Changing Systems: what's the WIN Intel Core I7-3770 equivalent in a Mac?

[dvdr]

Hi
I am seriously considering to change from Win7Pro into the Apple-world for my Pro Tools 12.7 system - since I already work with a MacBook Pro Retina for smaller projects plus do all of my photo-editing there, it might make sense too.
I'd need to upgrade my Windows-machine anyway, since I am running out of power: current projects overload the system (mostly caused by the number of plugins used) - why not then stay in the Apple-realm completely?

So: I know, that a Intel Core I7-3770 (4x 3.40 GHz/8MB) is not enough for my big projects in the Windows world. What would be the equivalent for that processor in the Apple-world? That answer might give me a clue, what NOT to look for, when considering buying a used or refurbished Apple machine.
After answering that, would you be so nice and include a specific suggestion for a system? I am considering a used Mac Pro - I'd like to get a "trashcan" because of the small form factor, but that might be too expensive. So an older Mac Pro would do (must say, though, that I am not at all familiar with all its variations, so please be specific).

Main issue for me is not so much bouncing speed, but enough horsepower to mix plugin-heavy projects of up to 50 tracks / 15 AUXs, maybe 1 - 2 VSTs. I just can't live with constantly freezing/unfreezing tracks anymore just to be able to play a mix, because my processor is maxed out and asks to deactivate plugins.

Thanks for your help!

[musicman691]

Things to consider:
The older cheesegrater MacPros do not have Thunderbolt ports if that's important to you. I don't know if there's a way to add them via an add-on internal card or not. But they do have 4 internal drive bays so you could place your recording and sample drives there.

The USB ports are USB2.

The last MacPro (mid 2012 5,1) doesn't have the apparent speed you're looking for. In the single cpu models there's 3.2 and 3.33 GHz cpus; in the dual cpu models there's 2.4 and 2.66 and 3.06 GHz cpus. They can be Intel Xeon W3565, W3680, E5645, X 5650 or X5675 (Bloomfield, Westmere, Gulftown). The number of cores per processor is either 4 or 6.

[dvdr]

Originally Posted by musicman691

The last MacPro (mid 2012 5,1) doesn't have the apparent speed you're looking for.

Wow, that's surprising! I would have thought, the 2-processor-models would give me the sufficient boost...
And, yes, I'd need USB3.0 and - most likely - Thunderbolt.
So: does that only leave me with the choice of a "trashcan" - and there, only the really top of the notch models?

P.S.: I just saw a refurbished 2013-model with the following specs: 3,5 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon E5, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB Flash

[Darryl Ramm]

Yes, Cheesegraters are old, no Thunderbolt, USB 2 only, PCIe 2 only and SATA II (3 Gbps) only. You can add SATA III (6 Gbps) and USB 3 PCIe cards, but you cannot add Thunderbolt. Apple helped push Intel to make sure Thunderbolt included graphics and is not possible to retrofit. But you can still find ones with reasonable CPUs or can upgrade them, so not clear to me you can't get enough CPU capacity there.

The Trashcan is far from impressive, especially for the price. If you need a compact quiet workstation and don't mind the price it can be fine. But it is also crippled, Thunderbolt 2 only and no PCIe slots or extra M.2 expansion slots.

Apple have basically admitted the Trashcan is a flawed design and will presumably be coming out with something more expandable, hopefully more like a Cheesegrater, next year. This is likely largely mostly prompted by Apple's interest in AR/VR and how badly they are being left behind there. Hopefully they will support high end NVIDIA PCIe cards and Thunderbolt 3. I would also love to see multiple M.2 expansion slots and Apple to get off their proprietary kick with SSD storage, but we'll see.

Right now if I needed a really high-end box I would probably build a PC. OTOH I just brought a top-end new MacBook Pro.

