Pick this Mac system apart please!

S

StreetsofPlastic

Member
I was quoted a price for the following system from ProMax. I will be shooting many different projects with my HVX200, everything from music videos to feature length narratives (all in HD, I hope).

Can you guys pick apart this configuration? Will this set up be able to ingest, handle, edit and spit out HVX footage (HD) with no problems?

Is there anything that I would need to upgrade or add strictly from an editing system point of view.


Apple - Mac Pro Two 2.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon (4-Core), 1GB,
250GB, 7300 GT
Specifications
* Two 2.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
* 1GB (2 x 512MB)
* 250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
* NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB (single-link DVI/dual-link DVI)
* One 16x SuperDrive
* Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse - U.S. English
* Mac OS X - U.S. English
2GB DDR2 5300 667mhz FB Dimm (2x1GB) Kit

Apple Final Cut Studio 2

Mac System Configuration and Testing

ViewSonic VG2030wm - Flat panel display - TFT - 20.1” - widescreen

10FT 28PIN DVI-I M/M DVI-I Single Link Display DVI Cable

ProMax 90 Day Tech Support Package

Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro High Definition HDMI and Analog

PCIe Capture Card (Windows or Mac Intel)

Hitachi Deskstar 500GB SATA-II 7200rpm 16MB cache Drive​

M-AUDIO Studiophile AV20 Portable Desktop Speaker System

I am hoping I can use this system to edit my HVX footage easily.

Thanks for reading and be honest about your opinions

Streets:undecided
 
Yeah - that will do it for sure - but the Mac Pro's work best when there are matching pairs of RAM - so I would grab another 1GB stick (or 3 more, if you feel like it)

As is it will be fine, but you'll get a boost with an extra gig.

Looks like a great setup though.
 
Not proper at all in my book.

Radeon X1900 is in my book necessary for running FCS 2 properly.

4gb of RAM minimum, better if you go with 8 gb

20" monitor as your primary monitor is to small. Go with Apple Cinema Display 23 or similar. I think the Viewsonics are just cheap things thrown in to keep the price down. You need internal media drives.

For monitoring as well as the potential of analog input/output, Intensity Pro can be nice.

You will get far better monitoring (but no capture capabilities) from Matrox MXO to Apple Cinema Display or similar (I use a Dell 2405).

I personally feel this system falls quite short of adequate FCS configuration.

Ned Soltz
 
Media drives-- add a Hitachi 1 tb or the Seagate 1 tb, which might be faster than the Hitachi. Under $400 at newegg.com

Ned
 
Depending on your monitoring setup, the Intensity pro may be overkill - if you don't need analog, and plan on monitoring through HDMI, the much cheaper Intensity would be a better choice. Or, as Ned syas, the Matrox MXO. If you're using the HVX only, you have no need for analog capture!

Ned - can you comment a bit more on the GeForce 7300 vs X1900?
 
Why the Intensity board?

And I would get at least 4 Gbs of RAM, but not from Apple.

Transintl.com or macsales.com
 
As far as graphics card, the Radeon is faster, has more VRAM and is also on Apple's "highly recommended" list of graphics configurations for Motion and Color. We will see even greater GPU dependency post Leopard and the X1900 also positions you for that.

Ned
 
We have several boxes at work with the Radeon card. But the issue is that the cards tend to run pretty hot and are noisy (big fan). If you are using Motion quite a bit, then it might be a good move to upgrade the card.

Otherwise the stock card is perfectly okay (and also with Color). When Leopard shows up, there will be even newer video cards available and so you can always add later.

At home I use the stock Nvidia card with Studio and everything is fine.

Anyway, just MHO.
 
It's all relative. My old dual 1GHz G4 ran HVX footage in FCP 5 at 720/24p surprisingly well with its puny 64MB stock video card. Basic editing on a couple of video tracks with simple transistions like cross dissolves still happened smoothly in real time. My current dual 2.7MHz G5 does just fine too.

