Anyone considering the new Retina Display MBP as a MP replacement?

[strausd]

Also I'm constantly reading debates on Quadros vs gaming cards when you dip below the top end (Quadro 5000, 6000).

I actually got to experience the difference the other day first hand

You may already know this, but Maya's HUD offers a viewport frame rate option. A good friend of mine is a 3D modeler and was using an ATI 5870. So we did a quick test with an extremely high poly scene. The 5870 averaged ~5 fps the entire time.

Then he put in his newly purchased Quadro 4000. At first, there were no differences. But that was because he installed the wrong drivers. Once the correct drivers were found and installed, the difference was very impressive. The same scene got over 300 fps.

I never want to touch another consumer grade GPU again.

 

[thekev]

I actually got to experience the difference the other day first hand

You may already know this, but Maya's HUD offers a viewport frame rate option. A good friend of mine is a 3D modeler and was using an ATI 5870. So we did a quick test with an extremely high poly scene. The 5870 averaged ~5 fps the entire time.

Then he put in his newly purchased Quadro 4000. At first, there were no differences. But that was because he installed the wrong drivers. Once the correct drivers were found and installed, the difference was very impressive. The same scene got over 300 fps.

I never want to touch another consumer grade GPU again.

5fps It seems odd that the Quadro 4000 could manage 300 fps on a heavy scene, and the 5870 should not have trouble with a light scene unless it's an incompatible driver issue which is entirely possible if we're talking about Windows + AMD. Was it Windows or OSX? That difference just seems weird. Also was he using the standard viewport? Viewport 2.0? Wireframe? shaded? textured? I'm just wondering what the details were like.

Here is a barefeats test run under Windows 7.
http://barefeats.com/wst10g9.html

I don't know of CATIA and Solid Works even have Mac versions, but I know very little about CAD.

Davinci Resolve seems to benefit quite a bit from the Quadro.

After Effects shows gains here, but they're related to CUDA rather than Quadro drivers. You can see a consumer NVidia card provides similar results on this one. Adobe is also migrating toward OpenCL which would run under either brand.

It does make me want a Quadro card if I ever build a Windows workstation. I just hate that we typically get half the features under OSX.

 

[strausd]

5fps It seems odd that the Quadro 4000 could manage 300 fps on a heavy scene, and the 5870 should not have trouble with a light scene unless it's an incompatible driver issue which is entirely possible if we're talking about Windows + AMD. Was it Windows or OSX? That difference just seems weird. Also was he using the standard viewport? Viewport 2.0? Wireframe? shaded? textured? I'm just wondering what the details were like.

Here is a barefeats test run under Windows 7.
http://barefeats.com/wst10g9.html

I don't know of CATIA and Solid Works even have Mac versions, but I know very little about CAD.

Davinci Resolve seems to benefit quite a bit from the Quadro.

After Effects shows gains here, but they're related to CUDA rather than Quadro drivers. You can see a consumer NVidia card provides similar results on this one. Adobe is also migrating toward OpenCL which would run under either brand.

It does make me want a Quadro card if I ever build a Windows workstation. I just hate that we typically get half the features under OSX.

Ya, 5 fps, it was a very high poly scene. Regular viewport and shaded on Windows 7.

300 fps blew me away too, but it just shows the power behind optimized drivers.

 

[theSeb]

I'v ordered the new rMBP (2.6 16GB RAM 512GB SSD) after seeing the "refresh" for the Mac Pro. I don't consider it a replacement for a Mac Pro, but it's something new to play with and to reduce my company's income.

 

[thekev]

Ya, 5 fps, it was a very high poly scene. Regular viewport and shaded on Windows 7.

300 fps blew me away too, but it just shows the power behind optimized drivers.

That is pretty insane. Do keep in mind that AMD is not generally favored under Windows within those applications, especially their consumer cards. I haven't found OSX to choke as much with the consumer cards when it comes to basic navigation. I still think if you're going to buy a Quadro, you should be working under Windows so you really get the most out of their drivers. The OSX drivers are just missing too many features. The 4000 won't support OpenCL. It won't support 10 bit displayport, and it took some time for a stable OSX driver to appear (note early kernel panic complaints under OSX). Under Maya 2013 on autodesk's site, they passed the Quadro 4000 under Lion with issues saying to download the latest driver from NVidia. I'm not sure if this means that the issues are fully resolved by a driver update directly from NVidia. The macbook pros and imacs are also tested unlike Windows where they only test machines with workstation drivers.

I just looked it up because this conversation made me interested in it. You shouldn't have problems in shaded mode with millions of polygons though under OSX when it comes to panning and zooming. It may be quite different with when you jump to 8 figure numbers from 7.

 

[scottsjack]

I've considered migrating back to Windows after roughly a decade of Macs and ielectronics. I'd like to hear about your build once you go through with it. Are you going to wait for Kepler based Quadro cards?

I'm right there with you, it's just that every time I turnaround (aka read another post on the Building Windows 8 blog) I feel less love towards Microsoft. The Microsoft W8 team's efforts at first perpetuating and then amplifying stupidity have helped push me back towards Apple.

The Mac Pro isn't completely dead yet and after I turn off as much of the teenybopper social media crap as possible Mountain Lion looks pretty darn good. Compared to W8 ML looks like it was personally built by G-D himself. Sorry Microsoft.

