Ultimate 12 core/Apple prpmotion

[Jack Flesher]

Here's another option to consider:

Buy the single 6-core 3.33 and load it with 3x8G of OWC ram.  (Buying your RAM and SSD from OWC too will save a ton.)  Then in 18 months or so when CS and other software gets revised to handle cores better, you can utilize their service to add a second 3.33 processor (Actually they buy your existing 3.33, add the second MB and install a matched pair of 3.33's) and add another 3x8g ram. So you end up with a SCREAMING state of the art 12-core 3.33 with 48G ram.

Here's a link to their upgrade services: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/turnkey/MacPro/2009_2010_Xeon_Processor

FWIW I am planning on assembling this very conversion early 2011. 12-core 3.33, 48G RAM, 3x100G SSD's in RAID-0 for OS, Apps AND CS scratch.  (Yes, scratch and OS on the same volume since with 48G ram scratch will rarely be utilized -- it will be reserved, but not needed except for extremely large files.)  Then another 3x2TB RAID-0 for image storage, all backed up to my existing external array...

Cheers!  

[Dick Roadnight]

with technology, though, it always seems prudent to wait just one more generation to get that one new feature or advancement.  I had been waiting over a year for Apple to introduce new towers and I expect the new beast to last me at least a few years.  My God, I was retouching on a laptop before they came out...

Really though,  if I hadn't known that I was going to be doing more video work, I probably would of gone for the 6 core.

Good Mornin' LuLa,
CB

All I have now is a laptop and a 760Mhz PC!

...and I will also be using the machine for video.

Thank you all for the info.

[ChristopherBarrett]

That's a pretty good idea Jack's got there.

[Jack Flesher]

That's a pretty good idea Jack's got there.

It's not exactly inexpensive, but at least it spreads the total investment over time and best of all, "as needed."  If you price everything out, the most cost-effective approach if you want to do it all at once is to buy the bottom end 12-core and upgrade it to the 3.33 12 core -- IIRC that's about $8500 before RAM and drives.  

[EricWHiss]

Interesting idea to have the 2nd Core added later.  Do they have to do a whole OS reinstall afterwards?  Personally I hate to make changes like this because of all the little software pref files and things - seems like the times in the past (long ago admittedly) the computer always had gremlins afterwards.    Also I buy RAM outside of apple for every laptop and desktop for my bus and family and have been tempted to go with OWC instead of Crucial a few times, but have regretted it because every time I do, I have to exchange one set of the RAM because of EEC errors or other issues. They have a guarantee but your system will be down and its a hassle.  I've never had a bad Crucial memory simm ever so even though a bit more expensive I now always go with them instead of OWC.   I hate wasting time and hassle.  Of course this is just my experience, YMMV.

[Jack Flesher]

I keep bootable back-ups of my entire OS/App drive using Carbon Copy Cloner and never had an issue booting off of one of those clones after a hardware change.  Worst case in this example, it is a trivial exercise to "migrate" OS X from one system to another.

Re RAM: I had issues with OWC's first batch of 2G sticks of Mac RAM way back when, but they replaced them instantly and I've had zero issues with their 4G and 8G sticks since.  There is nothing wrong with using Crucial RAM either IMO, just whatever your personal preference is  

[Frank Doorhof]

Are you sure you can add CPU's ?
I thought they were not upgradable, at least not when I bought my 2008 8 Core.

[Dick Roadnight]

Plenty of great ideas presented here. Personally I think it's absolutely ridiculous to spend $10K on a photo workstation tower. Poor money management. Best to buy RAM and drives from other vendors. I do buy from OWC often with no issues to date.

My feeling is that having the best and knowing what to do with it almost never coincide.

Dick,

If you are also wanting to add video to your repertoire, ...

I will be doing a little video with a point-and-shoot.

I was not convinced that the Apple discount offer was worth considering, so I asked the question here... I do not need the big-mac this week, but the promotion prompted me to do some research, thank you all for your input.

[Mr. Rib]

...
A profiled monitor for photographic print work is simply wrong for video work. Sure you can edit but don't make any visual quality judgements from that profiled monitor. They are just not correct for any broadcast standards, gamma and color. Also storage quantity (which will grow at an insane rate) will be more important than anything else along with throughput.
...

Pro video is a different game and different money- as we all know same goes for equipment. If you REALLY need a pro-level monitor for editing / postpro you'll find yourself spending 20-30k for an LCD.
www.barco.com - pro level reference monitors.

[jduncan]

Pro video is a different game and different money- as we all know same goes for equipment. If you REALLY need a pro-level monitor for editing / postpro you'll find yourself spending 20-30k for an LCD.
www.barco.com - pro level reference monitors.

Just learn that the Eizos are bargains.   

Jokes aside. What does that kind of monitor give to the user? In photography we spend on a good monitor with good calibration because the final product is the print. But, if everyone where looking at the pictures using a glossy ipad or similar the pros will better served by a glossy similar monitor (just let it be consistent). In the case of the 23" broadcast monitoring panel from Barco it looks that the final product will be seen in a not so special TV set. I know I am missing something.  Could somebody help?

[Mr. Rib]

What you are missing is another dimension of possible problems- picture in motion . These reference monitors provide you with 120 Hz refresh rate -  this is refresh rate from CRT era and rock-solid animation- no blurring, ghosting, smudging or anything you can encounter on a regular LCD panel (even a high-end one like Eizo). Most of us have forgotten about it, but for motion CRT were sooo much better.. make an experiment and run a rich in dynamic action movie on a good CRT and an LCD panel next to each other.
Additional features is hardware color control to minimize the possibility of color variation- director of a big shot movie will see exactly the same thing as the film producer in terms of color balance, motion etc. Kind of crucial, if you think of, say, big bucks production, but yeah, that's what a well-calibrated Eizo can MORELESS do. I dunno about Eizo  hardware stabilization though
This kind of solutions are targeted at high-budget procductions, TV broadcasts, etc- places where there is no place for excuse where something goes wrong (for instance, because the calibration of the monitor went slightly off after a month or because of temperature) . If you need an artifact-free animation and a reliable, rock-solid stabilization of color calibration settings and need to be sure that the second guy with the second monitor sees exactly the same thing as you- this display is for you. Otherwise- an overkill

[jduncan]

What you are missing is another dimension of possible problems- picture in motion .

