Help me select a new MAC

[Bezo]

I'm on a dual 1.25 GHz G4. Everything was running smooth until I invested in BFD, a hungry drum plugin. With the plugin enabled, I can't do anything unless buffers are set at 1024. And still I get occasional errors and hiccups. Even without it, with larger mixes, I'm starting to have occasional problems. So...

I'm going to start looking into some refurbished G5s. Can you all help me with features/specs I'll need to see a significant gain in performance? What do you suggest?

[The Dougfather]

If you want to see some real horse power then it's Intel all the way. Steve Jobs quoted that an intel core solo is faster than a G5, many users report better performance from a macbook than a dual G5 powermac. I just sold my G5 iMac, it was slow and noisy.

Cheers

[tclash]

Intel, indeed. My GF's 2.0ghz MacBook (Core Duo) edges out my dual 2.7 G5 on video compression (the only comparison I've done so far).

[VanAmp]

Hey Bezo I am having trouble with the same decision.

An Intel macpro STARTS at $2100

I have seen QUAD G5 2.5 GHZ for about the same price.

Those of you suggesting that the Intel mac do you really think the Low-end macpro can keep up with a quad G5??

I am going to check the web and see if I can find any more g5 vs. Intel mac comparisions

[tclash]

Even the low-end Mac Pro is a quad machine. You should look on the Apple refurb page. You can get a standard (quad 2.66) Mac Pro for $2200. That's pretty tempting even to me, and I've only had my dual 2.7 G5 for less than a year and a half.

[Bezo]

Thanks folks! And it looks like I could get away with just the free upgrad to 7.1.1.

Pardon my ignorance as some of this CPU jargon goes over my head. A few more questions:

So, it's the intel chip that's responsible for the extra speed and/or power? The GHz is the speed, correct? But a Mac G5 Quad 2.5 GHz would be outperformed by a Mac Pro 2.0 GHz?

Also, with the Mac Pros, can someone give me an idea what the performance difference would be between the 2.0 GHz and the 2.66?

Lastly, Is Pro Tools 7.1.1 actually utilizing all 4 processors?

[JFreak]

As long as you only use Protools, sure, Intel is the latest and greatest. The same goes if you only use Universal Binary plugins that have already been optimised and tested for Intel platform.

If you use even *one* old-skool plugin, then your best bet is PPC hardware. Quad Powermac is rock solid and stable, and I myself will be using such machine in mission critical applications (read: live) for a long time. PPC systems have been tested for years and the current stability is great.

If you're new to Protools and need to spend some time learning new stuff, you're probably better off with Intel hardware. It takes time to learn what you need to know and once you're there, probably software companies have also had enough time to work things out. But if you already know what you need to know, the reality is: PPc hardware rocks.

...but if you already knew, you shouldn't have had to ask

[Bezo]

As long as you only use Protools, sure, Intel is the latest and greatest. The same goes if you only use Universal Binary plugins that have already been optimised and tested for Intel platform.

McDSP just took over as my primary plugs, and the BFD plug that's causing me to consider the upgrade has also been tested on the Intel machines. I should be OK with either in this regard.

If you use even *one* old-skool plugin, then your best bet is PPC hardware. Quad Powermac is rock solid and stable, and I myself will be using such machine in mission critical applications (read: live) for a long time. PPC systems have been tested for years and the current stability is great.

Thanks. Some folks on the BFD sight have been claiming great performance with G5s for some time.

If you're new to Protools and need to spend some time learning new stuff, you're probably better off with Intel hardware. It takes time to learn what you need to know and once you're there, probably software companies have also had enough time to work things out. But if you already know what you need to know, the reality is: PPc hardware rocks.

...but if you already knew, you shouldn't have had to ask

I'm not new to Pro Tools and get around it just fine, but my general CPU knowledge is not what it should be. If I knew what you were talking about though, I'd have a better idea if I knew what I needed to know, so, I guess I don't know. I really have no idea what you mean by this.