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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Macbook Pro Crashing on set

hanselblat said:
I don't think the comments were that personal Ketch, but I understand there's some frustration on both sides. Like you I come from photography and am trying to feel myself into areas that even the technicians in the field can't seem to get unanimous about. I myself get the feeling that I always ask the wrong questions, because there are usually not many full answers. Maybe the experts are tired of questions that sound like they come from amateurs.
It would be nice if red in the near future could come up with a list of final recommendations for hardware. Then again, it may be hidden in some of the gazillion posts and threads already, or they're still learning themselves.

It is always harder when there is an accent in the mist, but not that I tucked too personal, but I like to know when and if I have been attacked, the statement of no recommending to any production, unless you use esata, is pretty silly itself, not that I need any recommendations any way, but it is always nice to have good things to say about the way you do business.

Just trying to get an answer for x86box, that is all, I like his posts but on the one above, I felt it was directed at me and in a way aI didn't like it.


ciao
Click to expand...
 
In terms of Render times I strongly advise using a Mac Pro with as much CPU as you can justify. It is significantly faster for rendering RED files and is a solid platform as an editing station, especially if you will be using After Effects or other compositing programs that like lots of RAM. You can absolutely get away with an MBP for editing with FCP, I use one (2.33GHz 2GB Ram) with a G-tech 2TB FW800 and Sonnet F2 for mobile editing and it works great, always head back to the Mac Pro to render all my finish media with though.

Kevin
 
Kevin Stanley said:
In terms of Render times I strongly advise using a Mac Pro with as much CPU as you can justify. It is significantly faster for rendering RED files and is a solid platform as an editing station, especially if you will be using After Effects or other compositing programs that like lots of RAM. You can absolutely get away with an MBP for editing with FCP, I use one (2.33GHz 2GB Ram) with a G-tech 2TB FW800 and Sonnet F2 for mobile editing and it works great, always head back to the Mac Pro to render all my finish media with though.

Kevin
Click to expand...


Okay decided to go for the Tower now!

Few needed advises on configuration as there are so many speculative info I can't make sense of it all.


A) The extra $$$ from 2.8 - 8 core to 3.2 - 8 core, is it worth?

B) How much memory is in off and or best to have w/o having extra memory that just seats there w/o been used?

C) How much of a difference will really make the SAS 15,000rpm Drive and the RAID CARD vs. the 7200rpm drives?

D) If 7200rpm drives are to be chosen, better max the drives inside or get external G-RAID 7200rpm?

E) Graphic card, the 5600 Quadro seems not to be an ideal investment for RED related work correct? Then the Nvidia 8800 would be the ones to get? Need two cards for Three monitors and a Flat screen TV!


Any Professional response on this would be greatly appreciated Kevin.


ciao
 
I read a post from Jim, he suggests that ATI cards are better for MAC than Nvidia. Lookin forward to other comments as I am in the same situation here.
 
Hey Ketch -

Long time. All I can tell you is my MacPro here is the 15K RPM drives raided together, I have the FX5600 graphics card - I work without headaches. It's hard to see posts about this and that going wrong, or this doesn't work, or this or that. I don't get this here. My longest render time out of RedCine was 12 hours - for 6 hours of 4K. (Interviews for this doc)

Things I get are slower times on my laptop versus my desktop.

If I were to buy another station, it would be the exact same one that I already have.

HARKY -

Any luck?
 
Shawn Booth said:
I have the FX5600 graphics card - I work without headaches.
Click to expand...

Hey Shawn, is that the 1GB or the 1.5 GB card the one you got?
Any problems at all???
I thought after reading Jim's post and the http://www.barefeats.com/ link that ATI was the way to go, really interested in your opinion here.
Thanks.
 
Hey Shawn,

I'll be using this desktop on my new studio for both Photography and Cinematography projects, and will be loaded with REDCINE, REDALERT, FCS2, SHAKE, APERTURE 2.1, PAINTERX, VIVEZA, DFX, and more, so performance it is a must, but at the same time wanted to know what would be considered creasy spending and something that I might never be able to take advantage of, since I don't do 3D rendering, but at the same time like to know that I have purchased a station that will be good for at list a couple of years, and that any Professional project that you can trow at it will be executed.

So if you could list a complete set up would be great.

ciao
 
u can use all the power from an nvidia card, but the 5600 is too expensive compared to a new high end consumer nvidia card that u can sli 3 of them to even pass the 5600 speed with less money,

but about the processors, it doesn't make much difference from 3.2 to 3.0 to 2.8 model, u cant even notice the difference cause there diff processors that do some stuff better and others slower.
nothing u do will be effected by the processor, there are too many bottle necks before u reach the processor. investing in a faster hard-drive is better than buying an over priced processor, same thing with the video card, a new high end gamer card with cuda and purevideo would be a wise choice.
 
The graphs I posted show Shawn's card effectiveness among the other cards available, specially in the second link. They used Motion 3, from the family of FCP. I think it can give you a pretty close idea of what these cards can do for you. They tested the ATI versus the Nvidia and I would recommend reading the last part where they conclude their analysis.

Aditionally I'd rather quote:
"This performance deficiency will extend to other Apple pro apps like Final Cut Pro video effects and Aperture functions that invoke Core Image."

