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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 :)

Im buying a new MAC PRO but what cards and computer would you get?

BigLu said:
there is a set of 32GB after market ram for about $1,000. can i be buying cheap crappy ram???
Click to expand...

Luis,

I just re-read that above. Yes--$1000 for 32 GB doesn't sound trustworthy, but then I don't know the source either.

Just priced 32 GB at Crucial at it was $3040. We go with them since they are the only RAM vendor that we've never suffered a crash with.

Torrey
 
What about the ATi Radeon HD 4870 1gb vs 512?

What about the ATi Radeon HD 4870 1gb vs 512?

I just noticed that the 1gb is not much more than the 512. We will be using this 8 core 2.93ghz system w/redrocket for FCP Suite 3 Color, among other things. Anyone hear about issues with the 1gb card?
 
01. Are you guys still favoring the ATI video card over the stock Nvidias??? I have 2- 30" to drive... what is my solution???

02. The Nvidias are cheap for the pair.

03. What about a single Quad 2.66 versus the 8 core 2.26???

Thanks guys!!!
 
It seems like nvidia are really missing a trick here. Good to know about the card order Torry. :thumbsup:
 
C.H.Haskell said:
plucking down on a 2.26 or a 2.66 today, anyone able to say with all bench testing out there if its worth 1400 to jump to the 2.66?
Click to expand...

From what I understand, in my measurements on i7, with a dual quad 2.66 you can expect slightly less than 1:3 transcoding time from 4K to Prores 422, Half standard, 1080 24p...

On this thread http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=35201 I have some measurements with non Apple oriented machine... but I could expect similar numbers from a real MacPro...

Actually with a dual quad 2.93 I thing the 1:2 transcoding times would be possible in the above resolution...

But unfortunately non has give me benchmark numbers yet coming from a real i7 MacPro...
 
If you're buying an '09 Nehalem Mac Pro and plan to drive two 30" displays, your best and really only, option for driving them off a single card is the nVidia GTX 285. All in all it's a pretty fast card, more powerful than the ATI 4870. But it doesn' run as smooth and there are a few kinks in the drivers. I have both cards and I've played with both in my '09 Mac and have gone back and forth. It's really a tough choice between the two, I keep the nVidia installed because I have dual 30" displays as well. The only way to drive dual 30" displays from the ATI 4870 is to use Apple's mini displayport to Dual-Link DVI adapter -- they're the only ones currently offering such an adapter. However, the adapter is a joke and doesn't properly and reliably operate 30" displays at 2560x1600, not even their own cinema displays.

Carlos, DO NOT buy the single quad-core Mac Pro! You will be cutting your RAM capacity and speed in half!!!
 
Jeff, Thanks for the info!

Have you considered a second 4870???

P

Jeff Kilgroe said:
If you're buying an '09 Nehalem Mac Pro and plan to drive two 30" displays, your best and really only, option for driving them off a single card is the nVidia GTX 285. All in all it's a pretty fast card, more powerful than the ATI 4870. But it doesn' run as smooth and there are a few kinks in the drivers. I have both cards and I've played with both in my '09 Mac and have gone back and forth. It's really a tough choice between the two, I keep the nVidia installed because I have dual 30" displays as well. The only way to drive dual 30" displays from the ATI 4870 is to use Apple's mini displayport to Dual-Link DVI adapter -- they're the only ones currently offering such an adapter. However, the adapter is a joke and doesn't properly and reliably operate 30" displays at 2560x1600, not even their own cinema displays.

Carlos, DO NOT buy the single quad-core Mac Pro! You will be cutting your RAM capacity and speed in half!!!
Click to expand...
 
Torrey set me up with a great station as well. I plan to go with REDRocket eventually so I opted to save the cash and go with a entry level Nahalem. I have the pre LED version of the 24 inch cinema display and not sure if I should go with a 2nd one and get another card to support it or just go with LED version, anyone able to say if the newer cinema display is worth it compared to the older one or which route makes more sense.
 
Carlos Prio said:
Jeff, Thanks for the info!

Have you considered a second 4870???
Click to expand...

