HELP on if/how to upgrade cMP 5,1 for video production work

[johnnydevil]

Hi All:

The question:
For a video production pro using a 2010 classic Mac Pro that isn't performing as well as the professional would like, what should they do for an upgrade?
Option A, wait for new new Mac Pro? (although the pro probably cannot wait till WWDC)
Option B, get a windows/PC, and if so any recommendations?
Option C, upgrade his classic Mac Pro, and if so, what video cards and/or components do you think he should get for his budgets?

TLDR; I'm recommending Option C, but I'm not sure what video card to recommend he upgrade to for better Premiere/FCPX use and hope folks have suggestions on this option or any of the options A-C.

THANKS!




Some background:
I'm hoping folks here can give their thoughts on how to best upgrade a classic 2010 Mac Pro for video production, or whether to ditch the mac for a windows 10 machine.

This is for a really amazing creative mac fellow that's working on a super important (and I think really nicely done) project, namely this:
http://www.spilledmilkmovie.com

Anyway, here is his circumstance:

His machine:
2010 Mac Pro
Boot Drive is 1TB hybrid drive (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EIQTOFY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage)
Work Drive is 4TB 3.5" spinner (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FQH7MQ2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage)
2x2.4GHz Quad-Core intel Xeon
24 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC
2 ATI Radeon HD 5770's
3 screens: (2)x 1900x1200s, (1) 1600x1200
1 Inatek USB 3.0 PCI card
OSX 10.11.12

Software he prefers to run:
Premiere Pro
After Effects

Current problems with his rig:
-When Premier exports/renders the complete timeline of his video project (which includes motion graphics as well as few plugins), it is glitchy. For example, it often results in a crash during rendering.
-Also, he says he recently discovered that his machine wont even run the latest version of Premiere.
-He wants to be able to do 4K video, perhaps upgrading his screens.

Budget: About $2000 to upgrade the mac or about $3800 for a new windows PC (and some flexibility for suggestions in between)


Anyway, here were some of my thoughts for him, but hoping you guys can provide your own best thoughts for him:

Option A: wait for new new mac pro from now till WWDC. No on this. It may be worth considering, but he doesnt want to wait indefinitely and unless it happens in the next month or so, probably not a realistic option (for expense reasons and I suspect nothing will be announced till WWDC at best)
Option B: consider switching to PC. My vote is no, but I'm biased against PCs. Since he has a decent PC budget, I really wasn't sure what was better, to just switch to Windows, or upgrade the 5,1. I know for my use, I'd do almost anything to stay on the mac, but I dont want my OS bigotry get in the way of his real need to get work done. I just dont know the PC side well enough, so perhaps others here could provide their thoughts.

Option C: upgrade the 5,1 cMP. This is my suggestion based on my limited knowledge of the PC side. I figured he could upgrade his 5,1 mac for about $2500 to be quite formidable as follows:

1. He can upgrade the processor to 12core 3.46GHz processors with a little bit of do it yourself work (~ $700) off ebay, or just getting a plug in new tray like this (~ $1000): (http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-Core-3-4...825953?hash=item3d0c4493e1:g:sooAAOSwDk5T7bsP)
2. Upgrade his 1TB hybrid drive to a fast PCI based SSD like from this thread (~$700): (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...the-09-macpro-bootable-ngff-pcie-ssd.1685821/)
3. Upgrade the video card, but the problem is I don't know what video card to recommend for him. Ideally it would be a card that helps accelerate Premiere and maybe even Final Cut Pro X if he ever chooses to try it. MY guess is he could get something great from macvidcards.com (~$700) that is great, or even just a decent PC card. I just dont know what would do best for Premiere and/or Final Cut Pro X.
4. Upgrade bluetooth and WifI (~$150) (http://www.macvidcards.com/store/p33/Wifi_AC_and_Bluetooth_Airport_Card.html)
5. Upgrade to 4k screen, not really specific to mac. I've seen throw away screens as cheap as $250! (http://www.walmart.com/ip/46867816?...0903112&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=152842183712&veh=sem)

What do you guys think is the best move? I made it a poll for fun too, votes are public.