I think they did a great job, although I am still undecided :P
 
I'm starting to fill bad about hijacking this thread, but in a way is about the same thing, computing power for our workflow, on and off set, so I hope I'll be forgiven if I continue.


I decided to go the Tower route and build a cart dolly to bring on set, even on the high end photo shoots were I have the camera on Live view and focus and shoot via the 30" Cinema Display (also the models get a kick seen them selfs live).

So then it seems that the 2.8 - 8 Core is the way to go as far as processor, now remains the DRIVES, MEMORY, and as far as the Graphic card I know I'll need at list two any way because of the three Cinema Display + 52" Sony Flat Panel HDTV set up.


ciao
 
Amrrahmy has pretty good points as do others. I went to the extreme, excessive side of things - because I could.

I'm not sure how the FX5600 helps me out to be honest, it's just what I have.
I also have more RAM than I need at 32GB.
I also have the 15K RPM RAIDED internal drives. If you're going the MacPro route, this should be your only option IMHO.

I also have zero problems when working in REDCine/ FCS/ After Effects/ Shake.

I have never had a better system. The only things I'm missing are the Xserve RAID system.

EDIT: I disagree with the dif between processors. Get the fastest you can afford.
 
Someone hijecked the crashing lapper thread...

Someone hijecked the crashing lapper thread...

Ketch-
Drives:
Common wisdom is that the 15,000 rpm drives are worthwhile only for the system/application/scratch drive. The media drives are typically in a RAID configuration for best speed and capacity, 7200 rpm should be cheaper, run cooler and with a proper RAID controller plenty fast.

RAM:
1 GB per core should do it, OWC has a good rep for 3rd party RAM. Make sure all your RAM chips match! DO NOT mix the stock Apple RAM with anything else.

CPU Clock Speed:
If the price bump doesn't gag you then go for it. Specific tasks like rendering and encoding will benefit. Check with your CPA :wink:

ATI vs nVidia Craphics Cards:
On the Mac the drivers for the nVidia cards have earned a bad reputation. Speed is about more than just how much on board memory a card sports. The wimpy, older ATI cards the Mac supports are a joke to PC folk. If you can find some serious geeks who have had success with the 5600 cards on Macs that's great news but the last round of benchmarks I saw were disappointing. Maybe we just need to find the right engineers at nVidia and Apple and send them a case of Scotch :help:

Laptop vs Desktop:
Desktop on a cart is a rockin' option. Speed, big screen support, expansion slots, etc. To me a laptop is a portable ingest station, internet appliance and histogram checker and not much more. YMMV.
 
estebanred said:
The graphs I posted show Shawn's card effectiveness among the other cards available, specially in the second link. They used Motion 3, from the family of FCP. I think it can give you a pretty close idea of what these cards can do for you. They tested the ATI versus the Nvidia and I would recommend reading the last part where they conclude their analysis.

Aditionally I'd rather quote:
"This performance deficiency will extend to other Apple pro apps like Final Cut Pro video effects and Aperture functions that invoke Core Image."

I think they did a great job, although I am still undecided :P
Click to expand...

Yes thanks,

I did see that and the ATI cards were originally my choice simply because of my need for multiple cards, and the limited power supply which barely will support two Nvidia 8800, but can trow up to 4 ATI cards, just looking for a confirmation that that is in deed the best way to go, and I'll pull the plug.

After off course also finding more out about the Drive configuration and Memory.


ciao
 
5600 wasn't even built for speed ,it was build to manage high quantity in small amount of time, very different concepts.

it's not faster, but it can compute more in the same amount of time,
so if ur passing small amount of data, even a 8800gt will be faster than a fx5600.
 
Blair S. Paulsen said:
Ketch-
Drives:
Common wisdom is that the 15,000 rpm drives are worthwhile only for the system/application/scratch drive. The media drives are typically in a RAID configuration for best speed and capacity, 7200 rpm should be cheaper, run cooler and with a proper RAID controller plenty fast.

RAM:
1 GB per core should do it, OWC has a good rep for 3rd party RAM. Make sure all your RAM chips match! DO NOT mix the stock Apple RAM with anything else.

CPU Clock Speed:
If the price bump doesn't gag you then go for it. Specific tasks like rendering and encoding will benefit. Check with your CPA :wink:

ATI vs nVidia Craphics Cards:
On the Mac the drivers for the nVidia cards have earned a bad reputation. Speed is about more than just how much on board memory a card sports. The wimpy, older ATI cards the Mac supports are a joke to PC folk. If you can find some serious geeks who have had success with the 5600 cards on Macs that's great news but the last round of benchmarks I saw were disappointing. Maybe we just need to find the right engineers at nVidia and Apple and send them a case of Scotch :help:

Laptop vs Desktop:
Desktop on a cart is a rockin' option. Speed, big screen support, expansion slots, etc. To me a laptop is a portable ingest station, internet appliance and histogram checker and not much more. YMMV.
Click to expand...



BLAIR, my friend go to see you:) well matter os speech off course!

Then i think I'll stick with the 7200 drives, but it would be better to fill up the Tower or get external G-RAID drives?

Also Blair check your PM, sending you one right now about the GARBO shoot.


ciao
 
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