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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 :)

New Mac Pro

The issue on OSX is how the display driver interface coordinates with the PCIe subsystem. It's entirely a software issue, but how easy this would be to fix is hard to say. I'm thinking that it wouldn't be a big deal to make the necessary OS changes, however it my necessitate that all the video drivers be updated or re-written to work properly. I hope Apple gets it sorted, if not for the near term, I think having this ability will only make more sense in the future as both Thunderbolt and GPU abilities continue to expand.

There have been a couple attempts at hacks and work-arounds for this, some with limited amounts of success. The most successful attempt yet was the "Thunderbolterizer" hack which allowed for the Quadro 4000 GPU to be used via Thunderbolt. It wasn't entirely stable and I think the work-around's own issues nullified any potential performance benefit, but hey, it shows there is some hope.

Another possible solution could come from GPU vendors in the form of CUDA or OpenCL driver interfaces that circumvent the GDI on OSX. FWIW, the Xeon Phi cards will work via Thunderbolt on OSX and Linux (so I am told), but they are not video cards and do not use the display driver layer for their software.
 
This week, Apple has dumped a bunch of graphics updates in the latest OSX dev seed for all of their recent products, so maybe something has improved on the 4K front.
 
Reviving this one with some new info…

The new Dell 4K 28" monitor went on sale yesterday. I am not going through with my order on it because the display only offers 30Hz input and operation in 3840x2160 mode.

Apple just seeded their third beta of OSX 10.9.2 and yet again is still emphasizing display drivers and display hardware in the items for developers to test. The previous two releases did make noticeable changes and improvements to 4K display compatibility, however still did not solve compatibility with the Dell 24" and 32" monitors for 60Hz via MST operation. I have received one report already today that the 32" Dell now works at 60Hz via MST with this OS seed. I don't know how reliable the source is -- just a developer forum post -- so I'm awaiting further confirmation. I did not hold onto my Dell 24" -- a decision I'm starting to regret -- so can not do further testing of my own.
 
Jeff again i want to thank you for your insight on this matter.

Valuable stuff coming from your mind :)
 
Thank you Jeff for the continued insight!
You should get an informal title. To me you are now known as "The Professor" - I considered also "The Processor" - less personal but the words are so close to each other it almost makes sense ;)

May I leech on your knowledge for a bit? I'm trying to put together a package for around 9.000-10.000 € with display, raid and MacPro.
Would you give me some insight on your thoughts about that?
I was thinking about getting the 6core as to save some money for the raid right now and hope to upgrade the processor in the future.
Does that make sense at all? And are there any TB2 raids starting at around 1.500€? At all or is this all just delusional?

Thanks so much!
 
Been a long time coming HP Z1 G2:

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showth...ion-with-optional-touch&p=1316456#post1316456

Available early February according yo the time line. Apparently Mac Pro's will be March in many countries according to Mac rumours.

Still no 4k/5k though, no 32 inch or 40 inch either (which suites their knowledge worker based touch market). Still limited to E3's. But thunderbolt 2 and bluray writers now included with optional touch screen.

The HP shopping site is so stuffed, I could not even find the screen resolution, I was lucky I found the G2 listing, did not see a link to the main pages with details. The prices are way high compared to what the main page says due to limited example configurations. The touch starts as a $2999 i3 according to its page, insane. A hundred dollars maybe for touch, and 4k screen, not $1000. The 27 inch screen is also small for knowledge work and 4k. Hopefully when the new processors and 4k/5k are supported there will be a larger version. They are missing a bundle here with large touch. There are good reasons to sell expensive big touch, once you go above the 40-50 inch range you ho into luxury use, I. office and at home, where you can charge $5k-$10k.
 
HP's site is indeed stuffed, but it's not just the shopping site or a simple stuffed issue. It's a huge mess! They really need to fix it and by fix it, I mean start over.

As I posted in the other thread, the downfall here of the Z1, which I really like as an overall system, is the CPU choice and the limitation of 16 PCIe lanes. Add-ons, like Thunderbolt, take PCIe lanes away from the GPU. Or it may be that the GPU is capped at 8 lanes anyway...
 
