MP 1,1-5,1 Best Render/Video option for 5,1 - Upgrade worth it?

[Render77]

Hello,

I have an old 5,1 machine, that I recently bought a new MSI Radeon RX580 GAMING X 8GB Graphics card to keep it alive with Mojave. The specs are:

Mac Pro Server (Mid 2010)
3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
16 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 RAM

Would someone be so kind to tell me if a CPU and memory upgrade would be worth it for rendering and video editing? If so, what would be the max upgrade for each (I think the RAM is 32, but I could be wrong).

Thank you in advance.

 

[bsbeamer]

What app(s) are you using?

 

[Render77]

Hi! ...and thank you. Mostly Adobe CC (Premiere, AE, Lightroom, etc..) and Blender for 3D.

 

[bsbeamer]

Adobe CC 2019 apps absolutely could benefit from CPU and RAM upgrade, especially if you multitask between Premiere/AE. Can max out at 8x16GB=128GB with dual X5690 CPU's (2 x 3.46ghz CPUs, 2 x 6 core = 12 core).

You may be able to use 32GB modules in some capacity, but follow those threads more closely for current compatibility and limitations. Had a client test a few modules 1-2 years ago and it was not worth the headache at the time. I've kept my personal MP5,1 at 128GB since the dual upgrade.

 

[kohlson]

Video editing and rendering take advantage of CPU and/or GPU. You've already gone a long way to GPU with the purchase of the 580. An X5680 will improve your (technical - on paper) CPU capability by 50%, at under $100. So just these 2 will greatly improve the system capabilities.

I'm not much of a render guy, though I took a an After Effects class earlier in the year and even the minimal homework assignments had no trouble soaking up 24GB of memory. 64GB (4x16) may be a couple 100 $$.

You didn't mention SSD, but you'll want one of those before proceeding.

One interesting way to measure "video" capabilities is with a newly released BlackMagic RAW Speed Test - measures BM Raw performance for 4/6/8K with CPU and Metal performance. Free from their download page.

I have a close-to-max'd out single CPU cMP (2009) and it works well with 4K. But I use FCPX and Resolve.

 

[bsbeamer]

AE CC 2019 can and often does chew up all available 128GB RAM on my machine depending on layer, mask and effect stacks. 96GB may "theoretically" be faster on paper, but in the real world the 128GB makes a huge difference for my needs.

I'd set yourself a budget and go from there for your best spend of money. SSD makes a world of difference, even if it's just a SATA SSD in a drive sled. NVMe via PCIe adapter is even more of a difference.

Will say, these machines are showing their age on intensive work, but they are daily drivers for more people and places than would want to publicly admit. Work within their boundaries (or setup really intensive renders overnight) and they are manageable for many projects. If you don't have $5K+ to spend right now, the new MP7,1 or even iMac/iMacPro or sup'd up MacMini aren't palatable options anyway. Personally wouldn't spend more than $1K on upgrading an MP5,1 right now but that's my own personal opinion. You'll start to see them for sale in even larger quantities in the coming months.

 

[Render77]

Thank you very much for your advice! @bsbeamer, yah - I would love to jump to the dual processor, but it is outside of my budget for now. @kohlson, thank you - yes, the X5680 does look like it would make a difference, so I will probably go with that and then some new RAM eventually.

Thank you again.