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8000 grand and down

rantingrich

rantingrich

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 10, 2009
190
5
Southern Illinois
I will have about 8 grand to play with at the end of july. I want to buy a new MAC-PRO or a used one! At 50 year of age this will probably be my last BIG MAC box investment!

A little info. I am a graphic designer and 3D Animator, My major 3D APP does take advantage of both 64 bit and multi cores/processors. I also plan to get the newest version of the adobe master suite and get the hell away from my old Final cut pro and Motion and get the hell back into After effects, Premiere and some other high end application such as Particlillusion.

I also plan to buy a DELL Ultra sharp 30 inch IPS LCD for this set up! ($1100)

I like to MAX out my ram! Call it a weakness.

I can easily get the 6 core 3.33 from apple and max out the ram from OWC at $3,000 for the machine and $350 for 32 gigs of ram! For a total of $3350 minus the DELL!

I am tempted to push it and get the 12 core 2.4 mac-pro and 64 gig of ram for a total of $4500

The difference is $1200.

I also plan to buy about a $1000 of 3rd party software packages and plug in!

I guess my question is is the $1200 difference worth the increase in speed and power!

PLEASE give me your opinions on this
 
Get a high end MacBook Pro. Their power level is somewhere between a quad and a hex core Mac Pro, but you get the bonus that they are still being supported by Apple. Sorry to say it, Mac Pro fans; the Mac Pro is dead (as of now).
 
rantingrich said:
I will have about 8 grand to play with at the end of july. I want to buy a new MAC-PRO or a used one! At 50 year of age this will probably be my last BIG MAC box investment!

A little info. I am a graphic designer and 3D Animator, My major 3D APP does take advantage of both 64 bit and multi cores/processors. I also plan to get the newest version of the adobe master suite and get the hell away from my old Final cut pro and Motion and get the hell back into After effects, Premiere and some other high end application such as Particlillusion.

I also plan to buy a DELL Ultra sharp 30 inch IPS LCD for this set up! ($1100)

I like to MAX out my ram! Call it a weakness.

I can easily get the 6 core 3.33 from apple and max out the ram from OWC at $3,000 for the machine and $350 for 32 gigs of ram! For a total of $3350 minus the DELL!

I am tempted to push it and get the 12 core 2.4 mac-pro and 64 gig of ram for a total of $4500

The difference is $1200.

I also plan to buy about a $1000 of 3rd party software packages and plug in!

I guess my question is is the $1200 difference worth the increase in speed and power!

PLEASE give me your opinions on this
Click to expand...

Love the Dell 30 inch panel, I've used it and seen it in action.

Well, you can only have so much before it drains the wallet. I believe 32GB RAM should cover you for the next 14 years.

Well, at this point it is more important to note that what will truly matter is your CPU. These can only be upgraded with in the same socket and class. However, you did mention your 3D program has multi-core support. If that is important, go with 12 core machine but stay at 32GB. RAM will only become cheaper with time.

I'd use the left over money for other things.
 
How do you feel about used Pro's or Components, and what are your feelings toward less-conventional means of upgrading? (Such as buying PC Server Ram, and using it in your Mac Pro, which is exactly the same as "Mac" RAM)

How comfortable do you feel handling Parts and Upgrades yourself, and how experienced would you consider yourself in dealing with the insides of computers?

Those are some things to consider; the more comfortable you are, then the more doors that open up to save money whilst getting even better performance. Of course, if you are not confident or comfortable with those things, then it is of course best to stick to simpler solutions, such as buying new from Apple and OWC.
 
Can do

Librarian580 said:
How do you feel about used Pro's or Components, and what are your feelings toward less-conventional means of upgrading? (Such as buying PC Server Ram, and using it in your Mac Pro, which is exactly the same as "Mac" RAM)

How comfortable do you feel handling Parts and Upgrades yourself, and how experienced would you consider yourself in dealing with the insides of computers?

Those are some things to consider; the more comfortable you are, then the more doors that open up to save money whilst getting even better performance. Of course, if you are not confident or comfortable with those things, then it is of course best to stick to simpler solutions, such as buying new from Apple and OWC.
Click to expand...

