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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 :)

12-core Mac Pro's are available...

Torrey Loomis

Torrey Loomis

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Heya,

They are also offering the ATI 5770 Upgrade but for some reason only list it as compatible with Mid 2010 (read - new) Mac Pros. Uhhhh. Weird. They are also shipping in 4-6 weeks. Card is listed at $249.00 US.

Apple Store ATI 5770

Only reason I can think of is that it's something weird with the EFI64. The 2008 Mac Pros do support EFI64. We'll see.

Actually, I take that back.. it's probably something to do with they don't want to support the card for machines out of Applecare. HA! It should work fine in a 2008. Going to place the order now.

..

The 5870 Upgrade is listed as compatible with a Mid 2010 or Early 2009 Mac Pro. Card is listed at $449.00 and is currently unavailable.

Apple Store ATI 5870

I don't think either card would have a problem with a 2008 model. We'll know soon enough once someone gets a Mac Pro with a ATI 5770 and dumps the ROM so we can try to flash some other 3rd party cards.

Currently there are individuals that have dumped the iMac 2010 ROM and have gotten the 5770 and 5870 to run in the Mac Pro with a few difficulties. With the proper ROM it should be far better.

Best!

ATF

P.S. HA! They still list the 4870 at $350. Pfft!
 
6-core (3.33 GHz) or the 8-core (2.4GHz)?

I'm looking to buy a new Mac Pro to use with Final Cut Studio 2 and CS5 (Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop).

I'm going to cut 4k R3D files with "Premiere Pro" and ultimately finish in "Color". I'm hoping to get away with using only the software acceleration (as opposed to GPU acceleration) via Mercury Playback engine when doing playback.

The 8 core is actually a little cheaper. Which system would you choose? Why?

Thanks!
 
Remember--the 8-core 2.4 Ghz systems use 1066MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM. The 6-core actually uses faster 1333MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM.

This is dirty, dirty math--but if you multiplied out the sheer Ghz available by core--you get 19.2 Ghz with 8-core and 19.98 Ghz with 6-core.

On the majority of applications where core utilization is not fully maximized, the 6-core will actually be faster.

Torrey
-----------------------------------------------
Torrey Loomis
President & CEO - Silverado Systems, Inc.
(916) 760-0032 • FAX (916) 404-5258
torrey@silverado.cc
Web http://www.Silverado.cc
Blog http://silveradosys.blogspot.com
Twitter http://www.twitter.com/silveradosys

Build your own RED Rocket system: http://bit.ly/7F4QA1
 
Thanks Torrey.

Does anyone know if there's a way to speed up software acceleration in the Mercury Playback engine? If I get a faster processor, will that speed up the software acceleration? What if I get more ram instead? Reason being, the 8 core Mac Pro has 8 ram slots which means I can add ram cheaply. Adobe's website didn't seem to provide this info.

I know Compressor can utilize more cores so that will favour the 8 core somewhat. Correct?

Danke!
 
Pretty sure that Mercury Playback Engine acceleration is mostly tied to GPU--and is most optimized for NVIDIA CUDA-enabled GPU.

If you're system will mostly be using apps that can take advantage of multiple processors, then the 8-core would give a slight edge. Here is an interesting list I just came across this weekend:

http://macperformanceguide.com/Optimizing-Grades.html

It has some anecdotal reporting on which apps use the most cores.

Torrey
-----------------------------------------------
Torrey Loomis
President & CEO - Silverado Systems, Inc.
(916) 760-0032 • FAX (916) 404-5258
torrey@silverado.cc
Web http://www.Silverado.cc
Blog http://silveradosys.blogspot.com
Twitter http://www.twitter.com/silveradosys

Build your own RED Rocket system: http://bit.ly/7F4QA1
 
I've been using a 2007 Mac Pro 3.0 Ghz 8 core with a Red Rocket for on set transcoding and have been waiting for this upgrade for almost a year now. I am planning to keep my old Mac Pro in service for backing up and verifying footage and using the new one for all Red Rocket transcodes, Final Cut edit and renders and more transcodes/renders for other deliverables using Compressor. All my other programs are fine as is.

Any thoughts on what configuration will benefit me the most? I am open to any and all configurations.

Thanks in advance.

Dan
 
Dan,

You might want to keep the older system as the RR system. Are you getting pretty good transcoding speeds with that system? If so, putting that card into a new Mac Pro won't make it much faster since the card does the heavy lifting, not the CPU's in the system.

Deliverables with Compressor are different. That definitely uses CPU. So--throwing as much CPU weight behind it as possible is key.

Torrey
 
Billy,

Yes--working on that now. There are some questions I've been trying to nail down over the last 12 hours on how best to optimize the build list for the site. Will have it up in an hour or so and will post the link.

Torrey
-----------------------------------------------
Torrey Loomis
President & CEO - Silverado Systems, Inc.
(916) 760-0032 • FAX (916) 404-5258
torrey@silverado.cc
Web http://www.Silverado.cc
Blog http://silveradosys.blogspot.com
Twitter http://www.twitter.com/silveradosys

Build your own RED Rocket system: http://bit.ly/7F4QA1
 
He he, actually kinda of in the same position here.

Looking to put up a Mac Pro system with 3 or 4 27" Apple Display, + a Large 50" Flat TV.

This will be off course with the RR, FCP, and Premiere, After Effect, Photoshop and a load of other apps, that I need to use for both Cinema and Still work with files of the Stills in GB coming form Medium Format 60MP systems.

So look forward to see what you have to offer me this time around Torrey, still rocking the MBP with SSD that you guys set up for me last year.

BTW, did I say that Silverado Rocks?? ;~)
 
Thanks for the link, Torrey.

I still can't decide. Does anyone have pearls of wisdom to share? Should I just shell out the extra couple of hundred bucks for the hexa-core? I like the idea of the faster single core speed but I prefer the ram configurations on the octa-core.

What are you guys buying? Do tell!
 
Billy,

If its stock (without extra mods like Kona, RED, or other 3rd party) then 7-10 days--the same as Apple.

No tax on systems outside CA. If you are a post-production user inside CA, then tax can go down to 2.5%. And we extend AppleCare to 5-years instead of 3.

Torrey
 
Torrey Loomis said:
And we extend AppleCare to 5-years instead of 3.

Torrey
Click to expand...

That is key right there. I don't plan on getting a new Mac Pro for this revision unless my 3.2GHz 8-core isn't up to par for Resolve. But when I do need a new one I know who to call....
 
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