But as with all upgrade threads the place to start is not talking about hardware, it is troubleshooting and workflow. Have you checked plugins are up to date? Looked at things like denormalization problems burning CPU. Is disk cache enabled? The system *fully* optimized. Is dynamic plugin processing disabled? Do you track with minimal plugins and mix with a maximum size IO buffer to reduce CPU use? Are you printing/freezing VI and plugin heavy tracks tracks etc. etc. etc.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Darryl Ramm]

OTOH looks like you have a LGA 1155 socket processor which is not well regarded for Pro Tools. If you build your own PC be sure to follow the build recommendations in threads on DUC.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dvdr]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

...But you can still find ones with reasonable CPUs or can upgrade them, so not clear to me you can't get enough CPU capacity there.

Daryll

thanks for the answers. I've been through all optimization procedures both in UEFI als well as in Windows. Everything, including plugins, is up to date.

I've done some more research on the topic and found quotes about "Geekbench 3" benchmarks everywhere - I know, that benchmarks are just measurements and the real world experience may differ. Online, I can find "Multi-Core" results of my i7-3770 of around 14.000. Upgrading to an i7-4770 would get me about 10% more "power".

I mention that, because I got offered a refurbished MacPro5,1 (Mid 2012) 2x Intel 6-Core Xeon 2.66 GHz, 12GB RAM.
Looking that up, I do get "Multi Core" results of around 25.000. Looks good to me on first sight.
Another one offered (but almost 80% more expensive) is the same model, but with a 2x6-core 3.46 GHz - could not find any benchmarks for that.

That to me looks like the boost I might be looking for - IF, as I said, those benchmarks can be applied to the real world Pro Tools needs.

I could live with the lack of Thunderbolt and would get a USB 3.0 PCI-Card and use SSDs for OS X Sierra (already have my VSTs on SSD via USB 3.0).

So, any thoughts on that? Money-wise, I tend to the 2.66 GHz Mac Pro, IF it really gives me a "real PT world" boost I need...

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by dvdr

I mention that, because I got offered a refurbished MacPro5,1 (Mid 2012) 2x Intel 6-Core Xeon 2.66 GHz, 12GB RAM.
Looking that up, I do get "Multi Core" results of around 25.000. Looks good to me on first sight.
Another one offered (but almost 80% more expensive) is the same model, but with a 2x6-core 3.46 GHz - could not find any benchmarks for that.
3.0).

Are you sure about that 3.46 GHz spec? Unless that machine was end user upgraded the fastest dual cpu in your model was a pair of 3.06 GHz cpus. That could be why you didn't find any published benchmarks for it.

[dvdr]

Yes, I am sure about those specs, because it's a shop, that is selling those on eBay Germany, they have quite a lot of those refurbished models online.
It's not Apple refurbished, of course, so I think, they are buying old Macs and do some upgrading by themselves, putting in new and faster processors etc.
They do offer a one-year warranty, though, and want to charge €3500 .
The "slower" refurbished model, that I was writing about, comes from a non-eBay, bigger online store in Germany. They only seem to sell the official, non-user upgraded models. This one goes for €1950.

What do you think of the 12-core 2.66 GHz model?

[albee1952]

If you just gotta run Mac, I would build a hackintosh based on a new socket 2011-3 motherboard and a matching 6-core i7. Having said that, my current 6 core i7 PC with 64GB of RAM runs 100+ tracks all day long at a 64 buffer

[conleec]

Originally Posted by dvdr

Yes, I am sure about those specs, because it's a shop, that is selling those on eBay Germany, they have quite a lot of those refurbished models online.
It's not Apple refurbished, of course, so I think, they are buying old Macs and do some upgrading by themselves, putting in new and faster processors etc.
They do offer a one-year warranty, though, and want to charge €3500 .
The "slower" refurbished model, that I was writing about, comes from a non-eBay, bigger online store in Germany. They only seem to sell the official, non-user upgraded models. This one goes for €1950.

What do you think of the 12-core 2.66 GHz model?

I'm running a 2.66Ghz 8-core Mac Pro 4,1 that has been upgraded to 5,1, 48Gb of the faster RAM and dual 3.33Ghz 6-core Xeons, plus a nVidia GTX 680 4Gb graphics card. I don't know specifically what plugins you're using, but my system Geekbenches over 24,000 and it runs Pro Tools very well.