New Mac Pros... which video card?

[Mark L. Pederson]

Apple will tune the drivers. 100%.

IMO nVidia is a better investment.

will benchmark it as soon as I get the next REDCINE build .... hint hint hint

[Jeff Kilgroe]

What about more than one HD 2600s will that make any difference?

No.

Only the primary PCI-e slot can be configured as a 16-lane slot with the lane utility. Unless something has changed with these latest systems. Also, Apple doesn't currently support any parallel card configurations (SLI / Crossfire). You can install two HD 2600s and hook up 4 displays, but you can't double the speed of your OpenGL by having two cards.

Of course... If some programmers were to take it upon their selves to enhance their software with the ability to utilize more than one installed GPU... :clown2:

[Gunleik Groven]

Someone here mentioned renderman...

Red?

Pretty please with sugar on?

renderfarms are basically the smartest thing - for a couple of years still...

Gunleik

[Jeff Kilgroe]

In some post around here, Graeme mentioned that there are command-line render tools for R3D files on the way (for Windows and Linux). So a good render management software and those tools and off we go.. Nearly instant render farm.

[Mark L. Pederson]

PipelineFX QUBE!

http://www.pipelinefx.com/index.cfm?...ction=Products

[Zakalwe]

Only the primary PCI-e slot can be configured as a 16-lane slot with the lane utility. Unless something has changed with these latest systems. Also, Apple doesn't currently support any parallel card configurations (SLI / Crossfire). You can install two HD 2600s and hook up 4 displays, but you can't double the speed of your OpenGL by having two cards.

Apple changed the PCI express slots, the Mac Pro now has:

2 x PCI Express 2.0, 16 lanes each (one used by the graphics card)
2 x PCI Express, 4 lanes each.

No word on SLI though...

[Patrik Forsberg]

We ordered a Mac Pro with an nVidia 8800GT. We already have a X1900XT, so will post results as soon as we get.

[David Limpus]

So the next question, can I drive a RED 4K display from a mac and will I need 4 x 2K DVI outputs from two graphic cards?

[MikeCurtis]

Mark - based on info I've got, Color will likely require a version bump to best use the 8800 XT cards. I'll update ASAP. Obviously, Red will accomodate the faster cards for Redcine...in time. Time being the critical criteria - who needs what when.

As for Red displays....hey folks, keep in mind that Red One was soft announced Dec. '05 (red.com went live), "for reals" announced at NAB 2006, and it took them roughly two years to ship the camera AND get all the features working. So I think it likely that we'll see a different Mac before we see Red displays. No inside skinny, just a guess.

As for interfaces - 1920x1200 is max res for single link DVI AFAIK. Dual link DVI can do 2560x1600. Twin dual link can drive 3840x2400 that I've seen. But 4096x2304 may well require another bus - anybody know for sure? Oh, and that 3840x2400 was at some woefully, horrifically slow refresh rate - like 16Hz or something on a Mac Pro at IBC last year. So the interface will be interesting to see. Sony is using 8 HD-SDI cables to feed a lot of their stuff for 4K (projectors definitely, not sure about displays). So.....it'll take some time I'd guess.

-mike

[Mark L. Pederson]

my guess -

Quad DVI + Quad HDMI + Quad HDSDI

bigger question is - will this play only a RGB version of REDCODE?

(I hope not - want to also play RAW with a LOOK FILE)

will we have a new REDCODE "delivery" codec?