I am competent to do anything under the hood

----------
Librarian580 said:
How do you feel about used Pro's or Components, and what are your feelings toward less-conventional means of upgrading? (Such as buying PC Server Ram, and using it in your Mac Pro, which is exactly the same as "Mac" RAM)

How comfortable do you feel handling Parts and Upgrades yourself, and how experienced would you consider yourself in dealing with the insides of computers?

Those are some things to consider; the more comfortable you are, then the more doors that open up to save money whilst getting even better performance. Of course, if you are not confident or comfortable with those things, then it is of course best to stick to simpler solutions, such as buying new from Apple and OWC.
Click to expand...


Whilst?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
IMO, sounds like prosumer. spend some time talking about how you gonna make that money back.

rantingrich said:
I will have about 8 grand to play with at the end of july. I want to buy a new MAC-PRO or a used one! At 50 year of age this will probably be my last BIG MAC box investment!

A little info. I am a graphic designer and 3D Animator, My major 3D APP does take advantage of both 64 bit and multi cores/processors. I also plan to get the newest version of the adobe master suite and get the hell away from my old Final cut pro and Motion and get the hell back into After effects, Premiere and some other high end application such as Particlillusion.

I also plan to buy a DELL Ultra sharp 30 inch IPS LCD for this set up! ($1100)

I like to MAX out my ram! Call it a weakness.

I can easily get the 6 core 3.33 from apple and max out the ram from OWC at $3,000 for the machine and $350 for 32 gigs of ram! For a total of $3350 minus the DELL!

I am tempted to push it and get the 12 core 2.4 mac-pro and 64 gig of ram for a total of $4500

The difference is $1200.

I also plan to buy about a $1000 of 3rd party software packages and plug in!

I guess my question is is the $1200 difference worth the increase in speed and power!

PLEASE give me your opinions on this
Click to expand...
 
rantingrich said:
I will have about 8 grand to play with at the end of july. I want to buy a new MAC-PRO or a used one! At 50 year of age this will probably be my last BIG MAC box investment!

A little info. I am a graphic designer and 3D Animator, My major 3D APP does take advantage of both 64 bit and multi cores/processors. I also plan to get the newest version of the adobe master suite and get the hell away from my old Final cut pro and Motion and get the hell back into After effects, Premiere and some other high end application such as Particlillusion.

I also plan to buy a DELL Ultra sharp 30 inch IPS LCD for this set up! ($1100)

I like to MAX out my ram! Call it a weakness.

I can easily get the 6 core 3.33 from apple and max out the ram from OWC at $3,000 for the machine and $350 for 32 gigs of ram! For a total of $3350 minus the DELL!

I am tempted to push it and get the 12 core 2.4 mac-pro and 64 gig of ram for a total of $4500

The difference is $1200.

I also plan to buy about a $1000 of 3rd party software packages and plug in!

I guess my question is is the $1200 difference worth the increase in speed and power!

PLEASE give me your opinions on this
Click to expand...

Hate to say it, but if you're buying that software anyway, you're going to get far better performance with one of the new xeon based HP or Dell workstations than apple at this point. The mac pro currently is pathetic in comparison. Once you're in the apps, it isn't going to make a difference if this is a production machine / hammer.

If you're truly wedded to mac I would weigh carefully your need to go from 32 to 64Gb. If you're running AE and have 4GB/core ram that generally works well and with 6 cores you're still only 24GB needed, so unless you're running something else 32 gives you some breathing room. Of course more is always better and if you've got the money then enjoy.

Oh, and please put a piece of tape over the ! button.
 
Wow!