Thanks 

[Dick Roadnight]

The Mac price for 32Gb is £3K, and the OWC upgrade to 32Gb is $1,079... but the other  $ prices without tax are similar to the £ prices.

Is there a good UK based supplier that understands photography?

[perjorgen]

I had my my hopes up as well for a new mac - but disapointed I got 
£81 on a mac book pro (and none on mac pro)
Weird campain 

[Dick Roadnight]

I had my my hopes up as well for a new mac - but disapointed I got 
£81 on a mac book pro (and none on mac pro)
Weird campain 

...yes no deals on Mac Pros, which is what I had hoped for, but Hasselblad/Phocus will be able to work with an iPad or iToutch...

They got our attention, but I do not have to decide precisely what I want today.

How do you set up a mac for photo?

one drive for .fff raws,
one for Tiffs,
one for PSDs
one for software
one for scratch?

The theory is that the disc head cannot be in two places at once, so you can (more quickly) write a .psd to one drive at the same time as reading in the next tiff or raw from another... but SSDs do not have heads, so do you use the SSD for the software and scratch?

The spare space in all drives can be used for backup/archive?

[Fritzer]

Here's another option to consider:

Buy the single 6-core 3.33 and load it with 3x8G of OWC ram.  (Buying your RAM and SSD from OWC too will save a ton.)

I agree, right now this seems to be the way to go . As for upgrading to more cores, time will tell if there'll be a need.
Right now, 2D still editing is mainly about RAM and processor speed.

How do you set up a mac for photo?

It's been linked to above - you really want to visit macperformanceguide and do some research (the owner is affiliated to OWC, he mentions it everywhere, but keep that in mind).

I'd add that any current SSD with Sandforce controller (OWC, OCZ Vertex 2 etc.) is supposed to work well on a Mac and last, but noone knows for sure just yet.

Imho, concentrate for performance on your boot+apps drive array, and a scratch and project drive array; for storage of infrequently used files and archives just stay away from USB and you'll be fine.

The whole PC industry didn't manage to introduce something better than Firewire 800, or faster than eSATA, for external hardware (on our level), so I wouldn't hold my breath re. lightpeak and even USB3 if you need a solution within a year or so.

[ChristopherBarrett]

Imho, concentrate for performance on your boot+apps drive array, and a scratch and project drive array; for storage of infrequently used files and archives just stay away from USB and you'll be fine.

The whole PC industry didn't manage to introduce something better than Firewire 800, or faster than eSATA, for external hardware (on our level), so I wouldn't hold my breath re. lightpeak and even USB3 if you need a solution within a year or so.

Makes sense to me.  I put two OWC SSD's in the optical bay in Raid 0.  That's my OS, App & even Scratch drive for PS (with 48gb Ram it doesn't really touch the scratch).  Then I have 4 Seagate Barracudas in all the HD bays also in Raid 0 for very temporary storage while retouching.  Files all reside permanently on the  Drobo and are backed up to external FW drive.  The files I'm currently working on open and save very quickly and are protected on multiple drives.  The system has been quite speed and rock solid.

Chers,
CB

[BernardLanguillier]

The whole PC industry didn't manage to introduce something better than Firewire 800, or faster than eSATA, for external hardware (on our level), so I wouldn't hold my breath re. lightpeak and even USB3 if you need a solution within a year or so.

Well, SCSI320 has been around for a long time and works wonders. I have been using such a unit from Wiebetech for a few years now and in Raid5 it is at least as fast as drives within the Mac.

As far as light peak and USB3.0 taking more time, it is really a matter of Intel supporting either on their chipsets, which should happen early 2011.

The OP was speaking about buying a high end machine and keeping it for several years. There is little doubt that most relevant direct attached storage will be either USB3.0 or Lightpeak based by end of 2011. As 10Gb networks spread the need for direct attached storage might go down at some point of time, but I don't believe we are anywhere near that. If you have ever tried using Lightroom with a NAS you know how frustrating that experience can be.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Dick Roadnight]

Digilloyd responded to my request to OWC for a complete system, and this is the info I sent them:

MPG Photo Workstation Heavy Duty
Estimated Photoshop IN-MEMORY file sizes = 1GB or More   
I think I need: 12-core at 2.93GHz

    * I need to run Photoshop CS4 and/or CS5 in 32-bit mode.
    * My time is money, it has to be as fast as possible.
    * I want a personalized consultation to help me decide.
    * I also want to run Windows.
    * I need two or more displays.

Questions & special requests:   
System could be shipped to my Step-daughter in California.
Phocus makes good use of 12 core.
I have a Mac book pro.
I have an Eizo CG211, and intend to buy (in UK) a 30".
I will be doing a great deal of stitching and merging, working on large numbers of 48 Mpx MS or 60Mpx files in Phocus and PS at the same time.

OWC comes well recommended, but I spoke to the nice guys at the local (1 hour drive away) Apple store yesterday.... and OWC is in the middle of a foreign country (been there) a quarter of the way round the world, they do not quote in £sterling, ...but they do speak a version of the same language.

[arashm]

Q? For CB
which bracket are you using to place the two SSD in the second optical bay?
thanks
am