Does Red Rocket co-exist in Mac Pro with Kona 3?

[David Kudell]

I'm interested in the Red Rocket mainly for the real-time transcodes from R3D to Apple ProRes422. My question is....any reason why Red Rocket card can't co-exist in my Mac Pro with my AJA Kona 3 card?

Only reason why I would think it might be an issue is PCI bandwidth - there's also the graphics card and a Apple Fibre Channel card in the Mac Pro (new 2009 2.9Ghz Nehalem model).

Anyone running both cards?

 

[David Kudell]

I just found this thread...

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=32945

Looks like some are using both fine, as long as the Kona 3 is in the second PCI slot and the Red Rocket is in the third. Anyone else with first-hand experience with this setup? I'd love to get some more feedback.

 

[Jason H]

Got a kona3, rocket and 3ware(side car) raid card all working fine. I drilled holes in my raid cards bracket to get the rockets sdi cables out. This way the rocket does not take up 2 bracket slots!

j

 

[Greg Huson]

I did not get the K3 and the RR to play nicely together in our mac pro - Harpertown. The RR is fine with the Kona being in there as long as the RR is the bottom slot (is that 2? I can never remember...) But the Kona stalled intermittently, regardless of resolution of the source material, when the RR is in there. There may be some magic combo, but I didn't find it.

I have an LH/e in there now, but haven't messed with it at all, so I don't know if there are issues. The K3 is working fine in another machine without the RR installed.

I'm not saying 'it doesn't work.' I'm saying 'I couldn't get it to work in my machine.' YMMV. Please continue to post individual results and configurations!

 

[Jeremy Newmark]

We've been running two systems with Kona 3's, raid card, video card and Rocket for a few months now. The SDI slot filler is being run out the front of the tower through the second DVD-ROM tray.

 

[Greg Huson]

Oh, and we put the SDI connectors on the eSata extension / filler tab.
http://www.meritline.com/pc-internal-sata-to-external-esata-adapter-267---p-36114.aspx?source=fghdac

Like this one, only with a longer cable.

 

[Greg Huson]

We've been running two systems with Kona 3's, raid card, video card and Rocket for a few months now. The SDI slot filler is being run out the front of the tower through the second DVD-ROM tray.

How are these configured?

Systems, slots, versions...

 

[Lonzo N]

We've been running two systems with Kona 3's, raid card, video card and Rocket for a few months now. The SDI slot filler is being run out the front of the tower through the second DVD-ROM tray.

Can you give me a step by step procedure you used to put the Red Rocket SDI slot filler through the DVD -Rom bay. It is currently taking up the no. 3 slot (3rd from bottom) on my MAc pro and i am looking to get a matrox mxo2 or kona 3 and I will need that space back.

I don't really know which screws to loosen in order to get to the DVD bay to remove it and slot the SDI filler. I don't wanna drill holes in my MAc pro either. So please if you can give me a step by step on how to get it in the DVD bay or any other place on the MAC so long as I have them sticking out of the mac pro, I will appreciate it. Is it possible to have them hanging out through the side panel in any way.

 

[Ben Graham]

I have a RR and Kona 3 in a 2.93GHZ Nehalem Mac Pro working without any problems. RR in slot 2 and K3 in slot 3. 4th slot is 3ware raid controller.

Realtime 1080p and SD downconverts from 4K. Doesn't get any better.

 

[Jeremy Newmark]

How are these configured?

Systems, slots, versions...

Greg,

The two systems are identical, Latest 2.93Ghz Octo's:
Slot1 - ATI Radeon HD 4870
Slot2 - RedRocket
Slot3 - Kona3
Slot4 - Dulce Systems RAID Controller

The only difference is we have one system running Leopard and the other running Snow Leopard. Both are working fine.

 

[Jeremy Newmark]

Can you give me a step by step procedure you used to put the RED Rocket™™™ SDI slot filler through the DVD -Rom bay. It is currently taking up the no. 3 slot (3rd from bottom) on my MAc pro and i am looking to get a matrox mxo2 or kona 3 and I will need that space back.

I don't really know which screws to loosen in order to get to the DVD bay to remove it and slot the SDI filler. I don't wanna drill holes in my MAc pro either. So please if you can give me a step by step on how to get it in the DVD bay or any other place on the MAC so long as I have them sticking out of the mac pro, I will appreciate it. Is it possible to have them hanging out through the side panel in any way.

It's pretty low-tech. We just use a small plastic block to keep the tray door open and fed the wires through from the front. You don't need to unscrew anything, the metal casing for the DVD drives simply pulls out of the unit to give you access. It takes a little finessing to place the wires in a good position so that they don't get pinched or crimped when you put the drive casing back in. But if you simply asses it well, it's not difficult. Hope this helps.