Im Buying a new Mac Pro

[Matrixphoto]

Hi every one Im looking at purchasing a the new Mac Pro , but Im a bit confused about the specs.
Im mainly do Photography and am planing to do a some 4k video. But its not my main thing.
I want 1tb memory but do I really need a 6 core , how much memory should I look at? Should I upgrade video cards. Etc….

Any advice would be greatly appreciated .

Thank you

Matrix Photo

 

[Zorn]

Hi every one Im looking at purchasing a the new Mac Pro , but Im a bit confused about the specs.
Im mainly do Photography and am planing to do a some 4k video. But its not my main thing.
I want 1tb memory but do I really need a 6 core , how much memory should I look at? Should I upgrade video cards. Etc….

Any advice would be greatly appreciated .

Thank you

Lou Recine

As far as how much RAM you need, I would say 16GB should suffice, or 32GB if you really need to just run a huge amount of pro apps simultaneously. For the video cards, you cannot currently upgrade them. No one has ever made after market cards in the special slot style the new Mac Pro requires. The ones that ship in the machine are from 2011, so you are pretty far behind in terms of graphics power with this machine.

 

[koyoot]

For Photography and Video editing: RAM, SSD, CPU, GPU - in this very order.

 

[Matrixphoto]

As far as how much RAM you need, I would say 16GB should suffice, or 32GB if you really need to just run a huge amount of pro apps simultaneously. For the video cards, you cannot currently upgrade them. No one has ever made after market cards in the special slot style the new Mac Pro requires. The ones that ship in the machine are from 2011, so you are pretty far behind in terms of graphics power with this machine.

 

[zen]

Er, yeah, these machines are well out of date. Look elsewhere.

 

[tuxon86]

Hi every one Im looking at purchasing a the new Mac Pro , but Im a bit confused about the specs.
Im mainly do Photography and am planing to do a some 4k video. But its not my main thing.
I want 1tb memory but do I really need a 6 core , how much memory should I look at? Should I upgrade video cards. Etc….

Any advice would be greatly appreciated .

Thank you

Lou Recine

I don't think buying the new mac pro, that came out in 2013 and is way out of date hardware wise is such a good investment in 2016...

 

[Matrixphoto]

Hi Koyoot
Should I upgrade Video cards from
Dual AMD FirePro D500 with 3GB GDDR5 to Dual AMD FirePro D700 with 6GB GDDR5 for 4k video

Also do I need 6 core instead of 4 core for doing 4k video.

Thanks for the advice
[doublepost=1478188785][/doublepost]

I don't think buying the new mac pro, that came out in 2013 and is way out of date hardware wise is such a good investment in 2016...

 

[koyoot]

We do not know when the new ones will drop, if ever. All we do is speculate. We have what we have - 2013 MP, and that is it.

You ask me about 4K video editing. It is up to you to decide. FCPX can use both GPUs. However, single RX 470 4GB will be faster than both D500's combined. Thats how outdated the hardware is, currently.

If you MUST have MP - look at refurbished site.

 

[pat500000]

Hi Koyoot
Should I upgrade Video cards from
Dual AMD FirePro D500 with 3GB GDDR5 to Dual AMD FirePro D700 with 6GB GDDR5 for 4k video

Also do I need 6 core instead of 4 core for doing 4k video.

Thanks for the advice
[doublepost=1478188785][/doublepost]

It's better you to buy one (as long as it justifies your need) than wait forever and we don't know if/when it will come.

 

[Matrixphoto]

Ok Then

Should I upgrade Video cards from
Dual AMD FirePro D500 with 3GB GDDR5 to Dual AMD FirePro D700 with 6GB GDDR5 for 4k video Yes/No

Also do I need 6 core instead of 4 core for doing 4k video. Yes/No

Thanks for the advice

 

[pat500000]

Ok Then

Should I upgrade Video cards from
Dual AMD FirePro D500 with 3GB GDDR5 to Dual AMD FirePro D700 with 6GB GDDR5 for 4k video Yes/No

Also do I need 6 core instead of 4 core for doing 4k video. Yes/No

Thanks for the advice

I think 6 core and 700 is a sweet spot. As As koyoot said....refurbish and educational discount should be used.

 

[filmak]

Ok Then

Should I upgrade Video cards from
Dual AMD FirePro D500 with 3GB GDDR5 to Dual AMD FirePro D700 with 6GB GDDR5 for 4k video Yes/No

Also do I need 6 core instead of 4 core for doing 4k video. Yes/No

Thanks for the advice

Yes

 

[kennyisalive]

I would look into a refurbished mac pro from the apple store website.

it doesn't make any sense to pay full price for technology this dated.

 

[aleksoctop]

Hi every one Im looking at purchasing a the new Mac Pro

Don't do it! It's on Thunderbolt 2 which Apple grandfathered a year later.
You can't get a 5k monitor. It's a 2013 machine that has been obsolete since 2015. It's too expensive for that. You're honestly better off getting an iMac.

