So....here's an Adobe question for the Mac Pro.

[td2243]

Since only FCPX takes advantage of the new Mac Pro, is it safe to say that only the Creative Cloud version of Premiere will eventually take advantage of the new Mac Pro? I'm guessing Adobe won't update CS6 in the future. Correct?

Basically, I want to get a new MP and switch over to Premiere, but will that even be fast on the new MP? FCPX is terrible. I still use 7, but would like to ultimately get away from that altogether.

 

[handsome pete]

Yeah, CS6 won't be seeing any feature upgrades. Only CC will get you those.

 

[td2243]

So, basically, Premiere pro on CS6 won't really run any better on a MP than on an iMac? Sort of makes getting the MP less exciting. Unless, I go with the CC, which most people say don't.

Also, this maybe a dumb question. What would be the reasoning behind software companies redesigning their programs to take advantage of the MP design? Is it a means of survival, or not really? I guess Apple expects everyone to get behind their thinking....or else.

 

[flat five]

So, basically, Premiere pro on CS6 won't really run any better on a MP than on an iMac? Sort of makes getting the MP less exciting. Unless, I go with the CC, which most people say don't.

i don't know/use premiere at all but if it's the type of app which will benefit from gpgpu, it will also benefit from more cpu cores.. it's going to cost a lot for those cores but i imagine premiere would run better on a mac pro than an imac due to the cpu differences.

Also, this maybe a dumb question. What would be the reasoning behind software companies redesigning their programs to take advantage of the MP design? Is it a means of survival, or not really? I guess Apple expects everyone to get behind their thinking....or else.

apple really isn't a part of the equation other than them implying they are going to help improve/support openCL.. this is a good thing to have a company the size of apple backing this type of development.. i'm guessing here but i think apple configured the components this way because they've seen smaller developers showing them that gpgpu has very real advantages.. and it's not so much that this is apple's idea and they're just trying to make everyone else jump on their bandwagon.

most developers are continually trying to improve their programs in many aspects and speed is certainly one of the main areas.. gpu processing is proving to give huge (like really really noticeable) speed increases in the apps which some devs have gone all-in on..
the other coders are going to start seeing this (or have already seen it by now) and they're going to want their programs to have those gains as well.. and if they don't, they're going to have a hard time surviving..

 

[jasonvp]

Since only FCPX takes advantage of the new Mac Pro, is it safe to say that only the Creative Cloud version of Premiere will eventually take advantage of the new Mac Pro? I'm guessing Adobe won't update CS6 in the future. Correct?

CS6 is a dead duck for Adobe. Other than patching bugs, they're not going to do any updates for CS6. So don't expect it to change any with regards to new Mac hardware.

It will work with one of the two GPUs in the Mac Pro, assuming you delete the OpenCL supported cards text file. CS6 has no way to use more than one GPU.

CC, on the other hand, will make use of more than one GPU. None of the Mac Pro's new AMD GPUs are listed in the aforementioned file on version CC, but that's easily fixed by deleting said file.

However, here's one small gotcha: one of the advertised benefits of these new GPUs is the double precision floating point performance of them. As far as I know, CC (as with most other video editing software) relies on single precision FP. So while the cards will be used by CC, there's some potential you won't be able to realize. I wouldn't expect that part to change with Adobe's editing suite (nor anyone else's).

 

[haravikk]

Also, this maybe a dumb question. What would be the reasoning behind software companies redesigning their programs to take advantage of the MP design? Is it a means of survival, or not really? I guess Apple expects everyone to get behind their thinking....or else.

For large scale processing OpenCL is a pretty good technology for Apple to get behind, as a lot of programs stand to benefit from it.

The issue is when (if at all) some companies will start adding OpenCL support, and even then, when it will mature to truly take advantage of the hardware. This is why people rushing into the new Mac Pro may be disappointed; unless they have apps that can take advantage of OpenCL now or which they know will do os in the near future, then they may find that the new Mac Pro isn't quite as huge a leap forward just yet.

It's very much one of those technologies that is great to have now, but may not be fully realised till more companies get on board. Fortunately there are a few programs already using OpenCL (mostly 3d rendering or video encoding so far I think) so there are definitely users who can benefit right away.

 

[Spinland]

It will work with one of the two GPUs in the Mac Pro, assuming you delete the OpenCL supported cards text file. CS6 has no way to use more than one GPU.

