New Mac Pro: Simultaneous Real-Time 4K Effect Rendering, +900MB/s Read/Write

[gotluck]

Are you guys saying thunderbolt external GPUs exist?

I think there's some weight to the game console analogy. /cower

I would love to have one btw.

 

[crossifixio]

worked out on the UK store that my dream setup will cost just over £15k! If I could I would

 

[Piggie]

How do people come up with this stuff.

I think it's quite accurate really to call it a computer built like a games console

Think about a PC.

A computer built, from a variety of parts perhaps by the owner picking items, running an OS which has to be able to handle a MASSIVE mix of hardware, and then run on it some software made by someone else, again designed to run on a MASSIVE array of hardware.

That is a normal general computer PC that the vast majority of the world uses.

A Games console, is also a computer. but a custom designed one by one company. The games console runs a OS finely tuned for it, to get the best out of it. The Console itself is pretty custom also, May contain some stock parts but put together in a very specific way to maximize performance.
The the same company has their own software that again is tuned and tweaked to run at it's best of the machine.

End result is a more custom, more closed down system, but one that gives better performance than a general open system running a more general open array of soft and hardware.

Seems quite a reasonable analogy to make.

One could say anyone COULD make a ultra fast PC is they specifically designed it to be from the ground up and controlled the software/OS for it (again like a console)

Not means to be a put down, just how it it.

 

[oplix]

thats absolutely sick bandwidth to render realtime 4k with close to 20 full screen effects

 

[LongSticks]

No mention of what spec the machine was they were using?

Read it on the FCP site - 8 core 64gb d700 from memory.

http://www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/art...th-apple-s-new-mac-pro-and-final-cut-pro-10-1

 

[Spinland]

I think there's some weight to the game console analogy.

I'll go out on a limb and say I can see it, too. It's not a put-down as I see it, just acknowledging that the "general purpose" PC of yore, built Lego-style from a mixed bag of commodity parts, might be seeing its twilight years. As tasks get more and more demanding, especially "pro" level work, specialized hardware becomes more and more attractive.

ETA: more than specialized hardware; in fact, rather, specialized systems as a whole.

 

[monokakata]

I agree with Piggie, and I'm not an nMP hater at all. Bundled with FCP X it does have more in common with a console than with a general-purpose computer.

Who could possibly be surprised that the thing's a demon with FCP X? The surprise would be if it wasn't -- Apple even trumpets that FCP X 10.1 has been optimized for the nMP. And again, why wouldn't they?

I'm anxious to see how it does on Avid or Premiere, especially the latter, in order to see whether Adobe really did the OpenCL optimization they say they did. If they did, it ought to rock on Premiere also. Avid, who knows?

This is a fascinating machine and a fascinating introduction also. I don't think I'm going to buy one anytime soon. It's tempting, though, especially when I price out PCIe SSD setup and a modern video card for my 5,1.

 

[blackhand1001]

Why do these sites continue to post only the seqential read/write speeds. Let's see the random read/write speeds. That's where the real world performance advantage of ssds comes into play.

 

[spaz8]

Great stuff, what I hoped it could be. Pretty much the config I want exactly, though I won't have 64 gigs of ram for out of the gate.

This is an example of what is possible with the hardware. Its up to other software developers to actually make use of it. Adobe has pledged to use OpenCL on several of its apps (AE, Premiere, PS).

Apple of course is leading by example here. FCP, Motion, compressor all got updates.

 

[yoak]

As for the game console, FCX is not the only pro software this thing can run. Davinci Resolve for grading is expected to run great, Maria ( or whatever the 3D software is called apparently runs extremely well.
A lot of RED users ( me included are ) are very exited about this so called toy of yours
4K editing looks great on this machine

 

[Piggie]

I'll go out on a limb and say I can see it, too. It's not a put-down as I see it, just acknowledging that the "general purpose" PC of yore, built Lego-style from a mixed bag of commodity parts, might be seeing its twilight years. As tasks get more and more demanding, especially "pro" level work, specialized hardware becomes more and more attractive.

ETA: more than specialized hardware; in fact, rather, specialized systems as a whole.

