Mac Pro for Lightroom/Aperture

DenBeke said:

Right now I have a Mac Pro 2009, 8-core 2.26Ghz.
This machines almost equals the Geekbench score of the new 2013 quad core model.

Afaik Lightroom and Aperture only use CPU power, so here is the question: Will there be a big performance difference between the two models?

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There might be some benefits required by the last two operating systems, UI gimmicks etc.

keep the one you have and buy yourself some time waiting to see where apple go with 'professional' users.

Don't upgrade to the newest Aperture and maybe roll back the OS to mountain lion (just my personal experience).

DenBeke said:

Right now I have a Mac Pro 2009, 8-core 2.26Ghz.
This machines almost equals the Geekbench score of the new 2013 quad core model.

Afaik Lightroom and Aperture only use CPU power, so here is the question: Will there be a big performance difference between the two models?

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Note that the Geekbench score tells you that the cores of the MP6,1 are twice as fast as your cores.

If Lightroom can't use more than 4 cores efficiently - the MO6,1 will be twice as fast.

Note this Lightroom performance chart:


Also note that the MP6,1 has instruction set extensions like AES and AVX. If software is optimized for the 256-bit register files, even higher performance is possible.

Don't forget the much faster IO on the MP6,1.

DenBeke said:

Right now I have a Mac Pro 2009, 8-core 2.26Ghz.
This machines almost equals the Geekbench score of the new 2013 quad core model.

Afaik Lightroom and Aperture only use CPU power, so here is the question: Will there be a big performance difference between the two models?

Click to expand...

Don't be fooled by benchmark numbers. In your case, the multi-core GB score may be higher, only because you have 8 real cores vs. a 4 core new Mac Pro. Many applications and most real life use involves one core. Compare your single 2.26 single core vs. 3.7Ghz (or 4Ghz turbo) single core GB scores in 64-bit and you'll quickly see your old 2.26 '09 can't keep up with a nMP.

DenBeke said:

Yes, I know, but i'm specifically interested in Lightroom.
Right now I'm using Aperture, but since it's getting old, and Apple won't update it, I will be switching to Lightroom.

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Get the MP6,1 - or any single socket Haswell system with Windows.

You can option the Haswell to be cheaper than the Apple Pro (yet just as good for Lightroom), or you can go for much more capable at the same or higher price.

And best of all, the non-Apple system will let you put full speed storage inside the box - and not clutter your desk with expensive external storage boxes.

AidenShaw said:

Get the MP6,1 - or any single socket Haswell system with Windows.

You can option the Haswell to be cheaper than the Apple Pro (yet just as good for Lightroom), or you can go for much more capable at the same or higher price.

And best of all, the non-Apple system will let you put full speed storage inside the box - and not clutter your desk with expensive external storage boxes.

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The 6,1 uses PCI-e blades SSD, which outperforms any SATA600 SSD, you might shuffle into a PC.
I agree that, if you need serious hard drive space, your desk will quickly become a mess, with external storage solutions.

Baunkjaer said:

The 6,1 uses PCI-e blades SSD, which outperforms any SATA600 SSD, you might shuffle into a PC.
I agree that, if you need serious hard drive space, your desk will quickly become a mess, with external storage solutions.

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HP offers two internal PCIe blades as a CTO option - so there's no MP advantage there.

(Note: Attached image edited. The CTO app doesn't let you keep multiple dropdown options lists - so I did two screen captures and merged to show both dropdowns in one image.)

DenBeke said:

Thanks for the advice!
The problem is that I don't want to dive into Windows.

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Fair enough. Many people who spend most of their time inside an Adobe app don't really care about the OS - they seldom see it.

You could always upgrade the CPUs in your current machine, and add an SSD via a PCI card if you want maximum performance. Also worth fitting a more modern GPU if you haven't already - just depends on budget and what areas you can comprise. I'd image a maxed out retina iMac would have the best single core performance but that or the entry level new Mac Pro could be up to 4 times the cost.

DenBeke said:

Yes, but photography is just a hobby. I'm a computer science student and do lots of other stuff on my computer. So yes, I will be seeing Windows (or any other OS) too much

What about Wine or virtual machines to run Lightroom on Linux?

