Think i’ll have any issues with the new dual-core 2ghz? Should i spring for the Quad?

[Tony]

Yes,

You need to consider the triple quad which will be released on January 31st.

Cmon guys the stuff has not even been released or tested under real life conditions so all this talk about if I need it is not relevant until all the real details are established.

Enuff said,

Tony Salgado

[Walter Biscardi]

[George Loucas] “The dualcore 2ghz should be totally fast enough for staight I/O right and maybe minimal RT (in HD)?”

I’ve been doing HD since my G4 Dual 533, I can do uncompressed work with my current Powerbook. The new machines only allow you to work faster, but you don’t need them to work with HD.

I cut an HD series running the G5 Dual 2.0 and have no plans in the very near future to upgrade to the newer machines. If anything, I might pick up the G5 Dual 2.7 since the price dropped a bit on those and I don’t need to buy all new cards to put inside the machine.

If you want to get one of the new machines the only scary thing is that they are completely unproven and untested in the “real world.” My machines can run 24/7 for weeks at a time without a hiccup.

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

[Jas L.]

Wow!
These new machines have sure caused a big mess 😉
I had a client who wanted to setup a new machine but all of a sudden saw these monster Dual Cores. Now I had a dilemma on what to recommend the client because I haven’t even used or seen these new machines.
So the problem was:
Go for a Dual 2.7, use the existing Kona2, Apple Fibre PCI-X etc and everyone is happy! But when a client is spending the money, he or she wants to make sure that its the hottest and latest they are paying for.

OR get the DualCore 2.3 and replace everything. After talking to few people (Thanks Walter) we soon came to realize that 2.3DC is almost equivalent to the DP2.7 and that a real leap would be to go Quad if anything but it comes with a big price tag of replacing the internal guts and cards.

So what did we do?
Client is indeed going DP2.7 and is going to use the existing hardware for now and wait and see what happens over the next 6 months when they are going to indeed add another machine.

As for me, after all that hussle bussle, I am really starting to get an itch for a Quad and test it out to see what it actually has. And as I was telling Walter earlier that I have been just hearing rave benchmarks and feedback about the Quads really blowing FCP and Motion rendering. So I might pick up the Quad when they ship. But please keep in mind that I will be mostly using that for testing and consulting work and will be testing some hardware on it before recommending it for production. Well I really hope that PCIe carries onto MacIntels.

Please keep us posted with any Quad benchmarks and feedback if and when someone else gets their hands on them. Hope this helps in making your decision
Regards

Jas Lamba
Media Consultant
Toronto, Canada

[Bob Zelin]

There is no dilema here. I am currently bidding on multiple NEW FCP/AJA
jobs – and you know what – I am going to STILL SPECIFY THE OLD MAC G5 dual 2.7 with the AJA Kona 2/Kbox/I/O until I see what happens. I may be Mr. SATA these days, but I have STILL not tried SATA II drives. My clients have to make a living (and they have to be able to pay me), so I am not going to be the guinea pig – I will let some of you do that- and when I see that these new products work, then I will jump in.

Just remember boys, this “new” MAC G5 is an interim product – it will be outdated/replaced by the inevidable Intel Chip Set MAC’s that are coming out VERY SOON – so if you think that you are Mr. Smartiepants, and future proofing yourself by waiting to buy the new Quad – it will be outdated about a year later.

AND GUESS WHAT – it’s almost April 2006 – do you think that AJA won’t have new toys available for NAB2006? These guys are not sitting around doing nothing !!!!!

Now, go make a living, and stop worrying about “the next product”.

Bob Zelin

[George Loucas]

Well, my concern is this. . .

If the new trend is PCIe do i want to invest in a standard PCI-X card. I know it’s not a huge investment and that fast PCI machines will still be around for a while but still a dilemma.

I have no hardware that i would need to salvage so whatever ends up going into my setup will be new anyway.

Is it silly to still invest in PCI, do I gain anything in PCIe?

thanks everyone

[Jas L.]

I do agree George that more than likely PCIe is here to stay (well for a while atleast) and I think that the PCIe are going to be carried over to the IntelMacs. No reason for them to look back at PCI-X, I mean look at the difference in horsepower. So investing in a new PCI-X, well it depends what it is and whether you are going to stay put for a while with your current equipment. Bob’s point is well taken that the Quads may be outdated within a year but so are the exisiting Dual 2.x so IF (and that is a big IF) the tests on the Quads are reliable and you want to invest in a new(er) machine, then I would look into the Quad. TODAY for production its hard to say if the new machines are a good move until we see one and test one first.
I personally have a feeling that Apple *might* have a prototype for the IntelMac at NAB next year but we’ll see.

Jas Lamba
Toronto, Canada

[David Garcia]

I’m kinda dissapointed in my Dual 2.0 G5s. One has 8gigs of ram and I swear I see very little difference over my powerbook. To me the point of having a tower is that it is big and BAD. We’ll probably be swapping out for the Quad with a quadro for my CG stuff.

I spoke to someone at AJA the other day and they said the Kona 2e wasn’t too far off. This way I can swap it into the Intel Mac. Makes sense to me.