Exactly

It would be like saying Sony built the PS4, they created the OS to run on the PS4, and then wrote the software to run at it's very best specifically on the PS4 (known hardware and software tuned directly to get the best out of it)

Then saying OMG WOW look it's faster than some general machine, running a general OS with a general program running on it.

Well Durr, yes, we'd dam well expect it to be fast would we not.

Naturally it contains some high end (high for the typical consumer) hardware inside it. so it's going to run quick anyway (or how you would expect that mix of hardware to run) but it's going to run it's best with software tuned for it's own hardware.

Unlike a, dare I say it "normal" computer where the customer may mix and match the hardware to suit their needs.

The Mac pro will be excellent if what it does fast is what you want to do, and overpriced if you want to do something with it, that it's not built for. Hence it's not really a general all round machine like a PC is/would be/can be.

You are stuck with what Apple gives you.

Which is a shame, as, another world, another time. the Mac Pro COULD be the best entertainment machine on the planet right now for the consumer, but from what I here, and I hope this is wrong, it could be a bit lacking in that area. which is a shame.

It would be amazing if Apple DID make a version of the MacPro for that market also, but again, it would mean another specific design I would guess.

 

[Ezlivin]

But I wouldn't say no if someone were to buy it me. I could use it as an ashtray too.

Who the ****** would buy it for you with that attitude?

 

[imamacperson]

I have a Mac Mini with 2 striped SSD drives that gives me 1000MB/s read and writes speed with Quickbench but of course the Mini can't touch the graphic capabilities of the new Mac Pro. Do I need to say that the Mac Mini is MUCH more affordable than the Mac Pro!

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]

Image​

With the new Mac Pro in the hands of reviewers for more than a day now, the first impressions focused on performance are being published and they are impressive.

FCP.co posted a 24-hour hands on with the new Mac Pro. They found read speeds of 880MB/s from the Mac Pro's solid state storage, with impressive write numbers of 985.5MB/s. Further, the team discovered that new machine could post full 4K video with multiple color corrections, effects and transitions playing back all in real time.

Macworld saw even more impressive SSD performance, with Black Magic reporting 952.8MB/s writes and 920.5MB/s reads. Black Magic's speed test app reports that the new Mac Pro can easily handle all video formats it currently tracks, with FCP.co adding that its Mac Pro was able to play back 16 simultaneous streams of 4K video.

On overall performance, FCP.co writes:They went on to push the machine by adding real-time effects to a 4K stream to see the breaking point.

YouTube: video​

Back in September, GeekBench scores for the new 8-core 3.0Ghz Mac Pro appeared, giving the unit a single- and multi-core scores of 3349 and 24429. Now, on production hardware, Macworld got scores of 3599 and 25997, a modest improvement.

Both Macworld and FCP.co mentioned a gentle but notable current of warm air rising from the machine, but that the Mac Pro's fan was barely noticeable. If something is placed on top of the machine's vent hole, like a book, the Mac Pro will shut itself off before any damage can occur.

The new Mac Pro is available for order now, but shipments are not expected until well into the new year. An Apple spokesperson said yesterday that "demand for the all new Mac Pro is great and it will take time before supply catches up with demand".

Article Link: New Mac Pro: Simultaneous Real-Time 4K Effect Rendering, +900MB/s Read/Write

 

[Rocketman]

It's an appliance. That is both the bad and good news. Appoint it for low end cost speed and grid, or high end single user mode.

Rocketman

 

[jakebot]

This is actually insane. Rather than spending 2k on a red rocket card you could just buy a new mac pro. As someone who works with raw 4k, this is VERY impressive.

 

[GSPice]

1. Watch video of up to 18 simultaneous 4k real-time rendering effects
2. Complain that Mac Pro can't be "upgraded"
3. Fly back home in personal space ship

 

[tkatz]

It's an appliance. That is both the bad and good news. Appoint it for low end cost speed and grid, or high end single user mode.

Rocketman

Appliances generally serve only a single purpose and don't give access to the underlying operating system. While this workstation is definitely not for everyone, it is far from an appliance. What's the difference between one of these machines and another PC-style workstation that a professional may use and never open up other then to add ram or replace a faulty disk? (which are both doable with this machine).

