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Computer to use for Red One MX

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Wahab Iqbal

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Hi guys,
I'm a newbie and have recently bought an Red One MX, my old computer is fairly slow and is not handling Red files that well. I have done some research and iMacs look like my best option but I was wondering what would be the best computer to use when dealing with the camera.
Thanks in advance!
 
Ah sorry! Yeah my post was very vague!

I have an old Sony Vaio SVE1711X1EB, it is an i7, 2.10 GHz Processor, 16GB Ram, and 750GB HDD. It has a AMD Radeon HD 7650M Graphics card with 2GB ram on the card. I edit on Premiere. Honestly, I don't particularly want the computer anymore, and am looking to just get rid of it, or use it for non-Editing routes; I would like to get a new one, in terms of budget I would like to spend between £500 and £1000 (€600-€1200 or $650-1300). I can spend a bit more if the needs comes to it. I was realistically going to only shoot 2K and maybe use 4K, but not regularly.

Thank you again.
 
Wahab Iqbal said:
Hi guys,
I'm a newbie and have recently bought an Red One MX, my old computer is fairly slow and is not handling Red files that well. I have done some research and iMacs look like my best option but I was wondering what would be the best computer to use when dealing with the camera.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

It has been my experience that any of the newer machines can easily handle 4K without a RR card. My laptop, a late 2013 MacBook Pro can run circles around my 2008 tower with RR card. It's sad and wonderful at the same time.
 
Sorry for my ignorance, but what is an RR card? Is your 2008 tower a Mac Pro, or just a regular PC tower?
 
Wahab Iqbal said:
Sorry for my ignorance, but what is an RR card? Is your 2008 tower a Mac Pro, or just a regular PC tower?
Click to expand...

RR = RED Rocket card. I have the original, not the newer version. Yes, my 2008 is a Mac Pro, with a 12TB DulcePro RX RAID.
 
A well specced late 2013 MacBook Pro can be bought on eBay for £1000.

Just do your homework on the buyer, and take the usual eBay precautions.
 
First off thank you guys so much! Its been so helpful just on my first post! :)

Todd: OHHHH That really does come with some serious backing! In England they do run a bit steep - £1600 steep!

Mark: Ah right thanks Mark! And without it the computer runs fine?

David: Yes, this was an option. My dad is in IT and offered to build one, but I thought it might just be easier (and less hassle for him) to just buy one ready made. It does seem like I would get a lot more in my budget.

Eric: Ah right, this is exactly what I was doing, I was looking on eBay for some used and/or refurbished ones. I may return to that on top of David's search.

Overall, I really have to look at both options and have a look and see what matches up with what I want.
Guys, again (I hope I am not being sycophantic) thank you!
 
I think you would get more for your money if you built it yourself. I would love recommendations on anyone that can build solid, set and post ready PCs, that are better than a HP Z840 for much less money. Failing that, refurb Z820s can be found on ebay. In UK there is LAMicro, who if you contact them offer HP and Dell workstations configured, which is what I did. But You would still probably need more like £2000 for that. Scan can help with parts. Don't underestimate disk speed. Highly recommend nvme PCIe cards for at the least cache.

Self-build shops in UK? Even with, dare I say it, Hackintosh skills? For all those great mac only software and hardware companies (thanks guys, it's not 2010 anymore)
 
Hey, I also still shoot R1 MX, I'm a big fan of the sensor and grain structure and none of my clients really demand more.

If you don't mind a big desktop with liberal power draw, I'd strongly recommend a 12-core 2010 Mac Pro. I bought mine for about 1200 this year, and it cuts through 4K footage at REDCode 42 and 36 no problem. Also, if it starts lagging, you can always pop an extra graphics card in, it has 4 PCIE slots.

Much better than any iMac on the market, and at a better price.
 
Tristan: I am looking into that, I saw a few posted around the website. I might try building one myself (or rather get my dad to do it!). My dad was mentioning that he could get some bits and pieces free/cheap. Thank you so much for the recommendations!

Luke: Thank you Luke, I am surprised all these old machines can handle it. I will defo have a look at that among the making my own.
 
Macmini for R1 DIT

Macmini for R1 DIT

I have been using the latest MacMini with i5 IntelCore which I picked up cheaply from the Apple Store. I am still using my external RR but dont really use it much. It is great config that i take to location in a ventilated pelican case which becomes my DIT station. I also use it for basic dailies edit.

At home I use a Hackintosh, essentially a powerPC tower modded with PC motherboard parts.

Any one a fan of Halt and Catch Fire?

Cheers,
Mano
 
We used original RR and original titan in an pci expander with a 2009 mac pro 2.8ghz dual 4 core what worked pretty good also because of its pci attached storage raid ... That worked good with adobe but as soon as you start dropping 5k shots and upwards into your timeline the original RR will stop working what doesnt make it a good choice for a new build - also if you already have a older workstation it might just do the trick for pretty cheap compared to the original price back than . I think a new build/investment should be as future proof as buying computer hardware can be. Also consider building the computer for your main application, e.g adobe cc works best on a high Ghz i7 cpu with 8 cores in the sweet spot and one gpu only but no sense for a dual xeon build. This changes if you plan to use programms like davinci that uses all cores and all gpus in a system.
 
Hi guys! Thanks for the replies! Mano, I cannot stand the MacMini, I worked with them for a project and quite literally wanted to quit! I wasn't even editing on 4K, just some regular HD stuff... The Hackintosh is looking like a cool option as well as Flo (among others) option's of an old Mac Pro!
I agree with you Flo, a future proof option is a grand move! I have been looking at some people's recommendations for computer builds, I may take a few of them up!

Thank you again guys!
Wahab
 
Z840 or a I7 Pc update the ram to 16 or 32 GiG's updated Graphics card and you will need the old RED Card to help out with debayer. Use vegas pro, Davinci etc.
 
you can pick up the original red rocket cards for about $200 on ebay .. so as long as you can settle for realtime decoding? .. any machine that has a slot for one of those should be ok .. just make sure your system drive is an SSD and you're cooking on gas ..as they say .. or at least .. its what I'm going to say.. easy ;)

sure the original RR can't handle 5k .. but then neither can the red one ..
 
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