 

[theSeb]

Window 7 is pretty good. Windows 8 is not great. Bear in mind that I've only switched to OSX in 2009 and have been using ms dos and windows since 1992 so I wouldn't consider myself biased towards OSX. Windows 8 is solid underneath, but the UI is just not right for a desktop.

 

[thekev]

I'm right there with you, it's just that every time I turnaround (aka read another post on the Building Windows 8 blog) I feel less love towards Microsoft. The Microsoft W8 team's efforts at first perpetuating and then amplifying stupidity have helped push me back towards Apple.

The Mac Pro isn't completely dead yet and after I turn off as much of the teenybopper social media crap as possible Mountain Lion looks pretty darn good. Compared to W8 ML looks like it was personally built by G-D himself. Sorry Microsoft.

If you can turn it off as in completely stop it from running, that is great. I even turn off a lot of spotlight crap just so it won't hiccup on scratch disks and large file saves. I get why Apple has been doing this. They want kids to grow up using Apple products.

On the Mac Pro, it's expensive so I want up to date hardware rather than hardware that will quickly lose third party support once it's replaced due to its age.

 

[gnasher729]

Why would anyone buy a laptop with the RAM soldered into the board?

Better, more reliable connection. Just get enough RAM when you buy the machine. 16 GB of soldered RAM is at least as good as any other laptop that cannot be upgraded beyond 16 GB.

 

[Apple Corps]

I just went through the process of trying my 17" MBP quad core i7 as a substitute for my 4,1 MP.

Long story short - no way.

The cables required to connect all the external hardware were a joke. Also, I will be selling my MP 4,1 (flawless machine) - already ordered a hexcore MP - and it will be less expensive or a wash with buying all the high $$$ TB external drive array.
Memory is such a bargain now that I will be running 32GB of Crucial ram and have 8 TB of storage on board.

So happy to have thought this through - decided - ordered and finally off the redesigned MP merry go round.

 

[MarketingGuy]

I have a Mac Pro 1,1 and was hoping for a proper update to the Mac Pro so I could pick one up (also have a 2010 15" MBP). Sadly, that didn't happen and with my Mac Pro on it's last legs, I need to make the jump.

I have been struggling with the decision to either purchasing a MBPr with the Thunderbolt Display or buying a fully loaded iMac when it is updated (hopefully soon). The problem is that I purchased a fully loaded 15" MBP in 2010 with the hope of using it as a mobile version of my Mac Pro, only to be disappointed with the performance. It's a great laptop, but, for my uses, a substandard desktop replacement.

So, I'm leaning toward purchasing the iMac (when it is updated) because it will likely have a faster CPU and GPU, and 32GB+ RAM. Plus, the Thunderbolt Display has not yet been updated to USB 3.0, which makes me believe that it could be in for an upgrade and I'm not willing to work on a 15" screen until then. Will I miss the ability to easily swap in and out drives and upgrade the video card on my Mac Pro, yes. But, I just can't bring myself to purchase the current version of the Mac Pro.

 

[deconstruct60]

I'd end up using CS6 mostly. Couldn't get to grips with FCP X sadly.

Adobe will adopt the new interfaces, if haven't already been working on it in advance of the more public disclosure. Whether that takes until 6.5 to deploy or there will be a large patch I'm not sure...

http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2012/06/photoshop-cs6-retina-display-support.html

 

[ogs]

I used 40% CPU with logic and a small session. With melodyne it's another 20% per instance. And kontakt would be the same. Essentially LOL. I'll grab a 6 core, and sell in a year if need be

 

[VirtualRain]

Funny because I did exactly that. Sold my Mac Pro 2009 and Macbook Air to buy the new Retina MBP with 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM

Cool... Have you got it yet? If so, what are your initial impressions of this as a MP replacement? If not, please post when you get it.

 

[johnnymg]

I feel for everyone wishing for a better MP, but frankly I'm still pretty happy with the performance of my 2009 Quad.

Now, I'm starting to think a new retina display MBP with 2.6GHz->3.6GHz Ivy Bridge, Nvidia 650M, and 512GB SSD with dual TB and USB3 ports, would be a nice upgrade... I could replace my Mac Pro and my Mac Air and have it all in one very portable but capable laptop. I could add a TB RAID array for my photo storage and be very well equipped!

Hmm.

Anyone else considering this?

A maxed out 15" 2012 MBP with a TB external drive and TB display looks to be almost the equal to the hex core MP in raw computing power. The limitations would be the 16 GB of RAM, mobile GPU, and perhaps thermal loading. so, we really need a 'real world' benchmark comparison to see if the new MBP can stand up to heavy video processing.

cheers
JohnG

 

[johnnymg]

I just went through the process of trying my 17" MBP quad core i7 as a substitute for my 4,1 MP.

Long story short - no way.

The cables required to connect all the external hardware were a joke. Also, I will be selling my MP 4,1 (flawless machine) - already ordered a hexcore MP - and it will be less expensive or a wash with buying all the high $$$ TB external drive array.
Memory is such a bargain now that I will be running 32GB of Crucial ram and have 8 TB of storage on board.

So happy to have thought this through - decided - ordered and finally off the redesigned MP merry go round.

Big congrats on your MP purchase.

Thanks also for posting your well reasoned approach to the upgrade dilemma.

cheers
JohnG

 

[CountBrass]

I did.

I bought a retina MBP. Lovely machine.

But.

Really, really noisy compared to a Mac Pro and I don't take my MBPr anywhere (work routine has changed in the last 12 months).

So it's being sold and I have a 12-core 2012 MP in the post.