Raid or Graphic's card more beneficial on a budget?

[bsbeamer]

Just a quick question I should ask. Do you think (even though its a 12-core) my low clock speed (2.4ghz) can just be the issue?? I originally had a 6-core Mac Pro @3.33GHz but sent it back for this machine thinking I was getting a faster system.. Was my decision making process wrong?

12-core machines are only worth it when using software that can use all 12-cores. If they cannot utilize all 12-cores, then the faster clock speed single CPU would have been a better choice. Depending on the software you're using, it could be part of the bottleneck.

Try converting your MP4 to ProRes and test playback. See if it improves your experience. I've edited those converts on MacPro1,1 and MacPro2,1 machines recently - both faily "stock" except for storage upgrades. Even had original X1900s. Got very good real time performance on both with FCP7.

There's a few threads about the 12-core 2.4 vs 6-core 3.33 in real world performance. Search and take a look through them. I'd probably go with the 3.33 as an overall machine, unless you're doing a lot of 3D work or heavy AE renders. They can take advantage of more memory available as well, which can help when speed matters.

The 12-core needs RAM to function at peak performance. Wouldn't rule out an upgrade there at all. No ideas about what you're currently using.

The 6-core 3.33 is a great machine still. If it natively had USB 3 and PCIe3 then that would be enough of an update for most people to have a really good workstation. Still wouldn't be enough for everyone, but those people are on PC workstations already, or really close to switching. Tying up a PCI slot for a USB card is tough for many and would mean an expander case to really make it work. If I'm going through that hassle, I might as well build a hackpro.

 

[Tesselator]

bsbeamer says it well. I like to think of the differences as similar to those between the diesel engine found in a Mack truck and a sports car engine. Or perhaps between an ice-cutter and a speed-boat if you're as tired of the car analogies as I am.

The 12 core won't feel as zippy under your mouse so to speak but it'll cut through your work much faster and with greater ease. So far I've found that for actual work all the applications but a minor few do indeed make use of the multiple cores. And, a lot of the "zippiness" can be put into the system with tuning, lots of RAM, and a snappy GPU. However, the inverse of that is not true - a 4 or 6 core can never cut through the work-load as fast as the 12.

Although admittedly, this axiom relinquishes some potency at 6 cores - which is more than often good enough for common work-loads.

 

[5050]

I'd switch those around. You want your FASTEST drive as the media drive and I think that's probably the Samsung 840 Pro. Check the specs of both.

I'm looking into a similar upgrade. Currently only running 7200 RPM HDDs for both my system/apps and media/scratch drives. Sadly, the Blackmagicdesign Disk Speed Tests are showing anywhere from 90-110 MB/s max for both write and read across these 7200 RPM HDDs.

Bought the Sonnet Tempo SSD PCIe Card Adaptor + two Samsung 840 Pro 256GB and plan to set up a RAID 0 configuration for my system and apps disk.

You're suggesting it's more important for the media/scratch drive to have the SSD RAID 0 configuration rather than the system drive?

 

[TheEasterBunny]

One poster:
“Since SSDs in RAID 0 are TRIM unsupported...”

Another poster:
“An SSD Raid **inside the MacPro** is a waste of money.
A 2-drive RAID-0 won't do much inside the MacPro because SATA2.”

I have no RAID card, no SATAIII card, no special cards what so ever.

So can these posters explain this?
(BTW SATAII is 300MBps)

 

[bsbeamer]

I'm looking into a similar upgrade. Currently only running 7200 RPM HDDs for both my system/apps and media/scratch drives. Sadly, the Blackmagicdesign Disk Speed Tests are showing anywhere from 90-110 MB/s max for both write and read across these 7200 RPM HDDs.

Bought the Sonnet Tempo SSD PCIe Card Adaptor + two Samsung 840 Pro 256GB and plan to set up a RAID 0 configuration for my system and apps disk.

You're suggesting it's more important for the media/scratch drive to have the SSD RAID 0 configuration rather than the system drive?

If you can manage to have it all on one drive in that situation, then that would possibly be most beneficial. May want to consider separate drives though - one system, one scratch. All depends on how fast you NEED data I/O for media and type of files you're working with. For your system drive, keep free space on there. Helps with speed and garbage collection. For scratch drive, just make sure you backup semi often the important files.

 

[TheCoupe]

If I've read correctly, did you migrate your old system? If so, what OS was it and did you upgrade to 10.8? If so, I would say this is more of an issue for you.

I get so many customers complaining of slow machines after doing upgrades from one OS to another. Always install everything fresh to get the best performance. There are numerous sites/threads on building a USB installer of 10.8 which allows a quick and easy clean system install. Try this first and see if you notice a big speed difference, as I think this may cure your problem without spending a penny