(For those interested in Handbrake type real world numbers - you might find this helpful!)
Hi all,
I have been a reader for Mac Rumours for almost 5 years now, but never got round to joining - hopefully I will be able to give back upon these forums from now on...
So like many I was in the mindset of upgrading my Home entertainment system for streaming etc. I am a heavy Handbrake user, ripping own collection of Bluray to m4v HD for watching on large scale TV / streaming to IOS devices etc and it was going well. Then I realised both the 1TB and 3TB hard drive inside the old Shuttle XPC was getting full - Collection of films is over 420 (95% HD) and over 30 TV series (mostly SD, but then theres always good old 24 and band of brothers in HD
)
Now like many, do you spend some extra on a decent NAS and then fork out for mulitple large capacity HD's to store and then play using Plex etc or a simpler solution buy a Mac Pro, knowing you could have internally 5 HD bays (using the lower super drive bay to hold a HD - more on that later)
I opted for the Mac Pro route and spent a good week searching all the forums and following the advice. I had found a brand new Mac Pro MC560B/A for 1550 on ebay (UK), which was a steal tbh. I was in two minds about the upgrade route - either:
Stay quad core, faster CPU and get the W3580 (good prices on ebay - £250 new)
or
6 Core W3680 - Slower Mhz, but 6core for Handbrake, BUT much more £££
at the end of the day, I opted for the W3580. The upgrade process was a dodle, having workd on PCs for almost 15years, the CPU upgrade was a 30min affair to do properly, but it was nothing to worry over. I know many people will say "the W3680 was a better choice!" and I do respect that, maybe it is for some things. I am making the decision based on money only (as many of us do!) but for my needs it is lightning...
The 2.8Ghz it replaced shows a good difference in speed:
(The Unit, Series 4, Episode 22, chapter 2 only as test - SD material from raw MKV rip from DVD (Make MKV))
Handbrake 0.9.6 (Apple TV2 preset - but change to Same Framerate/Quality 16/No Filters/No picture Anamorphic (720x400)
2.8 - Average 82.5
3.33 - Average 98.3
I was very happy with the end result. Having the Mac Pro means the HD (system) can go underneath the super drive - use these parts to mount:
http://www.ebuyer.com/124153-startech-metal-5-25-to-3-5-inch-drive-adapter-bracket-bracket-uk-bracket
A blu-ray drive went into the top, replacing the super drive - Great How to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWUCgfzM_AE
I would recommend the W3580 to anybody making the decision. Its been a good investment. Future planning, 12TB of storage for m4v files should be more than adequate!
I would also recommend buying RAM (If in the UK) from http://www.crucial.com direct, 6GB upgrade kit was only £60.
Not only this, but the Geekbench results should also bare thinking about:
2.8 (Stock) But with 6GB ram (Ram works at 1066):
http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/606859
3.33 6GB Ram (Ram now working at 1333)
http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/607015
8000+ > 10,000+
The machine is fitting for its purpose. It simply works as a PLEX server and nothing else. Bluray is ripping at approx. 30-35fps (same settings as above, only quality 18.5/1280by(whatever the aspect changes height to - no anamorphic again)
Hope this is helpful to people, time to ebay that 2.8CPU!
cheers,
Hi all,
I have been a reader for Mac Rumours for almost 5 years now, but never got round to joining - hopefully I will be able to give back upon these forums from now on...
So like many I was in the mindset of upgrading my Home entertainment system for streaming etc. I am a heavy Handbrake user, ripping own collection of Bluray to m4v HD for watching on large scale TV / streaming to IOS devices etc and it was going well. Then I realised both the 1TB and 3TB hard drive inside the old Shuttle XPC was getting full - Collection of films is over 420 (95% HD) and over 30 TV series (mostly SD, but then theres always good old 24 and band of brothers in HD
)Now like many, do you spend some extra on a decent NAS and then fork out for mulitple large capacity HD's to store and then play using Plex etc or a simpler solution buy a Mac Pro, knowing you could have internally 5 HD bays (using the lower super drive bay to hold a HD - more on that later)
I opted for the Mac Pro route and spent a good week searching all the forums and following the advice. I had found a brand new Mac Pro MC560B/A for 1550 on ebay (UK), which was a steal tbh. I was in two minds about the upgrade route - either:
Stay quad core, faster CPU and get the W3580 (good prices on ebay - £250 new)
or
6 Core W3680 - Slower Mhz, but 6core for Handbrake, BUT much more £££
at the end of the day, I opted for the W3580. The upgrade process was a dodle, having workd on PCs for almost 15years, the CPU upgrade was a 30min affair to do properly, but it was nothing to worry over. I know many people will say "the W3680 was a better choice!" and I do respect that, maybe it is for some things. I am making the decision based on money only (as many of us do!
) but for my needs it is lightning...The 2.8Ghz it replaced shows a good difference in speed:
(The Unit, Series 4, Episode 22, chapter 2 only as test - SD material from raw MKV rip from DVD (Make MKV))
Handbrake 0.9.6 (Apple TV2 preset - but change to Same Framerate/Quality 16/No Filters/No picture Anamorphic (720x400)
2.8 - Average 82.5
3.33 - Average 98.3
I was very happy with the end result. Having the Mac Pro means the HD (system) can go underneath the super drive - use these parts to mount:
http://www.ebuyer.com/124153-startech-metal-5-25-to-3-5-inch-drive-adapter-bracket-bracket-uk-bracket
A blu-ray drive went into the top, replacing the super drive - Great How to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWUCgfzM_AE
I would recommend the W3580 to anybody making the decision. Its been a good investment. Future planning, 12TB of storage for m4v files should be more than adequate!
I would also recommend buying RAM (If in the UK) from http://www.crucial.com direct, 6GB upgrade kit was only £60.
Not only this, but the Geekbench results should also bare thinking about:
2.8 (Stock) But with 6GB ram (Ram works at 1066):
http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/606859
3.33 6GB Ram (Ram now working at 1333)
http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/607015
8000+ > 10,000+
The machine is fitting for its purpose. It simply works as a PLEX server and nothing else. Bluray is ripping at approx. 30-35fps (same settings as above, only quality 18.5/1280by(whatever the aspect changes height to - no anamorphic again)
Hope this is helpful to people, time to ebay that 2.8CPU!
cheers,