Fine tuning my Ultimate rig. Little help, please.

[tronnyjenkins]

Wow, plenty of good things for me to look at. Namely the RAM and gpu.

I'm running High Sierra
SSD is in a drive bay
no wireless, not even mouse or keyboard. (side note, is wifi frowned upon?)
16GB RAM, seems I'm way under most of you.
GT120 gpu, sounds like I need to go shopping there too.


Thanks for all the help.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by tronnyjenkins

Wow, plenty of good things for me to look at. Namely the RAM and gpu.

I'm running High Sierra
SSD is in a drive bay
no wireless, not even mouse or keyboard. (side note, is wifi frowned upon?)
16GB RAM, seems I'm way under most of you.
GT120 gpu, sounds like I need to go shopping there too.


Thanks for all the help.

Way under spec'd. Max out the ram - as much as you can fit in three slots. Second put that ssd on a pcie card and in the slot next to the video card or in the next empty card. Speaking of said card - something with a bit more muscle would be good. WIFI is also a no-no for the most part as it can steal cpu cycles.

[tronnyjenkins]

Crikey. Looks like I better start washing dishes with my off time to buy even more computer stuff... Oh well. Spend money to make money, right?

The good news is I should be able to use the gt120 in another machine that is being demoted to PT10 duty but has a faulty gpu.

Are there any metal-compatible cards you guys can recommend that I could find used that aren't expensive? We only do audio on this computer, so it doesn't have to be fancy. As long as it won't lag. And gives me my boot screen.

[LDS]

Originally Posted by JFreak

First time I hear about this. I have a 4,1 live rig and never had a problem with power... maybe they have done something between 4,1 and 5,1 design?

It is probably more setup specific than design specific. A powered USB hub made everything run much nicer here.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by tronnyjenkins

Crikey. Looks like I better start washing dishes with my off time to buy even more computer stuff... Oh well. Spend money to make money, right?

The good news is I should be able to use the gt120 in another machine that is being demoted to PT10 duty but has a faulty gpu.

Are there any metal-compatible cards you guys can recommend that I could find used that aren't expensive? We only do audio on this computer, so it doesn't have to be fancy. As long as it won't lag. And gives me my boot screen.

Ram is relatively inexpensive and if you buy from OWC they'll credit you for the ram you already have when you return that old ram to them. And they have a card that will take your ssd and let you use it in a pcie card slot. Both inexpensive. The only expensive part might be the video card and it's hard to give a recommendation because as soon as someone does those cards become scarcer than hen's teeth. Look at these sites for help with the card:
https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/pro...o-51-computers
and here:
http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=406385

You'll have to decide for yourself what you can afford. But think about this: do you really NEED Mojave? Or can High Sierra work for you? If it can then you don't need to splash-out for a super-duper video card and will save some bucks.

[off the wall]

Originally Posted by musicman691

Ram is relatively inexpensive and if you buy from OWC they'll credit you for the ram you already have when you return that old ram to them. And they have a card that will take your ssd and let you use it in a pcie card slot. Both inexpensive. The only expensive part might be the video card and it's hard to give a recommendation because as soon as someone does those cards become scarcer than hen's teeth. Look at these sites for help with the card:
https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/pro...o-51-computers
and here:
http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=406385

You'll have to decide for yourself what you can afford. But think about this: do you really NEED Mojave? Or can High Sierra work for you? If it can then you don't need to splash-out for a super-duper video card and will save some bucks.

Even though High Sierra doesn't NEED a new video card, I found that once I replaced mine in my 5,1, PT 12+ got a lot more responsive. Especially working with video. It had become almost unusable with an embedded video at v12 with the original card.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by off the wall

Even though High Sierra doesn't NEED a new video card, I found that once I replaced mine in my 5,1, PT 12+ got a lot more responsive. Especially working with video. It had become almost unusable with an embedded video at v12 with the original card.

Which exact card did you get? I know your sig file says an AMD 7970 but when I Google that card I find what appear to be many variants.

[off the wall]

Originally Posted by musicman691

Which exact card did you get? I know your sig file says an AMD 7970 but when I Google that card I find what appear to be many variants.

I bought a PC card flashed for a Mac. So there is the normal boot screen. There are lots of these for sale out there. I'm not sure if this is the best value today but mine works great.

For example:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Radeon-...4AAOSwLZBbstHf

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by off the wall

I bought a PC card flashed for a Mac. So there is the normal boot screen. There are lots of these for sale out there. I'm not sure if this is the best value today but mine works great.

For example:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Radeon-...4AAOSwLZBbstHf

Thanks but I'd rather stay away from eBay. I have found the Gigabyte AMD 7970 variant that has three fans on it. Not sure but I think it was called Mac compatible.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by musicman691

I'd rather stay away from eBay.

Why?