Kevin Patrick
Forum Replies Created
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[Jason Jenkins] “With that system you should be screaming (not in agony).”
That’s what I found odd. And as Steve points out, he may not even have to render. Plus, with his graphics setup, the output should handle rendering much faster.
Maybe he could post a screen shot of what his 30 second timeline looks like?
I’d ask him, but I think I’d prefer he keeps his “passion” directed at someone else.
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Did I miss anything here? Was this (10.7.3 beta) the first time the Lion OS referenced these new cards?
If Apple was going to pull the Mac Pro line, I can’t believe they would suddenly add support for some new ATI cards, only for existing Mac Pro users. Why stop selling Mac Pros and Mac Pro graphic cards in all their enormously successful stores only to add support for new cards, which would only be for exiting Mac Pro customers, knowing they are going to end the Mac Pro line?
If Apple just added this reference to that latest release of Lion beta and it was not already there is previous releases, or betas, then I would say this is a very positive sign a new Mac Pro is coming.
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[Bret Williams] “if I get an iMac i7 before the end of this year, you can bet the Mac Pro will be released in January.”
If that’s the case, I’m sure we can take up a collection from other Mac Pro users to get you your new iMac right away.
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[Shawn Miller] “I don’t know if they’re also switching to Windows 7”
There’s actually someone in Seattle not using Windows?
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[Jeremy Garchow] “Kevin, that post was so serious it wasn’t even funny. Step it up a bit next time, eh?”
First off, for those of you who are thinking about complaining about what I’m posting here I’d like to make two points.
1. My post is not off topic, as I am discussing FCP X.
2. Jeremy requested I step it up on the humor.
Here we go …
I was at Home Depot the other day and I parked over by the building’s Exit. Normally, I would just park by the building’s Entrance. I noticed they had reserved parking for FCS users. When I asked someone who worked there why they didn’t offer reserved parking for FCP X users he said, “Oh, they park over by the consumer Entrance. That way, when the shop here they feel like their a Pro. But we both know better, don’t we?”
It’s true. Check it out for yourself and post back here.
Kevin
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[Jeremy Garchow] “results from a 6 core MacPro”
I saw that. It can skew the results for certain apps. Depending on how good the multi-processor implementation is. I would like to see how FCP X and Motion would compare if they used a 12 core version. I did send them an email asking if they could locate a 12 core and retest. No response.
In this next benchmark, they included After Effects. Here you can see the 6 core Mac Pro is noticeably faster than the iMac. Although I’m not sure if it’s the cores or more memory. The iMac had 16 GB while the Mac Pro had 24 GB. They should have bumped the iMac to 24 GB for an apples to apples comparison. (oh wait, did I just make a pun?) I would assume the delta would be even greater with 12 cores. I also asked Barefeats if they’d send me their test suite so I could run it on my 2008 3.2 GHz Mac Pro. I’d be interested to see how different it would be. Again, no response.
https://barefeats.com/macs11_01.html
Here’s another benchmark with After Effects comparing a 12 core to 8 and 6 core models. It is supposed to be the same Barefeats test suite. However, note that the 12 core is running at 3.33 GHz. They had a processor upgrade done by OWC. (they supply a link with info) An interesting option. I guess the idea is you buy the cheapest 2010 Mac Pro, used or even refurbished would be even better. Then send your CPU/Memory board to OWC and they swap out the CPU for you and add lots of cheap memory. Not an incredibly cheap CPU upgrade, but you can get pretty fast Mac Pro. It’s probably a much better option than heading down a Hackintosh path.
https://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews-MacProWestmere-AfterEffects.html
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[Walter Soyka] “There are plenty of things Apple could have improved in a 2011 Mac Pro besides Sandy Bridge”
You’re correct.
If they are going to kill the Mac Pro, why haven’t they done so already?
It’s been a long time since any significant upgrade.
