Buying my first Mac pro need help!!!!! Spending $4000

I'd get the 6-core single CPU model instead. Far faster clock speed, that 2.4Ghz is rather sluggish, and only 2 cores less.

If it were me, I would be torn between the 2.4x8 and the 3.33x6 - While Logic 9.1.3 is pretty good up to 16 threads, not everything is 100% efficient on using multiple cores. I think I would go with the 3.33x6 just for the edge on things that were not great with multiple cores. Infact if you do the math on just CPU horsepower, you are better off with the hex core at the substantially higher clock speed.

You're going to need a LOT more than 6 GB RAM. I would go straight to 24 or even 32 (8 GB DIMMs on the single CPU model). East-West Play will go through RAM like you wouldn't believe.

SSD for boot is good. I would get the EW library on a RAID 0 stripe ASAP. I would get 2 WD Caviar Black 2 TB disks and stripe them for just the sample libs. I would use a 3rd WD Black for the audio/Midi tracks and other user data. Fourth drive as Time Machine for the user data and OS. External tray or toaster for bare drives for rotating clone sets for everything.

If the RAID 0 sample lib blows up, you can reload from the clones. It's not like you are changing it very often, so don't waste the drive space on it in your Time Machine volume.

And get one of the OWC eSATA cards so you can run the external drives at full speed.

How big is the EW Composer Bundle anyway? BTW - even if you don't need the size, get the 2TB drives - they're faster. And make a partition on each for the EW lib stripe - you want to "short stroke" the drives so the speed critical stuff is at the front of the drive (outer tracks on the platters).

kevinkt said:

Sorry guys I'm a bit of newb when it comes to raid 0 and stuff like that. Is it possible to put it in lamene terms. If any lol. Sorry I really appreciate it

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http://eshop.macsales.com/Customized_Pages/OWC_Qx2/imgs/raid0.pdf

kevinkt said:

Thanks that cleared things up. So Can I have the internal drives be in raid 0 as apposed to external?

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Yup - Disk Utility will let you set it up internal or external.

here is an example of an external raid0 it uses 2 hdds in an eight hdd case. it is a bit tough to read but the black external case holds 4 drives
a 1tb

a 2tb and a pair of 1.5tb drive in a raid0 giving a fast 3tb raid0 volume. that black case can hold 8 2tb hdds your macpro can hold 4 2tb hdds. that is 24tb no problem at all.

I'm not sure what the attraction to SSD is. I've got a 2008 8 core, which I use for photographic work. I understand that SSD means faster boot times, and faster application launches. But I reboot the system once or twice a month, and I have enough RAM that I leave the application(s) that I"m using open until the project is finished. Or I'm need to free up the RAM for new project. Or until I need to reboot. Whichever comes first.

Unless you have an unlimited budget, I would plough the money saved on an SSD into more RAM, or more pro-apps.

just my 2 cents worth..... take it for what's worth....

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philipma1957 said:

here is an example of an external raid0 it uses 2 hdds in an eight hdd case. it is a bit tough to read but the black external case holds 4 drives
a 1tb

a 2tb and a pair of 1.5tb drive in a raid0 giving a fast 3tb raid0 volume. that black case can hold 8 2tb hdds your macpro can hold 4 2tb hdds. that is 24tb no problem at all.

Click to expand...

A bit off topic but please could you tell me the make/ model of tha dasit looks exactly wha i have been looking for if you dont mind thanks - op sorry for oftopic

Now back onto topc you definatly need a load more ram get 2*4 from apple then populate the rest of the ram slits wit 4gb third party ram for very little comparitively
Now above you debate weather a 6 or 8 core would be best for you well thats your decision bsed on yourneeds but remember if you get a six core the max.ram you can ever have is 16gb whereas the 8 core.can have 32 gb thibk about yourram usage in 4 years time with bigger projects new.programs ect

Matty-p said:

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A bit off topic but please could you tell me the make/ model of tha dasit looks exactly wha i have been looking for if you dont mind thanks - op sorry for oftopic

Now back onto topc you definatly need a load more ram get 2*4 from apple then populate the rest of the ram slits wit 4gb third party ram for very little comparitively
Now above you debate weather a 6 or 8 core would be best for you well thats your decision bsed on yourneeds but remember if you get a six core the max.ram you can ever have is 16gb whereas the 8 core.can have 32 gb thibk about yourram usage in 4 years time with bigger projects new.programs ect

Click to expand...

link to the case
read reviews on it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...6&cm_re=rosewill_8_bay-_-16-132-016-_-Product

kevinkt said:

Ok so would I be hadicapping myself if i went with the 8core with LOTS of ram? im thinking long term also....

