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fab5freddy

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 21, 2007
1,206
7
Heaven or Hell
My boss is getting a new Mac Pro, and he has unlimited funds to get
the best and quickest one possible for Heavy photo and Video Editing.....

Can anyone point me to the best graphics cards, fastest HD's, Best RAM, Fastest Processor etc....??

thanks!!
 

HD Shooter

macrumors member
Jan 10, 2008
45
0
It's the Boss

Hey Kid,

Take it easy on me... I do need a fast machine but I also need to pay the rent :D

How about a 3GHZ processor
crucial ram 8gb or more ( a gig for each processor is good )
8800 gt
500gb internal for the apps
3 1tb drives from third party macrumors sponsor

that would be a decent start.

Good Looking out.

Boss
 

Pressure

macrumors 603
May 30, 2006
5,038
1,378
Denmark
Apple are actually quite good at explaining the advantages of each upgrade.

You just have to click on the 'Configure now' button :)

Then you can click on the 'Learn more' button for additional information.

It might also be a good idea to tell us what applications the machine is going to be running ;)
 

TimJim

macrumors 6502a
May 15, 2007
886
2
Max out everything except RAM and Hard Drive. Buy a bunch more 3rd party RAM and a couple 3rd parts HD's.
 

QCassidy352

macrumors G5
Mar 20, 2003
12,028
6,036
Bay Area
Hey Kid,

Take it easy on me... I do need a fast machine but I also need to pay the rent :D

How about a 3GHZ processor
crucial ram 8gb or more ( a gig for each processor is good )
8800 gt
500gb internal for the apps
3 1tb drives from third party macrumors sponsor

that would be a decent start.

Good Looking out.

Boss

sounds good to me.
 

apachie2k

macrumors 6502
May 23, 2006
412
15
was NYC...now MIAMI
wow... well there is a really cool game i play, it's called how expensive can i get the mac pro to be... now if only i could press buy at the end of one of those games... one day... one day...
 

termina3

macrumors 65816
Jul 16, 2007
1,078
1
TX
wow... well there is a really cool game i play, it's called how expensive can i get the mac pro to be... now if only i could press buy at the end of one of those games... one day... one day...

Then, you would realize, I can buy a new car with that! Wait!
 

seany916

macrumors 6502
Jun 26, 2006
470
0
Southern California
If he doesn't know what to get himself, he probably doesn't need the horsepower to be honest with you.

I would suggest the standard config w/ wireless card, no extra hard drives, 8800GT.

Then go 3rd party (i.e. OWC) for 16GB of RAM and big, fast hard drives for the 3 gaping holes. Save the OEM hard drive for OS & Applications only. Don't edit on the same drive as your OS.

Rather than get the absolute fastest now, when there is a significant upgrade/speed bump, he can hand that one down and get the new one. Makes better sense than paying too much extra for bragging rights.

Oh, wait. He's the boss. He MUST have the best machine. Even if his underlings would be able to do FAR more with it.

Okay. I'm just jealous.
 

Firefly2002

macrumors 65816
Jan 9, 2008
1,220
0
If he doesn't know what to get himself, he probably doesn't need the horsepower to be honest with you.

I would suggest the standard config w/ wireless card, no extra hard drives, 8800GT.

Then go 3rd party (i.e. OWC) for 16GB of RAM and big, fast hard drives for the 3 gaping holes. Save the OEM hard drive for OS & Applications only. Don't edit on the same drive as your OS.

Rather than get the absolute fastest now, when there is a significant upgrade/speed bump, he can hand that one down and get the new one. Makes better sense than paying too much extra for bragging rights.

Oh, wait. He's the boss. He MUST have the best machine. Even if his underlings would be able to do FAR more with it.

Okay. I'm just jealous.

Lol, I agree with you. If he doesn't know what to get, odds are 200:1 he doesn't really know what he's doing... and doesn't need that kind of horsepower.

If it's an absolute must-have, I suppose you could always get...

4xSamsung SpinPoint F1 1TB HDDs (or if you're really interested in speed, noise and power consumption, 4x300GB 15K RPM drives in hardware RAID 0 (purchase the card) with an external FW800 drive (or hey, a quad-fibre channel connected to an XServe RAID) for backup.

3.2 GHz octo Xeon

32 GB RAM (more than any hard drive available 10 years ago. . . and we're talking 1998.. this isn't a 1995 Apple commercial talking about how '10 years ago in 1985....'- anyway, the point is holy ****ing ****)

nVidia Quadro FX 5600 w/1.5GB GDDR4 (Hmm. That's twice the RAM in this machine- and it's maxed [3x256MB]- and that was an ungodly amount when it came out).