Ned would appear to be advocating closer to the "power user" side, and I can't disagree with his take on the subject. When you want the most from the system, even the fastest ones available will probably still leave you wishing for more.

I think a clear understanding of what you want to be able to do and how fast you want it to happen is probably in order here. It's a safe statement that the system you describe will work with all the FCS components. But how much power do you *really* want?

If possible, try spending a little time playing with FCP on a few different systems to see what you'll get for your upgrade dollar. Throw a few complex tasks at them and see what happens.

Best of luck
 
Well... not quite power user. I'm a believer in "do it right the first time." That really provides an optimal experience and in the long run is less expensive. There will always be better and faster graphics cards and better and faster computers.

In fact, I would even buy now unless you need a computer today, I wouldn't buy anything at all until the Leopard introduction and we see what changes will appear in the MacPro line. I need one new system and am not buying now for precisely that reason.

If you have multiple systems, you are fine with some less powerful stations. If, however, this is to be your only editing computer, I would outfit it to optimal configuration. To me, in a MacPro, that means no less than 4 gb of ram, X1900, and media drives of at least 500 gb. RAM at macsales.com or transintl.com is very reasonable. 500 gb SATA drives run little more than $100.

Systems integrators like ProMax are great. We need more knowledgeable and honest companies like them. There are certain areas, however, in which you can do it yourself since such things as installing ram and hard drives in a MacPro are very simple.

The other essential element is proper monitoring. Intensity does a great job of monitoring for the price. It is a good starting point. MXO-based solution is best bang for the buck. Capture card to dedicated SDI monitor-- now that's "power user".

Ned
 
thanks so let me get this straight

thanks so let me get this straight

nsoltz said:
Well... not quite power user. I'm a believer in "do it right the first time." That really provides an optimal experience and in the long run is less expensive. There will always be better and faster graphics cards and better and faster computers.

In fact, I would even buy now unless you need a computer today, I wouldn't buy anything at all until the Leopard introduction and we see what changes will appear in the MacPro line. I need one new system and am not buying now for precisely that reason.

If you have multiple systems, you are fine with some less powerful stations. If, however, this is to be your only editing computer, I would outfit it to optimal configuration. To me, in a MacPro, that means no less than 4 gb of ram, X1900, and media drives of at least 500 gb. RAM at macsales.com or transintl.com is very reasonable. 500 gb SATA drives run little more than $100.

Systems integrators like ProMax are great. We need more knowledgeable and honest companies like them. There are certain areas, however, in which you can do it yourself since such things as installing ram and hard drives in a MacPro are very simple.

The other essential element is proper monitoring. Intensity does a great job of monitoring for the price. It is a good starting point. MXO-based solution is best bang for the buck. Capture card to dedicated SDI monitor-- now that's "power user".

Ned
Click to expand...

The system they propsed to me is "ok" for capturing, editing and outputting HVX footage right? I know that I will upgrade to 4GB. Adding the 500gb drives should be easy if I do it myself or should I just ask Promax to upgrade the base package?

So the card that they are offering me is not suitable to handle HVX footage through FCP Studio2?

Are those the only problems with the system? The RAM, the HD and the video card?

Thanks
 
nsoltz said:
Not proper at all in my book.

Radeon X1900 is in my book necessary for running FCS 2 properly.

4gb of RAM minimum, better if you go with 8 gb

20" monitor as your primary monitor is to small. Go with Apple Cinema Display 23 or similar. I think the Viewsonics are just cheap things thrown in to keep the price down. You need internal media drives.

For monitoring as well as the potential of analog input/output, Intensity Pro can be nice.

You will get far better monitoring (but no capture capabilities) from Matrox MXO to Apple Cinema Display or similar (I use a Dell 2405).

I personally feel this system falls quite short of adequate FCS configuration.