Well I wanted advise in my particular situation I had no idea I would get in the middle of a age discrimination suit! LOL! Its all good! Yea I have worked for people half my age! I just let them wreck their own career and or business all by themselves! OH I could advise and consult and help,, BUT I think AHH let them figure it out the hard way! LOL

In my line of work WHEN I was younger working for the MAN, I thought it was hilarious when they would hire mostly very young designer and artist still in or right out of school who thought just becasue they had a Stolen version of Photoshop they were the next Steven Spielberg. I laughed as it was almost impossible to get them to even show up for work and if they did if the BOSS criticized their work WOO HOO LOOK OUT the PRE-MADONNA is MAAAAAD now! Lets send him some e-mail and see if we cant get him to POP OFF and storm out and quit!

Any way Someone asked me HOW I was gunna get this paid back! I have enough freelance work to keep me busy!

I do think I am gunna go the 12 core route at this point! I mean I would rather watch 12 little boxes go by rendering animation and 6! BUT it will hurt some. PLUS I am sure in 5 years there will be a CPU upgrade I can afford then! AS they are gunna kill macpro! ALAS.

SHEET I think I outlived Steve Jobs didnt I How old was he?
 
Suggest you get a pc than a Mac. That same software will run better on a pc. More gpu options on a pc than a Mac. Build if you can. I did. Left apple after my 2008 Mac pro. See my sig below. Built both. Allot cheaper too than a equivalent Mac pro. Win7 pro is pretty much on par with OS X. Took me a little bit to switch back but no regrets. If your curious what I'm selling my 2.66 for, check out the market place. Westmere hex processors are great. But the sandy bridge E processors are even better. Good luck figuring out your dilemma. Let use know what you did.
 
If you are rendering 3D projects yourself (eg no render farm) then I 100% agree with the 12 core option. The more processors the better, even if technically each core is slower than the 3.33GHz hex core machine.

Yes in the PC market HP and Dell have same amazing machines, but a 16 core for example is going to go beyond the $8000 budget.

You should also look into a good graphics card however the best ones for After effects aren't Mac native... you will need to look into getting a converted card from MacVidCards on this site (GTX570 etc.).
 
If you're running AE and have 4GB/core ram that generally works well and with 6 cores you're still only 24GB needed, so unless you're running something else 32 gives you some breathing room. Of course more is always better and if you've got the money then enjoy.
Click to expand...

Well, actually, with 24GB of RAM on a hex-core machine, you still won't be able to assign 4GB per processing core because AE treats ALL logical cores as processors. Therefore, 12 "cores" will actually appear to AE on a hex-core Xeon (due to HyperThreading). It also forces you to assign a minimum of 2GB of RAM to background processes. Setting up AE for optimal use of cores and RAM is a zen art. A lot of times, using less cores but with more RAM per core will yield better performance if you don't have a bajillion dollars to spend on maxing out RAM.

Long story short, 64-bit AE is a ginormous memory pig. It never has enough RAM. And incidentally, the Windows version is also a lot more stable. :(
 
CaptainChunk said:
Well, actually, with 24GB of RAM on a hex-core machine, you still won't be able to assign 4GB per processing core because AE treats ALL logical cores as processors. Therefore, 12 "cores" will actually appear to AE on a hex-core Xeon (due to HyperThreading). It also forces you to assign a minimum of 2GB of RAM to background processes. Setting up AE for optimal use of cores and RAM is a zen art. A lot of times, using less cores but with more RAM per core will yield better performance if you don't have a bajillion dollars to spend on maxing out RAM.

Long story short, 64-bit AE is a ginormous memory pig. It never has enough RAM. And incidentally, the Windows version is also a lot more stable. :(
Click to expand...

Good point, I've struggled finding that magic balance myself, but I have 8 cores and only 16GB ram.
 
I just don't see the logic in spending $8,000, especially for your "last Mac." Do you really need such blistering performance? I wouldn't go that high-end unless I spent long periods on tasks that crunch for long periods, such as video rendering or compression. Otherwise, it's just a lot of marketing BS, and you likely won't see the performance unless you're using software written for the special multi-cord processors those machines use.

My suggestion is spent $4,000 now and $4,000 later. Or, $5,000/$3,000 since you can keep the 30" display when a newer Mac Pro comes out.

It's just my opinion. Enjoy whatever you get!
 
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