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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 :)

8 Core Bliss!!!!!

B

Bmoreshaun

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Hey everyone-
No real good reason for this post, other than to revel in my new toy I just ordered...8 core mac pro, 16gb ramm, 3tb 4 hard drive array, decked out with the best video card available!!!!!!....(on macs site anyway)...I'm guessing this will make short time on rendering and maybe even shave a bit off my redcode conversions...God, I'm even considering dragging it out on the set to process the redcode right there as we shoot...It's either that or my duel mac book pro!...(although a great machine, I'm a little weiry about processing times while shooting a feature, with everyone standing around getting paid, and me just waiting for eveything to process so we can keep shooting)...Any input on the use of the mac book pro for conversion of redcode(time/efficency) would be great...I've read a couple of posts, and I know alot of people are planning on using it for just that, but I can't seem to get past my other labtop experiences of long render times...Holla back...
 
Congrats!

Who would have thought that 3 years ago we were waiting for ANY 3Ghz PPC processor and now you have 8 3Ghz processors. I guess in 5 years we'll all be running 32 processor cores in our systems linked together with 10GB ethernet.

Now is a great time to be using computers and media.
 
Damnnnnnn....Makes me want to hold out!!!....lol...Though as quick as they come out, I'd always be waiting for the next one...lol...8 should do it...lol...Till' the 16 core comes out anyway...lol
 
Thats some loot for sure. Good man for stepping up to the plate on that one.
 
Its almost like how 15-20 years ago we were reveling at 8mhz and 16mhz cpu's. Now were in the thousands of hertz. So in the not too distant future, we shall see the parallel, thousands of cores. Gigacores!
 
Our robot masters are coming...
 
I am considering the octo-mac this summer, but may not be able to afford 16GB + Quadro FX 512MB video card + 8 cores. My budget is 10K (hardware only, no monitor), and pimping out the system is closer to 13K. If I can only pick 2 of these 3 options to max on, and compromise on the third, which should I do? I will be using FCP, Color, Motion, maybe AE or Shake, and of course Photoshop. I was thinking only 8GB of RAM maybe...?
 
Always ask an Apple engineer is what I have learned. I have received frank answers including the diminishing return on Max RAM. We all want the fastest processors we can afford - that's a given. What I learned is that a specific APP like FCP 6 only needs a certain amount of RAM to operate optimally.

I know, I know - you want to run 5 apps simultaneously and need the max RAM, right? Maybe not. Ask the guys that built and tested it - not the sales department BTW. It's one way to save significant money and you can always upgrade later.
 
As discussed elsewhere in this forum, don't bother with the current Quadro FX card. You're wasting your money... It's nearly 3 years old now and is in fact much slower at most operations than the ATI X1900XT option. Only get it if you need one of the couple obscure features it provides -- genlock port, multiple hardware stencil buffers and overlay planes. If you're not sure if your software uses this, then you don't need it. I think I can count all the apps that would benefit from this card over the ATI card on one hand and still have a finger left to pick my nose.

As for the RAM... Same as what SharkGuy said... We also have to look at what Tiger is as an OS and many of the OS API layers are still 32bit as are many of the common applications are too, in parts. What does this mean? 32bit memory addressing and limitations of 2GB RAM per OS process. Very few applications will see, let alone take advantage of more than 2GB of RAM. OTOH, more cores (if properly used) requires and justifies more RAM. For RAM, I can't make a recommendation on how much someone should buy unless I know their workflow and which applications they intend to run. I do know that 4GB is not enough RAM in one of my G5 quads for a lot of what I do... I have 8GB in another and it's more than enough... 5 o 6 GB is probably realistic. With an 8-core Mac Pro, I personally would put 8GB in it... Maybe 12GB if the prices become more reasonable on FB-DIMMs here in the near future and Apple quits price gouging for their RAM. 16GB is overkill for someone who spends most of their time in FCS and Photoshop. But for certain engineering applications it could be useful. If it fits in the budget, I say go for the 16GB, especially if you're doing 2K+ editing and compositing... That's just more workspace for RAM previews and dealing with 100s of layers on a lengthy shot @ 2K+. I don't know how well FCS / Shake and other related apps handle with that much RAM though. Never tried it with more than 8GB and have never run out of room as far as the RAM was concerned.
 
let him here.. this guy is too much useful.. :mail1: :biggrin:
 
thinkbug said:
I am considering the octo-mac this summer, but may not be able to afford 16GB + Quadro FX 512MB video card + 8 cores. My budget is 10K (hardware only, no monitor), and pimping out the system is closer to 13K.
Click to expand...

For memory, take a look here:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Mac-Pro-Memory

I've gotten memory from them for the past 6 or so years. Only had a few bad sticks. If they say it's Apple certified, then it is - no B.S. 16GB for under $2k. Also remember that RAM is the easiest thing to add. If you only get 8GB now ($1k), you can always add more when you get the money to do so. Video card is second easiest to upgrade. Fitting new drives into an existing RAID is a pain, so I would max CPU, drive, and card in that order.

-Mark
 
I'm going with 8gb of ram, have to save some money somewhere !
-A
 
nobodySpecial said:
For memory, take a look here:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Mac-Pro-Memory

I've gotten memory from them for the past 6 or so years. Only had a few bad sticks. If they say it's Apple certified, then it is - no B.S. 16GB for under $2k. Also remember that RAM is the easiest thing to add. If you only get 8GB now ($1k), you can always add more when you get the money to do so. Video card is second easiest to upgrade. Fitting new drives into an existing RAID is a pain, so I would max CPU, drive, and card in that order.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip!
 
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