Considering getting a base 6 core

[jetjaguar]

Thinking of selling off my iMac and getting the base model 6 core / 16gb / 256gb / d500s .. how are the d500s ? for editing and also for the occasional game .. not a hard core gamer at all. Editing will be light projects with possible 4k down the road. I use FCPX. I plan to upgrade the ssd down the road. I am just wondering if the d500s are decent enough.

 

[CH12671]

What model iMac do you have? I have a mid 2011, upgraded to 15 GB RAM and 240 GB SSD, and I've played with the stock quad core D300's 12 GB at our apple store, and it rocks compared to my iMac.

 

[jetjaguar]

top of the line 2013 one .. with 3tb fusion
I have a 30in acd siting here so i don't need to purchase a monitor

 

[CH12671]

Then not sure you will see any difference for what you are going to be doing....
Now, if you want it for the cool factor, then that's a different story

 

[jetjaguar]

Then not sure you will see any difference for what you are going to be doing....
Now, if you want it for the cool factor, then that's a different story

i like the ability to use other monitors and my next purchase down the road would be a 4k monitor. Cant do that with an iMac.

But I would just like to know how the d500s do. I know most people are going for d700s. Can anyone with d500s chime in ?

 

[macines]

first of all - i dont really think that most people are going for d700s, at least not the ones that dont work in the corresponding industries

if you are looking for double precision floating point performance and work with software that supports this stuff then the d500s will work great,
in any other case they will be equally or < than the d300s which is not very remarkable i think - if you want to go safe then take the d700s which beat both of the lower end cards

for consideration:

D500 - http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1593405 - Scores with 7300

D300 - http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1710373 - Scores with 7900

D700 - http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1779308 - Scores with 10700

in the end its all up to how you intend to use those cards

hope i could be of some help

i like the ability to use other monitors and my next purchase down the road would be a 4k monitor. Cant do that with an iMac.

But I would just like to know how the d500s do. I know most people are going for d700s. Can anyone with d500s chime in ?

 

[RoastingPig]

i like the ability to use other monitors and my next purchase down the road would be a 4k monitor. Cant do that with an iMac.

But I would just like to know how the d500s do. I know most people are going for d700s. Can anyone with d500s chime in ?

Look up 7870 crossfire i think thats the closest thing too the d500

 

[jetjaguar]

first of all - i dont really think that most people are going for d700s, at least not the ones that dont work in the corresponding industries

if you are looking for double precision floating point performance and work with software that supports this stuff then the d500s will work great,
in any other case they will be equally or < than the d300s which is not very remarkable i think - if you want to go safe then take the d700s which beat both of the lower end cards

for consideration:

D500 - http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1593405 - Scores with 7300

D300 - http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1710373 - Scores with 7900

D700 - http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1779308 - Scores with 10700

in the end its all up to how you intend to use those cards

hope i could be of some help

wow why are the d500s less than the d300s in 3d mark 😕

 

[Stephent]

Thinking of selling off my iMac and getting the base model 6 core / 16gb / 256gb / d500s .. how are the d500s ? for editing and also for the occasional game .. not a hard core gamer at all. Editing will be light projects with possible 4k down the road. I use FCPX. I plan to upgrade the ssd down the road. I am just wondering if the d500s are decent enough.

You can probably do without the d700, but at the same time it isn't that much more to get it either. I would only get 12GB of RAM and upgrade to 32 from OWC or another aftemarket store. Would be another "cheap" upgrade that can pay dividends. For what you are doing though what you are getting should be fine for now.

 

[jetjaguar]

You can probably do without the d700, but at the same time it isn't that much more to get it either. I would only get 12GB of RAM and upgrade to 32 from OWC or another aftemarket store. Would be another "cheap" upgrade that can pay dividends. For what you are doing though what you are getting should be fine for now.

after looking at bare feats .. i think i might just go base quad core with d300s .. gaming performance is really not that bad under osx with just one card but under windows for what I play the performance is good when xfire'd. Also they seem to perform better than the d500s. Down the road I could always upgrade the cpu to a 3.3 8 core once the prices drop and you never know if apple will offer gnu upgrades.

 

[ogilloire]

wow why are the d500s less than the d300s in 3d mark 😕

Lower clock speed. Like CPU, you get more cores but they run slghtly lower, so benchmarks would yield lower scores. Now reallife usage should be different i guess - i hope - as this is what i went for!

