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Home: Video University Forums: Mac Video:
New iMac 2.0GHz core duo good for DV?

cburton
New User

Mar 25, 2006, 12:40 PM

Post #1 of 11 (1522 views)
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New iMac 2.0GHz core duo good for DV?	Can't Post

Hi all, I see these systems turning up in apple's special deals section for a pretty good price. The one I'm looking at is the 2.0 GHz core duo model with the ATI Radeon X1600 graphics with 128MB GDDR3 memory. Will this give me satisfactory video performance? I understand application performance in FCP will not be all that great until the universal binary ships but I'm asking on a purely hardware level.

Or is my best bet the 2.3GHz dual core PM with GeForce 6600?

Chris

mmlips
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Mar 25, 2006, 5:12 PM

Post #2 of 11 (1502 views)
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Re: [cburton] New iMac 2.0GHz core duo good for DV? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hi Chris

Once Final Cut Studio goes universal (which should be any time now) that system should give you some kick fanny performance. Just load her up with as much RAM as she'll take and enjoy.

Mark

-----------------------------------
V.U. California Crew, L.A. Chapter
http://www.ifvproductions.com
"Because Life Doesn't Stand Still"
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RatVega
Enthusiast

Mar 26, 2006, 4:26 PM

Post #3 of 11 (1488 views)
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Re: [cburton] New iMac 2.0GHz core duo good for DV? [In reply to]	Can't Post

"Satisfactory" is a really relative term...

With all the claims Apple is making about the new Intel-based models, I've no doubt that they offer pretty perky performance, but never confuse "perky" with high-bandwidth. For general light editing and viewing, I'm pretty sure a dual core iMac will be fine, but a pair of 32-bit cores aren't going to perform as well as a pair (or more) of 64-bit processors running at higher clock speeds - especially when it comes to heavy lifting like rendering and transcoding.

If you're looking for raw bandwidth for video production beyond the hobbyist level, the PowerMac is probably your best choice. It's going to cost more, take up more room, and maybe not look as sexy as an iMac, but it'll take additional hard drives, more RAM, and allow more upgrades (like capture cards, SATA controllers, etc) not possible with the iMac.

The best policy with the PM is to get the fastest video board you can, your overall performance will be better as well as being able to better exploit some of the wilder apps.

______________________________________________________________
Currently on a loaded 2.5GHz G5 dualie/5GB/1TB internal RAID/dual 19" monitors. Final Cut Studio, Adobe Suite, Boris RED. Shooting with Canon.

VU California Crew, Inland Empire Sub-Chapter (paragraph?)

bbalser
User

Mar 28, 2006, 9:10 AM

Post #4 of 11 (1450 views)
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Re: [RatVega] New iMac 2.0GHz core duo good for DV? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Remember that aside from the 2.0Ghz speed of the Intel Mac, the data pipes internally are slower than the G5 models. Plus, I can't afford to pay Apple to be a beta tester at this time. I personally wouldn't touch an Intel Mac with FCP until the G5 dualies are replaced with Intels.

bbalser
User

Apr 2, 2006, 6:16 PM

Post #5 of 11 (1364 views)
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Re: [bbalser] New iMac 2.0GHz core duo good for DV? [In reply to]	Can't Post

I also have a problem with Apple shipping the 1600x graphics card with half the VRAM on it that the same card comes with if you buy it off the shelf in a box. Just doesn't seem right.

Let me just say, I'm not paying Apple, as much as I love their stuff, that much money for the honor of being a beta tester.

Remember, NO ONE HAS SHOW FCP RUNNING ON THESE MACHINES YET! If you jump in and get one, you're taking a chance. One I wouldn't stake my income making business on.

And I'm still convinced that the Quad Core G5 is a much more powerful machine than the three bottom of the line Macs that are now Intel based.

gl
Veteran

Apr 5, 2006, 6:42 PM

Post #6 of 11 (1321 views)
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Re: [cburton] New iMac 2.0GHz core duo good for DV? [In reply to]	Can't Post

A little late to the topic but...

