What Mac Mini for FCP X - base model or $799 model

[Magrathea]

Looking to upgrade my current video editing machine, a early 2008 MBP 2.6 Ghz with a 256Mb 8600 Gt Nvidia card. Yes it runs FCP X if you know what you're doing (hint edit in proxy media mode)

Wondering if I should go with the base model for $599 or get the $799 model that has the better graphics card (the HD 6630M appears to be 3x faster than the HD 3000 in open CL scores). Sure the i7 quad core would be nice but almost double the price but it has a crappy HD 3000 graphic card. 4 cores are obviously gonna render a lot faster than 2, my biggest gripe right now but I guess I can live with the extra render time while having a better graphics card.

So, the base model for $599, the $799 model with the HD 6630M card or what about throwing in the i7 option for the $799 model

 

[Vermifuge]

Looking to upgrade my current video editing machine, a early 2008 MBP 2.6 Ghz with a 256Mb 8600 Gt Nvidia card. Yes it runs FCP X if you know what you're doing (hint edit in proxy media mode)

Wondering if I should go with the base model for $599 or get the $799 model that has the better graphics card (the HD 6630M appears to be 3x faster than the HD 3000 in open CL scores). Sure the i7 quad core would be nice but almost double the price but it has a crappy HD 3000 graphic card. 4 cores are obviously gonna render a lot faster than 2, my biggest gripe right now but I guess I can live with the extra render time while having a better graphics card.

So, the base model for $599, the $799 model with the HD 6630M card or what about throwing in the i7 option for the $799 model

I have the Dual Core i7. I was going to take the plunge and get FCP X in the next week or two. In the end I spent about as much as the server but I feel I got a more balanced machine. Sure the quad core i7 can render faster but my geek bench score is within striking distance of the quad core.

Geek bench (CPU Heavy) ~8300 vs ~10000 not at all that much of a difference.

 

[snoylekim]

Looking to upgrade my current video editing machine, a early 2008 MBP 2.6 Ghz with a 256Mb 8600 Gt Nvidia card. Yes it runs FCP X if you know what you're doing (hint edit in proxy media mode)

Wondering if I should go with the base model for $599 or get the $799 model that has the better graphics card (the HD 6630M appears to be 3x faster than the HD 3000 in open CL scores). Sure the i7 quad core would be nice but almost double the price but it has a crappy HD 3000 graphic card. 4 cores are obviously gonna render a lot faster than 2, my biggest gripe right now but I guess I can live with the extra render time while having a better graphics card.

So, the base model for $599, the $799 model with the HD 6630M card or what about throwing in the i7 option for the $799 model

..I've been using the 799 2.53 ( w/ 8 G of Memory) for FCP X w/ no issues ..the rendering time is OK ..you actually use 4 cores of the 2.53 ..saved my late 2009 Mini , and set up a Compressor Cluster w/ the two machines, so one actually gets 6 cores working on Compressor batch rendering ..

 

[Vermifuge]

..I've been using the 799 2.53 ( w/ 8 G of Memory) for FCP X w/ no issues ..the rendering time is OK ..you actually use 4 cores of the 2.53 ..saved my late 2009 Mini , and set up a Compressor Cluster w/ the two machines, so one actually gets 6 cores working on Compressor batch rendering ..

Any details on how to do this? Do you need an xgrid controller or will Compressor do this on its own?

any link would be appreciated

 

[snoylekim]

Any details on how to do this? Do you need an xgrid controller or will Compressor do this on its own?

any link would be appreciated

No links handy , but just downloaded 4.0 to each machine ..started compressor on both machines ( complained slightly about running headless on the old mini..no OpenCL display..yadayada) ..configured each side within compressor..
I think in 4.0 it's self contained as far as , if the correct options are set, and they're pretty self-explanatory, the Qmaster service and firewall are configured ..
When the job is submitted on the 'host' machine , just select the cluster ( which should be an option) , then turn on the share monitor and watch the fun .. One caution.. if both machines are wireless ..it can take quite a while to copy a ProRes movie to the other machine(s) ..Divides the job up into separate tasks and allocates to each core ..they run side by side ..pretty slick and saves a ton of rendering time ..

<edit> ..try this link ..topic on clustering in the Apple Community Support Pages for Compressor 4 :
http://discussions.apple.com/message/15563069#15563069 - The doc sucks, as this link explains , so ..

good luck

 

[wojtek.traczyk]

Compressor4 online manual says everything on clustering

Vermifuge, guess that Apple official documentation should sound interesting for you - especially this chapter:

http://help.apple.com/compressor/mac/4.0/en/compressor/usermanual/chapter_29_section_0.html

Considering future questions: no, I do not have any practical knowledge on such clustering. Just googling.

 

[jefforig]

Wondering if I should go with the base model for $599 or get the $799 model that has the better graphics card

@Magrathea what did you end up getting and how does FCPX work for you on the machine you picked?

 

[goMac]

The base model does not have a dedicated GPU, making it pretty much not awesome for FCPX. Easy choice. Go with the $799 model.

(FCPX likes OpenCL graphics cards.)

 

[gigaguy]

Would the quad server model be better for iMovie and FCPX editing, over the nonserver models, I do no gaming.

 

[zedsdead]

Would the quad server model be better for iMovie and FCPX editing, over the nonserver models, I do no gaming.

For FCP-X, definitely. iMovie is still not multi-core aware however (but I imagine next time around it will be).

I would get the Server version if you plan to video edit.