(My own early 2008 3.2 GHz 8 core, 24 GB RAM, 5770 and Quadro 4000 works pretty good)Sales of Mac Pros are (without any real data) far below that of the rest of their line.
Not only can you not buy a Mac Pro in their hugely successful stores (and yes, I’ve bought a Mac Pro in one) but you can’t even buy small cheap graphics cards in their stores. (I tried)
FCS has been replaced by FCP X. Leaving user without necessary features to get their job done (which their competitors have) and looking elsewhere for what they didn’t replace.
They plan on supporting Video monitoring with FCP X in early 2012, which can be done with Thunderbolt. Already in all but a Mac Pro.
Their fastest iMac runs FCP X as fast as their fastest Mac Pro.
Mac Pro 3.33 GHZ, 24 GB RAM, 5870 GPU
iMac 3.4 GHz, 16 GB RAM, 6970 GPU
https://barefeats.com/fcpx01.htmlReading through all these discussions it appears there are some in this industry that could get by without a Mac Pro and some who cannot. So I think it’s fair to say not all users in this industry would leave Apple behind if they dropped a Mac Pro.
Apple’s not squeamish about dropping stuff. Dropping stuff without waring. Replacing stuff while leading users to believe the new version will be much better, when it’s not.
Apple knows people want a new Mac Pro. Of course they have people read forums where this is debated, especially their own Mac Pro forum. They read it, they just choose not to respond. They read all the rumors and speculation as well. Every company does. People have provided Apple feedback and even emails directly to senior management requesting a new Mac Pro.
They could drop the Mac Pro right now. I don’t think anyone would be surprised. I think those who have considered moving away from Macs (for a variety of reasons leading up to this point) have either decided that’s what they will do, or they are doing it. As this OP is doing this very weekend.
So, why haven’t they killed the Mac Pro?
My guess is (and has been for a while) that they plan on either bringing out a new Mac Pro, or something they feel will be a good enough replacement for one. Most likely they’ve been waiting on Intel. Now it appears they should be ready.
I see no other reason for them to keep the Mac Pro around, if they have no intention of every upgrading it again. Selling more computers that are planned for end of life means more consumers they’ll have to support for a longer period of time.
Then again, I could be wrong.
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Did you ever get your answer?
Did you finally make a decision?
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I’ve come across several discussions on the topic of GTX vs. Quadro.
Here’s one person’s opinion.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3721504/difference-with-cuda-hardware-quadro-4000-vs-geforce-480
I also recall reading a comparison test on some of the new Quadro cards with Premiere Pro, on a PC. The tester commented that the Quadro cards are built to be “more reliable” than their GTX counter parts. I don’t recall if that was by design, or the actual components used. But his point was that Quadro cards are “built” to last. They can be used all day every day, while GTX cards will give out sooner under these kinds of conditions. NVDIA makes the lower cost (similar performance) GTX cards for gamers, who typically care about a great deal about price and usually have no issue overclocking and dealing with the consequences.
Either way, it would have been nice if the guy asked some questions we don’t have the answers for already. I guess if Greg Estes wanted to let Apple users know more was coming, he would have taken the opportunity to do so. Which he didn’t.
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I believe jpg compression is more lossy than png. So png can, or should produce better results. I would assume this would be most noticable in images with gradients. Darkest areas would probably have less noise in them than with png as opposed to jpg. At least I think that’s what a photo person might say.
I’m not a compression expert, so I’m not sure which is easier for FCP X to handle, jpg or png? Pro Res is a larger file size than some highly compressed stuff and is easier for an NLE to handle. I’m not sure if, or how this might apply to png and jpgs? Is there a big difference between compression complexity for these two?
I did notice that when you want to export a frame from FCP X, the default (which apparently you can’t change) is png. Does that mean FCP X is happier with png? Or was the person who wrote that export code at Apple just a big png fan?
PNG does of course give you an alpha channel for transparency, which jpg does not.
I guess I’ve not used enough of either to notice any performance differences. I suppose it would be worth while to test this out.