 

[Bytehoven]

Here is my cMP rig I use for 4K Video Editing

2011 cMP
2x X5690 Xeon 3.46GHz 6 Core Processors (total 12 Core Processing)
64GB RAM

Internal Drives:
16x SuperDrive
Crucial 512GB SSD with OS X 10.10.5
Seagate 1.5TB Barracuda HDD with 10.10.5 BU
WD 2TB HDD with Data such as stock photo libraries, iTunes files, etc
WD RE4 750GB HDD with Windows 10

GTX 980 Ti GPU (non-EFI - non MaAC Flash)
DP -> 2x Dell u2711 Monitors @ 2540x1440
DP -> 1x ViewSonic 4K Monitor
HDMI -> 1x Dell 2408 Monitor @ 1080P

ATTO R680 SAS RAID Controller PCIe Card
8 Bay SAS enclosure with (8) Seagate 3TB HDDs (ST3000DM001) hardware RAID0
(1400 MB/s Read/Write performance)

ATTO H680 SAS HBA PCIe Card
8 Bay SAS enclosure with ...
- (4) 3TB HDDs in a SoftRAID RAID0
(700MB/s Read/Write performance)
- (4) various HDDs for Project archival storage.

Sonnet Alegra Pro 4x USB 3.0 PCIe Card
Flash Media Readers and Client USB Camera drives

Software:
Premiere Pro CC 2015 (CC Subscription)
Final Cut X (I use for ProRes Transcoding)

let me know if you have any questions.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

Bytehoven, do you find the GTX980 Ti is snappier than the 5770 or 5870 that came with your cMP in Premiere or final cut. Did you ever try them back to back to see if the new video card accelerates performance for either app?

 

[h9826790]

From memory, some other posts mention that the Nvidia web driver has bug for FCPX (something like yellow screen). You may have a little research before you go for that.

 

[Bytehoven]

Bytehoven, do you find the GTX980 Ti is snappier than the 5770 or 5870 that came with your cMP in Premiere or final cut. Did you ever try them back to back to see if the new video card accelerates performance for either app?

I was able to make comparisons between the GTX 680, GTX 980 and 980 Ti, and in these comparisons, there was increased performance with each card. It's been awhile since I used the 5870 on my older 2009 cMP, but I upgraded that GPU to the GTX 680 and there was a performance benefit.

Now let's be clear, when it comes to the GPU acceleration benefits with Premiere of Final Cut, you kinda have to decide which software you want to accelerate, kinda to the exclusion of the other. The 5870 and newer AMD GPUs will accelerate Final Cut but not Premiere (Adobe APPs), the nVIDIA GTX GPUs will accelerate Premiere (Adobe APPs) but not Final Cut. So, decide which is more important and let that be your guide.

Other benefits... number of monitors which can be connected vs number of monitors which can be "actually" run at the same time. This is one area when moving from the 680 -> 980 -> 980 Ti showed increased capability with each upgrade. The Titan X would be even better, but one argue the 10-15% performance increase is not worth the 2x price cost over a 980 Ti.

Regarding "snappy" performance... this too is an area where each level of GTX GPU provides greater processing power and thus faster handling of data to the monitors as well as higher frame rates.

But. if you're talking about observed performance when scrubbing a timeline or source clip in the source monitor of your video editing program... while the GPU will play a part, the snappiness of this experience also rests on the the speed of the CPU, amount of RAM, speed of storage hosting the video files, and if the video codecs are optimized for the editing software. Understand? So while the GPU choice is critical for top performance, especially 4K editing, you need to better performing infrastructure in those other areas as well to allow the GPU to maximize potential.

