My 8-core Mac Pro is here!

[Raid]

Hi all, I know there's a debate going on about the recent release of the 8-core Mac Pro, but I just couldn't wait. This is my first Intel Mac, and my first set of Mhz cpu's. Yes this is more machine than I know what to do with (for now) so I don't think I'll notice the lack of the Seburg improvements, I got a great deal through my Uni and support from work to buy it... how could I say no?

What I got was the 3.0Mhz 8-core chipset, with 1GB of RAM (more is on the way) with the ATI Radeon X1900 XT, and Both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme.

So I present to you the unveiling of my mac.




So you might ask "Well Raid good for you... but why no screen shots?" Well it seems that my new monitor didn't arrive with the tower, and I only have a CRT monitor (shown in the last pic). This means I'll have to wait a day or two before actually going to town on my new Mac Pro

Not that I mind that much, I have to do some backing up of my old computer which may stretch into tomorrow, I'll post some screen shots later.

Raid

P.S! I am willing to do some speed testing with it. Let me know if there's anything I should try.

 

[xUKHCx]

Congratulations, nice system. Way more than I could utilise at the moment.

 

[OT2000]

WOW, I'm excited for you. Enjoy

 

[dartzorichalcos]

Congratulations. You will like your mac very much.

 

[Lord Nerdos]

Rejoice!

Nerdos wishes you a great computing experience!

 

[twoodcc]

congrats! lucky you! thanks for the pics, and looking forward to more

 

[Scarlet Fever]

when you get it all set up, can you tell us the FPS to rip a DVD using Handbrake using these steps (don't worry about MacTheRipper)? i think i get around 40 FPS with h.246, and 90 for MP4 on my 1.83GHz MacBook

 

[joachim]

I'd be interested to see how Photoshop CS2 performs, if it's any different than the quad-core.

 

[SkyBell]

Why can't you take screenshots on a CRT? What can you possibly do on an LCD that you can't do on CRT?

I'm on a 13" CRT, and here's a screenshot I took just now.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Ugh, I think I just made a mess of myself

Damn, seeing that makes me want to rush to the Apple store right now, bwah! Please post some pics when you have you monitor up and running also!

 

[Multimedia]

Congratulations Raid. Can't Wait For Your Reports Of Power

Way to go Raid. Congrats big time. Would you please Run Toast 8 encoding a DVD Image (Command + D) from DV files or EyeTV recordings if you have any. The authors said it would use all 8 cores when I asked in January at MacWorld. Interested to know if that's true. Also what's your Handbrake 2-pass frame rate number?

 

[xUKHCx]

I'm on a 13" CRT

That must be tough.

 

[Raid]

Thanks for the well wishes people... I'm still pretty excited to see what this thing can do!

Why can't you take screenshots on a CRT? What can you possibly do on an LCD that you can't do on CRT?

Well currently my monitor is an old 17" CRT with an ADC connector, I would need an adaptor to hook into the DVI port and I'm not sure if the x1900 can supply the power that this thing would need.

Today I'll go into work and see if I can borrow a 15" LCD monitor until mine arrives.

For the testing mentioned so far I don't have any problems with doing

• Handbrake FPS
• Photoshop test
• Toast 8 Encoding test for work on all 8-cores(sorry no EyeTv, but I'm sure I can find some DV files to test on)

 

[BiikeMike]

Sweet! Congrats!

I'm still (again) debating on the quad or octo....

 

[k2k koos]

Nice

congrats from me also. What screen did you order?

I am also still happily computing in PPC world, nothing wrong with that, but I will get a newer desktop Mac, hopefully later this year. I hope my budget will stretch to a MacPro with screen, it's quite an investment, especially in Europe...

 

[diamond3]

Lets see some of the testing results though.

 

[Multimedia]

Simultaneous Multiple Handbrake Encodes Please

Lets see some of the testing results though.

On the Handbrake test, please make FOUR duplicates of Handbrake naming each one Handbrake1, Handbrake2, 3, 4, 5 and run encodes from five copies of your Toast 8 Image - preferably on as many different source to encode drives as possible. until the fps numbers start to drop. Please tell us how fast they are when one is running, how fast when two are running, how fast when three are running, how fast when four are running and how fast when five are running. Thanks.

 

[portishead]

Way to go Raid. Congrats big time. Would you please Run Toast 8 encoding a DVD Image (Command + D) from DV files or EyeTV recordings if you have any. The authors said it would use all 8 cores when I asked in January at MacWorld. Interested to know if that's true. Also what's your Handbrake 2-pass frame rate number?

Toast doesn't seem to use all the cores. The processors barely move. I'm about to check handbrake.

edit: I don't know why you want to run 5 instances of handbrake, but it uses around 415% of processing power, with an average of about 50fps. This is h.264 constant quality 100%

 

[Multimedia]

Please Forget About H.264. It's Both A Time And A HD Space HOG.

Toast doesn't seem to use all the cores. The processors barely move. I'm about to check handbrake.

edit: I don't know why you want to run 5 instances of handbrake, but it uses around 415% of processing power, with an average of about 50fps. This is h.264 constant quality 100%

You can build a bunch of images for a bunch of EyeTV recordings for example, then rip all the MP4's at once. Your settings are extreme. I guess I'll have to go to an Apple store and run these tests myself. I'm ripping some right now on a 2GHz Dual Core G5 and it's doing 70 fps. Over on the Quad G5 - At-The-Same-Time - I'm getting around 98 fps.

If you have the patience to follow my tutorial, please run the test with those settings. Thanks. What's the point of having 8 cores if you're not gonna run a bunch of stuff simultaneously including multiples of the same program? That's what it's all about in my mind.

 

[portishead]

125-130fps. It's not utilizing all the cores. 180% at most. ETA = 20 mins. Not bad!

 

[BiikeMike]

OK, i'm gonna ask a stupid question here, but what the heck is above 100%?? I've been seeing this in all the benchmark stuff, where something will run at 500%, what does that actually mean?

 

[portishead]

100% per core. So 8 cores theoretically can do 800% yeah doesn't make much sense does it? But you get the idea...

 

[Scarlet Fever]

OK, i'm gonna ask a stupid question here, but what the heck is above 100%?? I've been seeing this in all the benchmark stuff, where something will run at 500%, what does that actually mean?

its 100% for each core, so the 8-core macpro can run up to 800%. yeah i find it weird as well

 

[BiikeMike]

ahh.... Thanks

 

[Multimedia]

Can you run 4 @ 180% 130 fps Each Simultaneously Or Not?

125-130fps. It's not utilizing all the cores. 180% at most. ETA = 20 mins. Not bad!

That's the same as the 4 core Mac Pro. Question is what happens when you run 4 or 5 simultaneously please?

On the Quad G5 when you run 2 simultaneously the fps goes up to 160 fps with each doing 80 fps at the same time. I'm trying to understand if that holds true for running 4 at once on an 8 core. Please?

i.e. Two may run up to 250 fps or 125 fps each while 4 might do a total of 400 fps or 100 fps each at the same time. Why is it so hard to understand the desire to run 4 or 5 copies at once?

If you have 20 TV shows recorded with EyeTV and 4 are on each DVD Image you create with Toast 8, then ripping all those shows at once from 5 Images with 5 copies of Handbrake can save a huge amount of time if all 8 cores can be used that way.

Same holds true for Toast. I would like to be able to rip 3 or 4 DVD images (Command + D) at once faster than I can on a Quad. Please make multiple copies of Toast to test if they can rip multiples up to 4 without slowing down each other.