Many years ago my desktop was an SGI O2. While you could pull the motherboard, graphics card and the single hard drive… there really wasn't any upgrade options. I don't remember anyone calling that an appliance, or console.

 

[flat five]

that's the software doing that, right?

(as in, final cut will work that way on a 5,1 too)

 

[Matt Leaf]

Fantastic stuff, but in my mind the inclusion of a stock 256gb drive nagates any of the internal write speeds. You'd barely have enough for all your apps and etc on a drive that small. Even 1TB is a compromise. Really looking forward to the second or third iteration of the nMP when it comes with stock options of 2 or 3 tb. That's a fun drive to use for rendering, but currently you'd need external HD's and really you'd want those to be as fast as the internal, or close to it, in order to experience the benefits. I'm probably wrong about that, but either way I'd still want a much larger internal to match all this performance...

 

[tkatz]

that's the software doing that, right?

(as in, final cut will work that way on a 5,1 too)

No doubt many of the filters and the decoding are making heavy use of OpenCL. So how it performs will be dependent on your GPU. Since you probably don't have two GPU's with what, 2048 stream processors, and 6gb of vram, it probably wont perform exactly the same ;-)

 

[Rogifan]

So cnet has a review up and under "the bad" they say:

While it is a very high design product, the components inside are intended for professional use and not especially suitable for Apple-loving home consumers.

This makes no sense to me. That's like dinging an HP workstation because it doesn't appeal to a Chromebook buyer. Plus it's not like Apple doesn't offer computers for home consumers (iMac, MacBook Air/Pro, Mac Mini come to mind). Why are some tech sites treating the nMP as if it's something that should be suitable (and thus cheaper) for the average Joe who owns an iPhone or iPad? To me this is really scraping the bottom of the barrel to try and come up with something negative.

 

[tkatz]

So cnet has a review up and under "the bad" they say:


This makes no sense to me. That's like dinging an HP workstation because it doesn't appeal to a Chromebook buyer. Plus it's not like Apple doesn't offer computers for home consumers (iMac, MacBook Air/Pro, Mac Mini come to mind). Why are some tech sites treating the nMP as if it's something that should be suitable (and thus cheaper) for the average Joe who owns an iPhone or iPad? To me this is really scraping the bottom of the barrel to try and come up with something negative.

It's the latest Apple product and obviously all Apple products are strictly consumer and home based. It's like giving the average joe tech reporter a RED Epic or Arri and then the review stating that they are way over priced compared to a Canon G20.

 

[9000]

How about a requirement for any tests/videos: You list the specs!

Also, I just want to see the point at which it starts dropping frames. Very impressive that it got that far, but I want to know the limits.

 

[GSPice]

So cnet has a review up and under "the bad" they say:


This makes no sense to me. That's like dinging an HP workstation because it doesn't appeal to a Chromebook buyer. Plus it's not like Apple doesn't offer computers for home consumers (iMac, MacBook Air/Pro, Mac Mini come to mind). Why are some tech sites treating the nMP as if it's something that should be suitable (and thus cheaper) for the average Joe who owns an iPhone or iPad? To me this is really scraping the bottom of the barrel to try and come up with something negative.

I stopped caring what cnet says when they replaced text articles with video and audio, trying to be hip

 

[Rocketman]

Appliances generally serve only a single purpose and don't give access to the underlying operating system. While this workstation is definitely not for everyone, it is far from an appliance. What's the difference between one of these machines and another PC-style workstation that a professional may use and never open up other then to add ram or replace a faulty disk? (which are both doable with this machine).

Many years ago my desktop was an SGI O2. While you could pull the motherboard, graphics card and the single hard drive… there really wasn't any upgrade options. I don't remember anyone calling that an appliance, or console.

It's form factor is appliance. Plug and play. The fact it is a Swiss army knife on steroids, notwithstanding.

Compare to a PC? Yes they make redundant any old hardware, and that sucks, but then sometimes they make a product that is breakout capacity, volume and useability. You can't do every single thing with it but very close.

Rocketman