I'd say the specs on my MAC system are very close to peak performance potential. There are only a few adjustments I'd make max out performance, but the cost of those adjustments are pretty costly. Adjustments such as... a storage RAID built with large capacity SSDs, a faster SSD solution for the OS/APPs, 128GB RAM, TITAN X.. but all of those upgrades just about double the cost of the system.

let me know if you have any other questions.
[doublepost=1452610531][/doublepost]

From memory, some other posts mention that the Nvidia web driver has bug for FCPX (something like yellow screen). You may have a little research before you go for that.

I'm running the latest nVIDIA web driver and I have not seen any issues with FCP X, although I was just using it to transcode camera source to ProRes. I run AME and FCP X at the same time to transcode 2x as much camera source to ProRes. This is a great solution to speed up transcoding even though I edit in Premiere. I'd also note FCP X transcodes (OPTIMIZES) TO PRORES faster than AME.

 

[h9826790]

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/22401341/

Just found it in the sticky thread. My memory is bad, the yellow thing is for Aperture, not FCPX, but it seems there is more serious problem in FCPX.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/22401341/

Just found it in the sticky thread. My memory is bad, the yellow thing is for Aperture, not FCPX, but it seems there is more serious problem in FCPX.

Hmmm very interesting. It seems like the nvidia cards can be a pain with regards to upgrades despite being better cards.

I wonder, so if you do premiere work, and the ATI/AMD upgrade from 5770 to say a 280x, would you see any performance uptick in premiere at all?

 

[JayQu]

When we're talking Nvidia GTX 980 Ti, are you talking one that's been flashed for MAC, or will any old PC version of the card do the trick? I keep getting caught up on that. I would not lose any sleep over not having the gray bootup screen and tone so long as it doesn't lead to issues while I'm actually doing the work.

The string that kicked this whole thing off (thanks to the very generous JohnnyDevil) is describing my hardware. I'm pretty much exclusively Adobe these days...and I'd like increased performance mainly in Premiere pro and AE. I've read good things about the GTX 980 Ti...but get bogged down on the Mac vs PC nonsense. (Admittedly not a hardware guy.)

Is that the best place to start? And would it make sense do do that AND upgrade to the 12 core tray? In short. I'm just looking for best bang for my buck to get this thing retreaded for another year or two.

 

[Bytehoven]

I am using a non-EFI version, no MAC flash, Zotac version 980 Ti from B&H Photo. I used Screen Sharing on a Mac Mini to do the setup. There are some advantages to the boot screen, such as being able to run the Hardware Test, but if you have a spare Mac friendly GPU you can swap that in for any serious hardware examinations, then it's not an issue. I have a HD5770 I keep on hand but have thought about buying a GT 640 from MacVid and selling the 5770.

Regarding you upgrade choices... what are you planning to do with the Mac Pro?

 

[JayQu]

Thanks for your responce Bytehoven.

Haha. Bytehoven.

Anyhoo, just as described up above in the first post on this thread. I've been working on a documentary film and I do a fair amount of freelance work, both video production and motion graphics. I've recently discovered that it might make sense to re-tread this old girl as I've been precariously close to jumping over to Windows 10. The form factor and all else with the "new" mac pro, it's just not for me.

But again, without context I was getting lost in a sea of not understanding why "apple" versions of new video cards were so much more expensive (which was another factor in my considering the jump). I've currently got two 2 ATI Radeon HD 5770's in this thing as I'm running three monitors. I'd love to both consolidate AND get better performance if such a thing is possible.

To this point I've only been working with HD video as I haven't yet had the guts to jump into 4k on this thing. Plus, at this point, Premiere Pro CC 2015 won't even run on this thing. I'm wondering if JUST getting the videocard would make a substantial difference.

Sadly, apologies for noobness, but I don't understand the screen sharing to do the setup for the video card. I have a macbook pro 2012 (first gen retina) however if such a thing is necessary?

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

Generally speaking, you dont need the grey boot screen. Bytehoven is just saying how you can still access the machine even when there is no bootscreen. Reality is you dont need to. You just boot, screen is black for a while and boom, you get your login screen.

If you every have some issue where you need the boot screen, you can just keep one of yoru 5770 cards around and swap in and get your boot screen.