 

[jigme_senge]

Also depends on the apps you use. Saying 4k video is meaningless without knowing what format and editor you will use.

Ultimately though, I agree with everything else: don't buy a Mac Pro.

 

[ColdCase]

You can't get a 5k monitor.

Not exactly true, I've been running a HP 5K monitor without issue for months. You do need to use two TB ports, however, and a monitor that accepts two DP. There are a few, both HP and Dell make them.

 

[tuxon86]

Not exactly true, I've been running a HP 5K monitor without issue for months. You do need to use two TB ports, however, and a monitor that accepts two DP. There are a few, both HP and Dell make them.

But the LG being discussed doesn't.

 

[Derpage]

A maxed out 5k imac would suite your needs better and be a better value.

 

[kucharsk]

A maxed out 5k imac would suite your needs better and be a better value.

Until the display has an issue and you lose your entire computer for a few weeks.

 

[ILUVAPPLE69]

There are rumors of a new Mac Pro coming at the end of November. I'm going to wait at least until then because I don't think the current lineup is worth it.

 

[ColdCase]

But the LG being discussed doesn't.

I don't see the new LG being discussed in this thread. The post simply implied no 5k support regardless, and thats wrong. Probably wasn't what was meant. 5k on a single wire is not supported by the nMP, of course.

 

[JimmyPainter]

Until the display has an issue and you lose your entire computer for a few weeks.

WOW ... I am Thrilled you are Staying with Mac. Lot's of great advice here, some not so great.

OK ... First off

There is a Great Deal on Macsales.com for a 6 core with D500's for $3k. Then Look at all the FANTASTIC articles on Barefeats about an external Thunderbolt 2 Expansionbox with 980ti. Buy the 980ti used from some gotta have a 1080 Gamer on SearchTempest. Then upgrade the RAM to the MAX you can afford. After those if you still got's change ... Upgrade your SSD with aftermarket drive.

This is only one of about 50 Billion Creative ways to work around the fact that Apple hasn't upgraded or killed off the Mac Pro. This will get you down the road for a few years while reading this forum for laughs and workin up some beautiful 4k.

Please keep us posted what you did

 

[shuto]

Definatley makes more sense to buy a fully spec'd out 5k iMac instead of Mac Pro at the moment.

I own a 8 core mac pro and luckily I bought it at the right time for it to make more sense (still silly expensive though), but those iMacs have an amazing screen and can go 4.0GHz quad, which is quicker than the Mac Pro quad core one (3.7Ghz) which will be quicker for you photography & video work.

You seem reluctant to take people's advise on here about not buying the Mac Pro but really it is good advice.

 

[rawweb]

If you're going to be spending 3k or more on the ancient 6,1, and want to buy new, just get the latest and greatest 5k iMac maxed out. Single core smokes what the old Xeon in the 6,1 can do...also multi core...you're in the same ball park (especially if it's the 4 core 6,1). The Dual D700 computes pretty close to the R9M395X. Plus you get a pretty rad screen. It can certainly chew "some 4k", as you say, with ease. It was built for photographers, designers and light/moderate video editing.

Benchmarks don't provide much real world analysis, but I have posted my compute (gpu) and cpu results for both a fully maxed 8-c 6,1 and a fully maxed L-15 5k iMac.

Late 2013 Mac Pro 8-c (Dual) D700 - 64GB Ram:
Single Core: 3671
Multi Core: 21348
Compute GPU: 92057 (I believe the test only looks at one of the cards, but in the real world, I haven't met many apps that can really pull usage of the dual card very well. Most of the time, one is just sitting there chilling)

Late 2015 5k iMac 4-C Mobile R9 395X - 32GB Ram:
Single Core: 5076
Multi Core: 15968
Compute GPU: 86177

For what it's worth, as a Premiere Pro user, I have found little to no differences in the overall performance of the two machines. In fact, the iMac's SSD is significantly faster...the only down side to the iMac is that mobile GPU. BTW, Pr doesn't touch that dual GPU setup often, really just during encoding...pretty much a waste of $ if you ask me (for a dual GPU setup, i'd rather have dual CPU)

Let's be honest though, new desktops are bound to drop soon. Apple has historically never let this much time slip between iMac updates.

 

[BornAgainMac]

In the past, Apple always likes to spread their Mac hardware updates. Laptops and desktops usually don't get updated at the same time. We expected desktops to be updated this time since it has been a long time but maybe Apple is unable to update the entire line at once. I expect Apple to update the iMac in a few months and possible drop the Mac Mini / Pro.

I have the latest Skylake iMac and it is maxed out. I did the memory myself (64GB) and the price is about 4K which is what the base model Mac Pro with 6 cores cost without monitor. Cooling on the iMac isn't as good as the Mac Pro when doing video encoding but I can always use a cheaper PC that I already own to do that if it bothered me.

The iMac is good enough.