Mac Pro Question...

[Apple...]

Hey, just wondering - how many of you own a top-of-the-line MP? I understand that some people need lots of hard drive space or a really good graphics card, but I was looking at the RAM, and was like "who really needs 64GB of RAM?" That's my main question. Who needs 64GB of RAM as well as two 2.93GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon "Westmere" chips? How can you even manage to spend that much on a computer?

Thanks.

 

[stefmesman]

Hey, just wondering - how many of you own a top-of-the-line MP? I understand that some people need lots of hard drive space or a really good graphics card, but I was looking at the RAM, and was like "who really needs 64GB of RAM?" That's my main question. Who needs 64GB of RAM as well as two 2.93GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon "Westmere" chips? How can you even manage to spend that much on a computer?

Thanks.

as a profesional video editor you would use this power. 64gb ram for uncompressed prerenders. and the 2,93 westmeres make for quick renders.

NO ONE really needs these kind of specifications. but it does make things alot faster/easyer. As most of the things that can be done on the high end model can also be done on a lower end model. it will just take more time and be less smooth.

 

[CaptainChunk]

Hey, just wondering - how many of you own a top-of-the-line MP? I understand that some people need lots of hard drive space or a really good graphics card, but I was looking at the RAM, and was like "who really needs 64GB of RAM?" That's my main question. Who needs 64GB of RAM as well as two 2.93GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon "Westmere" chips? How can you even manage to spend that much on a computer?

Thanks.

The "who needs 64GB of RAM?" question was probably more valid a couple of years ago, when the majority of the professional media applications were still written in 32-bit code. 64-bit applications effectively remove the traditional 4GB RAM ceiling and newer applications (like Adobe CS5/5.5) can and will use as much RAM as you're willing to throw at them. So now, it's starting to make a lot more sense for pros to buy as much RAM as they can afford.

In lines of work where deadlines are crucial and time is money, the additional cost involved with buying the fastest CPUs is greatly offset by the potentially higher income received by being able to get more work done in the same amount of time.

To put this all of this into perspective, take a professional video editor that bills his services at $300/hour. If his workstation is his livelihood, putting thousands of dollars into it doesn't seem all too extravagant, does it? I know auto mechanics that have tens of thousands of dollars invested in specialty tools - same concept there.


Does it make sense for a casual user to buy bleeding edge? Absolutely not. But a lot of enthusiasts do it anyway (hey, it's their money). But from a logical sense, I don't think I'd even need a Mac Pro if I didn't work in video post production. When I'm not editing or encoding video, I'm usually on my laptop anyway.

 

[highdefw]

I'm a visual effects dynamics artist (fire/water simulation) and I can max out those specs pretty easily. Technology will only slow down when we can do everything in real time, but that will never happen because the standard in quality is constantly moving. The audience is getting smarter