I think what youre asking about is there some 'difference' between a mac version of a card vs the PC. Other than the boot screen flash, really not anything. You're paying more just for it being a mac card. So you'll save a lot of money getting a PC version of the card, and youll basically just be missing a boot screen. Lots of mac pro users do just this.

 

[Bytehoven]

The Macbook Pro would do nicely for screen sharing.

 

[Silencio]

The good news is that the 2010 Mac Pro can be dramatically sped up with CPU upgrades. The 2x3.46x6 Xeons are pretty inexpensive nowadays. Too bad After Effects doesn't utilize all the cores very well, but the clock speed increase will be very helpful.

If you're heavily using Adobe apps, then Nvidia GPUs are the way to go. The Radeon 5770s aren't terribly fast at all. The GTX 980 Ti looks like the sweet spot for price/performance at the moment.

Also, increase the RAM to 64GB or more, and then look at a SSD if there's anything left over in the budget. At least something to boot off of and hold applications and home directory and such.

 

[Alaska99801]

Stay focus people. He already said his friend uses Premiere Pro and after effects, why are so many discussing the problems with Final Cut? His friends is not using that software. Stay on task and it is not about your pet projects but about his question.
Thank you.

Hi All:

The question:
For a video production pro using a 2010 classic Mac Pro that isn't performing as well as the professional would like, what should they do for an upgrade?
Option A, wait for new new Mac Pro?
Option B, get a windows/PC, and if so any recommendations? (although the pro probably cannot wait till WWDC)
Option C, upgrade his classic Mac Pro, and if so, what video cards and/or components do you think he should get for his budgets?

TLDR; I'm recommending Option C, but I'm not sure what video card to recommend he upgrade to for better Premiere/FCPX use and hope folks have suggestions on this option or any of the options A-C.

THANKS!




Some background:
I'm hoping folks here can give their thoughts on how to best upgrade a classic 2010 Mac Pro for video production, or whether to ditch the mac for a windows 10 machine.

This is for a really amazing creative mac fellow that's working on a super important (and I think really nicely done) project, namely this:
http://www.spilledmilkmovie.com

Anyway, here is his circumstance:

His machine:
2010 Mac Pro
Boot Drive is 1TB hybrid drive (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EIQTOFY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage)
Work Drive is 4TB 3.5" spinner (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FQH7MQ2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage)
2x2.4GHz Quad-Core intel Xeon
24 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC
2 ATI Radeon HD 5770's
3 screens: (2)x 1900x1200s, (1) 1600x1200
1 Inatek USB 3.0 PCI card
OSX 10.11.12

Software he prefers to run:
Premiere Pro
After Effects

Current problems with his rig:
-When Premier exports/renders the complete timeline of his video project (which includes motion graphics as well as few plugins), it is glitchy. For example, it often results in a crash during rendering.
-Also, he says he recently discovered that his machine wont even run the latest version of Premiere.
-He wants to be able to do 4K video, perhaps upgrading his screens.

Budget: About $2000 to upgrade the mac or about $3800 for a new windows PC (and some flexibility for suggestions in between)


Anyway, here were some of my thoughts for him, but hoping you guys can provide your own best thoughts for him:

Option A: wait for new new mac pro from now till WWDC. No on this. It may be worth considering, but he doesnt want to wait indefinitely and unless it happens in the next month or so, probably not a realistic option (for expense reasons and I suspect nothing will be announced till WWDC at best)
Option B: consider switching to PC. My vote is no, but I'm biased against PCs. Since he has a decent PC budget, I really wasn't sure what was better, to just switch to Windows, or upgrade the 5,1. I know for my use, I'd do almost anything to stay on the mac, but I dont want my OS bigotry get in the way of his real need to get work done. I just dont know the PC side well enough, so perhaps others here could provide their thoughts.