When you're paying $1200 for the GPU on an expensive system you don't want it limited. I personally would like to see a full width GPU And as many thunderbolt and USB 3 ports as possible, along with some internal expansion card slots (mostly small tablet ones). Unfortunately we are going whacko with external components now (thanks Apple) that use up more space and power supplies. A lot of thus stuff could be internally mounted. A upgradable wireless card, with a place to mount antennas is a good example. We have a long way to go to 26Gb/s+ WiFi. I've come up with a new noise compensation signalling scheme too. So many wireless upgrades to come over the decade. The screen could also be replaceable. Why Intel is not on this with a firm factor us another thing. It us wrong that after 30 years of development you can look at a PC and think it can be so much better. We are in a time period of limitations, where what is possible is not done so as not to spend the money, and then we don't want to spend the money to buy either. Mediocrity of features.
 
My new Mac Pro arrived on Friday, configured to the max: 12-core, dual D700 GPUs, 64GB ram, 1TB system drive. It's playing back FULL RES 5K 23.97fps 8:1 Redcode R3D clips in RCXP essentially in real-time at 22.37fps. No stuttering. 4K clips play back Full Res consistently at 23.97fps...smooth as butter. No Red Rocket in the mix. Clips are playing off a rather modest RAID: two 3TB G-Drives, stripped together as RAID 0, connected to nMP with 2 firewire 800 cables, via 2 Thunderbolt to Firewire adapters. Holy crap...I can't wait to get my Dragon cooking with this!

Jeff, did your friend get his 12-core yet? I'm still interested in hearing what performance differences you find between your 8-core and his 12-core.
 
No 12-core here yet. Seems to be taking forever.
 
A month and a half after ordering (12 minutes into the start of the new machines availability), I've FINALLY been billed. Looks like my machine is finally shipping. I hope.
 
Congrats, Isaac! Yes, should be shipping today if they billed you. My colleague here who has a 12-core on order is also still waiting.
 
What I am really getting very undecided about (as I posted on Jarred's post about the new Cuda RCX, is if go with the new MP tube + External TB RRX... Or with a old version MP Tower, customized and fitted with an internal RRX for our FCPX & DaVinci Resolve workflow...

Decision decisions... When it comes to have to choose computer workstations I don't know why it makes me fill like this...:emote_headwall::emote_headwall::emote_headwall:...:badputer:
 
I think Ketch it comes down to portability and I/O choices. If it will live in the office and you have existing pci-e cards ie. SAN, RAID etc. then go with an older MacPro + RRX card. If it needs to travel to set at all and you want to use the newer thunderbolt I/O possibilities ie. TB raid, BM 4k studio etc. then go with the nMP. For me the smaller size factor alone makes it a no brainer but I'm mostly using it on-set. The next gen nMP will come out eventually and will undoubtedly be better and with expanded choices for different configurations. First gen new Mac products are never the best choice IMO even though I will get this one for the above stated reasons.
 
Congrats, Isaac! Yes, should be shipping today if they billed you. My colleague here who has a 12-core on order is also still waiting.

They billed me. But status still says Available to Ship: February. So until I get a shipping confirmation I'm going to hold off on ordering my RAM from OWC.

That said, I also got word that next week the first batches of EIZO CG277 monitors will be arriving stateside, so hopefully by week after next I've got my machine up and chewing on AE files.

Edit: Just changed to "Preparing for shipment!"
 
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I think Ketch it comes down to portability and I/O choices. If it will live in the office and you have existing pci-e cards ie. SAN, RAID etc. then go with an older MacPro + RRX card. If it needs to travel to set at all and you want to use the newer thunderbolt I/O possibilities ie. TB raid, BM 4k studio etc. then go with the nMP. For me the smaller size factor alone makes it a no brainer but I'm mostly using it on-set. The next gen nMP will come out eventually and will undoubtedly be better and with expanded choices for different configurations. First gen new Mac products are never the best choice IMO even though I will get this one for the above stated reasons.

Yeah, this system will need to travel... "GLOBALLY" nonetheless... But considering the amount of gear we'll travel with, and extra Large case might not really make difference... yet smaller lighter can always be nice...

But I actually have nothing right now... So we'll start from ZERO, apart form my MBPretina, for this II guess I can still go either way... ;)
 
Which component of the computer is the most important for faster exporting of the clip from Premiere?
 
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