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Can the MP Quad Handle this scenario?

A

aced411

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 2, 2007
380
92
I've been considering the new single Quad 2.66 MP w/ 8GB ram. Main advantage is the storage of course. Because of the high cost, I would need it to perform several heavy duty tasks at once. Do you think I can pull this off? Should I think about an i7 Imac instead or break it out across lesser machines?

  • Running an XP virtual w/ 2GB ram that trasncodes video on the fly for streaming
  • Leaving iTunes open for Apple TV streaming
  • Working on multiple track sessions in Logic Studio 9

I would also likely be using handbrake for encoding video but wouldn't expect to be able to do this on top of everything else.

Thanks for the feedback in advance!
 
None of this sounds too crazy or heavy IMO but I'd get the Mac Pro like you want to get but also get a cheap dedicated XP machine and not run the transcoding virtually. You can probably put together a fairly quiet mini-tower based dual core machine for next to nothing.

aced411 said:
I've been considering the new single Quad 2.66 MP w/ 8GB ram. Main advantage is the storage of course. Because of the high cost, I would need it to perform several heavy duty tasks at once. Do you think I can pull this off? Should I think about an i7 Imac instead or break it out across lesser machines?

  • Running an XP virtual w/ 2GB ram that trasncodes video on the fly for streaming
  • Leaving iTunes open for Apple TV streaming
  • Working on multiple track sessions in Logic Studio 9

I would also likely be using handbrake for encoding video but wouldn't expect to be able to do this on top of everything else.

Thanks for the feedback in advance!
Click to expand...
 
Thought about the older mac pro but I have a 24" Cinema display. I may get a mac mini with boot camp for the transcoding, the cheapest one of course.
 
aced411 said:
Thought about the older mac pro but I have a 24" Cinema display. I may get a mac mini with boot camp for the transcoding, the cheapest one of course.
Click to expand...

You can get a GT 120 which has Mini DisplayPort and then sell the 2600 XT that comes with the '08 Mac Pro and you end up paying ~50$ extra.
 
Not a problem as long as you have minimum 6GB memory. Also helps if your boot drive is a SSD. My MP only gets taxed hard when running Handbrake on 1080p material.
 
Sweet

I was at Fry's today and they had Mac Pro's brand new for $2300. Bought some ram (bringing me up to 6GB) and I was out the door for $2600. I figured I'll just be patient and get a windows machine in a few months for the XP machine. For now I'll just shut down the virtual when I'm working in Logic. I contemplated the i7 iMac for quite awhile but in the end I am just to fed up with the reliability of macs. I've already had a last gen iMac have two hardware component failures and the current gen MacBook Pro just had one. I'm much more comfortable with the Pro being as the individual components are so much easier to replace and upgrade.
 
aced411 said:
I've been considering the new single Quad 2.66 MP w/ 8GB ram.
Click to expand...

I know that the price increase would be huge for this, but 12gb RAM would help a ton if you are concurrently running windows in a VM and doing other hard tasks due to the triple channel sockets that would go down to dual channel with the 8 gigs. Windows would basically take an entire chanel, so you would get one channel, then two then one then two etc.

you could buy extra modules from canadaram.ca, great site.
 
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