Logic Pro 8 Awaiting "new" MacPro...few questions.

mDay

mDay

Logician
i just pulled the trigger on a brand new in the box 2008 MacPro 8-core 2.8/2GB ram/320GB hd...and i guess i'm just looking for validation that it was a good purchase. it was considered a clearance item from Guitar Center and i was able to swipe it for $2,370 out the door. i've been wanting to grab an intel Mac for a while, and coming from my current system this seems like it will be a considerable upgrade for what i thought was a very reasonable price. :)

i originally wanted to get the 3.2 dual quad, but at this price i figured i better grab the 2.8. some questions:

1. is there a big difference between the 2.8 and 3.2 as far as Logic performace? in other words, will I be "missing out"?
2. i currently use Logic 7 alongside L8 on Tiger, will both still work seamlessly in Leopard on an Intel?
3. i'm currently doing projects of about 60-70 tracks with BFD2 and various other software instruments and are starting to bring my current G5 to its knees...what type of performance enhancements should i expect?

i really appreciate the help! thanks to all. ;)
 
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mDay said:
i just pulled the trigger on a brand new in the box 2008 MacPro 8-core 2.8/2GB ram/320GB hd...and i guess i'm just looking for validation that it was a good purchase.
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It was a good purchase! :thmbup:

I have been using one of the "vintage" 2007 4-core Mac Pros for just shy of two years now, and it's simply the best Mac I've ever owned. The ease of adding RAM, drives, and cards is unmatched. It's the stablest Mac I've ever owned. And the 8-core is even punchier!

1. is there a big difference between the 2.8 and 3.2 as far as Logic performace? in other words, will I be "missing out"?
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You know, there comes a point of "enough power." :) It's true that "nature abhors a vacuum" and I'm sure you'll get close to pushing it somehow, but I think you'll find that you'll have a really hard time pushing your 2.8GHz to its limits, so I don't think you'll feel you're missing out. FWIW, I've had 70+ track 24/96 projects with live software instruments and scores of plug-ins not even maxing out my 4-core, so I can't imagine what you'd have to run to push an 8-core to it's knees! :D

2. i currently use Logic 7 alongside L8 on Tiger, will both still work seamlessly in Leopard on an Intel?
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Yes.

3. i'm currently doing projects of about 60-70 tracks with BFD2 and various other software instruments and are starting to bring my current G5 to its knees...what type of performance enhancements should i expect?
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Projects that brought my 2GHz dual G5 to its knees coast along on my 4-core without even breaking a sweat. I'm sure with an 8-core the difference will be even more drastic!

Really, you've bought a machine that is going to last you for many years, and for a great price to boot! I'm sure your machine will serve you well, and give you as much juice as you'll need, for a very long time to come! :shrddr:

Orren
 
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thank you so much Orren! your response is truly music to my ears. :D if you don't mind i'd like to ask your advice on this internal hard drive setup:

bay 1: 320GB system and applications (came installed)
bay 2: 300GB WD VelociRaptor (Logic projects)
bay 3: 500GB or 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F1 (sample libraries)

i currently keep my sample libraries on an external FW400 OWC 500GB drive, but i hate having to remember to keep turning it on and off when needed. never felt comfortable leaving it "on" all the time because of the overheating factor. having it be internal seems to be more convenient.

any thoughts...? thanks again!!
 
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mDay said:
thank you so much Orren!
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Welcome! :thmbup:

bay 1: 320GB system and applications (came installed)
bay 2: 300GB WD VelociRaptor (Logic projects)
bay 3: 500GB or 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F1 (sample libraries)
any thoughts...?
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That is my setup too, so it works well for me. As Peter said, don't forget a backup as well. In my case, I back everything up to a network RAID, but you might want to put in a fourth drive for backup (I'm thinking of doing that too, instead of the network drive, just to lighten network traffic).

Orren
 
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Orren Merton said:
That is my setup too, so it works well for me. As Peter said, don't forget a backup as well. In my case, I back everything up to a network RAID, but you might want to put in a fourth drive for backup (I'm thinking of doing that too, instead of the network drive, just to lighten network traffic).Orren
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thanks again Orren....and also Peter. yea i left that out accidentally because in my mind it goes without saying. ;) but having said that...i forgot about the ability to use TimeMachine (i'm a Leopard virgin) and putting an additional internal drive in for that purpose would be cool in addition to my external HD backup system that i currently use. nice...well, i'm definitely not looking forward to the full weekend it's gonna take to transition computers but i'm excited for the fruit of the results!! :cool:
 
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i got a 2.8 octo ( early 2008) [when the nephalems came out recently, thus i was able to get a healthy discount] coming from a 2x2 G5 my projects dont even dent the cpu meters..( i do music for telly and mostly with VI....BTW EastWest play instruments play much better on intels..FWIW)

the one thing that doesnt look like its sped up though is the "offline bounce".. the cpu meters suggest this only gets handled by one core and not multiples.. grumf!!! i imagine that multi core optimised 64bit logic 9 will solve this..

my drives are:
1- 320 [sysOS]
2-320 [projects]
3+4 2x500 software raid [sample libraries]
so far this is sweet.. and an experiment with software raid performance
my backup OS is an external drive through time machine.

FTR i had/have multiple external HDD that have been "On" for years including a glyph raid drive thats been on for 5 years ( its where my library used to be) and i never had a problem with it..of course i have backups offsite

the caveat being about there being only two types of HDD : those that have failed, those that will

i also put in a total of 10gigs of ram ( OWC) because of the VIs..

enjoy the ride
 
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I have the same 2.8 as you just purchased. It's a totally wicked machine and I have yet to get it to break a sweat in spite of typical songs being 50-60 audio tracks, a dozen hungry instruments and heaps of plugs going.
Have fun..

Michael.
 
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i appreciate all the feedback! sounds like i'll be very pleased. :D should be getting it any day now and will be tackling the transfer this weekend. wish me luck! haha
 
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mDay said:
no i don't think so...looks like that one is only a single Quad core.

here's the apple part no. MA970LL/A
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The GC site lists it as "Two 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors" so it is indeed an 8core. No show of the actual part #, though.

Looks like you got a better price on this than the advertised price!

Was yours a refurb or demo? Or you just got it on sale?

mk3
 
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i have a buddy at GC that told me any store with the older MacPro still in stock will be selling it as a "clearance" item. so i think that's why it was marked down so low. so to answer your question...it's brand spanking new in the box. :D
 
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