Which New Nehalem Mac Pro Should I Choose?

[Peter Corbett]

Hi Pat,

Yes it is a bit like being on an island. I’ll keep one Vista 64 seat for PPro.

Bummer on not knowing about the new model. The dealer should have known. I’ve been looking at those previous Harpertown Mac Pros. It’s interesting when Apple bring out a new platform, they (and the dealers) don’t reduce the price of the outgoing model. Now I’m leaning more to a dual 2.26 or single 2.66 processor. It’s always a pain upgrading…

PC

Peter Corbett
Powerhouse Productions
http://www.php.com.au

[David Roth weiss]

[Peter Corbett] “Now I’m leaning more to a dual 2.26 or single 2.66 processor. It’s always a pain upgrading… “

I wouldn’t go that direction Peter. Rendering HD takes all the beef you care to throw at it, and that second proc will become even more valuable when Snow Leopard arrives. Even if FCP is not fully optimized for full 64-bit operation you will still benefit from working in a multi-threaded environment.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Peter Corbett]

[David Roth Weiss] “I wouldn’t go that direction Peter. Rendering HD takes all the beef you care to throw at it, and that second proc will become even more valuable when Snow Leopard arrives. Even if FCP is not fully optimized for full 64-bit operation you will still benefit from working in a multi-threaded environment.”

So maybe the slower 2.26 in an 8-core config would be better than a single 2.66 or single 2.92? The dual 2.92 is over $10,000 Aussie here. I can’t justify it at the moment.

PC

Peter Corbett
Powerhouse Productions
http://www.php.com.au

[David Roth weiss]

[Peter Corbett] “So maybe the slower 2.26 in an 8-core config would be better than a single 2.66 or single 2.92?”

Absolutely!!! That is the direction you should definitely go in. Traditionally, the difference between the lowest rated procs and the highest has not meant a whole lot of difference when comparing render times.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Darin Miyashiro]

Is the 2008 2.8ghz 8 core mac pro faster than
the 2009 2.6ghz 4 core mac pro and 2009 2.2ghz 8 core mac pro?
I can get a mac pro 2.8ghz 8 core for 2499 brand new. is that
a good deal?

[David Roth weiss]

See the following benchmark findings, it may help…

https://www.macrumors.com/2009/03/10/nehalem-mac-pros-arrive-unboxing-and-benchmarks/

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[David Roth weiss]

See the following benchmark findings, it may help…

https://www.macrumors.com/2009/03/10/nehalem-mac-pros-arrive-unboxing-and-benchmarks/

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Russell Lasson]

I’ll just say that I’d probably go with the 8-core 2.26 with 12GB of RAM from crucial.com and the ati card.

The 2.26 8-core is supposed to be just as fast as the older 3.2 8-core. I’ve heard great thinks about the new architecture and would lean towards that route instead.

-Russ

Russell Lasson
Universal Post
Ridgeline Digital Cinema Mastering
Salt Lake City, UT