Option C: upgrade the 5,1 cMP. This is my suggestion based on my limited knowledge of the PC side. I figured he could upgrade his 5,1 mac for about $2500 to be quite formidable as follows:

1. He can upgrade the processor to 12core 3.46GHz processors with a little bit of do it yourself work (~ $700) off ebay, or just getting a plug in new tray like this (~ $1000): (http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-Core-3-4...825953?hash=item3d0c4493e1:g:sooAAOSwDk5T7bsP)
2. Upgrade his 1TB hybrid drive to a fast PCI based SSD like from this thread (~$700): (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...the-09-macpro-bootable-ngff-pcie-ssd.1685821/)
3. Upgrade the video card, but the problem is I don't know what video card to recommend for him. Ideally it would be a card that helps accelerate Premiere and maybe even Final Cut Pro X if he ever chooses to try it. MY guess is he could get something great from macvidcards.com (~$700) that is great, or even just a decent PC card. I just dont know what would do best for Premiere and/or Final Cut Pro X.
4. Upgrade bluetooth and WifI (~$150) (http://www.macvidcards.com/store/p33/Wifi_AC_and_Bluetooth_Airport_Card.html)
5. Upgrade to 4k screen, not really specific to mac. I've seen throw away screens as cheap as $250! (http://www.walmart.com/ip/46867816?...0903112&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=152842183712&veh=sem)

What do you guys think is the best move? I made it a poll for fun too, votes are public.

Hi All:

The question:
For a video production pro using a 2010 classic Mac Pro that isn't performing as well as the professional would like, what should they do for an upgrade?
Option A, wait for new new Mac Pro?
Option B, get a windows/PC, and if so any recommendations? (although the pro probably cannot wait till WWDC)
Option C, upgrade his classic Mac Pro, and if so, what video cards and/or components do you think he should get for his budgets?

TLDR; I'm recommending Option C, but I'm not sure what video card to recommend he upgrade to for better Premiere/FCPX use and hope folks have suggestions on this option or any of the options A-C.

THANKS!




Some background:
I'm hoping folks here can give their thoughts on how to best upgrade a classic 2010 Mac Pro for video production, or whether to ditch the mac for a windows 10 machine.

This is for a really amazing creative mac fellow that's working on a super important (and I think really nicely done) project, namely this:
http://www.spilledmilkmovie.com

Anyway, here is his circumstance:

His machine:
2010 Mac Pro
Boot Drive is 1TB hybrid drive (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EIQTOFY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage)
Work Drive is 4TB 3.5" spinner (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FQH7MQ2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage)
2x2.4GHz Quad-Core intel Xeon
24 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC
2 ATI Radeon HD 5770's
3 screens: (2)x 1900x1200s, (1) 1600x1200
1 Inatek USB 3.0 PCI card
OSX 10.11.12

Software he prefers to run:
Premiere Pro
After Effects

Current problems with his rig:
-When Premier exports/renders the complete timeline of his video project (which includes motion graphics as well as few plugins), it is glitchy. For example, it often results in a crash during rendering.
-Also, he says he recently discovered that his machine wont even run the latest version of Premiere.
-He wants to be able to do 4K video, perhaps upgrading his screens.

Budget: About $2000 to upgrade the mac or about $3800 for a new windows PC (and some flexibility for suggestions in between)


Anyway, here were some of my thoughts for him, but hoping you guys can provide your own best thoughts for him:

Option A: wait for new new mac pro from now till WWDC. No on this. It may be worth considering, but he doesnt want to wait indefinitely and unless it happens in the next month or so, probably not a realistic option (for expense reasons and I suspect nothing will be announced till WWDC at best)
Option B: consider switching to PC. My vote is no, but I'm biased against PCs. Since he has a decent PC budget, I really wasn't sure what was better, to just switch to Windows, or upgrade the 5,1. I know for my use, I'd do almost anything to stay on the mac, but I dont want my OS bigotry get in the way of his real need to get work done. I just dont know the PC side well enough, so perhaps others here could provide their thoughts.

