Aja, nvidia, redrocket..

[Joel Arvidsson]

Hi i not sure wich way to go...Aja, nvidia, redrocket..

I have an Aja kona Lhe in the mac pro. Will that work with good with the Scarlet or do I have to step up to Kona 3.

Maby its better to get a redrocket card instead get an redrocket.
Shouldn't I be able to lose the aja card and just use the rocket card for the I/O (atleast for output).

Then it seams like the Nvidia quadro card accelerate the R3d files pretty good. Maby its better to get a nvidia quadro to use with my AJa kona lhe.

One thing that is good with redrocket is that I can use it in the old mac pro.
I have the first 8core that were released I think 2006.

Money is of course an issue since some options I have to get a new computer just to use (nvidia quadro for example).

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Use it for what Joe?

If you are working with RED footage and have an FCP workflow, then the Rocket is what I recommend. You can use any video card, and your Kona is an excellent i/o card provided it meets your i/o needs.

If you are using Adobe Premiere CS5 and coloring in Resolve, then I recommend a Blackmagic Decklink Extreme 3D a GTX285 and two Quadro 4000's.

It all depends.

You can only use the Rocket's built in video outputs in RedCineX and Storm as far as I know. Other applications only use it to debayer RED footage.

So... the answer is very dependent on your exact use.

Good Luck

 

[Eric Santiago]

Warning!!

Warning!!

Im running a Mac Pro 12core with Nvidia Quadro 4000 and RRC.
Crashes a lot and cant seem to pinpoint the problem.
I didnt have a chance to test this system with the original configuration of MP + ATI 5870.
When I have time I will take out the RRC for a bit and test the crap out of it.
Im hoping its something else like RAM

 

[Tai Wah Lim]

Im running a Mac Pro 12core with Nvidia Quadro 4000 and RRC.
Crashes a lot and cant seem to pinpoint the problem.
I didnt have a chance to test this system with the original configuration of MP + ATI 5870.
When I have time I will take out the RRC for a bit and test the crap out of it.
Im hoping its something else like RAM

Thanks for the warning Eric. Was about to get the same for Smoke. Let us know after testing again. Lim

 

[Eric Santiago]

Thanks for the warning Eric. Was about to get the same for Smoke. Let us know after testing again. Lim

Sadly I cant find anyone on the internet with the same set-up or admit having same problem. Talking to any of the vendors lays blame on each other so its hard to pin-point the culprit.
Most of the time the Apple Crash Log reffers to the Nvidia card
Now I wonder if this is why the card was held back for Mac release (for a few weeks). I was told by the distributor that the card was held back due to problems but no explanation was given.

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Im running a Mac Pro 12core with Nvidia Quadro 4000 and RRC.
Crashes a lot and cant seem to pinpoint the problem.
I didnt have a chance to test this system with the original configuration of MP + ATI 5870.
When I have time I will take out the RRC for a bit and test the crap out of it.
Im hoping its something else like RAM

I've worked with 12 core Macs using both Quadro 4800 and GTX285 both with and without Rocket cards.

They have presented no problems whatsoever.

I've used a system with the Quadro 4000, but not long or intensively enough to draw conclusions.

I don't see a huge advantage with the 12 core versus the 8 core on most tasks. Compressor and 3D rendering with Modo benefit, but most apps don't really use more than 4 cores+hyperthreading effectively, very few use 8 cores + hyperthreading completely.

After speaking on REDUser with Jeff Kilgroe and others, I think I'll be going 8 core with the current generation of Mac Pro. (I have to buy one, possibly two more for immediate work- I'd rather wait. <sigh>)

Back to your problem- test it with just the Apple RAM installed, and no Rocket and see how that handles.

 

[Joel Arvidsson]

Use it for what Joe?

If you are working with RED footage and have an FCP workflow, then the Rocket is what I recommend. You can use any video card, and your Kona is an excellent i/o card provided it meets your i/o needs.

If you are using Adobe Premiere CS5 and coloring in Resolve, then I recommend a Blackmagic Decklink Extreme 3D a GTX285 and two Quadro 4000's.

It all depends.

You can only use the Rocket's built in video outputs in RedCineX and Storm as far as I know. Other applications only use it to debayer RED footage.

So... the answer is very dependent on your exact use.

Good Luck

Its going to be used with fcp, nuke, ae, Redcinex or perhaps storm. RRC seams to be
something thats hard to live without. But its take up space in in the workstation and cost alot to be just used for debayer and output in more programs. Does redrocket do full 5k debayer by the way or only 1/2 with 5k?

Does anybody here work with a kona lhe in the configuration? How does your configuration look?