Second "Superdrive" if you want

30" display

Wireless card

Don't worry, that'll only be setting you back a bit over $22,000 if you buy from Apple. Assuming you don't go for the XServe.

Realistically, though, that's ridiculous. It doesn't even sound like you'll need a graphics card for anything other than using a monitor.

Radeon 2600XT
8GB RAM not bought from Apple (if you need more, there's a good chance you're lying... =))
Decent display not from Apple
Two TB HDDs ... not from Apple
Wireless
3 GHz Xeon... 3.2 if you really want, but why bother?
 

jnc

macrumors 68020
Jan 7, 2007
2,302
9
Nunya, Business TX
Radeon 2600XT
8GB RAM not bought from Apple (if you need more, there's a good chance you're lying... =))
Decent display not from Apple
Two TB HDDs ... not from Apple
Wireless
3 GHz Xeon... 3.2 if you really want, but why bother?

What's a better setup for Flash and Photoshop CS3 use (work), plus a little XP 32bit gaming(hobby)?

8800 and 2GB RAM or 2600 and 6GB RAM? I'm looking at upgrading either GPU or RAM, would love to do both of course, but for the moment it's one or the other. Better setup for work is the priority, but I've heard the 8800 will deliver better performance for Flash and Photoshop work, so... need advice!
 

Pressure

macrumors 603
May 30, 2006
5,038
1,378
Denmark
What's a better setup for Flash and Photoshop CS3 use (work), plus a little XP 32bit gaming(hobby)?

8800 and 2GB RAM or 2600 and 6GB RAM? I'm looking at upgrading either GPU or RAM, would love to do both of course, but for the moment it's one or the other. Better setup for work is the priority, but I've heard the 8800 will deliver better performance for Flash and Photoshop work, so... need advice!

Considering that Adobe programs generally do not offload anything to the graphic card it would not make sense to get the Geforce 8800GT in that aspect.
 

Trishul

macrumors regular
Oct 27, 2006
141
1
Sarasota, FL
if money was no object and you're doing uncompressed video/photo you should definitely consider the RAID card and choose 4x 300GB SAS drives, and read up on your external storage options, such as Xserve RAID, in which case you'll need the Fibre Channel Card. But this all depends on what your workflow consists of, if you're not using Uncompressed, 2K or 4K video these options might be unneccersary. But decide which is more important space or speed, your boss might not want to hook up a load of external stuff, in which case go for the 1TB drives.. i'd personally get 1x 300GB SAS and RAID for the system drive, then go to another supplier and get 2x Seagate 7200.11 and RAID 0 them together to form a 2TB superdrive (read up on RAID first if you are unfamiliar, as there are risks).. basically don't just go for the most expensive option, some people won't appreciate that extra speed boost of SAS drives, compared to running out of space.

GPU - spending the extra grand on the Quadro could well be money wasted with the apps you've listed, but i'd say go for it, you get 1.5GB of VRAM which will be more than what is needed, but it'll be there, and if you ever start using 3D apps like Maya etc.. you'll find it very useful. But go for the 8800GT at the very least, if your boss is in a hurry, get the standard 2600, and order one of the other cards separately. If having more than 2 displays is important to you, then get multiple 2600 cards instead.. but remember you might definitely want to invest in a AJA Kona card, so read up on that first. a Quadro and a AJA Kona card and an ultimate reference HD broadcast monitor i feel is my dream setup.

RAM - but this is something i can't imagine anyone buying from Apple, except people with literally more money than sense, and in my experience people who make money don't do so by throwing it around.. your boss would be paying $6000 extra just for the satisfaction of having little apple logos on the RAM stuck inside a box no one can see, with that money he could easily buy a new Mac Pro.. places like OWC (macsales.com) offer RAM which is pretty much exactly the same, for a third of the price. While you run the very slight chance the OWC RAM might have some errors, (which they will happily replace for you anyway), you also run the same risk with Apple RAM, there is in my mind the same level of guarantee whoever you go with... but from what ive read OWC will actually sort things out faster than Apple will. (btw the cheaper qualified OWC RAM runs cooler than the Netlist certified, get that)

With all the other options you can be safe knowing you aren't wasting money.. but with RAM i'd consult your boss first... that's an extra $6000 he can spend putting some new toys in his car, or 2-3hrs in his yacht :p
 
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