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A
Anonymous
March 29, 2017
Question

Should I buy a new Nvidia card or switch to PC?

  • March 29, 2017
  • 4 replies
  • 1670 views

Hi everyone,

I being working for many years with premiere, I have a MacPro 5,1 2.4Ghz Quad-Core intel xeon 24Gb RAM with Nvidia 680GTX, internal SDD raids.

Everything was amazing until last update. I used to edit HD & 4k with AE dynamic links. Couldn't be happier. but now playback is freezing and can't export using cuda anymore it gives a memory error.

I'm not blaming adobe for this, I understand my system is outdated. my computer is 7 years old.

my question is:

should I tried with a new nvidia card and add some Ram memory to my mac? would it make it any good?

or I really need to spend a lot of money buying a powerful PC from puget system or HP workstations?

Thanks

[Moderator note: moved to best forum]

This topic has been closed for replies.

4 replies

Bill Gehrke
Bill Gehrke
Inspiring
April 20, 2017

I just found it

Re: Nvidia 10 series in my old 5,1 Mac

A
Anonymous
May 5, 2017

Thank you ! sorry my late reply. I'll take a look at it.

Bill Gehrke
Bill Gehrke
Inspiring
April 20, 2017

We just had an forum entry that succeeded in using a new nVidia driver with the GTX 10 seires of cards in a Mac.  You will have to search the forum for it as I did not bookmark it

S
smm4774
Known Participant
April 10, 2017

For whatever it's worth, I'm in the exact same boat.  I've been an editor for 15 years.  When I'm on a show, I'm using someone else's machines but for development work, I use my early 2009 8 Core Mac.

For Avid, the machine is still a rockstar but recently I've been getting requests to work in Premiere which is a different animal.

The nice thing about Macs is that they last for a long time.  The fact that we are still cutting on 8 year old systems is pretty amazing.  I've been researching PCs, and yes they are cheaper but the machines I'm looking at are still running around $7500.  That's building out machines with several 3rd party companies using reasonable parts like an Nvidia Geforce instead of a quadro.

I am opting to try and breathe life into my old Mac for at least 1 more year when Apple should be releasing an upgrade to the MacPro.  Here's what I am in the midst of doing.

Drives-  I have 3 SSD Drives.  I use 1 for my OS and Programs, 1 for projects and 1 for cache and peak files. For the system drive I splurged for an OWC Mercury Accelsior which is stupid fast.  For the projects drive, a samsung ssd and for the third, an inexpensive off brand since those files can always be rebuilt.

For Media, I have a large hardware controlled raid.  Same RAID I've used for a couple of years.

RAM-  I upgraded to 64mb of RAM, the recommended amount for 4k.  Early 2009 machines were not "approved" for 64 but they do just fine with it.  Just be sure to get all the same kind of ram.  Mixing Ram can create havoc.

Graphics Card-  I recently ordered a flashed GTX 980 TI from mac vid cards.  Google "mac vid cards" and you'll find the site.  They take PC cards and flash them with the mac bios.  People on various sites seem to rave about them so I'm giving it a shot.  I'm replacing my n ATI card which is a great card, but I want to take advantage of NVIDIA's CUDA cores.

For about $1100, I'm hoping to get 1 or 2 more years out of the old girl.  By then, Apple will have updated the trashcans.

Good Luck

A
Anonymous
April 20, 2017

Thanks, yes I think I will do the same thing. I will try to change my 680nvidia card for something better and newer and add more ram. I already ssd. good to know that someone else is also thinking the same.

E
excited_Genie16B8
Legend
March 29, 2017

$2,000 Custom PC vs $4,000 Mac Pro - YouTube

The upshot is that the PC cost half as much and performed 3x better.

    A
    Anonymous
    March 31, 2017

    I agree that PC is a much better option than Mac. I've been working on video post for almost 20 years using Mac and I'm not afraid to say that PC are much better than Mac today.

    The thing is should I try to keep updating my 2010 old mac or buy a PC.

    By the way I don't think a $2,000 PC will work for what I do, maybe I'm wrong but I guess the cost will be similar to a Mac Pro for profesional postproduction.

    the big problem for Mac users is that we are totally stupid at the time to customise a PC, so I guess the safe way will be to buy an HP workstation or a Puget system.

    (by the way2 I can't believe my old Mac Pro 2010 benchmark CPU score is 782 vs 648 new Mac Pro from the link you sent)

    R
    RjL190365
    Legend
    March 31, 2017

    That 782 score from the older Mac Pro versus 648 for the current one is the result of the limitations of the newer model. It is only single-CPU capable whereas the older one had dual CPUs.

    And Apple these days is concentrating almost all of its energy on mobile devices, and is more or less letting its desktops and laptops (metaphorically) hang out to dry. In fact, the current Mac Pro is outdated, using only DDR3 system RAM at a time when PCs that use similar class CPUs now use DDR4 system RAM.

    By the way, the Mac Pro will be getting a refresh very shortly, and then a major hardware update in the coming years. So keep your fingers crossed.

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