8 core vs 12 core - Please help with purchase decision

[C. Alan]

My understanding is that apple is in the midst of re-writing Final Cut Pro to take advantage of multi-core machines, but for now, higher clock speeds are your friend.

The mac review over at anandtech.com covers what is going on under the hood of the 2009/2010 processors.

When I bought my 2009 Mac Pro last year, I sprung for an upgraded quad core from apple, with minimum memory. I then purchased more memory from amazon, and I am running 6 gigs in my machine. I run Final Cut Express (Final Cut Pro's little brother), and it does quit well. However, I don't think I put the stress on my machine that your brother will.

 

[Hellhammer]

You do know, we don't add together clock speeds per core. Don't make me pull out cow2beef.exe picture

That's just a rough, theoretical comparison. Besides, they are using the same microarchitecture so the only difference is core count and frequency. You can't compare two difference microarchitectures that way though.

I might as well use the GeekBench scores. There 6-core is even faster (12%).

 

[jav6454]

That's just a rough, theoretical comparison. Besides, they are using the same microarchitecture so the only difference is core count and frequency. You can't compare two difference microarchitectures that way though.

I might as well use the GeekBench scores. There 6-core is even faster (12%).

Now Geekbench is much more like it. Synthetic, but it gives you the overall idea.