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New Mac Pro Edit Suite

Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson

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Hi All,

Okay so the new MacPro's have been released - I've got the money (well for A system!) - so here is my potential system set up...thoughts?

Two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
4 x 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
One 18x SuperDrive
AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi Card with 802.11n

I am getting Memory from a other source - not paying Apples prices!!!

Questions:
1. Do I got for the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB or the ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB graphics card?

2. How much memory do you think I need - will 16GB be enough for RED footage.

3. Am getting a CalDigit RAID card and HD Elements Hard Drives

Any other pointers anyone can give - any recommendations for monitors (need to be good enough to do Color Correction in Apple Color)

Thanks in Advance.

Steve
 
Looks like they already stocked up!

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upg...1&type=Memory&TI=2901&shoupgrds=Show+Upgrades

From the OWC website:


.
This is a NEW ITEM!!

Actually, it's so new that we haven't got a full-length description for it yet. Check back; it should be posted for your informational benefit very soon.

Of course, if you don't need the full description to know you need and/or want this item, you can purchase it right now by clicking the "Add to Your Basket" button.
 
I just put a MacPro suite together and what I would recommend is get the best external monitor you can afford. No matter how good your LCD computer monitors are, with all the different monitor setups and gamma issues you need to be able to grade and judge quality on a monitor you can trust. How much you spend really depends on where the final product is going. For film out you need to spend big bucks, for broadcast and corporate you can get away with a high end consumer plasma if your i/o box or card supports HDMI.
 
I'm in a similar situation.
I need to be able to grade the red footage in Color at 2k, real time.
do I need the dual 2.66? How much ram/video card? IO card, which one?

If real time 2k can be done with the last mac pro 8 core...whats that setup look like?

What would it take to grade in real time 4k?
 
I'd wait a few weeks to see benchmarks of the eight-core systems before buying. We should have a better idea of what performance to expect after a few systems have shipped and been benchmarked.
 
I am basically looking at the same setup, though I have been thinking about some 15,000 rpm drives, what do you guys think?
 
Hi

USlatin said:
Why did you list the hard drives on the top and then again on the bottom of your post?
Click to expand...

I am getting the 4TB installed in the MacPro - cause I need them for a HD project straight away but will be getting the CalDigit Card and HDD space later.

Steve
 
Hi Sam,

Sam Roberts said:
I just put a MacPro suite together and what I would recommend is get the best external monitor you can afford. No matter how good your LCD computer monitors are, with all the different monitor setups and gamma issues you need to be able to grade and judge quality on a monitor you can trust. How much you spend really depends on where the final product is going. For film out you need to spend big bucks, for broadcast and corporate you can get away with a high end consumer plasma if your i/o box or card supports HDMI.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I was thinking of the 24" Apple HD Display at the moment together with a MXO2 - I have heard on some of the threads that this is a good buy.

Any thoughts on other monitors - got some money but not an unlimited amount. Just need 2 good monitors that can show me good RED footage and allow a basic color correction with Apple Color.

Steve
 
Honestly I think this is something you shouldn't skimp on (i know it's expensive). I tried so many options and then I finally broke down (or went broke) and bought an AJA Kona 3 card and a 26" Panasonic BT-LH2600 HD-SDI monitor. This is a great monitor for the price and is solid for color grading. It's not as accurate as a Sony master series reference CRT or one of those 40,000 dollar LCD's.... but it's one of the best for the money (it's actually just been updated with a true 10-bit display.

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webap...d=325746&catGroupId=14625&surfModel=BT-LH2550



Steve Johnson said:
Hi Sam,



Thanks for that. I was thinking of the 24" Apple HD Display at the moment together with a MXO2 - I have heard on some of the threads that this is a good buy.

Any thoughts on other monitors - got some money but not an unlimited amount. Just need 2 good monitors that can show me good RED footage and allow a basic color correction with Apple Color.

Steve
Click to expand...
 
Thanks doondoon

I appreciate your feedback. The budget at the moment doesn't quite stretch that far - But have looked the 26" Panasonic BT-LH2600 HD-SDI monitor up an it looks great.

Can't find it in the UK for a price comparison. The £/$ is not good enough to get from the US right now - but I will keep this logged for when it gets better.

Seve
 
Steve Johnson said:
Hi



I am getting the 4TB installed in the MacPro - cause I need them for a HD project straight away but will be getting the CalDigit Card and HDD space later.

Steve
Click to expand...

Can't you just order some Seagate 7200.11 7200rpm drives from Newegg? You'd save a ton and they should be plug and play. Right?

They would certainly make it to your place before the workstation does. The $300 that Apple charges you get's you three 1TB drives at Newegg... on a bad day.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148373

Though for that much cash ($100 + $300 + $300 + $300 = $1,000) you could get four 1.5TB drives for $130 each plush tax and shipping, getting an additional 2TB total of space, and still save about $500 or more. Plus you'd have the 640GB drive to archive stuff, ship a project copy, gift... paper holder.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337
 
USlatin said:
Can't you just order some Seagate 7200.11 7200rpm drives from Newegg? You'd save a ton and they should be plug and play. Right?

They would certainly make it to your place before the workstation does. The $300 that Apple charges you get's you three 1TB drives at Newegg... on a bad day.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148373

Though for that much cash ($100 + $300 + $300 + $300 = $1,000) you could get four 1.5TB drives for $130 each plush tax and shipping, getting an additional 2TB total of space, and still save about $500 or more. Plus you'd have the 640GB drive to archive stuff, ship a project copy, gift... paper holder.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337
Click to expand...

Wow. I didn't quite realize that. Thanks. Are they compatible with the Mac Pro? Has anyone used these drives in a plug and play situation with a MacPro?
 
They should be 100% compatible... as far as I know Macs don't need special drives, but I am still a PC owner. BTW those are the best drives out there... though Western Digitals are just as good as Seagates.
 
The Mac Pro uses standard SATA hard drives, nothing magical or special about them. Very easy to install, assuming you understand the complexities of using a screwdriver.

Apple typically ships the Mac Pro systems with Hitachi 7200rpm HDDs.

I never buy drives from Apple, too expensive. Usually don't buy RAM from Apple either. Sometimes I do though with notebooks. It's common for Apple to have the RAM priced on their notebooks where it's just expensive enough to know you're getting overcharged, but at the same time it's still the same price and more convenient than ordering your desired amount elsewhere and swapping out modules.

Oh, I would not recommend buying any Seagate 1TB drives right now. There has been a bad production run or two and lots of drives failing. Seagate has done a recall and is replacing these drives under warranty, but there are still a lot of potentially affected units sitting in warehouses just waiting for you to buy them. I would recommend the 1.5TB seagate drives. Faster drive anyway, more storage... If you want 1TB HDDs, stick with the Hitachi ones. Buy the Hitachi "enterprise" class for servers and RAIDs - usually about $15 more per drive, but have a better warranty and the firmware is tuned for better performance in RAID systems.
 
Good to know about the bad bach of 1TBs! I am sure he'll end up with 1.5TBs given his allocated budget. I didn't know they were faster either... I thought they were identical.

I have been hearing great things about Hitachi drives over the past few months. I'd give them a try after Jeff's post. Do they make a 1.5 already?
 
Thanks for that advise. I am just looking at some places here in the UK that sell them at a decent price.

Can you tell me which Seagate 1.5TB drives are the ones I need to go for - spec?

Thanks

Steve
 
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