Quad Vs 8 Core

[toolbox]

I see that these only have firewire 800? What happens with my firewire 400 devices? get different plugs? or add in card?

 

[MythicFrost]

My previous gen Mac Pro has two firewire 400's and two firewire 800's, both have one on the front and the back.

Are you sure the 09 Mac Pro doesn't have them?

Kind Regards

 

[toolbox]

Taken from here

http://store.apple.com/au/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_pro?mco=MTAyNTQwMTk

Four FireWire 800 ports (two on front panel, two on back panel)

 

[MythicFrost]

Hmmm interesting, you'd have to have a cable that converts the 800 to a 400, so you can plug your 400 in if they have them, or run a dedicated FW card (I think you can do that?)

Kind Regards

 

[toolbox]

Hmmm interesting, you'd have to have a cable that converts the 800 to a 400, so you can plug your 400 in if they have them, or run a dedicated FW card (I think you can do that?)

Kind Regards

Might have too, my ADVC-300 is firewire 400. Need that for my video conversions. - That is no big deal i can get a card.

 

[vincentyan]

You are right, MythicFrost

I just realized that on RANDOM write, SSD is also superior. I will go and get one. Apparently Intel X25M is the one you would recommend? I saw it on Amazon $244 for an 80G one. Any other suggestions? Do appreciate your advice. By the way, I read from diglloyd that installing an 2.5' SSD on the Mac Pro is very simple: plug into the lower optical bay (I only need one DVD drive). It is pre-wired. Is that the case?

On Raid, yes I was thinking about whether to get a hardware Raid (if Apple Raid card is bad, I can always get one from others) or simply use the Raid utility that comes with the OSX. Do you know how much performance difference is between them?

I figure a Quad 2.93 GHz might be the way to go for my use - the fastest processor available with 8 threads.

 

[Keebler]

Might have too, my ADVC-300 is firewire 400. Need that for my video conversions. - That is no big deal i can get a card.

check out monoprice.com. not sure if they ship to Australia, but they are dirt cheap for cables....the same time you pay big bucks for in stores 🙂

I just ordered 4 x FW800 to FW400 (6 to 9 PIN) for my 'in-transit' mac pro - a grand total of $30 after shipping and handling too 🙂

 

[toolbox]

Yeah might have to look at some of these cables thanks for that

 

[MythicFrost]

I just realized that on RANDOM write, SSD is also superior. I will go and get one.

Yeah by far, the small random read & writes are lightning fast, the Intel X25-M G2 160GB reads @ 35,000 IOPS and writes at 8,600 IOPS, the 80GB writes at 6,600 IOPS I think.
And it has a way faster sequential read and an OK sequential write that's about the same as a hard drive. You know that SSDs deteriorate over time right? I think I read in that long article that I linked, that after the SSD has had all it's blocks written to, the write speed drops about 30% (to about 55MB/s) and the read speed drops about 10% to about 230-235MB/s, it's not a big deal though, not to me anyway. Ever thought of 4x Intel X25-M G2 160GB raid 0 😀

Apparently Intel X25M is the one you would recommend? I saw it on Amazon $244 for an 80G one. Any other suggestions? Do appreciate your advice.

Yeah, that's not a bad price, make sure it's the Intel X25-M Generation 2 80GB or 160GB, Gen 1 isn't as good, the identifier is in the model number, SSDSA2MH160G2C1
That's the 160GB model, I think the only difference between the 80 is the model number says MH080 instead of MH160, I always check the additional information to confirm it's the G2, IE the architecture for the G2 is 34nm, the G1 is 50nm.

By the way, I read from diglloyd that installing an 2.5' SSD on the Mac Pro is very simple: plug into the lower optical bay (I only need one DVD drive). It is pre-wired. Is that the case?

No idea, I installed mine in a drive bay, I bought the Icy Dock MB88 2.5" SSD to HD converter, I think that's what it was called.

On Raid, yes I was thinking about whether to get a hardware Raid (if Apple Raid card is bad, I can always get one from others) or simply use the Raid utility that comes with the OSX. Do you know how much performance difference is between them?

I'd use the option which would give the most performance, stability, and the cheapest in that order, but I don't know if it's safer to go with a dedicated raid card, or use a software based raid, nor the performance difference unfortunately.
I think I may have read you might have trouble loading Windows in boot camp (if you ever wanted/needed to) iirc w/ an Apple Raid card (maybe others, I don't know) installed. That might be wrong though.

I figure a Quad 2.93 GHz might be the way to go for my use - the fastest processor available with 8 threads.

Yeah, you might want to check with others that that is how OSX will respond, that it will detect 8 cores, and not just 4.
You might want to post on the VM Fusion forums to confirm that it will run just fine.

 

[vincentyan]

Many thanks MythicFrost

Yes I think it is G2. The model at Amazon is: Intel X25M 80GB Mainstream Solid State Drive Retail Boxed SSDSA2MH080G2R5.

Thanks and really appreciate.

 

[maestrokev]

Even the slower SSD's like the Samsung unit used in the MBA will be snappier than the fastest HD's. The Intel G2 is currently the top but if price is a consideration you'd get great performance from the OCZ Vertex, Corsair, etc.

Apple's OS X SoftRaid doesn't handle RAID 5/6/10 etc, just mirroring and striping.

I just realized that on RANDOM write, SSD is also superior. I will go and get one. Apparently Intel X25M is the one you would recommend? I saw it on Amazon $244 for an 80G one. Any other suggestions? Do appreciate your advice. By the way, I read from diglloyd that installing an 2.5' SSD on the Mac Pro is very simple: plug into the lower optical bay (I only need one DVD drive). It is pre-wired. Is that the case?

On Raid, yes I was thinking about whether to get a hardware Raid (if Apple Raid card is bad, I can always get one from others) or simply use the Raid utility that comes with the OSX. Do you know how much performance difference is between them?

I figure a Quad 2.93 GHz might be the way to go for my use - the fastest processor available with 8 threads.

I second getting the iMac. I upgraded from a 24" iMac 2.8 Core2Extreme and unless I'm running multi-processor intensive apps, the MacPro wasn't much faster. The Mac Pro will become a black hole for your wallet 🙂

if you're not using it to make money, I would get the imac.

The reason why is that you won't have that pressure to turnaround projects so if it takes 2 nights to finish something, then no biggee.

If you plan to make money, get the mac pro. I personally just ordered the quad b/c I already have a 06 quad 2.66 so I can use them together. If I was getting my first mac, I would pony up and get the extra cores.

Any mac will last you a long time and if you need to sell it, they retain their value.

best of luck,
keebler

 

[MythicFrost]

If you get an iMac, wait until the refreshes.

later on Final Cut.

iMac will run Final Cut but not as well as a quad, if you are absolutely sure you will use Final Cut, and don't want to upgrade from an iMac later when you need the quad, I'd go the Quad or Octo.
I'm the kind of person who will always save for the best, so I'd go the Octo at lowest specs (processor @ 2.93GHz) and upgrade over time, I probably wouldn't even get a Mac Pro until the next refresh anyway, it's probably less than 6 months away.

I think an iMac will be OK, but the quad better and the octo even better.
Maybe you could make do with an iMac until the next gen Mac Pro's come out and then upgrade to a quad then?

Kind Regards