Option C: upgrade the 5,1 cMP. This is my suggestion based on my limited knowledge of the PC side. I figured he could upgrade his 5,1 mac for about $2500 to be quite formidable as follows:

1. He can upgrade the processor to 12core 3.46GHz processors with a little bit of do it yourself work (~ $700) off ebay, or just getting a plug in new tray like this (~ $1000): (http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-Core-3-4...825953?hash=item3d0c4493e1:g:sooAAOSwDk5T7bsP)
2. Upgrade his 1TB hybrid drive to a fast PCI based SSD like from this thread (~$700): (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...the-09-macpro-bootable-ngff-pcie-ssd.1685821/)
3. Upgrade the video card, but the problem is I don't know what video card to recommend for him. Ideally it would be a card that helps accelerate Premiere and maybe even Final Cut Pro X if he ever chooses to try it. MY guess is he could get something great from macvidcards.com (~$700) that is great, or even just a decent PC card. I just dont know what would do best for Premiere and/or Final Cut Pro X.
4. Upgrade bluetooth and WifI (~$150) (http://www.macvidcards.com/store/p33/Wifi_AC_and_Bluetooth_Airport_Card.html)
5. Upgrade to 4k screen, not really specific to mac. I've seen throw away screens as cheap as $250! (http://www.walmart.com/ip/46867816?...0903112&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=152842183712&veh=sem)

What do you guys think is the best move? I made it a poll for fun too, votes are public.

 

[nigelbb]

The bargain basement CUDA card & best bang for the buck is a used GTX570. A little more expensive used is the GTX680 which runs up to 4 monitors simultaneously but a big bonus is that it can be flashed by any user for free to give the grey Apple boot screen. It runs cool & quiet too. Both GTX570 & GTX680 are supported by stock Apple drivers so there is no need to use the Nvidia Web Drivers nor will you ever get caught by OS X upgrades or need to use screen sharing etc to sort out driver issues. Either card will provide ample power for editing in Premier Pro so paying a fortune for a flashed GTX980 is not necessary.

 

[12CoreMP]

I would have thought that top end GPU's now take a lot of the pressure of the processors because of the way they work.

 

[Bytehoven]

They do/can/might, but top performance benefits when multiple areas are supported with best performing hardware/software. A deficit in any one area can drag down overall performance.

 

[-hh]

Overall, my first concern would to try to figure out why the current configuration is "glitchy". IMO, that's really the highest priority.

For video cards... not my thing, sorry.


The next things I'd look at doing would be to free up the other systems. Mostly on principle, I'd drop an SSD in to use as a boot drive. If it all doesn't work out, this hardware can be migrated into a new Windows PC, or an external TB enclosure.

For implementation in a cMP, I'd probably spend the $60 for the OWC "Accelsior S" PCIe card which is a SATA-3 for a 2.5" drive. SSD prices are dropping like crazy - under $400 for a 1TB right now. I'd personally get a 512GB ($275 or less), as I'm running tight on an old 240GB I'm currently using. The full blown Accelsior with blades is faster but more expensive ($400 for 480GB), so the "S" is a cost/value compromise that gets you in the 500MB/sec ballpark...which is roughly 80% of the speed I've observed with mine.

Something else to consider is if the Work Drive is a bottleneck. If so (or suspected), the existing drive can be repurposed into being Time Machine backup drive and replaced with a pair of new drives (size TBD, but for equal capacity, two 2TB's = 2 * $60 = $120) which then get configured as a RAID0. In a cMP, I'd expect this to improve storage bandwidth from <150 MB/s to ~230MB/s (+50%), despite the cMP's older SATA-II protocol.

 

[h9826790]

Stay focus people. He already said his friend uses Premiere Pro and after effects, why are so many discussing the problems with Final Cut? His friends is not using that software. Stay on task and it is not about your pet projects but about his question.
Thank you.

Because OP said "3. Upgrade the video card, but the problem is I don't know what video card to recommend for him. Ideally it would be a card that helps accelerate Premiere and maybe even Final Cut Pro X if he ever chooses to try it. MY guess is he could get something great from macvidcards.com (~$700) that is great, or even just a decent PC card. I just dont know what would do best for Premiere and/or Final Cut Pro X."

