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

[Renzatic]

That is not a troll but a damn good question. Of all the reviews read so far, there hasn't been a single one looking at Boot Camp and Parallels running on the Mac Pro. I'm sure the Parallels folks are working hard on a release for the Mac Pro due out before the end of the year.

As for myself, I'm holding back on picking one up to see if it is economic to replace both my Mac Mini and my custom build Windows box with a single Mac Pro running Boot Camp / Parallels with two monitors. Where the can mix between Mac and Windows desktops as my workload changes from day to day

I'd say it'll be a more than decent gaming machine. I believe the new Mac Pro uses GPUs that are based upon the FirePro W9000 line, which, according to these benchmarks, are top of the line as far as game performance is concerned.

So yeah, the new Mac Pro will tear up just about everything you throw at it. I'd say it'll work as an excellent (if not expensive) replacement for your Mini and Windows box.

 

[Phrygian]

what's stopping you from upgrading cpu and gpus on the new mac?

You know exactly why. You spend enough time on the Mac Pro sub forum to know why.

But needless to say, better/new after market cards wont fit in this thing, and there are powersupply issues.

 

[4God]

Yeah, the way it handles 4K is very impressive. What I want to know is how it chomps through 1080p HD footage (with NeatVideo noise reduction plugin for example). Will it use both GPUs for that too or is that only for 4K stuff?

 

[tkatz]

Yeah, the way it handles 4K is very impressive. What I want to know is how it chomps through 1080p HD footage (with NeatVideo noise reduction plugin for example). Will it use both GPUs for that too or is that only for 4K stuff?

I'm curious about this as well. Neat Video does support OpenCL which should use all capable graphics cards in the system. So in theory, it should just work.

 

[Phrygian]

Honest (no troll) question: How would this handle games with Windows? Not sure if the gpu is good for that or just editing stuff, etc.

No better than a machine costing $1,500-$8000 dollars less. Thats not even starting up the nvidea vs AMD for gaming debate.


And seriously people, lets not ********. This is a really powerful and innovative toy. Its not a "pro" machine intended to be purchased in bulk my major companies and institutions (well maybe universities).

Its great for a not so hardware savy graphics designer/artist.. an video editor, a consultant. Personal professional machine.

And the lack of nvidea support is just bad. Those amd cards are basically consumer radeons.

 

[cult hero]

I think these machines are really, really cool. With that said, a there's zero reason for me to ever get a Mac Pro unless I just had way too much money floating around.

What excites me most about these finally coming to fruition is that it should increase the market for Thunderbolt devices. I'm STILL waiting for Sonnet docks to actually be available. Ugh. Thunderbolt has a huge amount of potential to make my laptop more... desktop when I'm at my desk.

 

[Renzatic]

To expand upon my statement above, if anyone's planning on getting a Pro just for gaming...don't. It's overkill, and you'll be paying a ton extra for a bunch of features you'll never use.

The Mac Pro is a workstation that happens to be good at gaming. You could literally spend a quarter less to get a machine that'll work just as well for what you need.

Edit: or what Phrygian said.

 

[vladi]

Well I work with one of the largest Avid intalls in California. It is a pain in the behind. The main thing Avid has over FCP and other competitors is the networked workflow.
If I was a small post house or an indie videographer I'd stick to FCP. Much cheaper, not as steep a learning curve.
All that matters is the output.
AFAIK, both platforms output quality video.

Well now that SoundForge has finally found itself on Mac we truly hope Vegas Pro is the next one in the line as it gives both Avid and FCPX run for its money.

 

[watakoola]

You weren't buying one regardless so just stop.

Well... I do want to buy one, but as a non-professional am looking at a way to migrate my 4 x Hard Drives (1 x SSD; 3 x HDD) to use with the new model. Apple Australia has an option of "PROMISE Pegasus2 R4 8TB (4 x 2TB) Thunderbolt 2 RAID System [Add A$ 1,799.00]"
Gulp! That's a lot of money.

The base (new) Mac Pro is $1,000 more expensive than the previous base model (yes, I know it is heaps faster!), so $1,000 plus another $1,799 blows me out of the water...

Anyone else in my situation and/or have any ideas of external 'boxes' to take my drives? Any advice would be deeply appreciated.

 

[wigby]

Cos its the truth*. I wanna replace my hardware. Its a shame you can no longer do this in Apple hardware. But the Mac Pro is a really lovely machine none the less.


*In my humble option.

are you a pro? you don't sound like one. you sound like a hobbyist. nothing wrong with that but this machine was not built for you.

 

[CharlesX]

Any news on what parts can be upgraded? I don't mean "user upgradeable," I mean someone with a good knowledge of the machine. Will we have to wait for ifixit?

 

[Constable Odo]

In before the "I can build a PC for cheaper" comments

Cheaper and faster. My two-year old gaming Windows 7 PC is faster than this so-called innovative Apple trash can. And can this Mac Pro run Crysis? No. Apple is doomed.

/s

 

[wigby]

No better than a machine costing $1,500-$8000 dollars less. Thats not even starting up the nvidea vs AMD for gaming debate.


And seriously people, lets not ********. This is a really powerful and innovative toy. Its not a "pro" machine intended to be purchased in bulk my major companies and institutions (well maybe universities).

Its great for a not so hardware savy graphics designer/artist.. an video editor, a consultant. Personal professional machine.

And the lack of nvidea support is just bad. Those amd cards are basically consumer radeons.

i assume the target graphic designer/artist isn't hardware savvy because they're too busy working on their new mac pro.

 

[flat five]

You know exactly why. You spend enough time on the Mac Pro sub forum to know why.
.

those dudes are all wrong

 

[Phrygian]

are you a pro? you don't sound like one. you sound like a hobbyist. nothing wrong with that but this machine was not built for you.