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The only reasons I can see to buy the base 8 core is 1) that the additional RAM slots are absolutely vital and 2) that you expect to have a lot of cash later and you're going to put good CPUs in at that time.

Otherwise the 6 core is simply better. It will be slower now with the 2.4x8 and it will be slower later as well.. unless you swap the CPUs. It's not a matter of waiting for software to catch up. The best you can hope for is that software catches up enough to create parity.

Can you expand on what you mean by thinking long term too?

kevinkt said:

well i mean is that programs in the future might require more ram and more cores. I wouldnt have to buy a new computer. thats all

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There is nothing magic about cores - 2 cores at 2 GHZ are roughly equivalent to 1 core at 4 Ghz. It is the number of instructions per second that can execute - in a perfect world it wouldn't matter how you got there. In practice, a lot of software doesn't scale perfectly, so speed wins over cores.

The single CPU models will take up to 32 GB RAM using 4x8GB DIMM's - I would imagine that is adequate for a few years at least

There are a couple of future expansion options:
1) offload all of the signal processing plugins to Logic Nodes running on cheap Mac Mini's or an old Mac Pro you can probably get pretty cheap
2) Use another MP as an external MIDI instrument. Everything doesn't have to be in a single box. A lot of guys are dedicating a machine just to LA Scoring Strings (LASS), a very intensive VI

Sounds like a good plan. Be thankful you're not a photographer. At this point you would start a new thread about graphics cards, Apple ones and and 3rd party ones that you could flash. That's at least 5 pages. And then you'd start one about monitors, and whether Apple monitors are worth the money, vs Dell vs Eizo vs NEC, etc etc....And that is at least 15 pages! Yikes!

Good Luck.

OP, I would suggest the 6c over the 8c as well.

philipma1957 said:

here is an example of an external raid0 it uses 2 hdds in an eight hdd case. it is a bit tough to read but the black external case holds 4 drives
a 1tb

a 2tb and a pair of 1.5tb drive in a raid0 giving a fast 3tb raid0 volume. that black case can hold 8 2tb hdds your macpro can hold 4 2tb hdds. that is 24tb no problem at all.

Click to expand...

Holy crap dude. That's a lot of drives.

alphaod said:

Holy crap dude. That's a lot of drives.

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Nah.

Imagine a room full of these or these (and this image is just a half rack, holding 112 disks), and then you'll have some real storage space....

snberk103 said:

I'm not sure what the attraction to SSD is. I've got a 2008 8 core, which I use for photographic work. I understand that SSD means faster boot times, and faster application launches. But I reboot the system once or twice a month, and I have enough RAM that I leave the application(s) that I"m using open until the project is finished. Or I'm need to free up the RAM for new project. Or until I need to reboot. Whichever comes first.

Unless you have an unlimited budget, I would plough the money saved on an SSD into more RAM, or more pro-apps.

just my 2 cents worth..... take it for what's worth....

Click to expand...

I thought that about SSD's too at first. But in most applications, especially Photoshop, you are still reading data from the drive Photoshop is installed on. Whenever you use an application the computer still needs to read from the drive for the application to opperate.

Im looking to get a 120GB from OWC soon.

$4000 on a laptop? REALLY?

I don't care what brand it is.... $4000 on a laptop is ridiculous in this day and age. Heck, it was ridiculous back in the 90's!

What exactly are you going to be doing on it that you need to spend that much?

-EDIT-
I'd dump that money into a nice desktop and a halfway decent laptop. You'll never reach the full power of a desktop in a mobile platform... especially for graphic and cpu intensive applications like film editing/encoding