New Video Editing / Motion Graphic Machine

[gaer42]

I am looking to build a new Mac soon and am looking for some suggestions as to what to get and what to upgrade.

I currently have a G5 with 8 gigs of ram and a 22 inch cinema display...

I really want to increase the speed in which my video and motion graphics render. I want to be able to have multiple intense programs open at the same time (Final Cut Pro, Motion or After Effects and Possibly some video playing)

I am also looking at moving into some 3d development in the next 8 months.

My price range is in the 3-6k mark...

Any Help would be great.. I want to try to purchase this in the next month or 2.

 

[Terpfen]

Just buy a Mac Pro.

 

[gaer42]

Im going to be doing a lot of heavy work... I am going to be working for a television network that is outsourcing all their graphics and videos to me.... So I need faster render times than what is offered at the stock level of those systems.

What I guess Im asking (in case it was a bit vague) is I want something that will be fast and allow me to multitask. I have been working at a small post house that has one of the 8 core Mac Pro's and it is still to slow for what I am looking for.

I have heard that you don't need to go top of the line because you can upgrade the Macs and if that is true should I get the quad core (for the bus - processor ratio) or go for the 8 core anyway... what about the GC... I have heard that Nvidia is a great card for graphics... but that the ATI runs games better (not that Im going to be running games... but the game engine is basically a rendering engine... and if it runs games better than the nvidia should I get the ATI) OR should I get something completely different.

I have heard about a BlackMagic card that is supposed to be good... I have also heard that AJA makes good cards....

Im also wondering about the Ram... I know that I can get more but does it really matter. I have heard that FCP only uses 2 gigs either way. Is it the same with other graphic programs... If not should I just buy ram from a 3rd party and install that. If so what latency should I look for? etc.

 

[Verge]

So you programmed a game engine, to render graphics for a television show?


Whaaaat...


Nvidia for Pro-3d all the way(and windows) Will quadro cards even work in a mac?

 

[gaer42]

.

So you programmed a game engine, to render graphics for a television show?


Whaaaat..

No... What I meant is that a game will be rendering graphics on the fly as you play... so I believe it is similar to working with graphic rendering programs such as FCP, After Effects and Motion because they are all rendering graphical information. I may be wrong on this but looking at it from the outside it seems similar... hence the comparison to a game engine.

 

[Terpfen]

So I need faster render times than what is offered at the stock level of those systems.

What's stopping you from customizing the Mac Pro? Did you even look at the options? Two octo-core Xeons up to 2.93GHz, up to four GT120s, and up to 32GB of RAM sounds pretty much exactly like what you're asking for.

Beyond that you might as well build something yourself, because it isn't sold.

 

[phide]

I have been working at a small post house that has one of the 8 core Mac Pro's and it is still to slow for what I am looking for.

Then you need to start looking at some sort of rendering cluster. I can't tell you how you would approach constructing it, but what I can tell you is that you'll want X number of Mac Pros. These machines are still rackmountable, so odds are you'll take that route and rackmount a few Mac Pros in your machine room.

If you want just one machine, no such animal exists.

I know that I can get more but does it really matter. I have heard that FCP only uses 2 gigs either way.

I was not aware of this. You'll want to confirm this before making your decision.

 

[Verge]

.

No... What I meant is that a game will be rendering graphics on the fly as you play... so I believe it is similar to working with graphic rendering programs such as FCP, After Effects and Motion because they are all rendering graphical information. I may be wrong on this but looking at it from the outside it seems similar... hence the comparison to a game engine.

It's entirely different... I don't know if FCP or after effects use CUDA... but you said you were investigating a 3d package, which is where the quadro's come in handy.