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awcopus · Mar 9, 2003, 02:09 PM

Any video editors out there who can vouch for a significant, perceptible speed increase in FCP in the new high-end dual as opposed to the single 933. I would wait for the 970, but am forced to consider a new machine at home (girlfriend's mac is long in tooth) and have to decide whether to pass along my 933 to her and go "high end" or go low-end... and wait...

Will the progress bar during renders move THAT much faster...and by THAT....I mean, is there a gee-whiz factor. Or would I find the 1.4 underwhelming for truly intense FCP stuff.

Thanks in advance for feedback.

coolmac · Mar 9, 2003, 02:36 PM

Funny you should ask, I'm not a video editor but I also have a 933Mhz Powermac and I was seriously considering replacing it with the dual 1.4gig.

This morning I went to my local Apple Store where they had a shiny new dual 1.42gig on display.
I played with it for a god half hour and I've got to say, though I certainly didn't put it through it's paces I was surprised that even in just launching programs I didn't see or feel any subatantial speed increase over my 933.

Photoshop opened in about the same time, perhaps a second faster, the same with iDVD.
I did some basic filter in Photoshop and they really didn't perform any faster than my 933!

I also tried Virtual PC and it was pathetically slow.

Now I'm not saying that for intense multitasking or heavy video editing there wouldn't be an improvement in performance, but I certainly was hoping and expecting an all around feeling of more speed.

I left the store with a smile knowing that my 933 Powermac is stil a great Mac and about $2900 still in my pocket.

I'll wait for the next Powermac upgrade.

awcopus · Mar 9, 2003, 05:01 PM

D'oh. I just heard the same thing from a friend who went to the SOHO store and had basically the same experience.

So the additional 450 MHz is just....what then.....bull

? Is there a bottleneck? What the

? Motorola really has taken the "Power" out of PowerMac.

Anyway, thanks for your response. I am in shock and, I guess, buying the lowest-end Mac for my lady and waiting for a true PowerMac someday....someday.....

headbox · Mar 9, 2003, 11:25 PM

measuring how fast a program opens IS NOT a measure of how fast a computer is. That kind of operation is almost entirely drive speed dependent. Had you done some photoshop work on a 100MB file or worked on a 20 minute DV movie, you would have seen a huge difference.

coolmac · Mar 10, 2003, 07:00 AM

I disagree, I also have two PC's, one is a 1.8gig P4 and a 3.06gig P4.

The 1.8gig opens Photoshop in 6 seconds, the 3.06gig opens in 3 seconds or less.

I didn't say there is no performance increase between the 933 and dual 1.42, I said that there was almost no feeling of a general speed increase in basic functionality.

awcopus · Mar 10, 2003, 08:43 AM

headbox....quantify "huge". Is it that while you're rendering, you don't have downtime?
That's no doubt a productivity gain worth considering.

My last post was a hissy fit... I really need to hear from people who use FCP and have experienced going from a single processor 933 or close to that to the top-of-the-line 1.42 dual... what's it like? Nirvana or only so-so?

headbox · Mar 11, 2003, 01:57 AM

Originally posted by coolmac:
I disagree, I also have two PC's, one is a 1.8gig P4 and a 3.06gig P4.

The 1.8gig opens Photoshop in 6 seconds, the 3.06gig opens in 3 seconds or less.

I didn't say there is no performance increase between the 933 and dual 1.42, I said that there was almost no feeling of a general speed increase in basic functionality.

Your newer PC also has a faster bus speed, improved mainboard chipset, and likely a faster hard drive. Anyways, my main point is, the time it takes for a program to open is hardly a benchmark.

headbox · Mar 11, 2003, 02:04 AM

Originally posted by awcopus:
I really need to hear from people who use FCP and have experienced going from a single processor 933 or close to that to the top-of-the-line 1.42 dual... what's it like? Nirvana or only so-so?

I have gone from a single CPU 867mhz Quicksilver PowerMac to a dual 1.25 GHz, both with 512 MB of RAM and a 80 GB HD, and the 867 had a Radeon 8500. I use mostly Photoshop and After Effects, and the difference is "huge." In AE 5.5 I am able to work with more complicated projects at a much higher resolution, and rendering is significantly faster. Applying filters to large photoshop images is much faster too. I don't use FCP, but adding transitions and rendering in iMovie is much better too, as expected. Playing Diablo 2 and Quake 3 with the eye candy turned up on my old Mac was a little sluggish before, and now it's 100% smooth.

hope that helps. for someone who edits video, you will definitely feel a speed boost.

awcopus · Mar 11, 2003, 08:39 AM

Thanks headbox. Appreciate the feedback. Food for thought.... :-)

Thinine · Mar 11, 2003, 10:11 AM

One of the biggest, and most ignored, factors in application launching is HD speed. You won't see much improvement in launch speed if the HD's are essentially the same speed. Now, actual app usage should increase with processor speed, especially if the app is multithreaded.