MP 1,1-5,1 Bummer... cMP won't run Massive X

[safari70]

Last year I upgraded it to 12-core and 128 GB RAM, I wasn’t aware of this. I regret it now.

I have an upgraded Mac Pro 5.1 as well so i understand your situation, however, I don’t regret it at all because i think of it as a piece of gear that is incredibly flexible and can do many many things really well - I can think of very few, if any, other hardware that offer this level of upgradability / expandability and that is still very relevant so many years later... Heck, I’m even running Thunderbolt 3 in it, which was inconceivable only few months ago!

Now, should you absolutely need AVX-only plugins, you could always supplement it with another Mac/PC and keep using the 5.1 as your main recording recording rig. It’s not uncommon to use several computers and split the load between them using something like VE Pro.

 

[norda72]

I have an upgraded Mac Pro 5.1 as well so i understand your situation, however, I don’t regret it at all because i think of it as a piece of gear that is incredibly flexible and can do many many things really well - I can think of very few, if any, other hardware that offer this level of upgradability / expandability and that is still very relevant so many years later... Heck, I’m even running Thunderbolt 3 in it, which was inconceivable only few months ago!

Now, should you absolutely need AVX-only plugins, you could always supplement it with another Mac/PC and keep using the 5.1 as your main recording recording rig. It’s not uncommon to use several computers and split the load between them using something like VE Pro.

Well, I have thought about buying something new for several years, but now I am not sure if I can keep on with Mac. It feels not so fun anymore, just expensive. I have an empty case but I don’t know what to do. PC? Hackintosh? Do I need Mac? Isn’t Mac an tool for people with certain needs? The prices today is impossible to match if you aren’t very wealthy. New Mac Pro starts at 5 999 US Dollars (71 995 SEK). I don’t understand how Apple thinks. How can they expect to sell a lot of that machine? And MacBook Pro isn’t cheap either.
When I upgraded my machine I thought it would be very fast, start up in 20 seconds and so. Nothing happened. It is as it was before when I only had Quadcore. I bought the 12-core tray on eBay, maybe it was a fraud?
We all will be needing AVX sooner or later when Apple releases an MacOS-version with AVX in the compatibility-list.
[automerge]1586110577[/automerge]

If you're concerned about support for the most recent instruction sets, you would have to purchase something that supports AVX512 today, which doesn't leave you with that many options (maybe the most recent ones). Not much software used AVX in 2011, because it was quite different from SSE. It maintained the assumption of 128 bit lanes in spite of 256 bit data paths, so things like palignr, which could be used to shift streams of data an operand at a time lacked a "good" replacement. It's possible to emulate them, but it takes too many register names, which is bad because most people who are interested in AVX would want to also batch enough operations at a time to hide instruction latency.

We all need AVX sooner or later when Apple releases an MacOS-version that can’t run without it. Maybe next upgrade, 10.16, will be the one.

 

[safari70]

I thought it would be very fast, start up in 20 seconds and so. Nothing happened. It is as it was before when I only had Quadcore. I bought the 12-core tray on eBay, maybe it was a fraud?

I don’t think it has any impact on boot time, but it should let you do more things before running out of steam - did you do any before/after tests? I have a similar setup (12-core 3.46Ghz, 128GB ram, multiple SSDs) and i can run latest Logic and Pro Tools with few hundred tracks with several VIs, effects, automation, etc. at 256 buffer without any problem (Using RME audio interfaces).

 

[tsialex]

Well, I have thought about buying something new for several years, but now I am not sure if I can keep on with Mac. It feels not so fun anymore, just expensive. I have an empty case but I don’t know what to do. PC? Hackintosh? Do I need Mac? Isn’t Mac an tool for people with certain needs? The prices today is impossible to match if you aren’t very wealthy. New Mac Pro starts at 5 999 US Dollars (71 995 SEK). I don’t understand how Apple thinks. How can they expect to sell a lot of that machine? And MacBook Pro isn’t cheap either.
When I upgraded my machine I thought it would be very fast, start up in 20 seconds and so. Nothing happened. It is as it was before when I only had Quadcore. I bought the 12-core tray on eBay, maybe it was a fraud?
We all will be needing AVX sooner or later when Apple releases an MacOS-version with AVX in the compatibility-list.
[automerge]1586110577[/automerge]


We all need AVX sooner or later when Apple releases an MacOS-version that can’t run without it. Maybe next upgrade, 10.16, will be the one.

Mac Pro boot times are usually slower at each upgrade you do.

More memory? More memory to test at POST times.

NVMe SSD? Now you have to scan the full PCIe space and wait for it.

Mac Pro is a workstation. Every time you turn it on it will test every installed component. The focus is reliability and not faster boot times.

You can keep a Mac Pro working for months without turning it off, I really prefer that over 20s boot time.

Anyway, MP5,1 is almost ten years old, MP4,1 is over eleven already. Catalina don't support MP5,1 officially anymore. The day that Apple will require AVX extensions is coming and you won't run newer versions of macOS on it even with hacks, but for sure was a good run.

 

[DPUser]

If you are using your Mac Pro in a professional production environment, what is the worry? As noted previously, I wouldn't mind being able to run Massive X, but we have so many other amazing options available (not the least being the original version of Massive), crying about it seems utterly ridiculous.

If music is just a hobby and a long boot time gets you down, buy a new computer and twiddle around with Massive X to your heart's content. Otherwise, just get back to work and create something awesome.