Mac Pro 12 Core w/o Red Rocket or 8 core w/ Rocket

[Bryant Swanstrom]

So I just got my RED MX last week... Have yet to be able to shoot with it as I am waiting on a Birger mount. But right now I am running a 27" iMac i7 and have been tired of it and its lack of expandability for a while.

My plan was to get a 12 core Mac Pro, a raid setup.. the works. Should I just bite the bullet and go a bit out of budget and get the RED Rocket with the 12 core? Or will there be enough power in an 8 Core that I will be happy as long as I have a rocket.

 

[Eric Santiago]

There's a few topics here you can check.
One is http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=54978
The op has been testing 12core minus RRC in varying topics.

 

[Bryant Swanstrom]

Excellent. Thank you very much Eric.

 

[Jordan Livingston]

Dear Bryant,

The Rocket is a MUST have! My only question is, with Epic on the horizon, will there be a need for some new REDRocket product (i.e. 'REDRocket 2') or perhaps two REDRockets? Or will the existing REDRocket product be adequate for use with Epic. I'm personally waiting on some much needed REDRocket related purchases until the answers to these questions become known...

Best,

- Jordan

 

[Andrae Palmer]

Dear Bryant,

The Rocket is a MUST have!

With a 12 core Mac Pro... I doubt that a Rocket is a must have. That is unless you have a 4K resolution screen or projector.

My only question is, with Epic on the horizon, will there be a need for some new REDRocket product (i.e. 'REDRocket 2') or perhaps two REDRockets? Or will the existing REDRocket product be adequate for use with Epic. I'm personally waiting on some much needed REDRocket related purchases until the answers to these questions become known...

Best,

- Jordan

Even more reasons to purchase a 12 core Mac Pro and wait.

 

[Jordan Livingston]

The REDRocket is purpose built to perform hardware-based R3D debayering in realtime (~24 - 30 fps). Even though you have 12-cores, which is great, you're still relying on software-based debayering, which in my experience is always significantly slower than with the REDRocket

Best,

- Jordan

 

[Andrae Palmer]

At 1/2 Res Good... I'm getting realtime debayer on a 2k or 1080 timeline... in Adobe Premiere Pro and Davinci Resolve. Also realtime render outs to Apple ProRes 4444 in Davinci Resolve. Mac Pro 12 core 2.66GHz with 24GB RAM. Really for RED files it comes down to a good multicore app that makes all the difference.

 

[Jordan Livingston]

For transcoding "online" assets, half-res is usually discouraged. I'm sort of assuming most will want full-res debayers for their final output - even if they're just transcoding to 1080p.

- Jordan

 

[Andrae Palmer]

I guess they assume it will be better aesthetically or retain the higher RAW quality... in my opinion it's not so on a 2k or 1080 timeline. At higher resolutions I'm sure it would come in handy. A full res debayer without sharpening looks a little burry on a 1080 or 2k timeline. The half res debayer (in my opinion) comes out looking more desirable. But then again this is all in the eyes of the beholder. I would just suggest to anyone to do their own testing.

 

[Andrae Palmer]

Please feel free to guess which one is Quarter Res. Good, Half Res. Good or Full Res. Premium:

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=55559