So, it's better to let him know about the Nvidia web driver FCPX bug.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

The bargain basement CUDA card & best bang for the buck is a used GTX570. A little more expensive used is the GTX680 which runs up to 4 monitors simultaneously but a big bonus is that it can be flashed by any user for free to give the grey Apple boot screen. It runs cool & quiet too. Both GTX570 & GTX680 are supported by stock Apple drivers so there is no need to use the Nvidia Web Drivers nor will you ever get caught by OS X upgrades or need to use screen sharing etc to sort out driver issues. Either card will provide ample power for editing in Premier Pro so paying a fortune for a flashed GTX980 is not necessary.

That's really cool and makes sense. If the GTX680 works stock with no need for web drivers, getting a flashed version of that alone may make a big difference for the JayQu, and make get the latest version of Premier Pro work with his system.

 

[Bytehoven]

The only negative feedback I'd give about the GTX680 ... in my experience (3) monitors was about the limit of the card. That was with (2) monitors running at 2540x1440, adding a 3rd monitor would work at a lower resolution, but then trying to run a 4th even at 1080P would not work for me. Maybe running the 1st (2) monitors at lower resolution would allow for a 4th monitor , but I needed/wanted the bigger desktop space. This is one area where I found the GTX 980 made a difference, where I could easily run (2) monitors @ 2540x1440 and 2 monitors @ 1980P with good performance.

 

[JayQu]

I super appreciate the help.

I'm a little nervous to go "bargain basement" at this point. Honestly, I feel like this thing has been showing it's age for a while now, and if I'm going to open up my wallet I'm really hoping to feel a considerable difference in speed. In short, I'm hoping these efforts will make this thing viable for at least another year and and change.

At this point, I'm leaning towards making a move on this GTX 980.

@Bytehoven, you're talking about this card, correct? http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1166890-REG/zotac_zt_90505_10p_gtx_980_ti_amp.html The "Ti AMP"?

Also. A confession to make...I've never mucked around with that built in screen sharing feature, but a quick test this morning from my lappy revealed just how easy that is to do...which, right or wrong, instills confidence. I actually "grew up" on Windows (moved over to Apple in 2008 given my employer at the time), so I'm not too afraid of dealing with web drivers and such...especially if it's that easy to connect and see what's going on in the machine.

Still, to be clear, all of the NVIDIA drivers and such are to be installed BEFORE physically installing the card, correct? All while keeping a ATI 5770 around so I can plop that in and recalibrate if all goes to hell.

Now. Processors. Further inspection of the link that JohnnyDevil shared reveals that ebay listing is not a tray for sale, but a service where I'm to send my existing tray, they'll upgrade to 12core 3.46GHz processors, and then send it back. In fact, it appears that's a pretty common service on the ol' ebay. Processors are a key component of this upgrade, right? In other words, just the GPU upgrade would make some difference, but the real bang for the buck would be the combo of both the GPU AND the processors. In other words, I should NOT be here considering cheaping-out on the processor piece.

So. The plan. Upgrade the GPU to GTX 980. Upgrade to 12 core 3.46. Still at under $2k, use any leftover for ram. Is that causing agreeable head nodding out there?

With Ram, I've been running 24 with three 8GB sticks. If I swap out the processor, this existing ram will still play nice, right? Heh, I know. I know. In this context I'm reading at like a 7th grade level trying to hang out with college kids.

Thoughts are welcomed.

 

[Bytehoven]

Here is my GPU http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1156799-REG/zotac_zt_90501_10p_geforce_gtx_980_ti.html and it's onside for $639.

http://stores.ebay.com/iPowerResale-Inc?_trksid=p2047675.l2563 This is where I bought my current 2011 Mac Pro. I would note, almost all of the EBAY stores selling upgraded Mac Pro will let you play around with the configuration, swapping GPU for ram, HDDs, SSD, etc. So in addition to your tray upgrade path, see if buying another complete rig and selling your rig ends up being cheaper.

