Need help purchasing a Mac Pro

[yosamite]

I'm a Windows user, buying a Pro for an Apple user. The machine will be used for video editing.

So far, I've specced it as the default 8 core proc, 2GB RAM, and a 8800GT 512MB.

From those of you who work with Premiere and Final Cut, I need some advice. Is this enough to run it? Do you REALLY need 2 quad core machines? $500 could be easily spent on a few more drives. What about SLI/Crossfire? Does it make that big of a difference? Also, if I put 4GB of RAM in it, will the programs utilize it or will it be overboard?

[dmegatool]

Hard to tell. The octo will surely makes the render faster but I don't know if it worth it. I don't think it will make much difference while editing.

For the video card, I would think the 8800GT would be fine. It's a realllly nice card. Maybe SLI will probably make a difference when playing whith multiple-camera shoots...

I would bump the RAM to 4GB and set a Raid0 to fast things up a little bit. I actually own a MacPro quad (2x2) with 2GB of RAM, 1900XT 512MB and a 500GB hardrive. I really feel my bottle neck is in the hard-drive. So more RAM and a Raid0 would be the heaven for me. I also own a MBP Core2Duo, 2GB, GeForce 8600GT 128MB and a 5400RMP drive. In premiere, The Mac Pro did feel snappier but it wasn't breathtaking. The big difference was the rendering time.

Hope it helped a little bit. Let see what the others have say...

[yosamite]

Alright, some updates.

At this point, I'm leaning towards the default 8-core version with 4GB of RAM.

I will also be getting the RAID card with 1 320GB drive, and then buying 4 750GBs or TB drives myself (I wish Apple wouldn't charge almost 300% markup on drives...).

I'm still not sure about the video cards, if anyone can offer a bit more guidance there, as to exactly WHAT it helps with, please do!

[chaos123x]

First off don't get the Nvidia 8800GT upgrade, stick to the Ati 2600XT stock card. Why? Because although the Nvidia card spec wise mops the floor with the Ati card, it gets really poor performance with Core Image (the stuff Final Cut Studio uses for effects). The Nvidia card is GREAT for gamers but not so great for core image, save your money and buy extra RAM from OWC or Crucial (never buy Ram from Apple).

http://www.barefeats.com/harper10.html

Yes, get the octo core system it makes rendering in Compressor allot faster if you have it set up in Qmaster as a Virtual Cluster.

I would recommend getting Final Cut Studio 2 over Adobe CS3 Production Suite, you get way more bang for your buck, but you may want to pick up Photoshop and After Effects later.

4gb of ram is pretty good for now, but you will want ad more in later so try buying 2gb or 4gb sticks.
I would get 8 gigs myself.

Hard drive wise stick with stock drive for your OS and Programs. Then go out and buy 2 faster and larger identical drives and set it up as a software RAid 0 for your video drive.

SLI is not supported at all and I think Cross Fire only works when booted into Windows,

[yosamite]

First off don't get the Nvidia 8800GT upgrade, stick to the Ati 2600XT stock card. Why? Because although the Nvidia card spec wise mops the floor with the Ati card, it gets really poor performance with Core Image (the stuff Final Cut Studio uses for effects). The Nvidia card is GREAT for gamers but not so great for core image, save your money and buy extra RAM from OWC or Crucial (never buy Ram from Apple).

http://www.barefeats.com/harper10.html

Yes, get the octo core system it makes rendering in Compressor allot faster if you have it set up in Qmaster as a Virtual Cluster.

I would recommend getting Final Cut Studio 2 over Adobe CS3 Production Suite, you get way more bang for your buck, but you may want to pick up Photoshop and After Effects later.

4gb of ram is pretty good for now, but you will want ad more in later so try buying 2gb or 4gb sticks.
I would get 8 gigs myself.

Hard drive wise stick with stock drive for your OS and Programs. Then go out and buy 2 faster and larger identical drives and set it up as a software RAid 0 for your video drive.

SLI is not supported at all and I think Cross Fire only works when booted into Windows,

Thanks for all the information. I'll be getting Studio 2 and Master actually, because I need all of the other programs for the webdev side. I use them as much in production as in hobby, and it doesn't hurt to have a legit license. :)

After talking with an Apple rep, 8gb definitely sounds like the place to go, especially for HD. I'll go with the default 2GB for the system, pull the RAM, and then grab myself a bunch of 2GB sticks for 1/4 the cost.

For the hard drives, any particular reason to use one drive for the OS? I'm grabbing a RAID 5 card for the system, and was intending to throw in 4 750GBs or TB drives, partition 200 or so gig for the filesystem, and the rest for editing.

Finally, no Crossfire? What in the world would you want 4 video cards for then? Or even 2 for that matter, unless you were sporting 2 30" monitors? No bonus to GPU power seems absolutely insane.

[chaos123x]

Well you can use a RAID for the system drive, but don't use the same one that your using for the video.

Keep the OS/ Programs on a separate drive then the video.


The video drive can't be interrupted by the os or you will get dropped frames in your video.


The multiple ATI card is for people who want to use a crap load of monitors.

The stock card will support dual-dual link DVI so you can run 2 30 inch monitors on one video card.

As far as SLI or Crossfire.... Apple is still dragging there feet when it comes to gaming, it might be nice for running Maya.. Not sure if Maya or other 3D Apps support them on PC.... But I don't know.

[yosamite]

Again, thanks for all the help. Just one more question for you:


The question was, "Do I need ECC RAM?"

Now it's, "Do you have any recommendations on ECC RAM to buy?" :P

Buffered? Fully-Buffered? I'm hunting for the 2GBx2 packs, since I'm aiming for 8GB now.

Leaning towards this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820349019

[Xaqtly]

I recommend Other World Computing for purchasing memory. Their prices are good, and all you have to do is pick the model Mac you have and it tells you which memory you need.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/

[rubber_Jedi]

FYI - If anyone is considering Barracuda HDs, see my post Here (http://forums.applenova.com/showthread.php?t=28817).

Just thought you would like to know.