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budha

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 5, 2008
72
0
USA
Hello everyone.

I am just trying to figure out exactly what benefits I would get from getting a new Mac Pro and selling my old 2.2 Core2 Duo w 128mb VRAM and 4 gigs of memory.

I have finally started using AE a lot more, and I am curious workflow wise how differently things would be if I decided to drop a few thousand and get a more powerful Mac.

I know that Ram Previews have to do with ram. But what actual benefits does a new video card give me? If the only benefit is a faster final render, I think I can manage and just change my workflow so that it can render over night. I am not on deadlines, I am still just self teaching myself everything and just finishing up college.

I use VideoCopilot and AETuts for everything, and I am just making sure when I have a massive project open that I am going to be able to keep up with them.

Can anyone give me advice on exactly what benefits I would get from getting a mac pro would be?

I appreciate any and all help.
 

CaptainChunk

macrumors 68020
Apr 16, 2008
2,142
6
Phoenix, AZ
All around speed would be a definite advantage. Also with Mac Pros, you can add additional drives and build internal RAID arrays in addition to the obvious advantages (faster CPUs, more RAM capacity, more GPU choices, etc.).

AE relies heavily on OpenGL - the GPU is used a lot for previews and final output rendering. In other words, having a good GPU is just as important as having plenty of RAM. The faster the GPU and the larger its frame buffer (i.e. VRAM), the faster your AE workflow.
 
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