[Mac Hammer Fan]

Because my G5 Dual 1.8 has one processor that is defective, this Mac isn't sufficient anymore.
Time to buy a new Mac. First choice is this one: Quadcore Nehalem 2,66 with 6 GB Ram. But it is expensive and I read that the stock nVidia Ge-Force 120 is a slow graphics card. I don't play games, but if the ATI Radeon 4570 Card would be an improvement over the nvidia for video editing. To capture video, I consider to use the Canopus 110. It's firewire 400, therefore I need PCI-express card with firewire 400 connectors or an adaptor.
I also would want to buy 2 x 1 TB hard drive to use in Raid 0 for faster disk access.
My question is: what can I omit to pay a bit less and still have acceptable results and is the canopus 110 compatible with a firewire 800>400 adaptor?

TIA

[SierraDragon]

The new Quad Core 2.66 is an unacceptable value due to only 4 cores and only 4 memory slots. Do not buy it. A used 2006 2.66 GHz MP or a new Mini are better choices, but the Mini lacks the strong graphics you need.

Evaluating for a new box we care about performance during the future life cycle of the box running your relevant future apps on future OS versions rather than about past performance on last year's OS with last year's apps.

Your new Mac will spend most of its future life running OS 10.6 Snow Leopard and (hopefully) true 64-bit apps with lots of ever-cheaper RAM. Note that one of Snow Leopard's stated goals is effective utilization of advanced graphics power across apps, and ever-stronger graphics cards for MPs keep coming out.

-Allen Wicks

[Mac Hammer Fan]

The new Quad Nehalem 2,66 outperformed the older Octo Harpertown 2,8, according to MacWorld, though...

[Veltliner]

Originally Posted by Mac Hammer Fan 

The new Quad Nehalem 2,66 outperformed the older Octo Harpertown 2,8, according to MacWorld, though...

But you are limiting yourself with the RAM ceiling.

Get a machine with the full RAM capability, and you will be able to use this new Mac much longer.

The RAM ceiling will also destroy the resale value of this machine in case of a sale/upgrade.

[SierraDragon]

Originally Posted by Mac Hammer Fan 

The new Quad Nehalem 2,66 outperformed the older Octo Harpertown 2,8, according to MacWorld, though...

Past performance, old OS, old apps, probably stock GPU. In the rapidly evolving computer biz it is necessary to anticipate likely future OS/apps/RAM/GPU/etc. when planning a purchase.

-Allen WIcks

[OreoCookie]

Regarding the various pieces:
(1) At the moment, you don't need a powerful graphics card, the stock card will do. Only Motion and Color make good use of a powerful GPU, but Final Cut, Photoshop and whatnot take no advantage of them (at least in the current incarnations). If the new version of Final Cut and Snow Leopard do use them, you can upgrade it.
(2) CPUs. Here, I'd advise to get an 8-core config rather than 4. Some tasks may be slower, but on average, especially in a multitasking environment (video encoding), more cores are better. Expect improvements in Snow Leopard which will be released this fall. It's a lot more expensive to upgrade the cpus than to upgrade the graphics card.
(3) RAM. I'd see if you use more than 6 GB at the moment: have a look at the page-outs in Activity Monitor after you've rebooted the system and worked on it for a few hours. If it reads something close to 0 (a few MB or so), you don't need more RAM just now. If you have page-outs in the few hundred MB/GB range, then you can make good use of more than 6 GB. Used and free RAM are not good indications whether you need more RAM. MacOS X will, by default, try to use as much RAM as possible to pre-load libraries, etc.
(4) FireWire: you don't need any card, a simple $5 FireWire 400-800 cable (not an adapter, it's just a cable) will work.

[tooki]

Just a little FYI, Final Cut will use the GPU to accelerate some effects.

That said:

1. I have the 8x2.8GHz, and goddamn it's a great machine. If the new one's faster... wow!

2. I disagree with what people say of buying the computer for the future. Unless you have a crystal ball, you don't know what your needs will be. Overbuying never saves you money, because that extra money will always buy you more computer in the future than it does now. If your needs change and you need a new computer or some upgrades, buy them then with the money you saved.