I am not sure what you are used to in terms of performance but, there is little doubt now that FCP on the iMac 2.0Ghz will be the same if not a little better thna a dual g5 2.0. Actually, Motion is running FASTER on the MBP 2.0 than it does on a Dual 2.0 G5 w/ an X800 ATI card.

I wouldn't worry about the performance. It's there.

-gl

gl
Veteran

Apr 5, 2006, 6:45 PM

Post #7 of 11 (1315 views)
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Re: [bbalser] New iMac 2.0GHz core duo good for DV? [In reply to]	Can't Post

It runs and runs quite well actually.

-gl

RatVega
Enthusiast

Apr 5, 2006, 8:43 PM

Post #8 of 11 (1309 views)
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Re: [gl] New iMac 2.0GHz core duo good for DV? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks, gl, for reviving this topic and forcing me to do something I was meaning to do... namely, account for the difference in timings that simply don't make sense.

I just ran those tests on my 2.5GHz G5 dualie which (currently) only has the stock 9600XT video board. I have no idea how they were getting the data for the filmstrip piece but I was for sure getting full framerates (or so close I couldn't tell the difference.) Now the telling part...

I ran the Star Wars roll exactly as delivered and the RAM preview was indeed taking a long time. When I peeked into the Activity Monitor to better understand, it became quite clear. For some (currently unexplained) reason, Motion was using about 75-90% of one processor. My first suspicion was that the difference might have been in the video board, but when less than half the processor cycles are going to Motion, it's easy for me to see how a dual core 32-bit machine with a decent video board could look faster.

I'll be looking for a Compressor MPEG-2 transcoding benchmark before I conclude anything. That exercise will basically consume my entire system, using 90-95% of both processors.

p.s. I just checked another thing I was curious about and the Star Wars piece was rendering 8-bit. I'm curious how the Intel chips will hold up in the 32-bit float mode.

I'm frankly happy any time Apple puts out a new machine whether I buy one or not, but I like to understand more than the marketing hype.

______________________________________________________________
Currently on a loaded 2.5GHz G5 dualie/5GB/1TB internal RAID/dual 19" monitors. Final Cut Studio, Adobe Suite, Boris RED. Shooting with Canon.

VU California Crew, Inland Empire Sub-Chapter (paragraph?)

(This post was edited by RatVega on Apr 5, 2006, 8:48 PM)

bbalser
User

Apr 5, 2006, 9:53 PM

Post #9 of 11 (1302 views)
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Re: [RatVega] New iMac 2.0GHz core duo good for DV? [In reply to]	Can't Post

It's all in German, but some German company tested the new Intel machines with FCP against G5s and found a HUGH difference. To bad I can't read German and know how the test was set up and run. That means a lot more to me than simple results in a graph. But for what it's worth, here it is-

http://www.final-cut-pro.de/...e/_inhalte/berichte/019_fcp_ub_test.shtml?navid=2

gl
Veteran

Apr 6, 2006, 2:22 PM

Post #10 of 11 (1285 views)
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Re: [bbalser] New iMac 2.0GHz core duo good for DV? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Here is the translation. The sum up is that these Intel chips absolutely fly!

FCP German test

-gl

bbalser
User

Apr 6, 2006, 4:16 PM

Post #11 of 11 (1280 views)
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Re: [gl] New iMac 2.0GHz core duo good for DV? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Under some specific conditions. I'm looking for a similar test I read last week that showed very little speed between the two. It differed from that german test greatly.

So, should you go Intel Mac today? If you don't need Photoshop, After Effects, or MS Office until next Christmas, to for it.

I once set up a test, for demonstration purposes back when I trained computer techs, that actually made a 200Mhz Intel PC out perform a 400Mhz Intel PC. I don't trust a test that I don't know the structure of.