Looking to Purchase a Mac Pro but need some Advice

[DanLD45]

Hello Everyone,

First i would like to thank everyone for there help as i do have quite a few questions. Since i have not seen what i want to do anywhere else thus far.

Background:
I have been a Mac user for 3 years now and looking to up Grade to a Mac Pro. After having a MacBook and 2 MacBook Pros.

I am a huge supporter of a Mac over a PC any day. As my PC all last summer on the road would choose what city it wanted to work in. Depending on the truck ride.

Purpose:
I am looking to purchase a mac Pro 2.93 version for a few reasons. First is it will be a video server for a Led wall for a Artist during a European tour this summer. 2nd it will be my video Editing/ Drafting-3D rending computer when its not on the road.

Hers where my questions begin:

Like i said this machine will be used as a Video/ Drafting machine when its not on the road so ill definitely want to be mac base as all my programs are.

The program i will be running for the LED wall is a PC program only. So it is my thought that if i set up One hard drive in Boot Camp to run XP i can accomplish this? Will Everything run properly? And no issues with the video card or its output?

After reading i am really unsure of what the true purpose of the Raid card is. More important then that would i need one in my situation. And what would it allow me to do?

My final question is that i need to have a video input card so i can take a camera feed and run it through to the LED wall. I saw online that Black magic sells such a card. Has anyone used it? Would it work on the PC Side more importantly?

I thank everyone in advance and look forward to all your responses

Dan

 

[CaptainChunk]

Hello Everyone,

First i would like to thank everyone for there help as i do have quite a few questions. Since i have not seen what i want to do anywhere else thus far.

Background:
I have been a Mac user for 3 years now and looking to up Grade to a Mac Pro. After having a MacBook and 2 MacBook Pros.

I am a huge supporter of a Mac over a PC any day. As my PC all last summer on the road would choose what city it wanted to work in. Depending on the truck ride.

Purpose:
I am looking to purchase a mac Pro 2.93 version for a few reasons. First is it will be a video server for a Led wall for a Artist during a European tour this summer. 2nd it will be my video Editing/ Drafting-3D rending computer when its not on the road.

Hers where my questions begin:

Like i said this machine will be used as a Video/ Drafting machine when its not on the road so ill definitely want to be mac base as all my programs are.

The program i will be running for the LED wall is a PC program only. So it is my thought that if i set up One hard drive in Boot Camp to run XP i can accomplish this? Will Everything run properly? And no issues with the video card or its output?

After reading i am really unsure of what the true purpose of the Raid card is. More important then that would i need one in my situation. And what would it allow me to do?

My final question is that i need to have a video input card so i can take a camera feed and run it through to the LED wall. I saw online that Black magic sells such a card. Has anyone used it? Would it work on the PC Side more importantly?

I thank everyone in advance and look forward to all your responses

Dan

You weren't very specific on whether you were looking at the 4-core 2.93 or the 8-core 2.93. If you find yourself doing a significant amount of 3D and video rendering, there is a noticeable benefit in having an 8-core machine. But, it's quite a significant difference in price (almost $3,000 more for the 2.93).

You can run Bootcamp to boot Windows off a different drive. It's pretty simple, actually.

You only need a RAID card if your needs require setting up a hardware RAID or if you plan on using SAS drives (or both). You can do software RAID 0 and 1 in OS X and it works reasonably well. Unless you need a RAID-5 or RAID-10 array in your setup, I'd save your money.

Blackmagic makes several cards and most (if not all) of them are supposed to work in Windows. Though I've used one of their Intensity cards before, I never tried it in anything other than OS X. This support page may help.

 

[DanLD45]

Thanks for your help.

Id be looking at the 8-core 2.93

From what i have read that is best suited for me and anything else would not produce what im looking for.

Well ill post up my results when i get it all set up if anyone's interested.