Ned Soltz
Click to expand...

when you mention the Radeon x1900, are you talking about this card?
http://www.macconnection.com/Produc...10A&srccode=cii_5784816&cpncode=10-48766170-2

That is a lot of bang for my buck hehe So in your opinion nothing below this will run FCP2 smoothly?

Thanks
 
you dont need any capture card for p2 footage from the hvx. the only reason you'd need one is if you are going out to various varieties of hd tape

the ONLY problem with [good] vendors like promax is they try to upsell you on BS that you dont need, like THEIR choice of crappy viewsonic monitors, sound creation/monitoring gear, power supplies and support contracts that you'll very likely not ever need. and short change you on important things like RAM. keep in mind, vendors that sell "turnkey" systems will always bundle components that will surely work - BUT may not be the best choice. but they suggest them because they get the best profit margins from them. i walk into soooo many studios where you can tell they bought "suggested" package deals because they simply had no idea what they were buying.

you dont need the black magic card, NOR the promax SERVICE CONTRACT.

promax is one of the best vendors out there. ive used them for years. they wont ever steer you fundamentally wrong - BUT they are in business to make money. an uneducated buyer will end up buying crap they dont need in any of their quoted "packages" just like anywhere else.

do your homework, ask the right questions, buy what you need and get busy working ; )
 
Last edited:
this is what I want from ProMax: I did this last month.

Pro Max
Purchase interest.


# 215858
Apple CTO - Mac Pro Two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (8-core), 1GB,
750GB, X1900, w/ BT & AP.
Specifications
* Two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
* 750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s Boot Drive
* ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI) MUST HAVE to run color!
* One 16x SuperDrive
* Both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme
* Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse - U.S. English
* Mac OS X - U.S. English $4,517.00



# 214145
4GB DDR2 5300 667mhz FB Dimm (2x2GB) Kit (for total of 16GB
memory) $457.00

# 213557
Seagate 750GB SATA-300 7200rpm 16MB Cache internal storage $452.00

214727
AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro/Power Mac $236.00

211630
AJA KONA-3 Dual Link HD / HD / SD 10-bit PCIe Capture and Output $2867.00

210205
Final Cut Pro Custom Keyboard $89.00

210386
Apple Cinema HD Display 30" Flat Panel $1799.00

215617
Wacom PTZ930 9x12 USB Tablet w/pen & mouse $463.00

214241
Panasonic TH-42PH9UK 42" Professional Series $1494.00
HD Plasma Display



210346
Mackie Tapco S5 (Pair) Active Studio Monitor Speakers $304.00

215344
Mackie 1402-VLZ3 14 Channel Compact Mixer $395.00

214130
ProMax External 1.5TB FireMAX-R Array
Product Number: 214130 $1099.00

-OR-

216816
FireMAX 2TB Dual Combo Drive
Product Number: 216816 $1099.00
 
i dont know that that panasonic plasma display is good idea.

you can get better/cheaper drives than those promax branded firemax models...

unless youre used to wacom tablets - SKIP IT! and that final cut keyboard!

what do you plan on doing with that mixer?

do you NEED that kona card?
 
StreetsofPlastic said:
How about if I add an external HD instead? Would that be ok?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Stay with internal dedicated SATA drives.

The X1900 is an option at the Apple Store.

The stock Nvidia works just fine with FCS2, but if you want to use Motion for efficiently, go with the X1900. Also future proofs for FXPlug improvements
 
ahhh - here is where it gets subjective...

though david makes a very good point for simplicity of workflow and speed - i would advise against that. for the following reasons:

1. i have a practice of keeping individual client work on specific external firewire800 or estata drives, that way, when the project's done i simply shelve their drives (or their drive modules and move along...

2. if you have multiple client projects live at any given time, you are very likely going to exceed the capacity of an internal drive.

there comes a point where certain advice will be specific to an individuals business practice or workflow and you have to figure out which one works best for you...
 
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