Which Mac Pro to buy?

[scouser75]

Guys, I have to upgrade my Power Mac G5 because Apple so considerately have decided to drop all support for us poor G5 owners!!!

I now have to decide between a Mac Pro Quad 2.93ghz with 3GB Ram and 500GB HD OR an 2.26gz 8 Core Mac Pro with 500GB Ram.

My question is this... Which one would be better for Final Cut Studio 3 apps?

Would the Quad 2.93ghz be faster than the 8 Core 2.26ghz? Or would it be the other way round? I'm basing my judgement on the ghz speeds - the Quad having more ghz!

Apologies if my question sounds silly. I'm not too clued up when it comes to computer technicalities!

Also, I hear a small rumour that there may be possible updates in processors in September! Maybe even a minor casing design change. Anyone else heard these rumours?

[Hellhammer]

Guys, I have to upgrade my Power Mac G5 because Apple so considerately have decided to drop all support for us poor G5 owners!!!

I now have to decide between a Mac Pro Quad 2.93ghz with 3GB Ram and 500GB HD OR an 2.26gz 8 Core Mac Pro with 500GB Ram.

My question is this... Which one would be better for Final Cut Studio 3 apps?

Would the Quad 2.93ghz be faster than the 8 Core 2.26ghz? Or would it be the other way round? I'm basing my judgement on the ghz speeds - the Quad having more ghz!

I think quad may be faster because there's no app that can fully use all 8 cores. If you want octo, go for 2.66GHz.

Also, I hear a small rumour that there may be possible updates in processors in September! Maybe even a minor casing design change. Anyone else heard these rumours?

Simply, no new CPUs exist (yes, there are faster Core i7s, up to 3.33GHz, but I doubt they'll be used). No update before mid 2010 (Gulftown).

[scouser75]

Thanks Hellhammer.

Re no apps using all 8 cores... do you think buying the 8 core would make the purchase a little more "future proof" - although having read about those poor folk who bought Mac Pro's in 2008, when it comes to Apple there is no such thing as even 1 year proof!!!

If the Quads are faster than the 8 Cores, why do Apple charge more for the 8 cores?:confused:

[Transporteur]

If the Quads are faster than the 8 Cores, why do Apple charge more for the 8 cores?:confused:

Two horses cost more than one, even if two are not always the best choise. :rolleyes:

[scouser75]

Two horses cost more than one, even if two are not always the best choise. :rolleyes:

LOL! Very fair & true point made :D

So, I may be better of going for the Quad 2.93. Save myself a few quid too :D

[AppleWorking]

Guys, I have to upgrade my Power Mac G5 because Apple so considerately have decided to drop all support for us poor G5 owners!!!

I now have to decide between a Mac Pro Quad 2.93ghz with 3GB Ram and 500GB HD OR an 2.26gz 8 Core Mac Pro with 500GB Ram.

My question is this... Which one would be better for Final Cut Studio 3 apps?

Would the Quad 2.93ghz be faster than the 8 Core 2.26ghz? Or would it be the other way round? I'm basing my judgement on the ghz speeds - the Quad having more ghz!

Apologies if my question sounds silly. I'm not too clued up when it comes to computer technicalities!

Also, I hear a small rumour that there may be possible updates in processors in September! Maybe even a minor casing design change. Anyone else heard these rumours?This question gets asked daily. Here, take a look at this it might help even though it was posted a while back.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=691789

In fact, if you like, bump the damn thing so others might benefit...

[scouser75]

This question gets asked daily. Here, take a look at this it might help even though it was posted a while back.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=691789

In fact, if you like, bump the damn thing so others might benefit...

Thanks mate. I'll go and bump that up the order after this :)

I've done a fair bit of Searching on here and most comparisons have been for PS4 and Logic. Nothing for Final Cut Studio 3 :rolleyes: But I'll bring this into the mix in the other thread :)

[grue]

One of each.

[Hellhammer]

Quad will easily last ~3 years for you. Haswell should come out in 2012 and it'll have 8 cores by default meaning that we may see 32 core or even 64 core Mac Pro within few years