Which MacPro?

[JoeV]

I'm looking to upgrade my computer and I'm looking for suggestions. I'm thinking of going with either the 3.3 6-core Westmere MacPro or the 2.4 8 core Westmere. Any feedback is welcomed.

Thanks,

Joe

[Aziz]

I'm in the same boat. My latest tower Mac is a G5 from 2005 ;)

After factoring in budget constraints and the need to have several years of productivity out of a new tower configuration, I'm planning on getting the 3.33 6 core MacPro. Still deciding how much memory to get. Would like 24GB (8x3) but too expensive at the moment.

I'll mainly use it with EIAS, Photoshop, AE, and a modeler of some sort. Hope my old copy of EIM will still work. Some hints on this forum that a multicore aware camera will come with EIAS v9. I think the 6 core will be fine for me. If I need more horsepower, I'll take my files to a renderfarm.

Would be great to have the high end 12 core though!

[Gigayoda]

Hey Joe,

I have the 2008 8 core 2.8ghz 800mhz bus and any more power would feel like overkill (can never have too much power). :)

The new 1066-1333mhz architecture would benefit you in either case but what will matter most will be the amount of ram in your machine. Considering that "camera" will support multiprocessor/cores then your question may be better answered by the developers that may have a newer machine to tell you a V8 to V9 (new camera) test what would be considered an ideal machine.

What is your current workstation? I recently used my friend's new imac core i7 27" and for some odd reason it feels a bit faster than my mac pro I attribute it to the faster bus but it might also have to do with the hyperthreading or revised version of using the various cores. In any case new imac or mac pro I doubt you'll be disappointed. If you want to improve your video rendering then the mac pro has new AMD/ATI cards that would improve visual performance but not necessarily rendering performance.

[Juanxer]

Here there are a couple of analyses of the new towers. They are a bit preliminary, but fairly revealing.

http://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews-MacProWestmere.html

(a fairly long one, rather Photoshop and friends-oriented but quite interesting)

http://www.barefeats.com/wst10.html

(www.barefeats.com has several tests of the new Radeons, too)

Midrange, the hexacore Westmere seems quite balanced and overall better than an octocore, but one wonders if EIAS would be one of the few apps that would get better results with an octocore. As per the first review, it seems the new range of Macs makes all too easy to get it wrong and buy a not quite cost-effective model: one has to match app usage with Mac model more carefully than usual.

At my job we'll probably get a hexacore to replace our old G5 tower (we do a bit of everything on it: DTP, DTV, 3D, radio ads, etc.). We'll get some OWC-brand SSDs for the OS and apps' temp files, too.

[JoeV]

Here there are a couple of analyses of the new towers. They are a bit preliminary, but fairly revealing.

http://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews-MacProWestmere.html

(a fairly long one, rather Photoshop and friends-oriented but quite interesting)

http://www.barefeats.com/wst10.html

(www.barefeats.com has several tests of the new Radeons, too)

Midrange, the hexacore Westmere seems quite balanced and overall better than an octocore, but one wonders if EIAS would be one of the few apps that would get better results with an octocore. As per the first review, it seems the new range of Macs makes all too easy to get it wrong and buy a not quite cost-effective model: one has to match app usage with Mac model more carefully than usual.

At my job we'll probably get a hexacore to replace our old G5 tower (we do a bit of everything on it: DTP, DTV, 3D, radio ads, etc.). We'll get some OWC-brand SSDs for the OS and apps' temp files, too.

I have the same G5 as Aziz and anything I get will be a vast improvement. I reviewed the specs from the sites you listed and it does seem that the 6 core smokes the 8 core. The 6 core is what I am leaning toward, but I don't want to get it and then regret not getting the 8 cores. I guess I find it hard to believe that even after all these years, software doesn't really take full advantage of multiple cores. Since I also use the Adobe suite in addition to 3D software, it makes sense to go 6 cores. And I can still set up a Camera for each core correct?

[Juanxer]

Yes, you do. Also, you could test setting up more Cameras than cores available, too, as they support hyperthreading: each core shows as if there were two of them, getting about 110-130% practical extra performance.

EIAS 9 probably will make Camera-setting tasks for single PCs and Macs a thing of the past, as it seems it will be a multiprocessing app.