Thinking about "building" a top of the line iMac Pro

[jrm27]

Hello all,

I've been using a Mac Pro since 2013, and its time for me to upgrade. As much as I'd prefer to wit for the new iteration of the Mac Pro, I'm currently in a placer where I need something sooner than next year. My current Mac Pro is a 3.5ghz 6-core Xeon e5, with 32 gigs of Ram, and the dual D300 video cards.

I'm thinking of spending all the money and going with a new iMac pro with the top of the line processor (2.3ghz, 18-core, turbo boost_, 128 gigs of memory, and the Radeon Pro Vega 64 graphics card.

I do a ton of video work... 4k, 360 cameras, After Effects, Cinema 4D, etc... So, I need something with power. Currently my render times are getting bad, and stitching 360 video is crippling. Larger AE and c4D renders are problematic too.

What kind of benefits will I see with this new system over my current system? Is there something else I should take into consideration?

-jon

 

[velocityg4]

Unless you specifically need a Mac. You may want to take a look at what sort of performance you can get with a custom built Windows workstation. You may be able to get the same performance for less or far better performance for the same price. Especially with nVidia CUDA support on Adobe apps.

 

[jrm27]

Unless you specifically need a Mac. You may want to take a look at what sort of performance you can get with a custom built Windows workstation. You may be able to get the same performance for less or far better performance for the same price. Especially with nVidia CUDA support on Adobe apps.

I've thought about that, but at work, our entire infrastructure is built around Apple. The other editors are working with Apple machines as well. So, I'd prefer to stay with the current setup at this point. I may look at building a windows workstation for work at home/sidework, but at this point I think I'll be staying Apple in the offices.

 

[AlexMaximus]

Hello all,

I've been using a Mac Pro since 2013, and its time for me to upgrade. As much as I'd prefer to wit for the new iteration of the Mac Pro, I'm currently in a placer where I need something sooner than next year. My current Mac Pro is a 3.5ghz 6-core Xeon e5, with 32 gigs of Ram, and the dual D300 video cards.

I'm thinking of spending all the money and going with a new iMac pro with the top of the line processor (2.3ghz, 18-core, turbo boost_, 128 gigs of memory, and the Radeon Pro Vega 64 graphics card.

I do a ton of video work... 4k, 360 cameras, After Effects, Cinema 4D, etc... So, I need something with power. Currently my render times are getting bad, and stitching 360 video is crippling. Larger AE and c4D renders are problematic too.

What kind of benefits will I see with this new system over my current system? Is there something else I should take into consideration?

-jon

Hello Melot,

Impressive pictures! I think you have two options. You either put a 12 core CPU in your 6.1 MP and use your current setup for another 12 month till the new 7.1 hits the street, or you sell as soon as possible and go for the iMac Pro as you stated above.
Your 6.1 will for sure decline in value, once the 7.1 comes closer.
Me personally, I think the iMac Pro is a great package. I love the 5K display. The standard 8 core model used to be available at Micro Center for around 4K. I would have done that deal if I were located in the US. I think it depends how much money they pay you for those contracts of yours.

 

[jrm27]

Hello Melot,

Impressive pictures! I think you have two options. You either put a 12 core CPU in your 6.1 MP and use your current setup for another 12 month till the new 7.1 hits the street, or you sell as soon as possible and go for the iMac Pro as you stated above.
Your 6.1 will for sure decline in value, once the 7.1 comes closer.
Me personally, I think the iMac Pro is a great package. I love the 5K display. The standard 8 core model used to be available at Micro Center for around 4K. I would have done that deal if I were located in the US. I think it depends how much money they pay you for those contracts of yours.

Thanks Alex. (thanks for the kind words on my pics too).

Luckily, this computer will be purchased by my employer. So, though cost is certainly a major concern, it is not the only deciding factor. If I had to buy this setup, it would be approached very differently.

 

[visegripmikey]

If your employer is buying it, they should consider a 2 year lease on all computers so you guys can all stay on the lastest stuff.

That said, what you are considering is excellent. If you need it now, buy it now, don't wait for anything that is supposed to come out later. The longer you wait, the more issues you'll get, and with increased downtime, the longer it takes to deliver to clients.

 

[velocityg4]

Unfortunately detailed benchmarks are few and far between for Macs. Usually there is just a smattering of simple benchmarks which don't give much detail.

One can look at detailed benchmarks from Pugetsystems. To get a decent idea of how those upgrades would affect a Mac.

Cinema 4D would show a substantial performance boost. All those extra cores would make for a huge impact in performance. Anything GPU accelerated would show substantial gains. You'll have lots of RAM to render previews in After Effects. Number of cores don't seem to count for much in AE rather clock rate is more important.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...ormance-Core-i7-8700K-i5-8600K-i3-8350K-1055/

Depending on the task you are performing. Improvements will range from negligible to a couple times faster.

It's too bad Windows isn't an option. One could only imagine what a water cooled i9-7980XE paired with an nVidia Titan V could do for you.

 

[jrm27]

Unfortunately detailed benchmarks are few and far between for Macs. Usually there is just a smattering of simple benchmarks which don't give much detail.

One can look at detailed benchmarks from Pugetsystems. To get a decent idea of how those upgrades would affect a Mac.

Cinema 4D would show a substantial performance boost. All those extra cores would make for a huge impact in performance. Anything GPU accelerated would show substantial gains. You'll have lots of RAM to render previews in After Effects. Number of cores don't seem to count for much in AE rather clock rate is more important.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...ormance-Core-i7-8700K-i5-8600K-i3-8350K-1055/

Depending on the task you are performing. Improvements will range from negligible to a couple times faster.

It's too bad Windows isn't an option. One could only imagine what a water cooled i9-7980XE paired with an nVidia Titan V could do for you.

It looks like I may be barking up the wrong tree! Apparently, Adobe programs really don't benefit that much from upgraded Macs? https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2456635?start=40&tstart=0

 

[velocityg4]

It looks like I may be barking up the wrong tree! Apparently, Adobe programs really don't benefit that much from upgraded Macs? https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2456635?start=40&tstart=0

Yea, most tasks are CPU bound. Most of the programs and tasks only use a couple cores. Except Premiere uses multiple cores pretty well. For the most part per core speed is more important. Along with lots of RAM and fast scratch disks.

When it does come to GPU acceleration. Adobe OpenCL performance is atrocious. As far as I can tell the same goes for Metal. CUDA has a huge performance advantage. Meaning you need an nVidia GPU.

Considering how small the market is for nVidia upgraded Mac Pros. I doubt Adobe put much work into macOS CUDA support. If it exists. So, I’d say excellent Adobe GPU acceleration is best achieved on Windows.

 

[bsbeamer]

For Adobe PPRO & AE, CUDA on Mac is great, and OpenCL is fairly on par for many tasks. Would not use Metal.