nMP for video editing FCP which card option?

[2bcool2]

I plan to buy a nMP soon but would like some answers to these questions if anyone knows please:

1. if i get the 3.7GHz quad-core with 10MB of L3 cache and a year later when the 3.0GHz 8-core with 25MB of L3 cache chips are cheaper, can i swap these 2 chips over since one is quadcore and one is 8 core?


2. i have a late 2012 imac with Processor 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5, 24 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M 512 MB .... i edit HD video using latest FCP X , and fxfactory pluggins and i find it slows the whole programme up and i have to wait when i click to drag any pluggin ...
if i get the lowest Vcard for the nMP will I see a huge difference or do i need to get the middle or dearest Vcard?


3.do u think the nMP will get a refresh every 6 months or yearly? im planning to buy in april maybe


thnx in advance for your opinions

 

[calaverasgrande]

nobody can tell when the refresh will be.
You can get somewhat of an inkling if you follow Intel's chip releases. But Apple doesn't stick to that schedule strictly. Lots of folks are surprised that the NMP is Sandy Bridge and not Haswell.
And when the Air debuted it had an Intel chip ahead of Intel's published road map.

 

[drewsof07]

If history is any indication, the Mac Pro line only gets updated every 2-3 years. Like the above poster said, predictions are loosely based on Intel's roadmap.

The chips appear to be interchangeable, since they are all single-socketed now. Not sure anyone has done a swap and posted results though.

EDIT: Looks like OWC confirmed it.

You will see a HUGE performance boost moving from i5 with HD to the Xeon chip with PCIe SSD, regardless of your GPU choice.

 

[deconstruct60]

...
1. if i get the 3.7GHz quad-core with 10MB of L3 cache and a year later when the 3.0GHz 8-core with 25MB of L3 cache chips are cheaper, can i swap these 2 chips over since one is quadcore and one is 8 core?

If expecting Xeon E5 1680 prices to crater in a year, you'll likely be disappointed. You get a lower price not buying from Apple (and their 30% mark-up) but the street price probably isn't going to dramatically drop in a year.

Intel will be selling cheaper 8 core E5 v3 versions but they won't fit in your Mac Pro. So the "newer", cheaper 8 cores are not necessary drive down the price of the older ones because they are not direct replacements.

if go to Intel's catalog list of Xeon E5 v2 products.

http://ark.intel.com/products/family/78582/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-v2-Family/server

you won't find the 1680 v2. It is buried on the site.

http://ark.intel.com/products/77912/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-1680-v2-25M-Cache-3_00-GHz That is not indicative of a part that is available at a wide variety of retailers.

Several years out the price may start cratering but that likely won't be a short term outcome.

3.do u think the nMP will get a refresh every 6 months or yearly? im planning to buy in april maybe

Yearly. Quite possibly a bit longer. The CPUs won't change inside of 12 (+/- 3) month window. The GPUs are likely in the very similar boat if Apple sticks with FirePro infrastructure ( drivers , base GPU packages , etc. )

----------

... Lots of folks are surprised that the NMP is Sandy Bridge and not Haswell.

Only those completely asleep. The nMP is E5 v2 ( Ivy Bridge) not v1.
There was surprise in 2012 that Apple ignored E5 v1 ( Sandy Bridge). Why they wanted to shoot themselves in the foot and have to withdraw the product from EU markets because it was pragmatically too old was surprising/disappointing.

And when the Air debuted it had an Intel chip ahead of Intel's published road map.

Not really. The package the chip was wrapped in was used by Apple and others. The actual chip die inside the package was in no way shape or form not appear of Intel's roadmaps at all.

 

[deconstruct60]

If history is any indication, the Mac Pro line only gets updated every 2-3 years.

There is little history to back that up unless talking about motherboard internals. Mac Pro updates/releases.


2006
2007 +1
2008 +1 mb
2009 +1 mb
2010 +1
2012 +2 (more speed bump than upgrade, but also an outlier. )
2013 +1 mb



The primarily motherboard (mb) has been on a roughly two year cycle. That is generally following Intel's tick/tock for both parts since in the server space those two phases will share a single chipset and socket.

Like the above poster said, predictions are loosely based on Intel's roadmap.