[Veltliner]

Originally Posted by tooki 

I disagree with what people say of buying the computer for the future. Unless you have a crystal ball, you don't know what your needs will be. Overbuying never saves you money, because that extra money will always buy you more computer in the future than it does now. If your needs change and you need a new computer or some upgrades, buy them then with the money you saved.

That's correct, I'd say, in regards to CPU. The speed gain from the basic CPU package in a Mac Pro to the fastest one is only worth it if you have a lot of money.

But, in this case, buying future proof makes sense: that RAM-handicapped Mac Pro is from today's standards not impressive. In a short time that RAM ceiling will appear so low you'll hit your head editing those video or photo files ever growing in size.

That RAM-dwarf is a bad buy.

[mr. burns]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

Regarding the various pieces:
(1) At the moment, you don't need a powerful graphics card, the stock card will do. Only Motion and Color make good use of a powerful GPU, but Final Cut, Photoshop and whatnot take no advantage of them (at least in the current incarnations). If the new version of Final Cut and Snow Leopard do use them, you can upgrade it.

GPU Accelerated Features in Photoshop CS4 and Bridge CS4

Below is a list of the Photoshop CS4 and Bridge CS4 features that are accelerated by a GPU. To read more about these features, see "GPU accelerated features in Photoshop and Bridge CS4" (TechNote kb405745).

OpenGL/GPU features in Adobe Photoshop CS4 are:

* Smooth Display at ALL Zoom Levels
* Animated Zoom Tool
* Animated Transitions when doing a One Stop Zoom
* Hand Toss Image
* Birdseye View
* Rotate Canvas
* Smooth Display of Non Square Pixel Images
* Pixel Grid
* Move Color Matching to the GPU
* Draw Brush Tip Editing Feedback via GPU
* 3D GPU features include:
o 3D Acceleration
o 3D Axis
o 3D Lights Widget
o Accelerated 3D Interaction via Direct To Screen

GPU features in Bridge CS4 are:

* Preview Panel
* Full-screen preview
* Slideshow
* Review Mode

nothing major but more will follow.

[mduell]

Since Apple went with the cheaper 3500 series Xeons in the single socket model, it only scales to 24GB, not the 72GB (or more) you'd expect; the dual socket with the 5500 series Xeons scales to 144GB. In a couple years will 24GB be enough for you?

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by mr. burns 

nothing major but more will follow.

… which is why I wrote he can upgrade his graphics card later if needed.

[SierraDragon]

Originally Posted by tooki 

I disagree with what people say of buying the computer for the future. Unless you have a crystal ball, you don't know what your needs will be. Overbuying never saves you money, because that extra money will always buy you more computer in the future than it does now. If your needs change and you need a new computer or some upgrades, buy them then with the money you saved.

Sorry but not buying for the future is irrational, and planning for the future does not somehow entail "overbuying." E.g. in the post that recommended buying for the future I led the OP away from the Quad toward cheaper, shorter life-cycle alternatives, the opposite of overbuying.

Today's scenario is a perfect example. We do not need a crystal ball to know the essential trends that will define the environment a new box will be operating under:

• Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard ships in 2 months and theoretically supports up to 16 TB of RAM. All 10.6 built-in apps will take advantage of the 64-bit addressing space and heavy graphics apps can be expected to do so soon (e.g. Photoshop CS5 expected mid-2010).

• RAM is now cheap and getting cheaper.

• Hardware development has emphasized adding cores as a primary method of increasing computing power for years now, Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard goes after facilitating multi-threading in a big way and video is ideally suited to multi-threading.

• The immediate pending confluence of 10.6 and cheap RAM mediate strongly against boxes that do not accept maximum RAM. We can expect boxes that accept more RAM to have longer useful life cycles for heavy apps.

All those things are coming together this fall, and 2010 apps/hardware/OS will be very interesting, perhaps very different than today.

Personally if I was the OP today I would buy the best available Mini, a 1 TB or larger external FW 800 drive (always useful on any system), max RAM via third party and then test the Mini for ten days (Apple gives 14 days of no-questions-asked return policy). My guess is that the Mini's performance will exceed his G5 experience - and at low cost.

After some months with MacIntel, OS 10.6 and especially after experience with FW800 on the Mini the OP could then take a 2010 look at tower choices and prices if his workflow seems to justify the expense. However looking to the future today the Quad is a poor choice at the price.

-Allen Wicks