Mac Pro Help!

Mr.McMoobs

I was wondering if you guys could help me. I plan to buy a Mac Pro to run multimedia and videos on 8 screens. It will be different display on each screen. I was wondering is the following specs enough to do it. I appreciate your help.

Specifications

One 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
2GB (2x1GB)
4xATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB GDDR3
320GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
One 16x SuperDrive
Apple Mighty Mouse
Apple Keyboard & Mac OS
Five USB ports
Two FireWire 400 ports
Two FireWire 800 ports

muggyog

Are Radeons dual outputs?

Mr.McMoobs

Yea the Radeons seem to be dual output

forbairt

I'd be inclined to up the memory ... through crucial though as it'll be a lot cheaper ... (don't know how much of an effect it'd have but it wouldn't hurt having and extra 2 gbs)

Mr.McMoobs

Yea the memory might need to be upped a bit. Can you use any memory with mac? Stupid question but I'm new to using mac. I know you can only use certain graphics cards. This can be changed later though. My main concern is if the processor and graphics cards are good enough to run multimedia, pretty much non-stop for a long time.

babypink

go for the standard processor rather than the single processor......i know you're saving €450 but for what you need its worth it. i.e. 2x2.8Ghz Quad core rather than the 1x2.8Ghz Quad core you're speccing.

I'd definitely push the ram up as high as you can....buy from Crucial, or from OWC here http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Mac-Pro-Memory

Remember that you should be buying MacPro memory in matched pairs....i.e. if you're buying 4GB, thats 2x2GB sticks. Also be careful if contemplating generic memory, as the Apple specifies specific heat-sinks for RAM that most manufacturers don't supply - to do with internal cooling etc. OWC and crucial DO supply MacPro suitable RAM.

I would also buy some extra hard drives off the likes of komplett etc.. and put them into the 3 free HD bays in the MacPro and spread your multimedia content over the HDs. It'll make a big difference to real-world performance to have 8 streams of content pulling from 4 HD's rather than 8 streams from a single HD, particularly if the content is to be high quality.

I realise that this pushes up the cost for you, but for an 8-screen multimedia setup there's no super-cheap way to do it.

Mr.McMoobs

Thanks for the help babypink. Will having different HD make much of a different in performance. The multimedia and videos wont be huge just playing in loops continuously. These will also be uploaded remotely so dont plan having huge amount of data on the computer.
Also was wondering where can you buy Graphics cards for the mac pro. Looking for couple of ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT cards. I'm working on a mac Pro now, so might upgrade this computer too.

muggyog

OK I googled the card and it does have dual output. So you can drive 8 monitors but I'm not so sure about the 8 different displays. In the display section of the system prefs you can manipulate the arrangement of the displays but I wonder how much of a pane (joke) it would be to manage 8 panels.

Heat may be a problem with this arrangement. Checkout http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/apple_posts_ati_radeon_hd_2600_xt_firmware_update_for_mac_pros/

babypink

well, when you're pulling multiple streams off a HD you're inherently limited by the seek speed and random read speed of the HD. I have found that anything over 3 simultaneous videos off a HD and you're into uncertain territory.... particularly if there is any kind of quality involved.

Out of interest, what size screens are you planning on? The reason i ask is that if you're at 20" or greater you'd need to have decently sized video if it is to scale decently to the resolution of the screen (i'm assuming you'll be doing fullscreen video), so your throughput will be higher than smaller video. HDs have a fixed throughput(model dependent) so you'd be spreading that throughput over fewer streams.

As a test, just open up 8 videos and have them all in view on your screen(s) and see how you fare running them simultaneously. I suspect that you may have issues. In short....having multiple HDs with the content spread across them will make a difference.

As for the graphics cards, as i've pointed out in a recent thread, they are Mac specific - so don't just go and buy a PC card and stick it in...chances are it won't work. I'd suggest eBay as your first port of call....you might pick some up at a good price, alternatively you could buy directly from Apple, or you could tap the authorised resellers like Typetec, CompuB etc.. (see the reference sticky at the top of the forum for more)

aktelmiele

Mr.McMoobs wrote: »

Can you use any memory with mac? Stupid question but I'm new to using mac.

You can't use any RAM, you must use a certain type. I went to use the old 2 GB's from my MAC Book Pro in my Power Book and it wasn't compatible.

Use the Crucial Memory Advisor Tool here to find the correct RAM for you.