what mac pro should i buy to use final cut with HD?

[Alan Okey]

My recommendations:

– If you’re primarily doing simple cuts-only editing without a lot of effects or filters, the extra $1400 for faster CPUs might be better put toward other things like a proper broadcast monitor.

– DO NOT use more than one graphics card. Not only is it completely unnecessary, but it provides no performance benefit and will cause some FCS apps to not work. Instead, configure the system with a single ATI Radeon HD 4870. The 4870 is essential for decent performance in Color.

– DO NOT buy the Apple RAID card. It’s overpriced and underperforming compared to competing products. If you don’t have a need or the budget for a good external RAID-5 array from a reputable manufacturer like CalDigit, Dulce Systems or Maxx Digital, consider adding 3 additional internal drives to your Mac Pro, creating a software RAID 0 and dedicating it to video storage. Make sure to back up your footage, as RAID 0 provides a speed boost but no fault tolerance – if one drive in a RAID 0 volume fails, you lose everything. Dedicate one of the four internal drives as the system drive (OS and applications) and NEVER store video on your system drive.

– Bump the RAM up to 12GB. Choose a RAM configuration of 6 DIMMs (leaving two slots empty), as this is the optimal configuration for the Nehalem Mac Pros.

– Bump the system drive up to 1TB.

– Consider purchasing the AJA Kona LHi for video output to a proper broadcast monitor.

– Budget for a proper broadcast monitor like an FSI:

https://www.flandersscientific.com/index/Broadcast_Monitors

If accurate color rendition is important to you, and I’m sure it is, DO NOT use your computer monitor to judge color.

A proper broadcast monitor is one area where you absolutely cannot cut corners if accurate color rendition is required. If you don’t use a proper monitor, you’ll have no idea what your finished product will look like once it’s output to DVD or sent to broadcast. It’s also impossible to view interlaced material properly on a computer monitor.

[Ginger Gentile]

Thanks Alan!
Do I need a “Black Magic” or similar video card? An editor friend of mine recomended it.
when you say “if one drive in a raid 0 system fails, you loose everthing” that means I would loose all the other drives (this is not optimal for me)? could this be prevented by buying a Caldigit external raid drive?

[Andrew Kimery]

Do not buy RAM or hard drives from Apple as the mark up is insane.

-Andrew

3.2GHz 8-core, FCP 6.0.4, 10.5.5
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (6.8.1)

[Alan Okey]

I would recommend the AJA Kona LHi over any of the Blackmagic cards.

https://www.aja.com/products/kona/kona-lhi.php

Here’s a good primer on RAID:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

The point of using a RAID is to increase the speed at which data can be transferred to and from the storage volume. Why is this relevant? Because the speed of your storage directly impacts the performance you can expect in Final Cut Pro. The faster your storage is, the more realtime performance (ability to play back without the need to render first) you will experience from FCP. Having fast storage also allows you to play back more simultaneous streams of video or work with higher quality formats and codecs without fear of dropping frames. Fast storage is one of the factors most greatly impacting the overall smoothness and responsiveness of editing in Final Cut Pro.

When a RAID-0 volume is configured, data is written (or read) across 2 or more drives simultaneously, increasing the speed at which data can be transferred. If one drive should fail, all data on the volume would be irretrievably lost. The actual drives themselves (other than the drive that failed) would be fine. RAID-0 is an inexpensive way to add performance, but carries with it the need for regular backups or confidence that the media on it is duplicated elsewhere (master tapes, etc.).

A RAID-5 array offers several advantages. A RAID-5 volume must contain 3 or more drives. Just like in RAID-0, data is spread across all drives in the array, but in RAID-5 parity information (information that can help reconstruct the volume in case one drive fails) is also spread across all of the drives. In a RAID-5 volume, one drive can fail and no data loss will occur. The RAID will be able to continue operating at a reduced performance level but will be able to rebuild itself completely once a replacement drive is added. RAID-5 offers the best combination of speed and reliability. Data transfer will be faster than a single drive, and data will be better protected than if it were stored on a single drive or a RAID-0 volume.

RAID-5 arrays typically use hardware RAID controllers, which offload the RAID data and parity calculations that are normally performed by the CPU in software RAID setups. Apple’s Disk Utility can create RAID-0 (striping) and RAID-1 (mirroring) volumes, but not RAID-5.

A good entry level RAID-5 array would be the CalDigit HDElement, a 4-drive RAID-5 with a hardware RAID controller card.

https://www.caldigit.com/HDElement/

Good luck!

[Alan Okey]

[Andrew Kimery] “Do not buy RAM or hard drives from Apple as the mark up is insane. “

Yes and no.

Looking at the recent specs, this seems to be somewhat improved, at least if you merely up the spec of the standard config.

For example, the stock Mac Pro ships with 6x1GB modules. To get to 12GB using 6x2GB modules, you’d have to spend over $400 for third party RAM, replacing the standard RAM (6x1GB) with larger DIMMS. If you order your Mac Pro with 12GB installed (6x2GB), it’s only an additional $300.

Upping the stock drive to 1TB adds $100, not so bad.

However, $300 for each additional 1TB drive is highway robbery.