MP 7,1 You can upgrade only one, which would you choose? CPU or GPU?

[chadcole26]

Key Specs:
Mac Pro 2019
3.5 GHz 8-Core Intel Xeon W
AMD Radeon Pro 580X 8 GB

Other Specs:
240 GB 2666 MHz DDR4 RAM
8 TB Apple SSD HD
Sabrent Rocket 4.0 Plus 1 TB PCIe SSD
OWN Aura N2 1 TB PCIe SSD (currently loaded with Windows 10 Bootcamp)
Pegasus R4i - 32 TB MPX Storage
Samsung CRG9 49" monitor

Work:
Day to day usage is office work, web applications, Excel, a little Photoshop, Illustrator, and Audtion, lots of Zoom meetings. Once in a blue moon I have to produce videos for work. Depending on what's needed I'm using either iMovie or Adobe Premiere Pro for the videos.

Personal:
Photo editing, amateur photographer, occasional weddings, etc. Always shooting in RAW, Canon EOS cameras. Using Photos, Photoshop, Canon Digital Photo Professional.

For the light video and photo work I do, given the opportunity, which would I be better off updating and replacing: the video card or the CPU?

 

[rondocap]

That can go either way, but I would say go to the W5700x over the 580x at a minimum, much easier upgrade and will benefit your work a bit, since it's not too heavy.

The 8 core can still handle most things, but the 580x is really underpowered for any video work for the most part

The CPU can also benefit - but it is a bit more involved of a process since you have to source a CPU, and upgrade it yourself.

Depends on your budget, but doing both will give you some better performance. I don't think you need to go crazy since you don't have a heavy workflow there.

 

[AlexMaximus]

I'd go with the advice of rondocap above. Since the new AMD 6800XT cards just have been introduced, I'd be on the lookout for a slightly used 5700XT Apple original card. Apart from that you could go with AMDs blue workstation cards together with the Belkin kable kit, but you would use the silent fanless setup and it would likely be not less expensive.

 

[Morgonaut]

just the 8-core Xeon would be limiting factor to almost any workflow. So I would first upgrade the CPU. RX580 is not bad and can surprise, people tends to underestimate it. And if you work in that Adobe crap then does not matter what system you have, if 8core or million core - performance will be always trash thanks to Adobe UNoptimized apps. Improve your workflow, get rid of Adobe, use Resolve and Affinity and you will see performance gains immediately

 

[chadcole26]

@rondocap and @AlexMaximus Thank you! Definitely things to think about and I appreciate the perspective. Obviously a used 5700XT MPX module will likely be much cheaper than a CPU upgrade for know.

@Morgonaut My employer provides the Adobe suite, so that's what I'm stuck with for now. I do see most of the tests people run for video here are using Resolve and FCP. If I were doing video work for my own personal gain, I'd like try to invest in one of those.

 

[Morgonaut]

@rondocap and @AlexMaximus Thank you! Definitely things to think about and I appreciate the perspective. Obviously a used 5700XT MPX module will likely be much cheaper than a CPU upgrade for know.

@Morgonaut My employer provides the Adobe suite, so that's what I'm stuck with for now. I do see most of the tests people run for video here are using Resolve and FCP. If I were doing video work for my own personal gain, I'd like try to invest in one of those.

don't worry, this will change very soon. It's just a matter of time when all production houses will get rid of the overpriced unoptimized Adobe crap completely

 

[chadcole26]

@Morgonaut I stumbled onto Adobe's optimization FAQ this morning. In a day and age when huge multi-core options exist, it is hard to believe they are advising anything more than 8-cores is essentially a waste. Based on their recommendations, it looks like I'll be looking at the GPU update first, maybe followed by some NVMe drive additions/updates.

Optimizing your system for Premiere Pro and After Effects (adobe.com)

 

[Morgonaut]

@Morgonaut I stumbled onto Adobe's optimization FAQ this morning. In a day and age when huge multi-core options exist, it is hard to believe they are advising anything more than 8-cores is essentially a waste. Based on their recommendations, it looks like I'll be looking at the GPU update first, maybe followed by some NVMe drive additions/updates.

Optimizing your system for Premiere Pro and After Effects (adobe.com)

Don't waste that time. There is not a single SUPER COMPUTER in this whole Universe which would be good enough to run Adobe apps. It will be slow even on "God's computer" ))