I'm trying to configure an efficient but not overly expensive iMac Pro and in need of some advice.

My long term plans include shooting, editing and producing several green screen projects for YouTube. I'll be using Panasonic DSLRs and camcorders. The videos will range from 1 to 5 to 30 minutes. In addition, I will also be creating social media marketing content and short films.

These are the current base iMac Pro specs but I'm not sure if they will suit my long-term needs:

Eight-core Intel® Xeon™ W 3.2 GHz
32GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM
1TB SSD
Radeon Pro Vega 56 graphics processor with 8GB of HBM2 memory

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What would be the best components to upgrade at the time of purchase and why?

Will the 3.2 GHz processor work well with 64 GB RAM and the Radeon Pro Vega 64 with 16GB of HBM2 memory?

Is there any benefit to upgrading to the 3.0GHz 10-core Intel Xeon W processor?

Is a 2 TB SSD internal drive really needed, or is 1 TB fine?

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Will the base specs suffice for green screen projects?

Could a 60 minute green screen project be edited with the base computer without any issues?

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Thank you!

I edit 4K green screen stuff with tons of filters on top of that with my super-wimpy 2013 Mac Pro. As for your internal drive, it will be fine just don't let your Libraries grow too much as the OS likes to have 10% free space or so as breathing room. It really doesn't need that much but it's a good rule.

Hi Joe,

Thanks for responding to my post.

Which Libraries are you referring to - photos, music, art - or FCP X Back-up files?

Will the 3.2 GHz processor work well with 64 GB RAM and the Radeon Pro Vega 64 with 16GB of HBM2 memory?

Final Cut Pro libraries, which is where all of the data in your project is usually stored.

My wimpy 2013 computer has 3.5Ghz but 3.2Ghz should be fine (interesting that time has not advanced Mac CPU speed at all, at least the Xeons). 64GB of RAM is overkill. I know because I have 64GB of RAM and it rarely fills over 32GB. And when it does, it's not Final Cut Pro hogging it, it's After Effects. I dunno about the Radeon Pro Vega but it's gotta be way better than the weak cards in my 2013 Mac Pro, which are 2 AMD Firepro D300s with a total of 8GB of VRAM across both of them. So you should be perfectly fine.

Your proposed iMac setup looks just fine. I know people who are working 4K video on older less powerful Macs, iMacs and Laptops. And, in FCP X, there is Proxy editing which can always be used to edit heavy weight video. Proxy editing is very efficient and many use it as standard faire regardless of video format or size.

As to your question about Libraries, Libraries are where your media (video, photos, music, etc) lives and it has always been standard practice to put media onto a separate media drive, either internal or external. I have been using FireWire (now obsolete) drives for over 20 years and also use a Promise RAID. I would suggest a 2 TB (or even larger) external drive for media.

--ken

Ken,

Thanks for your advice.