Could you point me to a link with some amplification of how to do this? I use Premiere CS6 and intend to do so on the nMP and if the process you mention will improve performance I'm all for trying it out.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[jasonvp]

Could you point me to a link with some amplification of how to do this? I use Premiere CS6 and intend to do so on the nMP and if the process you mention will improve performance I'm all for trying it out.

Remove the file:

/Applications/Adobe Premiere Pro CS6/Adobe Premiere Pro CS6.app/Contents/opencl_supported_cards.txt

Simple.

 

[Spinland]

Remove the file:

/Applications/Adobe Premiere Pro CS6/Adobe Premiere Pro CS6.app/Contents/opencl_supported_cards.txt

Simple.

Cool. Thank you for your time in explaining that.

 

[wildmac]

Since only FCPX takes advantage of the new Mac Pro, is it safe to say that only the Creative Cloud version of Premiere will eventually take advantage of the new Mac Pro? I'm guessing Adobe won't update CS6 in the future. Correct?

Basically, I want to get a new MP and switch over to Premiere, but will that even be fast on the new MP? FCPX is terrible. I still use 7, but would like to ultimately get away from that altogether.

The flip side to this is...

What is your current hardware, and do you really need to update it? If you are on a cMP 1,1 or 2,1, the nMP is going to show you serious gains, regardless of one or two GPUs being used. If you are on a 5,1 the gains will be a lot smaller.

I think too many folk here are getting caught up in Geekbench and "one GPU or two" and not looking at the other performance gains the nMP will offer.

 

[td2243]

The flip side to this is...

What is your current hardware, and do you really need to update it? If you are on a cMP 1,1 or 2,1, the nMP is going to show you serious gains, regardless of one or two GPUs being used. If you are on a 5,1 the gains will be a lot smaller.

I think too many folk here are getting caught up in Geekbench and "one GPU or two" and not looking at the other performance gains the nMP will offer.

This particular flip side is more of a punchline.

I'm a new user to Apple. My PC died and I'm using a hand-me-down 2007 Macbook Pro. Even with its age, I've been so happy with the reliability of it that I can't imagine ever buying a Dell or some other brand again. It's just a matter of what is most suitable for my need and hopefully will last at least three years.

I may just get the base model 4-core MP, upgrade to the D500 and install more RAM myself. That really isn't much more than an iMac. So, even if most of the programs I use aren't utilizing the two GPU's, it will still be 5 times faster than the system I am on now. Maybe in two years, I can update the CPU if needed and install a bigger SSD when those prices drop a decent amount.

Still, is that a waste if software doesn't utilize it? I purchased Logic X recently and I'm assuming Apple will revamp that to use more GPU power, maybe?

 

[wildmac]

This particular flip side is more of a punchline.

I'm a new user to Apple. My PC died and I'm using a hand-me-down 2007 Macbook Pro. Even with its age, I've been so happy with the reliability of it that I can't imagine ever buying a Dell or some other brand again. It's just a matter of what is most suitable for my need and hopefully will last at least three years.

I may just get the base model 4-core MP, upgrade to the D500 and install more RAM myself. That really isn't much more than an iMac. So, even if most of the programs I use aren't utilizing the two GPU's, it will still be 5 times faster than the system I am on now. Maybe in two years, I can update the CPU if needed and install a bigger SSD when those prices drop a decent amount.

Still, is that a waste if software doesn't utilize it? I purchased Logic X recently and I'm assuming Apple will revamp that to use more GPU power, maybe?

If you are working in Lightroom as well, that's known to soak up cores, so you might want to consider the hex-core, if it's in your budget.

For LR, PS, and some light gaming, I ordered the hex/D500/512SSD, figuring the ram is the easiest thing to update later.

 

[Spinland]

...I'm using a hand-me-down 2007 Macbook Pro.

This hits close to home. I started my animation studio on a 2010 model 17" MacBook Pro (dual core i7 with a max of 8GB of RAM) hooked up to a Cinema Display. My "desktop upgrade" came in the form of a quad core i7 Mini with 16GB. I've actually been doing quite well with those two systems working together, to the point where I can now afford to get the nMP for my workstation.

Even if I never see a scrap of OpenCL benefit from the GPUs right now I stand to enjoy such a huge productivity boost that the hex core Xeon and 32GB of RAM are worth the price of admission all by itself. As my software suites evolve to take advantage of the OpenCL stuff it will be just that much better.

Yeah, I know that as someone who's not migrating from an older MP I'm probably an outlier in the target audience, but this system is really going to make a huge difference for me.