 

[Eric Santiago]

I've worked with 12 core Macs using both Quadro 4800 and GTX285 both with and without Rocket cards...

I have a few 8 cores I can fall back on. Only reason we have it in 12core is to take advantage of Nvidia with Maya on Mac and possibly Cuda with <fill with app here> Ill take your advise and test without RRC first. Thanks

 

[Joel Arvidsson]

If you use rrc and aja card in the macpro (first gen 8 core).
Where do you put each card? I would like to fit in a caldigit esata card also if its possible.
Is there more slots in the newer macs?

 

[SKilbride]

Sadly I cant find anyone on the internet with the same set-up or admit having same problem. Talking to any of the vendors lays blame on each other so its hard to pin-point the culprit.
Most of the time the Apple Crash Log reffers to the Nvidia card
Now I wonder if this is why the card was held back for Mac release (for a few weeks). I was told by the distributor that the card was held back due to problems but no explanation was given.

Eric,

If you want to send me a copy of your crash logs, I can pass them along to our engineering team here and see if they can provide any additional information. Sorry to hear that you are having problems and I'll see what i can do to rememdy your issue, since this isn't the normal type of behavior we see in our end user installs.

Sean

Sean Kilbride
Technical Marketing Manager, NVIDIA

 

[Terry VerHaar]

Eric,

If you want to send me a copy of your crash logs, I can pass them along to our engineering team here and see if they can provide any additional information. Sorry to hear that you are having problems and I'll see what i can do to rememdy your issue, since this isn't the normal type of behavior we see in our end user installs.

Sean

Sean Kilbride
Technical Marketing Manager, NVIDIA

Wow. Sean, welcome to the forum. It's great to have a resource from Nvidia here, assuming you are going to stick around!! :thumbup:

 

[Eric Santiago]

Wow. Sean, welcome to the forum. It's great to have a resource from Nvidia here, assuming you are going to stick around!! :thumbup:

wow a reputable source I'll save a few variations of the crash logs. I'll send asap!

Thanks

 

[Brian Murkland Jr]

I have a few 8 cores I can fall back on. Only reason we have it in 12core is to take advantage of Nvidia with Maya on Mac and possibly Cuda with <fill with app here> Ill take your advise and test without RRC first. Thanks

Eric and others,

We are running Mac Pro 8-Core (MacPro 3,1) 12 GB 800 hz RAM, NVIDIA GTX286 1024MB RAM (SLOT 1), Final Cut Pro 7.0.3. We also have Myricom 10GB-SFP card in SLOT 4, leaving SLOT 3 the only empty slot.
Once we installed the Red Rocket Card (SLOT 2), FCP started to drop frames, which has turned into a major problem while editing. To pinpoint the problem, we removed the RRC completely, then FCP has smooth playback, no problems at all. When we put the RRC back in, FCP drops frames. Why? We cant figure this out.

We've tried switching out different versions of DesktopVideoOut component from the Quicktime folder and wiping the system completely, with no success yet. Anyone running into the same issues?

All RED has offered is to return the RRC and they will exchange for a new one.

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Eric and others,

We are running Mac Pro 8-Core (MacPro 3,1) 12 GB 800 hz RAM, NVIDIA GTX286 1024MB RAM (SLOT 1), Final Cut Pro 7.0.3. We also have Myricom 10GB-SFP card in SLOT 4, leaving SLOT 3 the only empty slot.
Once we installed the Red Rocket Card (SLOT 2), FCP started to drop frames, which has turned into a major problem while editing. To pinpoint the problem, we removed the RRC completely, then FCP has smooth playback, no problems at all. When we put the RRC back in, FCP drops frames. Why? We cant figure this out.

We've tried switching out different versions of DesktopVideoOut component from the Quicktime folder and wiping the system completely, with no success yet. Anyone running into the same issues?

All RED has offered is to return the RRC and they will exchange for a new one.

Do you mean an Nvidia GTX285? Or is it a Windows/PC video card flashed for OS X? Because that can cause all sorts of weird issues.

Unless your Red Rocket is defective that isn't the issue.

I'd pul all the cards out and test with each one separately- just to verify function.

I'd also try rearranging them. The Rocket only needs like an x2 PCIe 2.0 slot. The Myricom is an x8 PCIe 1.0 card.

Now, I don't usually think about the Mac Pro's by model, but the 3,1 is a 2008 model, is that correct?

If I am correct about your model, then you have 2 PCIe 1.0 x4 slots (slots 3&4) and 2 PCIe 2.0 x16 slots. (slots 1&2) These slots are not reassignable.

That means your NIC is in a slot that fals well below its data requirements. The Rocket needs the PCe 2.0 features IIRC

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

Welcome, Sean.
Nice to have you here.