No room. If I were to install a second 4870, it would only leave one free PCI-E slot, since the card is double-width. All the good video cards are double-width. And all the slots in my two Mac Pro stations are full. It also seems silly to add a second video card just to drive a second monitor... I'd ditch the second 30" display before I'd do that. Besides the problem with driving a second 30" from a mini-displayport isn't a problem with any of the cards, it's an issue with Apple's adapter. They have acknowledged the issue, but have yet to fix it. It seem to be a voltage issue with the adapter under-powering the second link or not drawing enough power from the USB port. There's another company that supposedly has such an adapter in the works or close to ready, but I can't recall who (Gefen I think), but nothing has hit the market just yet.
 
Carlos Prio said:
Have you considered a second 4870???
Click to expand...


Carlos,

There is a thread on that here:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=665034

I don't think I'd want to lose a PCI slot that the 2nd card would block. They are pretty thick--that is why there is extra space between the gfx card slot and the other Mac Pro PCIe slots.

Rather just use one card and get one of these here:

http://www.gefen.com/kvm/dproduct.jsp?prod_id=8913

Torrey
-----------------------------------------------
Torrey Loomis
President & CEO - Silverado Systems, Inc.
(916) 760-0032 •*FAX (916) 404-5258
torrey@silverado.cc
http://www.Silverado.cc

Silverado Twitter at*http://www.twitter.com/silveradosys
StudioBuilder blog at*http://silveradosys.blogspot.com
 
Torrey,

I'm confused as to why you're recommending that DVI to displayport converter from Gefen. That's only useful if you want to connect two displays equipped with displayport to the ATI card (since it has one displayport and one DVI). If you're connecting two DVI interface monitors, then all you need is a simple miniDP to DVI adapter, which are only a few $. Apple sells them for $19, which is way overpriced. Gefen also offers one ( http://www.gefen.com/kvm/dproduct.jsp?prod_id=8687 ) and it's even more overpriced, but can usually be ordered elsewhere for about $20. Since it takes some actual conversion for dual-link DVI to be derived from a displayport signal, there really are no displayport to dual-link DVI adapters available yet. Just the one from Apple. I'm positive that Gefen is working on one but it hasn't materialized just yet.

IMO, for simple mini displayport adapters to connect to VGA, DVI, HDMI or standard displayport, I recommend the ones from Monoprice.

Anyway, I just brought all this up since Carlos says he has 2 x 30" displays to connect, which almost certainly means he needs a card with 2 x DVI|DL output. In his case, I would recommend the nVidia GTX 285 Mac Edition card.

Carlos, the card is an aftermarket option from EVGA, get it from Amazon or NewEgg... You should probably order the Mac Pro with the ATI 4870 card though.

Also at this time, I don't know how the GTX 285 performs under Snow Leopard, I haven't upgraded that Mac Pro just yet. I'm going to do that this week, but I keep reading reports that the drivers are only compatible with the 32bit kernel install. If that's the case, I'll have to yank the card and put the 4870 back in. ...If that happens, I guess I'll do without the second monitor for a while or plan to run another video feed over to my new 52" plasma that should be here this week. The mini DP to HDMI works fine. :)
 
Jeff,

What issues do the stock NVIDIA (GeForce GT 120 512MB) display in use??? Is it that bad that you would choose the 4870 and forgo a second head???

Advise,
Prio
 
Jeff,

Is this what you have tried with little success???

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB571Z/A?fnode=MTY1NDA5OQ&mco=Nzk2MDk3Ng

Torrey,

Your Geffen link shows a DVI to Mini Display??? Are'nt we looking for a Mini-Display to Dual link DVI???

P



Jeff Kilgroe said:
Torrey,

I'm confused as to why you're recommending that DVI to displayport converter from Gefen. That's only useful if you want to connect two displays equipped with displayport to the ATI card (since it has one displayport and one DVI). If you're connecting two DVI interface monitors, then all you need is a simple miniDP to DVI adapter, which are only a few $. Apple sells them for $19, which is way overpriced. Gefen also offers one ( http://www.gefen.com/kvm/dproduct.jsp?prod_id=8687 ) and it's even more overpriced, but can usually be ordered elsewhere for about $20. Since it takes some actual conversion for dual-link DVI to be derived from a displayport signal, there really are no displayport to dual-link DVI adapters available yet. Just the one from Apple. I'm positive that Gefen is working on one but it hasn't materialized just yet.

