Upgrade suggestions...

S

SPZ

Veteran
I currently own a Powerbook g4 1.67ghz, wich is very handy for dumping P2, and a Powermac G5 dual 2.7ghz pci-x.

The system works well, and for DVCPRO HD editing it seems more than sufficient. However, new software uses more and more GPU graphics for accelerating, and I would like to know your opinions on how I could upgrade my system?

Sincerely, I still do not feel any urgency on upgrading my laptop, since it does everything well and even manages dvcprohd editing (albeit slow).

However, I would like a boost for my Powermac G5, which currently runs FCP 5.1.2 (well) and comes with the default Radeon 9650 card, 3gb RAM and 2 internal 250gb Serial ATA drives.

I was thinking of upgrading my graphics card to a ATI Radeon 850XT, but it seems like it doesn't offer 2 DVI ports, and only one dual link DVI and a ADC port (what is this? Can this be adapted to DVI without loss of quality?)

Any suggestions for an optimal system boost? I really wouldn't like to invest on a new Macpro (yet)... I would do this when Blu-ray recording and content producing is viable. I know I can get an external lacie burner for that, but I believe I still can't justify the upgrade to the Macpro.

I would also like to upgrade to the new FCS2, and try prores. Any suggestions to make my Powermac Prores capable?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the flood of questions!

EDIT- This is my personal system- in my job I'm working with a Macpro 3.0ghz Quad core and a Macbook pro 2.4ghz. While the Macpro is indeed faster, I do believe that with the right upgrades my Powermac can at least get closer in performance...
 
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I was thinking of upgrading my graphics card to a ATI Radeon 850XT, but it seems like it doesn't offer 2 DVI ports, and only one dual link DVI and a ADC port (what is this? Can this be adapted to DVI without loss of quality?)

I have the 9800 Pro card and it is ACD and DVI. A simple ADC to DVI adapter works great. Is that card Mac Compatible? Make sure.

Any suggestions for an optimal system boost?

Like what? You can't swap out the processors...they are plenty good as they are. I have the Dual 2.0 Ghz G5 and it works fine. FCS 2 and all. And working with DVCPRO HD and ProRes...although getting ProRes is tricky.

Any suggestions to make my Powermac Prores capable?

Well, unfortunately you cannot capture anything to ProRes via a capture card without an Intel Mac. That is the requirement, pure and simple. You can, however, capture then transcode to ProRes, or render out ProRes and be fine. If we are talking HDV here, you can...amazingly...capture HDV as ProRes via firewire. I just did it.

http://library.creativecow.net/articles/poisson_chris/hdv-prores.php

While the Macpro is indeed faster, I do believe that with the right upgrades my Powermac can at least get closer in performance...

Again, there is nothing you can upgrade beyond the RAM and graphics card...and the graphics card will only increase the performance of Motion, and a handful of FXPlug plugins. YOu can't upgrade the processor.
 
Shane, thanks for the very informative reply.

What do you think of purchasing a Kona LH (pci-x) or a matrox MXO? Will this improve my performance? (These cards say they speed up FCP)

My intended upgrade plan (following your suggestions)

Ati Radeon 850xt mac

8gb Ram

Matrox MXO? (I like how it sounds versatile)

FCS2

2900 dollar upgrade aprox, I believe.

One more question: is the ram transferable to a Macpro?

What do you think?
 
SPZ, putting 2900 into a power mac is just crazy to me, sorry. I went from a dual 2.0 G5 to my macpro and it is just day an night man, now with the new macpros out, I dont see why you wouldn't spend the 3000 and get a octacore macpro with about 4 gigs of after-market ram, and 2tbs of storage?If my conversion to my macpro was as good as it was, a jump from your G5 to an 8 core system would seriously blow your mind, Rendering and exporting and copying files are just soo much faster, You can upgrade your G5 all you want, but lets face it, Powermac is a dead race, if your going to dump that much cash, get an Intel machine.
And no G5 Ram is not compatible with the Macpro, neither are the HDs.
Jon
 
Thanks guys for your information and suggestions...

Its really, really hard to step up to a new machine right now. My Powermac works fine for dvcpro HD as it is, but struggles in graphic intensitive tasks. Magic Bullet is one of them. Motion is another...

Its a much bigger investment to go for a new tower. My 2900 includes the Matrox MXO and the FCS2 editing software. For 3000 I would get the Macpro, but without either of these extras. The matrox box can be transferable for a future Macpro, no?

I know you'll ask me the question of why change if your current system seems to work fine. The thing is, I want to achieve top quality in Post with my Final Cut System. I want to be able to create ONLINE quality edits vs the offline grade stuff I'm doing- I end up grading in post houses in Da Vinci systems or top of the Line Adrenaline and flame systems. I know its unrealistic to have similar quality, but I want to be closer in terms of results. I know FCP is versatile enough to allow this.

Any suggestion for the best possible quality out of my FCP machine?

Shane, you're a FCP expert, can you share the best configuration posssible for our Powermacs to achieve online quality editing out of it?

Or do you do grading in Color? Or Motion?

EDIT- How about If I go for a new Macbook Pro? Will it have a performance similar to my Powermac? I heard rumours a new line with multi-core will be introduced... Would this be a viable machine for quality editing? And Prores capture?

Sorry for my lack of knowledge in the area. maybe my questions are completely non-sensical...
 
Im think(more like wishing) that Macworld will have an octacore macbookpro, but still the price will be more expesive than the new 2700 macpro with its 8 cores, I think if you wnt more performance the best system will be the latest and gratest Macpro system.

Jon
 
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