You think a pro wouldn't want to put two higher quality nvidea cards into a MP?

----------

those dudes are all wrong

No, they aren't. Your posts aren't completely devoid of arguments, but those guys are most certainly not wrong.

 

[Analog Kid]

I find it odd that some of the SSD tests are reporting faster writes than reads... Any ideas why?

This ALMOST feels like a computer built like a games console.

A small custom box, mostly soldered together, running the company who makes the console/computer's own OS and running the software fine tuned for the box also.

Now that you point it out, you're right-- it's exactly what this feels like. I think that's a great decision, actually, particularly for a Pro product. It'll be far more reliable this way.

I don't completely understand the whinging about replaceable parts. Buy what you need for the next couple years and get on with it. Expandability comes via ports instead of card slots (finally). It's remarkable to me that they've let consumers touch the motherboard all these years. It's about time they buttoned it up against people wearing flannel socks on shag carpet, and did away with card edge connectors.

For a game machine, changing graphics cards to stay current might be important, but as a workhorse you want consistency. My guess is that the number of people actually swapping parts in a Mac Pro would be vanishingly small and of those it's probably all RAM and hard drives.

 

[Renzatic]

i assume the target graphic designer/artist isn't hardware savvy because they're too busy working on their new mac pro.

You're talking about a field where the artists have to be tech savvy in order to best know how to get their job done. Everyone who buys a Mac Pro for work will be intimately aware of every plus and minus that comes along with the platform.

Cuz you'll never hear someone say...

"wots in mah Mak Pro? OLOL I 'UNNO. I JUST SLAPPIN' DIS FOUR-KAY STUFF TOGEDDER TIL PURDY".

 

[DJJAZZYJET]

No better than a machine costing $1,500-$8000 dollars less. Thats not even starting up the nvidea vs AMD for gaming debate.


And seriously people, lets not ********. This is a really powerful and innovative toy. Its not a "pro" machine intended to be purchased in bulk my major companies and institutions (well maybe universities).

Its great for a not so hardware savy graphics designer/artist.. an video editor, a consultant. Personal professional machine.

And the lack of nvidea support is just bad. Those amd cards are basically consumer radeons.

Someone finally gets it. The AMD cards are just ridiculous hardware choices, and the fact they can't be changed/not included is daft.
OSX doesn't even support crossfire/SLI, maybe it'll be added one day but still, the cards could work much better together.

Its a lovely machine, but nvidia would be a far better option for Apple just to go ahead and update all their pro apps to take full advantage of CUDA.

 

[tkatz]

You think a pro wouldn't want to put two higher quality nvidea cards into a MP?

A pro wants it to "just work" and work well. Considering this thing can play 4K video with 18 filters applied in real time, that will make many pro's very happy.

 

[Phrygian]

Expandability comes via ports instead of card slots (finally). It's remarkable to me that they've let consumers touch the motherboard all these years. It's about time they buttoned it up against people wearing flannel socks on shag carpet, and did away with card edge connectors.

 

[DJJAZZYJET]

I find it odd that some of the SSD tests are reporting faster reads than writes... Any ideas why?

Reads are always faster than writes.


What could be related to that are the different SSD manufactures. It seems to have plagued every Apple SSD equated product, for some reason Apple buys two different SSD's from different companies, and they both perform at different rates, making some macs faster and some slower. This happened a lot with the macbook air.

 

[tkatz]

Someone finally gets it. The AMD cards are just ridiculous hardware choices, and the fact they can't be changed/not included is daft.
OSX doesn't even support crossfire/SLI, maybe it'll be added one day but still, the cards could work much better together.

Its a lovely machine, but nvidia would be a far better option for Apple just to go ahead and update all their pro apps to take full advantage of CUDA.

Why would you need Crossfire/SLI when OpenCL will already use all capable GPU's in the system?

Isn't Crossfire/SLI specific to gaming? This isn't designed to be used specifically for gaming.

 

[Phrygian]

A pro wants it to "just work" and work well. Considering this thing can play 4K video with 18 filters applied in real time, that will make many pro's very happy.

refer to the post above yours.

 

[Constable Odo]

Well... I do want to buy one, but as a non-professional am looking at a way to migrate my 4 x Hard Drives (1 x SSD; 3 x HDD) to use with the new model. Apple Australia has an option of "PROMISE Pegasus2 R4 8TB (4 x 2TB) Thunderbolt 2 RAID System [Add A$ 1,799.00]"
Gulp! That's a lot of money.

The base (new) Mac Pro is $1,000 more expensive than the previous base model (yes, I know it is heaps faster!), so $1,000 plus another $1,799 blows me out of the water...

Anyone else in my situation and/or have any ideas of external 'boxes' to take my drives? Any advice would be deeply appreciated.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/H...kless-4bay-thunderbolt-2-raid-system?fnode=5f

Not cheap but hey, we're talking about peripherals for Apple products. Nothing comes cheap.

 

[ShiftClick]

The trolls have nothing but the usual drivel.....
Third parties demonstrate mind numbing FCPX speed, so obviously FCPX is completely irrelevant.

Speed isn't everything, and lets be real here. HD TVs are still filling out the market place, less than .01% has a tv that can display 4k. So who needs to make content at 4k, features only. FCPX is not great for anything that at the STUDIO level can corroborate with, so really its great that it can go so fast, but where its going is no where.

Sadly plenty of producers here buzz words like 4k think they need to shoot their silly advertisements on RED cam then they'll cut it on this fancy new mac pro in crappy ole fcpx and eventually deliver an HDCAM SR @ 1080i

I'm sure the fan boys will quote me and act like I don't know anything or spin in the opposite direction, but I'm just being real.