Ableton Forum

Hi there!

Got a Quad 2.66 demo in May, bumped the ram to 7GB and lllloooooove it! Main reason was my hot-rodded G4 dual 1.8 (Sonnet CPU upgrade)was starting to power off when it ran too hot, esp. when working on a 95-minute-35-track film project (Logic 7.2). I have yet to peak out the CPU, but then again I haven't thrown convolution reverbs on each and every track.

The new computer has been a gorgeous rock-solid dream come-true for me in terms of ease-of-use and reliability. I've used it to render full-res video files out of Final Cut Pro, burn DVDs in Studio Pro, and best of all it has no problem keeping up with the film project in Logic Pro 8 which has even more audio content now. Plus, it is EXCEPTIONALLY quiet.

The reason I went with the 2.66 instead of the 3.0 was that I found out that the improvements in non-CPU speed areas (like SATA drives vs IDE, bus and cache, RAM 'bandwidth') were a big part of the diff between my old Quicksilver mac and the MacIntels. Of course the Intel CPU structure is important too. BUT some tests (www.xlr8yourmac.com or macworld.com, can't remember) were done showing that the difference in speed between the quad 2.66 and quad 3.0 were 10-11% AT BEST with software that was specificially pushing the the CPUs. Otherwise the speed bump was maybe 5% on average.

If Apple varied the bus speeds and caches in addition to CPU speeds in the Mac Pros that would be a different thing altogether. But to vary ONLY the CPU speed by 10% between the same core count does not really justify the extra $$ for many folks.

I got the Mac Pro after they had been out a while so the bugs could get worked out of the hardware. I suggest that you do the same with the new 45nm based CPUs. Don't pay to be a beta tester for Mac. If you can wait until the new ones have been out for at least 3 months, preferably longer, do so. Then scrounge online for problems people have been having with them so you know what to possibly expect.

You might be better off getting a new quad and sinking the extra $$ into RAM.

Hopefully there won't be any problems at all.

Sorry for the lengthy monologue, but I hope all this was helpful. The Mac Pro is my 5th mac, 3rd tower. My first was a 1992 iivx model with (230MB HD).

Cheers and good luck,
Elizabeth



aka Annadyne, Aurascene

annadyne wrote:BUT some tests (www.xlr8yourmac.com or macworld.com, can't remember) were done showing that the difference in speed between the quad 2.66 and quad 3.0 were 10-11% AT BEST with software that was specificially pushing the the CPUs. Otherwise the speed bump was maybe 5% on average.

That's interesting. 3.0 is 12.8% over 2.66 in theory. Yet the boost realized in practice usually never reached that. I'd say it may not be worth the money, depending on the price difference.

Regarding waiting longer for a MAC Pro... I wouldn't (and didn't). Even once they drop the new Intel chip in, the rest of the machine will still be the same. I wouldn't worry about there being a bug or early kinks in the Intel chip itself. I don't think that's very common (it's usually motherboards, etc. that have kinks to be worked out).

I could see Apple revamping the Mac Pro soon with a smaller case (there's a lot of air in there), but THEN you'd be in the risky early-adopter situation.

Dave,

Ja!

>>Regarding waiting longer for a MAC Pro... I wouldn't (and didn't). Even once they drop the new Intel chip in, the rest of the machine will still be the same.

I just meant that if one is absolutely hung up on getting a Mac Pro with the new processors it's still a good idea to wait until they've been out for a little while. I find it hard to believe that the rest of the computer, esp the motherboard will be exactly the same, especially if the power reqirements of the cores will be different, even though they're supposed to be more efficient. A change in hardware means a change in manufacturing - which can result in improvements or hiccups (guess I've shot too many manuf plant interiors in my past life a as video producer

Plus waiting a bit also means that you just might find a nice demo at a better price. There are definintely computers that have turned up with bad cores. Mine, which was a demo, did and its age was 3-4 months into the existence of the quad 2.66s. But fortunately the vendor found all that out and sent it in to Apple for a replacement CPU under warranty, before I ever received it. (I was smart enough to ask for a copy of the Applecare repair sheet to verify what was fixed for future reference.) Then I got an extra 1GB of RAM free for waiting an extra week for my unit.) Annoying but better in the end because the vendor did the right thing.

Of course you might also find a refurb still under warranty. And yeah... even better would be buying something after the announcement of the new models pushes the current crop's prices down.

