Which Mac Pro for RedRocket Setup?

[Brian Broz]

Hi,
I have a Redrocket on the way and now need to order a MacPro for on-set transcoding. I haven't been able to get an answer on what's the best price/performance value Mac Pro to go along with the RR.
Previous gen 8 Core 3.2Ghz MacPros are $2000 less than the mid-range 8 Core 2.66 Nehalems so I'm wondering if anyone has experience with the Rocket running on different systems?!
I'm not a post house, but using it mainly for on-set 1080P playback (to Panasonic BTLH2550) and accelerated transcoding to Prores.
My RPP set is ready so if I can save a few thousand bucks but not sure if Snow Leopard will take better advantage of the Nehalem etc.
Looking for some advice....
Appreciate it!


BBroz

 

[Brian Broz]

Anyone?
I've been reading up and am tempted just to get the 8Core 2.26 and put the extra towards RedRocket...
Especially curious when transcoding to Prores / HQ if the processor speed will make much of a difference even with the RedRocket (?)

 

[sassafras]

Nehalem

Nehalem

I run the 8core 2.26. It's plenty fast for ProRes HQ or 4444. The 2.93 would be better obviously. But i couldn't justify the price knowing that it will come down so fast. Better off just filling the 2.26 with 6T of drives and 16gigs of ram. If you import on set you will never be waiting for the render. If I wait till EOD it may take 30min to 1hr depending on how much was covered.

Go with a Nehalem. Those old mac pros are now obsolete. Think g4 vs g5. just confusing cause it's still called "mac pro." Snow Leopard runs faster on them cause they gave up on the G generation macs. 2.26 8core is more than enough for onset ProRes work. But a .R3D AE render with 12 layers and lens blurs is going to tell you to go grab dinner and come back later.

 

[michael zaletel]

Mac Pros Compared

Mac Pros Compared

I've attached some benchmark images from BareFeats.com to help you decide. The following link is also a good review on the 2.26

http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/reviews/index.cfm?ReviewID=985&pn=2

-michael zaletel

 

[Brian Broz]

Thanks guys. That helps my decision immensely.

 

[Manuel Wenger]

Using the 2,26 and very happy with it, most bang for the bucks.
Before i spent the money on a 2,93 i´d rather buy a 2nd 2,26.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

A previous generation Mac Pro may save you some money, see how it prices out. But I would actually recommend the current Nehalem model if you can swing it. 8-core 2.26GHz is priced really competitively with workstations from Dell and HP. Good bang for the buck.

I have a 2.93 and it's quite snappy, but it's not worth $2600 more than the 2.26 model in most situations. You're better off to go with the 2.26 and put 16GB RAM in there and a fast external RAID.

Whatever you do, don't get the quad-core. With that option you cut your memory capacity and bandwidth in half.

 

[Mark Pamatat]

I personally can't wait to see how Snow Leapord improves the speed of these programs. Final Cut studio 3, Logic 9 and Snow leapord. With 32 Gigs of ram in true 64 bit mode... Should show some incredible speed improvements.