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Forget WINE - it just isn't practical because of too many things that don't work right.

In my group, many people with Linux systems run Windows in VMware Workstation. And many people with Windows systems run Linux in VMware Workstation. A couple of people with Apple laptops run Windows and Linux in VMware Fusion. (But, unfortunately, you can't put much memory in a Apple laptop - so they usually suck at VMs.)

Virtual machines are great if you don't need GPU acceleration or more than minimal 3D graphics. They do like a LOT of RAM to run well. (My home PC is a Dell T3610 (same 6-core as the MP6,1 6-core) with 80 GiB of RAM - I usually run 3 to5 VMs of up to 48 GiB each. Upgrade to 128 GiB should be here soon.)

A LOT of RAM. I consider 4 GiB of memory for a Linux or Windows VM to be the minimum, and 8 GiB to be OK for a small system. 16 GiB for a normal system, and much more depending on the application. You can get by with less, but be prepared for a distinct lack of "snappiness".

DenBeke said:

Thanks for the advice!
The problem is that I don't want to dive into Windows.

If I move away from OS X I'll be migrating to Linux. But sadly Lightroom doesn't run on Linux :/

And I don't think I will like messing around with a hackintosh.

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Two or three SSD's in a RAID will do the trick

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Lightroom works just fine in Linux with full functionality using WINE or Play on Linux.

DenBeke said:

But does it run very fluently?

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As fluidly as it does on osx on the same computer.

DenBeke said:

Really? That's great news
Maybe I should just switch to Linux...

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If you like, it's a large and friendly community.

lowendlinux said:

Lightroom works just fine in Linux with full functionality using WINE or Play on Linux.

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Running WINE is much like running a Hackintosh - after some tinkering you can get it to work until something changes.

For example:

New Ubuntu users can often find Wine to be intimidating and difficult to use. PlayOnLinux simplifies much of this and makes installing and using Windows programs in Ubuntu easier.

This how-to is so that both new users, and other users who find Wine too confusing, can nevertheless use it easily.

Disclaimers and Warnings

1. Wine is not a perfect replacement for Windows; in fact, it is rather limited. Most Windows programs will not work under Wine; some will be buggy, and a few will work well. Refer to the Wine database to find how well your preferred Windows application is likely to work.

2. Some Windows programs will run slower under Linux, and others faster. It seems to depend on your hardware and available drivers.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PlayOnLinux

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It's not something that you'd want to depend upon to put bread on the table.

Baunkjaer said:

The 6,1 uses PCI-e blades SSD, which outperforms any SATA600 SSD, you might shuffle into a PC.
I agree that, if you need serious hard drive space, your desk will quickly become a mess, with external storage solutions.

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That is somewhat true. However, the nMP plus an external storage bay is still smaller overall than an old MP.

AidenShaw said:

Running WINE is much like running a Hackintosh - after some tinkering you can get it to work until something changes.

For example:

http://www.staldal.nu/tech/2013/12/17/running-adobe-lightroom-4-4-in-linux/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayOnLinux

​

It's not something that you'd want to depend upon to put bread on the table.

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He's not putting bread on the table so...

Realistically darktable will do what he need to do with a familiar layout since he's an amateur photog. The flip side is I've had no trouble running stuff under wine but hackintoshes are hit and miss. Adobe has even created some installers for their stuff specifically for use in WINE. CC is now available for the chromebook so things are improving and I'd imagine we'll see a native client here in the next couple years.

AidenShaw said:

HP offers two internal PCIe blades as a CTO option - so there's no MP advantage there.

(Note: Attached image edited. The CTO app doesn't let you keep multiple dropdown options lists - so I did two screen captures and merged to show both dropdowns in one image.)

Click to expand...

I stand corrected
I can see the SSD´s aren´t cheap, and wonder if they are as fast as the one Apple uses....

Baunkjaer said:

I stand corrected
I can see the SSD´s aren´t cheap, and wonder if they are as fast as the one Apple uses....

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They seem to be the same Samsung M.2 PCIe 2.0 x4 drives.

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/workstations/z-turbo-drive.html

HP charges $300 to go from 256GB to 512GB - same as Apple.

Then I guess, it´s boiled down to wether you go the Windows or Apple route.