IMO, for simple mini displayport adapters to connect to VGA, DVI, HDMI or standard displayport, I recommend the ones from Monoprice.

Anyway, I just brought all this up since Carlos says he has 2 x 30" displays to connect, which almost certainly means he needs a card with 2 x DVI|DL output. In his case, I would recommend the nVidia GTX 285 Mac Edition card.

Carlos, the card is an aftermarket option from EVGA, get it from Amazon or NewEgg... You should probably order the Mac Pro with the ATI 4870 card though.

Also at this time, I don't know how the GTX 285 performs under Snow Leopard, I haven't upgraded that Mac Pro just yet. I'm going to do that this week, but I keep reading reports that the drivers are only compatible with the 32bit kernel install. If that's the case, I'll have to yank the card and put the 4870 back in. ...If that happens, I guess I'll do without the second monitor for a while or plan to run another video feed over to my new 52" plasma that should be here this week. The mini DP to HDMI works fine. :)
Click to expand...
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
I'm confused as to why you're recommending that DVI to displayport converter from Gefen. That's only useful if you want to connect two displays equipped with displayport to the ATI card (since it has one displayport and one DVI).

Anyway, I just brought all this up since Carlos says he has 2 x 30" displays to connect, which almost certainly means he needs a card with 2 x DVI|DL output. In his case, I would recommend the nVidia GTX 285 Mac Edition card.
Click to expand...

Jeff,

Um...because I didn't go back far enough and read the thread over again late last night...

[embarrassed...]

You're correct--two DVI monitors is either the ATI card with the dongle or the GTX 285 card with dual native DVI ports.

The Gefen solution is only good if you want to do two DisplayPort monitors.

Torrey
-----------------------------------------------
Torrey Loomis
President & CEO - Silverado Systems, Inc.
(916) 760-0032 •*FAX (916) 404-5258
torrey@silverado.cc
http://www.Silverado.cc

Silverado Twitter at*http://www.twitter.com/silveradosys
StudioBuilder blog at*http://silveradosys.blogspot.com
 
No worries Torrey we will let you slide!!!!!!

No really, Your vast amount of experience in building and testing these configs and your willingness to share the info is greatly appreciated!!
 
Carlos Prio said:
Jeff,

What issues do the stock NVIDIA (GeForce GT 120 512MB) display in use??? Is it that bad that you would choose the 4870 and forgo a second head???
Click to expand...

The stock GT120 is under-powered. It may work for you, depends on your needs. But I do a lot of 3D modeling and those cards just don't cut it for that. If you need anything with decent shader performance or that can push a lot of polygons, they're not the answer. The GT120 only occupies one slot width, but it is also configured with both a DVI and miniDP connector, so it doesn't solve the connectivity issue. Sure, adding a second GT120 card will work to add more displays, but once again that doesn't work for most of us since we can't afford to give up the PCI-E slot. In a Mac Pro, a video card, RED Rocket, SATA/SAS card and either a Kona or Fiber-Channel / SAN host = full.

@ Torrey,

No worries, I figured as much. :)
 
Jeff,

The primary application to the addition of 1-2 MacPros will be-

Transcoding
Color
FCP
AE

1 of them will have 2 heads (ability to full FCP) the other will have a single 30". I will add Rockets later.
 
Two monitors off any of these cards is not a problem. The only issue is if you want to drive two 30" displays on the same system, then you have to go with a card that provides two dual-link DVI ports or use the Apple DisplayPort to DVI|DL adapter. The adapter does "work", but you'll have to live with intermittent screen flickers and sparkling or dancing pixels...

Color uses the GPU and so does AE, Motion and a few others. The GT120 is powerful enough in most situations for those apps, the 4870 or GTX285 are both better for Motion3.
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
The adapter does "work", but you'll have to live with intermittent screen flickers and sparkling or dancing pixels.
Click to expand...

Much prefer using a 24" and a 30" clean, than using two 30" with dancing pixels...

:-)

Torrey
-----------------------------------------------
Torrey Loomis
President & CEO - Silverado Systems, Inc.
(916) 760-0032 •*FAX (916) 404-5258
torrey@silverado.cc
http://www.Silverado.cc

Silverado Twitter at*http://www.twitter.com/silveradosys
StudioBuilder blog at*http://silveradosys.blogspot.com
 
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