 

[td2243]

If you are working in Lightroom as well, that's known to soak up cores, so you might want to consider the hex-core, if it's in your budget.

For LR, PS, and some light gaming, I ordered the hex/D500/512SSD, figuring the ram is the easiest thing to update later.

I don't have Lightroom yet, but definitely will. I have a dozen timelapses I've done that I need Lightroom to really fully process them like I want to. Thanks for the suggestions!

The one you ordered is the one I was originally checking out. Maybe I'll just cave and do it.

Even if I never see a scrap of OpenCL benefit from the GPUs right now I stand to enjoy such a huge productivity boost that the hex core Xeon and 32GB of RAM are worth the price of admission all by itself. As my software suites evolve to take advantage of the OpenCL stuff it will be just that much better.

Did you order one? If so, which configuration and how did you determine what you needed? Thanks

 

[Spinland]

Did you order one? If so, which configuration and how did you determine what you needed? Thanks

Yes, I was one of those who got up at midnight Cupertino time to get my order in asap. I ordered a BTO hex model, 32GB/512GB/D500. As to determining how to configure it, my main criterion was getting it in under my budget limit. I started by going with as many cores as I could afford (6) then used the remaining budget to ramp up whatever else I could until I hit the limit. If I had the cash to spend on this I would happily have gone all the way to 12 cores since my 3D software is almost exclusively CPU bound and easily chews up every processing core I throw at it during renders.

For the internal storage my two current systems have 512GB main drives and that's the sweet spot for me to have OS X and apps installed with enough free space left over for my comfort zone. 256GB would be uncomfortably tight and 1TB would be overkill since I keep all of my working files and data on external drives.

The last priority was RAM since that's easily upgraded but I had some budget left over so went ahead and got 32GB (since ordering it from a place like OWC wasn't going to save me a significant amount without having to deal with trading in and all that). I decided to keep this process simple.

 

[comatory]

This particular flip side is more of a punchline.

I'm a new user to Apple. My PC died and I'm using a hand-me-down 2007 Macbook Pro. Even with its age, I've been so happy with the reliability of it that I can't imagine ever buying a Dell or some other brand again. It's just a matter of what is most suitable for my need and hopefully will last at least three years.

I may just get the base model 4-core MP, upgrade to the D500 and install more RAM myself. That really isn't much more than an iMac. So, even if most of the programs I use aren't utilizing the two GPU's, it will still be 5 times faster than the system I am on now. Maybe in two years, I can update the CPU if needed and install a bigger SSD when those prices drop a decent amount.

Still, is that a waste if software doesn't utilize it? I purchased Logic X recently and I'm assuming Apple will revamp that to use more GPU power, maybe?

Well if you can stretch it I'd go with base hex because:
1. You get nice 6-core CPU which I think has been a "sweet spot" for prosumers/pro's for past few years, considering money=value equation.
2. D500 are already included.
3. 16GB of RAM is very nice start. It's workable minimum for me that I know I can get by, down the road you can gradually climb up to 24 or 32GB which should be plenty for few years (depending on your needs of course).

The only bummer is that both base version have only 256GB SSD, those bigger SSD addons are great upsell. Me personally I can get by even with 128GB SSD for OS but the major benefit is to have workfiles on SSD as well. Getting 3rd party solution or External TB SSD is easy so you can get that later as well.

Thats just my opinion. Base quad is OK since now we know you can replace CPU, RAM and SSD...

 

[td2243]

The only bummer is that both base version have only 256GB SSD, those bigger SSD addons are great upsell. Me personally I can get by even with 128GB SSD for OS but the major benefit is to have workfiles on SSD as well. Getting 3rd party solution or External TB SSD is easy so you can get that later as well.

Your opinion is much appreciated! Thanks. Yeah, I think the standard 256GB is way too small, but might work for now. I was really surprised the base models didn't come standard with at least a 512gb, but whatever. I know external storage is the future, but some of my apps are 40gb's by themselves! Even Logic X has a TON of sounds and such you can download.

 

[AidenShaw]

However, here's one small gotcha: one of the advertised benefits of these new GPUs is the double precision floating point performance of them. As far as I know, CC (as with most other video editing software) relies on single precision FP. So while the cards will be used by CC, there's some potential you won't be able to realize. I wouldn't expect that part to change with Adobe's editing suite (nor anyone else's).

According to the first table in this report, the FirePros are 4 to 16 times faster at single precision than at double precision.

The older ones must have really sucked at double....