Re: which Mac Pro tower is best to use?

Hello everyone,

After using my 2010 macbook pro for editing using FXPX, and with all the sludgery problems I have been having (slow rendering, spinning beach ball appearing after applying a few simple transitions, takes forever to start & stop etc), I have decided I need to go for a setup that supports the required specs.

Just recently an older Mac Pro tower has come up for sale, and I am wondering if I can go back to this model and still have something useable?


The tower is a "Apple Mac Pro "Eight Core" 2.8 (2008)".

Ironically I was demonstrating Parallels Desktop running Win 7 Ultimate, and running Adobe Premiere CS6 to a client, and that was running a lot more faster and responsive than FCPX on my mac direct!. So obviously the problems are just the demands that FCPX puts on the system.

Thanks for any help.

BTW: I would still have to purchase a monitor for the / a tower.... Is there anybody using a high-end television for the monitor while editing / processing Audio / Video?. I have a friend that uses a very high end Panasonic for his audio, and it seems to be displaying data / graphics perfectly?. That would be a lot cheaper than buying an equivalent monitor size!.
I realise it won't be as simple as that, monitors are designed as high-res devices with all the colour matching built in. But can I get away with it?.....

Any thoughts?

Cheers everybody!.

Pete

I have a 2008 8 core MacPro. The GPU that came with it was not FCPX compatibility so when that came out I had to buy a newer GPU (not officially supported) from Apple. That GPU is no longer available from Apple (ATI Radeon 5770).

The 2009 MacPro Xeons supported virtual cores so 8 would appear as 16 in some apps. I believe it also came with a GPU that's still FCPX compatibility. If you can find an '09 MacPro I think you'd be much better off.

BTW I do have a 2011 15" MacBook Pro and it ran FCPX much better than my 2008 MacPro. I'm honestly not sure a 2008 MacPro is going to be that much better than your 2010 MBP.

Hi Pete,

Also consider that FCP X likes working with as much RAM as you can give it. Considering that extra RAM for a 2008 MP is very expensive nowadays you might be better of with a more recent model. As Craig said: 2011 MBPs or iMacs work much better with FCP X than the old towers as long as they have sufficient RAM. The 2010 MBP doesn't seem to perform at all with X.

Best wishes,

Ronny

Thanks so much Craig. Thought it be on the borderline.

As you mentioned a 2009 Mac Pro Xeon might be the way to go (at least).

Thanks again.I shall tread with caution!... See what else comes up.

Pete.