet. I checked the slot assignment & the Expansion Slot utility is set up EXACTLY like the image in the Kona installation guide (even my video card matches), and I still have rendering issues. I also have had strange memory issues in AfterEffects with the software not being able to allocate some memory buffers.

I have Kingston (and only Kingston) RAM all in 1 GB chips installed between the 2 risers. I have had good luck historically with Kingston as a brand, but these are the first chips purchased for MacPro.

Is there any way to check the integrity or stability of my RAM?

Thanks again,

Cam

[Gary Adcock]

[Cameron Campbell] “I also have had strange memory issues in AfterEffects with the software not being able to allocate some memory buffers.”

this sounds as if you also need to update the firmware in the Intel machine

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows