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badtz · Oct 26, 2005, 09:41 AM

I'm planning on getting the Radeon 9650 to go along with a dual 1.8ghz G5 and was wondering ...

has anyone used it with the various software in the Final Cut Studio suite of programs?

More specifically, its' performance using Final Cut Pro for editing, and Motion.

Is this the best no-fan graphics card for the G5?

Though it's not the absolute best card for Motion and FCP, will it do it's job somewhat efficiently?

jamil5454 · Oct 26, 2005, 09:50 AM

Well the best no fan card would be the new Nvidia 6600, but seeing as those are PCIe-only, you're stuck with the 9650 I believe.

The 9650 is a decent card, and it will run Motion, but for more serious projects you'd do yourself a favor to pick up an X800/X850 or 6800 GT/Ultra. As far as I know FinalCut doesn't depend so heavily on the graphics card, but that may change in the near future.

If it's just a hobby, then what the hell - get the cheaper card. But if it's going to make you money, you might as well get the best you can get.

badtz · Oct 30, 2005, 10:11 AM

thanks for the advice! Since I'll just be doing it as a hobby I think I'll go with the quieter [no fan] 9650. Since it's also capable to drive a 30" ACD.

havocidal · Oct 30, 2005, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by jamil5454

Well the best no fan card would be the new Nvidia 6600, but seeing as those are PCIe-only, you're stuck with the 9650 I believe.

The 9650 is a decent card, and it will run Motion, but for more serious projects you'd do yourself a favor to pick up an X800/X850 or 6800 GT/Ultra. As far as I know FinalCut doesn't depend so heavily on the graphics card, but that may change in the near future.

If it's just a hobby, then what the hell - get the cheaper card. But if it's going to make you money, you might as well get the best you can get.

but isn't motion pretty cpu intensitive and requires a pretty good card to run??? correct me if I'm wrong.

havocidal · Oct 30, 2005, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by jamil5454

Well the best no fan card would be the new Nvidia 6600, but seeing as those are PCIe-only, you're stuck with the 9650 I believe.

The 9650 is a decent card, and it will run Motion, but for more serious projects you'd do yourself a favor to pick up an X800/X850 or 6800 GT/Ultra. As far as I know FinalCut doesn't depend so heavily on the graphics card, but that may change in the near future.

If it's just a hobby, then what the hell - get the cheaper card. But if it's going to make you money, you might as well get the best you can get.

but isn't motion pretty cpu intensitive and requires a pretty good card to run??? correct me if I'm wrong.

MovieCutter · Oct 30, 2005, 05:55 PM

If you're serious about a program like Motion, you'll put down the money on the 6800 or X800-850 cards. It'll be more than twice as fast as the 9650, and it will allow you to play particles and effects back in closer-to-real time. Not to mention gaming on the 6800 cards is awesome. Motion eats graphics card power every second it is active. It needs a good GPU to satisfy it's hefty appetite.

Bwa · 02:38 AM

You don't want to use Motion on a 9650 and the 30" if my experience is anything valid:

I worked with Motion for an hour or two at the Apple store a few months back. It was torture--Terrible performance. The machine had 2 GB of RAM IIRC. Recently (10 days ago?), I tried it again on a 512 MB G5* with the 6600 PCIe card--it was fluid as can be on a 20" (note the difference!).

Get the best video card you can afford if you're using Motion and want to use the 30" display.

* In the original post, I accidently put G4 here. I, of course, meant G5.

dazzla · Oct 31, 2005, 12:33 AM

Originally Posted by Bwa

You don't want to use Motion on a 9650 and the 30" if my experience is anything valid:

I worked with Motion for an hour or two at the Apple store a few months back. It was torture--Terrible performance. The machine had 2 GB of RAM IIRC. Recently (10 days ago?), I tried it again on a 512 MB G4 with the 6600 PCIe card--it was fluid as can be on a 20" (note the difference!).

Get the best video card you can afford if you're using Motion and want to use the 30" display.

I presume you mean G5? I wonder what made the bigger difference, the display size or the card.

mduell · Oct 31, 2005, 12:44 AM

G5 + Radeon 9650 + FCP Studio = slide show

Bwa · Oct 31, 2005, 02:37 AM

Originally Posted by dazzla

I presume you mean G5? I wonder what made the bigger difference, the display size or the card.

Yeah, I meant G5...Not G4. Habits. :-)

I don't know which made the difference, but I do know that 9650 + 30" + Motion was bad. :-)