 

[RoastingPig]

after looking at bare feats .. i think i might just go base quad core with d300s .. gaming performance is really not that bad under osx with just one card but under windows for what I play the performance is good when xfire'd. Also they seem to perform better than the d500s. Down the road I could always upgrade the cpu to a 3.3 8 core once the prices drop and you never know if apple will offer gnu upgrades.

if so go third party retailer to avoid the wait.

 

[jetjaguar]

if so go third party retailer to avoid the wait.

yea i just ordered my base quad. Going to see how it is .. and then watch prices on the cpus for a possible swap down the road and same for ssd replacements. Have my 30in ACD which will last me until I can get a 4k monitor.

 

[mikepj]

The D500 is faster than the D300 in a few benchmarks (mostly rendering-related tasks I believe, and up to about 15% faster). However, most benchmarks are fairly matched between the two (within a coupe of %), and as previously mentioned the D300 is faster than the D500 in some cases. Since I don't do any substantial video or rendering work, I decided to go for the D300s and save the $400.

That leaves your decision between the D300 and the D700 though. With the price difference being $1000 between the two, I decided against it. I'm only a casual gamer, and I don't think I would notice much of a difference for that kind of price increase. For people who are going to use the extra graphics horsepower on a regular basis, I think the D700 upgrade can be well worth it.

 

[jetjaguar]

The D500 is faster than the D300 in a few benchmarks (mostly rendering-related tasks I believe, and up to about 15% faster). However, most benchmarks are fairly matched between the two (within a coupe of %), and as previously mentioned the D300 is faster than the D500 in some cases. Since I don't do any substantial video or rendering work, I decided to go for the D300s and save the $400.

That leaves your decision between the D300 and the D700 though. With the price difference being $1000 between the two, I decided against it. I'm only a casual gamer, and I don't think I would notice much of a difference for that kind of price increase. For people who are going to use the extra graphics horsepower on a regular basis, I think the D700 upgrade can be well worth it.

definitely agree. I went d300 route. For the amount of gaming I do .. gaming with just one card will be fine on WoW when I play. In windows it would be much better. Down the road there might be upgrade options. You never know.

 

[macines]

definitely agree. I went d300 route. For the amount of gaming I do .. gaming with just one card will be fine on WoW when I play. In windows it would be much better. Down the road there might be upgrade options. You never know.

wise decision, went the same way - the price tag is just to high for the sobering performance boost - for me that is at least

 

[GreyMatta]

I've just sold my rMBP as I had it permanently in clamshell mode connected to a Thunderbolt Display. I'm thinking of getting a base nMP with the d300s. I am going to use it for a bit of programming, Handbrake encoding of Blu-rays and gaming in Bootcamp. How are you guys finding the game performance on things like Skyrim, Tombraider, Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 and Bioshock infinite etc. when running at native 2560x1440.

I know this thread is a few months old so I'm hoping lots of people with the base nMP can tell me how it performs. 😀

Cheers

 

[Darryl79]

I've just sold my rMBP as I had it permanently in clamshell mode connected to a Thunderbolt Display. I'm thinking of getting a base nMP with the d300s. I am going to use it for a bit of programming, Handbrake encoding of Blu-rays and gaming in Bootcamp. How are you guys finding the game performance on things like Skyrim, Tombraider, Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 and Bioshock infinite etc. when running at native 2560x1440.

I know this thread is a few months old so I'm hoping lots of people with the base nMP can tell me how it performs. 😀

Cheers

I registered just to add to this thread 😎

I have the same requirements. Use DVDFAB to Rip and HandBrake to transcode blu rays and other downloaded media. My 2012 MBP is in permanent clamshell mode connected to a 27" TB display. Seems like upgrading to a 6 core MP would be cool since HandBrake will take advantage of mulitple cores.

 

[GreyMatta]

My rMBP in clamshell mode used to get very hot and noisy when using Handbrake and as my setup is at the back of my living room I could only really encode over night. Games didn't run too good at native res either.

I can get a good HE discount on the nMP and it comes with free Apple Care as well. I'm hoping the extra performance I'll get even on the base model will be worth the couple of hundred pounds it'll cost. 🙂 I'm hoping it will be a bit quieter too.

 

[macines]

hey guys,

havent testet gaming on bootcamp yet (waiting for ext. tb drive) but it runs pretty decent in osx (games like bioshock infinite, hitman abs., borderlands aso)

it is every inch the machine that i expected and hoped for 🙂
hoping to keep it for at least another 3-4 years with heavy computing (and when time allows gaming) workload

also as pointed out above, decide between d300 or d700 and dont waste any penny on those d500 cards