If the hardware is going to stay exactly the same, that would be great as it would mean all any speed-freak Mac Pro owner will be able to pop in the new CPUs (if willing to bruising her bank account for a boost. And maybe, indirectly, it would mean that Apple really has ultra-tweaked the supporting electronics of the current design to optimum performance.

Ok, enough, back to Ableton and Logic!

Cheerio,
Elizabeth

Dave,

Ja!

>>Regarding waiting longer for a MAC Pro... I wouldn't (and didn't). Even once they drop the new Intel chip in, the rest of the machine will still be the same.

I just meant that if one is 'absolutely has to have' a Mac Pro with the new processors it's still a good idea to wait until they've been out for a little while. I find it hard to believe that the rest of the computer, esp the motherboard will be exactly the same, if the power requirements of the cores has changed, even though they're supposed to be more efficient. A change in hardware means a change in manufacturing - which can result in improvements or hiccups. Guess I've shot too many manuf plant interiors in my past life a as video producer

Plus waiting a bit also means that you just might find a nice demo at a better price. While a rare occurence, there are definitely computers that have turned up with bad cores. Mine, which was a demo, did and its age was 3-4 months into the existence of the quad 2.66s. But fortunately the vendor found all that out and sent it in to Apple for a replacement CPU under warranty, before I ever received it. (I was smart enough to ask for a copy of the Applecare repair sheet to verify what was fixed for future reference.) Then I got an extra 1GB of RAM free for waiting an extra week for my unit. Annoying, but better in the end because the vendor did the right thing.

Of course you might also find a refurb still under warranty. And yeah... even better would be buying something after the announcement of the new models pushes the current crop's prices down. One again, I agree that the extra money for the new speed may not be worth it and be better spent on RAM, RAM RAM. And an extra intererior HD to create a cloned bootable exact replica of your main HD on, once all your favorite software is installed, working and stable.

Now, if the hardware is going to stay exactly the same, that would be great as it would mean all any speed-freak Mac Pro owner will be able to pop in the new CPUs , if willing to bruise her bank account, for a boost. And maybe, indirectly, it would mean that Apple has really has ultra-tweaked the supporting electronics of the current design to optimum performance.

Ok, back to Ableton and Logic! Let us know whatcha do!

Cheerio,
Elizabeth

Dave,

Ja!

>>Regarding waiting longer for a MAC Pro... I wouldn't (and didn't). Even once they drop the new Intel chip in, the rest of the machine will still be the same.

I just meant that if one is 'absolutely has to have' a Mac Pro with the new processors it's still a good idea to wait until they've been out for a little while. I find it hard to believe that the rest of the computer, esp the motherboard will be exactly the same, if the power requirements of the cores has changed, even though they're supposed to be more efficient. A change in hardware means a change in manufacturing - which can result in improvements or hiccups. Guess I've shot too many manuf plant interiors in my past life a as video producer

Plus waiting a bit also means that you just might find a nice demo at a better price. While a rare occurence, there are definitely computers that have turned up with bad cores. Mine, which was a demo, did and its age was 3-4 months into the existence of the quad 2.66s. But fortunately the vendor found all that out and sent it in to Apple for a replacement CPU under warranty, before I ever received it. (I was smart enough to ask for a copy of the Applecare repair sheet to verify what was fixed for future reference.) Then I got an extra 1GB of RAM free for waiting an extra week for my unit. Annoying, but better in the end because the vendor did the right thing.

Of course you might also find a refurb still under warranty. And yeah... even better would be buying something after the announcement of the new models pushes the current crop's prices down. One again, I agree that the extra money for the new speed may not be worth it and be better spent on RAM, RAM RAM. And an extra intererior HD to create a cloned bootable exact replica of your main HD on, once all your favorite software is installed, working and stable.

Now, if the hardware is going to stay exactly the same, that would be great as it would mean all any speed-freak Mac Pro owner will be able to pop in the new CPUs , if willing to bruise her bank account, for a boost. And maybe, indirectly, it would mean that Apple has really has ultra-tweaked the supporting electronics of the current design to optimum performance.

Ok, back to Ableton and Logic! Let us know whatcha do!

Cheerio,
Elizabeth

PS apologies for the double post.... experiencing 3rd world internet in my office today with potholes.

Elizabeth

thanks for the info.

<3

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