Alex Gerulaitis
Forum Replies Created
-
The Mac version is the one to use for a Mac Pro although it will also works on non-Mac systems.
The standard (non-Mac) version may not work and is not supported on a Mac Pro.
Alex (DV411)
-
Quite a few things on the web site are outdated.
Depending on the workflow, my favorite setup for a DAS array is a 6G MiniSAS box ($500-1700 4-8 bay) with a decent (ATTO, Areca) RAID controller. It will be $500-1200 more expensive than an eSATA or “quad-interface” boxes, and will suit mostly performance-oriented workflows.
Single eSATA and quad-interface boxes are inherently cheap (not in a good way) because nobody makes decent yet inexpensive eSATA or multiple-interface controllers. That for now is the domain of MiniSAS.
Personally, I don’t trust the RAID5 protection these boxes offer. I don’t trust that in the event of drive failure they will do all the right steps to perform a complex procedure of disengaging the bad drive, accepting a new one, and rebuilding the array.
Alex (DV411)
-
[neil frye] “Basically I want to know what they mean when they say not officially supported. Does that mean some time in the future this card will be supported or does it mean that this card will do the job effectively 80% of the time? or What?”
It means Adobe hasn’t tested them and/or paying homage to its partners NVidia and PNY helping them sell more expensive “pro” cards. 🙂
It also means a GeForce card with sufficient specs will perform the same or better as the officially supported card.
A card with marginal or insufficient specs may work 50% of the time. I haven’t done enough testing to say for sure.
Based on what cards Adobe does support, I’d look at a minimum of 192 Cuda cores (GTX 560M or higher), 60GB/s memory bandwidth.
That said, users on this forum reported that the laptops equipped with the GTX 540M (96 Cuda Cores, Dell XPS 15) is working for them in terms of GPU accel in Pr.
The unfortunate fact is, Quadro cards have an expensive component (hardware OpenGL support) that is completely unnecessary for Premiere. So when you buy one, it’s an overkill from the get go. If you can get a similar laptop with a GeForce card that has the same number of Cuda cores, memory bandwidth and sufficient memory – it will offer exactly the same performance as the Quadro card.
Alex (DV411)
-
Unlike Sonnet, G-Tech is here on the forum and actually providing support, as well.
I haven’t dealt with Sonnet support – G-Tech’s support however was more than gracious and helpful in the 10+ years of my doing business with them.
[Jef Huey] “I have had trouble finding performance specs on the Sonnet product that can be used in comparison.”
“Data Transfer Speed: Up to 225 MB/s, depending on drives, interface(2), and configuration.”
I was also dead wrong regarding performance – G-Speed eS only has one eSATA port, meaning it won’t be faster than the Fusion box all other things being equal. In fact its RAID5 numbers are rather unimpressive at below 200MB/s. Its main advantage is simplicity and expandability: using a RAID controller with multiple eSATA ports, you can create a large (and very fast) array.
Alex (DV411)
-
[David Roth Weiss] “The two products you’re looking at are essentially identical”
The Sonnet Fusion box is closer to G-Speed Q I think: controller in the box, quad interface.
G-Speed eS is much faster due to separate eSATA links to each drive, but also much less portable since the RAID brain is on the controller that’s in the host computer.
If speed and reliability is important, I’d go with G-Speed eS Pro. If portability is – G-Speed Q or the Sonnet Fusion box.
Alex (DV411)
-
Alas, no.
-
[Alex Gerulaitis] “ST8-U5 is the non-expander type. Raidon/Stardom doesn’t make expander type boxes AFAIK. I’ll check if Areca / CinemaRAID does”
CinemaRAID does have multiple SAS expander type products: most of the towers and racks in the bottom half of their product list are SAS expanders. I haven’t had any experience with them but from the look of it, they know what they are doing, and provide decent support for their products.
Alex (DV411)
-
[Ron Amborn] “Send me an email or a phone call. I will put you on the phone with Bob Z and we will give you real answers with no BS”
I thought I was already doing that here on the forum – “real answers with no BS”? 😉
Alex (DV411)
-
[Andrew MacRae] “First off I was more or less set to pick up a Stardom ST8-U5 with an R680 card. Fill it with 2 TB drives for 16TB of storage, or roughly 12TB of usable space in a RAID 6 configuration, or so I’m told. This would do for quite a while, but one of my questions is, what happens when it does inevitably fill up? Can you swap out drives like on a drobo to add space?”
No. With ST8-U5 you take the existing set (of drives), put a new set in, format it. That’s the only way to “expand” it.
[Andrew MacRae] “4TB drives or bigger would be the norm. Is there a max size for these types of RAID? “
Up to 128 total drives with ATTO R680, and I don’t believe it has a limit of its own where it comes to individual drive capacity. If it does, it’s likely far beyond 4TB.
[Andrew MacRae] “So my biggest question was- what’s the difference between the two? Is one superior, and if so why?”
Areca and its division CineRAID is a far more established company with a much wider range of products, including SAS expanders. Stardom/ RAIDON doesn’t have a single SAS expander in its lineup. That doesn’t mean ST8-U5 is not a good product – in fact it is.
[Andrew MacRae] “For archiving I’ve looked at the drobo before, and then kind of forgot about it. If I were to get an 8 bay unit loaded with 16TB, how much actual usable space would it have?”
14TB with a single drive failure protection, 12TB with dual; minus 2-4% for US overhead. Same goes for any 8-bay box (RAID5 and 6, respectively).
[Andrew MacRae] ” I know it wouldn’t be suitable as an edit bay, but would it work fine for doing simple edits and re-exports of old projects?”
Depends on the model, how it’s set up, what drives are in it – but generally, yes for single layer timelines with compressed footage and without expectations of print-to-tape smoothness. You may get dropped frames and stutters.
Alex (DV411)
-