Intel's Xeon E5 and E7 have drifted over the last couple of years. Intel isn't really pressed to do < 12 month updates and will slide a quarter or two depending upon what the desktop/laptop line up is doing (or it sliding due to bug/glitch/etc ).

The chips appear to be interchangeable, since they are all single-socketed now. Not sure anyone has done a swap and posted results though.

There is little present to "ease" the socket change. It is doable but but it isn't intended as a causal upgrade.

 

[drewsof07]

There is little history to back that up unless talking about motherboard internals. Mac Pro updates/releases.

2006
2007 +1
2008 +1 mb
2009 +1 mb
2010 +1
2012 +2 (more speed bump than upgrade, but also an outlier. )
2013 +1 mb

The primarily motherboard (mb) has been on a roughly two year cycle. That is generally following Intel's tick/tock for both parts since in the server space those two phases will share a single chipset and socket.

Sorry, yes I meant notable refreshes (in my mind), not just incremental updates. All subjective I suppose.

 

[pragmatous]

I can tell you that Intel's Haswell-E processor will not be out until 2nd half of 2014. This processor is a complete architecture overhaul. New socket, new RAM, new chipset, the works. The refresh will probably be around December after the Haswell-E processor releases. Just a guess.

I plan to buy a nMP soon but would like some answers to these questions if anyone knows please:

1. if i get the 3.7GHz quad-core with 10MB of L3 cache and a year later when the 3.0GHz 8-core with 25MB of L3 cache chips are cheaper, can i swap these 2 chips over since one is quadcore and one is 8 core?


2. i have a late 2012 imac with Processor 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5, 24 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M 512 MB .... i edit HD video using latest FCP X , and fxfactory pluggins and i find it slows the whole programme up and i have to wait when i click to drag any pluggin ...
if i get the lowest Vcard for the nMP will I see a huge difference or do i need to get the middle or dearest Vcard?


3.do u think the nMP will get a refresh every 6 months or yearly? im planning to buy in april maybe


thnx in advance for your opinions

----------

Intel treats the server market differently from the desktop market. Intel refreshes the desktop market in a tic/toc fashion. The server market is refreshed every 2 years. The mac pro has a server based processor in it. The Xeon E5's are server based processor.

Haswell-E is Intel's server refresh and will be out in the 2nd half of 2014.

There is little history to back that up unless talking about motherboard internals. Mac Pro updates/releases.


2006
2007 +1
2008 +1 mb
2009 +1 mb
2010 +1
2012 +2 (more speed bump than upgrade, but also an outlier. )
2013 +1 mb



The primarily motherboard (mb) has been on a roughly two year cycle. That is generally following Intel's tick/tock for both parts since in the server space those two phases will share a single chipset and socket.



Intel's Xeon E5 and E7 have drifted over the last couple of years. Intel isn't really pressed to do < 12 month updates and will slide a quarter or two depending upon what the desktop/laptop line up is doing (or it sliding due to bug/glitch/etc ).




There is little present to "ease" the socket change. It is doable but but it isn't intended as a causal upgrade.

 

[Zemzil]

i have a late 2012 imac with Processor 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5, 24 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M 512 MB .... i edit HD video using latest FCP X , and fxfactory pluggins and i find it slows the whole programme up and i have to wait when i click to drag any pluggin ...

What kind of storage do you use for editing ? Internal iMac drive ? Do you use ProRes in FCPX ?

 

[2bcool2]

What kind of storage do you use for editing ? Internal iMac drive ? Do you use ProRes in FCPX ?

yes internal fusion drive for everything ... yes i use prores from canon 5d m2
when i use green screen keying also that seems to make things slower and when i have lots of plugins applied to a clip

would i get no lag when using fcp x if i use an external for video footage?

i still wanna get the nMP but wanna be sure i dont spend all that money and still find fcp x lags when editing using fxfactory ...


thanks to all the above for taking time to help with my questions

 

[Zemzil]

would i get no lag when using fcp x if i use an external for video footage

Your actual iMac is a pretty good machine for video editing, but internal storage is too short for more than one ProRes stream when you start doing FX.

You should go for external TB storage. The type of it (2/3/5 bay) depends both on your budget for that and the average duration of your project (SSD/Platter drive).