Mac Pro recommendation

[tarsierspectral]

Hi,

I am thinking of replacing my current Mac Pro with a new one and was wondering if someone could give me a recommendation.
My current system:
The original Intel Mac Pro
Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 5 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz

What I use my Mac Pro for:
Final Cut Studio 7 (hobby)
Photoshop CS5 (professionally)
RAW file processing with Capture One
I stitch large panos using PTGui (I normally stitch 5-6 files each about 150MB)
Sometimes I work with ~400MB image files

These are the only power intensive apps I use. My current system handles things OK. Slow on stitching and slow rendering in Final Cut.

Seeing the new Mac Pros I am thinking of upgrading. Which of the new Mac Pros would you guys recommend for someone like me? Let's say I want to be able to take advantage of all the computing power of the new computer and the $$$ is not an issue. I don't want to just go and get the 12 core because I can afford it. What would you guys recommend for someone like me?
Thank you
Tarsier

 

[Chupa Chupa]

If $ is not an issue then I'd go 6Core and load it up w/ 3rd party RAM. That is going to be your best bang for the buck -- though not inexpensive.

 

[sirnh]

I went with a hexa 3.33 and added the ATI 5870.

Then I went over to New Egg ordered 12GB of DDR3 ECC RAM, 2 600GB Velociraptors and 2 2TB WD RE4s.

I also have a SATA blu ray burner sitting on my desk that I will install.

Personally, I never buy upgrades from Apple when there are 3rd party options that are available and cheaper.

 

[tarsierspectral]

Thanks to both of you.
Here are some additional questions I have:
1. Am I shooting myself in a foot in a long run by getting 1 processor?
2. Will the new 6 core machine run much hotter than my current one?
3. Roughly how much speed increase can I expect by going from 2 dual-core 2.66 GHz processors to one 6 core 3.33 Ghz processor provided RAM is the same?
4. How much difference will the video card make (ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB vs. ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB? Is it worth getting the 5870 one?

MANY THANKS!

 

[Vylen]

Thanks to both of you.
Here are some additional questions I have:
1. Am I shooting myself in a foot in a long run by getting 1 processor?
2. Will the new 6 core machine run much hotter than my current one?
3. Roughly how much speed increase can I expect by going from 2 dual-core 2.66 GHz processors to one 6 core 3.33 Ghz processor provided RAM is the same?
4. How much difference will the video card make (ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB vs. ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB? Is it worth getting the 5870 one?

MANY THANKS!

1. Only if you have any intention of upgrading the processors yourself in the future - buying a dual (either in the 8-core or 12-core) gives you the opportunity of self-upgrading to 12-core 3.33Ghz (which is friggen insane lol). There's no upgrade route getting the already-top-of-the-line 3.33Ghz 6-core.
2. Slightly - but shouldn't matter. Cooling always catches up with any heat increases with these processors.
3. A lot... i guess
4. Fair difference depending on what you're doing. There's benchmarks out there of the PC flavours. IIRC, the 5870 does about doubly better than the 5770 in them.

 

[tarsierspectral]

Thank you.

After reading all your points I got my eyes set on 6 core 3.33 GHz 3GB RAM 5870 video card. Will upgrade RAM myself.

 

[philipma1957]

Thanks to both of you.
Here are some additional questions I have:
1. Am I shooting myself in a foot in a long run by getting 1 processor? *maybe maybe not*

2. Will the new 6 core machine run much hotter than my current one? *don't know*

3. Roughly how much speed increase can I expect by going from 2 dual-core 2.66 GHz processors to one 6 core 3.33 Ghz processor provided RAM is the same?

some tests show 50 percent difference some 70 percent difference. BTW the machine comes with 3gb all one gb sticks. you have 5gb ram so if you buy apples 6gb 3 x 2gb it is 225.


4. How much difference will the video card make (ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB vs. ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB? Is it worth getting the 5870 one? general consensus is for 200 bucks more it is a no brainer.

MANY THANKS!

so with the card and the ram the MP is 3899 plus tax and no discounts.

 

[philipma1957]

beaten to the punch but your choice is sound. you should get back quite a bit from your old machine maybe 2k at least 1.7k

 

[tarsierspectral]

$3559 with Educational discount and no tax

 

[tarsierspectral]

Which RAM would you get from newegg?

 

[tarsierspectral]

OK, things are not as sweet. Apparently, I can't just to go to a store and pick one up. I have to have it shipped and that means I have to pay tax. Sucks.