Also, if a 12 core rig sounded like it might be over kill and a single X5690 3.46GHz 6 core processor might do, did you see this? It's not an upgrade, you get a complete tray. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Quad-Core-3...507225?hash=item3f55633f19:g:fowAAOSwhcJWHUWS

Your (3) 8GB sticks will work.

Regarding your noobness, we were all noobs at some point and we didn't always have such a great spot like macrumors to get knowledge. I welcome the chance to "pay if forward".

 

[nigelbb]

A GTX980 might be good for playing games in Windows but for Premiere Pro on OS X is it seriously worth paying over $600 compared to $50 for a used GTX570 or $100 for a used GTX680?
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The only negative feedback I'd give about the GTX680 ... in my experience (3) monitors was about the limit of the card. That was with (2) monitors running at 2540x1440, adding a 3rd monitor would work at a lower resolution, but then trying to run a 4th even at 1080P would not work for me. Maybe running the 1st (2) monitors at lower resolution would allow for a 4th monitor , but I needed/wanted the bigger desktop space. This is one area where I found the GTX 980 made a difference, where I could easily run (2) monitors @ 2540x1440 and 2 monitors @ 1980P with good performance.

I don't know what was wrong with your setup but I have just fitted a 2GB GTX680 in my wife's 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 & she is driving three monitors without problems - 2560x1600 (dual link DVI) & 1920x1200 (Single link DVI) & 1920x1200 (DisplayPort). Presumably there must be a limit to the number of pixels & colour depth that a 2GB card can handle but the original card in that machine was a 256MB ATO Radeon 2600 & that will happily drive a 2560x1600 plus a 1920x1200 so I don't think that the 2GB will be too limiting.

I couldn't find any EVGA specs on exactly what the GTX680 Mac Edition will drive but they definitely claim four simultaneous monitors & don't qualify that with any limitation on screen size. The DVI sockets are both dual link so should do 2560 x 1600 each. The DisplayPort should do 4096x2160 @60Hz & HDMI 4096x2160 @24Hz

 

[Bytehoven]

I don't know what was wrong with your setup but I have just fitted a 2GB GTX680 in my wife's 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 & she is driving three monitors without problems

Maybe there is some confusion... I said I was able to drive (3) monitors on the GTX680. (2) monitors @ 2560x1440 and a 3rd at a lower resolution. I had trouble when trying to add a 4th monitor. Not sure how this differs from what you're saying about your Wife's set up running (3) monitors.

Are there limitations with the 2GB GTX680 as far as monitors and resolutions? Yes. Can the GTX680 host (4) monitors? Yes, but with limitations. Are these limitations greater than the GTX 980 or 980 Ti? Most certainly.

Is the GTX 980 worth the extra $$$ over the GTX680? Well, that is a decision each of us has to determine for ourselves. For your Wife's use, the answer appears to be no. In my case, the answer was not only yes, I decided the GTX 980 Ti was an even better choice than the GTX 980. Then again, I'm trying to do things with my Mac Pro others are not.

If the OP or JayQu want to edit 4K video on a Mac Pro, it certainly can be done on a Mac built differently than mine. I just know from experience what was required to overcome various limitations of alternative builds I tried.

One of my biggest considerations is having a client sitting in on an edit. I need the MacPro to be as fast as possible in a number of areas so that the workflow of the edit is as quick and snappy as possible and free from any technical limitations which might unnecessarily slow things down. For instance and just to name a few ...

- (4) monitors, where the 4th monitor shows the source bin clips so the client can more quickly decide where to go next when choosing selects for the edit.

- being able to scrub both the timeline and source clips without having to wait for the "system" to catch up.

- being able to have multiple streams of 4K video play in the timeline without rendering

My needs and goals are very different than other users. Some edit 4K on a MBP. Any given build has trade offs. I'm accepting some trade offs staying on the Mac Pro platform, but I have been able to optimize performance such that the client experience remains good and the client is happy.