I currently have a 2011 Mac Mini Server. When using FCP X, what is the biggest bottleneck on this machine - CPU, GPU, RAM (now at 8GB), or the HD, and would I be better getting a current 27" iMac, a 2012 Mac Mini, or SSDs for my current Mini?
Thanks people,
TZ
The GPU would be the bottleneck- so I'd actually recommenda new iMac with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX. That will provide far and away the best FCP X performance. Otherwise the current 27" with the upgraded graphics card would be the best- if you can't wait until December.
Thanks for response, James. So then, while we're using FCPX, the graphics card is really being taxed and used for rendering, right?
It depends what you're doing. For simple editing, the graphics card isn't used much. For some effects it's used very heavily.
Basically I'm using it to edit video of my band using multiple cameras. The files are large and the rendering of edits takes quite a bit of time. I try to make videos of individual songs and the whole show, which works up to around one hour in length. I don't use a ton of effects, but I do add titles with effects, and sometime a Ken Burns effect. After importing the first thing I do is color correction, then a bit of color matching. And, I will add another audio clip of the whole show whic was recorded with a pro audio recording setup. I understand this may be a lot for the system to handle, but even just the color correction takes quite a bit of time, maybe about 2 hrs. for a one-hour clip. Same for just importing (understand though that I've never really timed it, I just start the process and then focus on something else while it's processing).
As far as upgrading my system, if I get the iMac I'm wondering if the hard disk will have any negative impact.
Multicam editing requires processor power and fast drives as your playing multiple streams of high data rate video simultaneously.
If color correction is the first thing you do you're increasing the graphics card use exponentially until you render, which you can't do until the media is in the timeline and as it's multicam it hasn't been cut yet so no real rendering can be done until the eit is made.
Do the color grade at the end. You can do it in the multicam editor and it will propagate to all instances of the shot in the project.
You'll need to get a good external drive with the iMac. The system drive can get very sluggish with multicam streams.
So then getting the imac with the 1gb video card would be the best way to go? Also, do you think getting 16GB of RAM over 8GB would also make much of a difference?
Get the RAM. Not from Apple, they overcharge. Go to Crucial.
Thanks a lot Tom. That's pretty much what I was thinking. Maybe after I get everything sussed out I'll post some results of the changes.
Peace - TZ
I've been doing a bit of research on the web and talking to salespeople. A new iMac is out of the picture for me - just can't do it, and used iMacs from 2011 are also off the shelves. I guess I was just too slow to act. So I talked to a salesman and compared a 2010 iMac with a 1GB GPU to my idea of a Mac Mini with an SSD drive, 16gigs of RAM, and the 2.6 GHZ CPU. Both would be about the same price (I don't need a screen). He said the SSD drive and 16gigs of RAM would basically make up for the weak GPU and result in faster rendering. Was he right or misinformed?
Tom Wolsky wrote:
Get the RAM. Not from Apple, they overcharge. Go to Crucial.
Think they are going to lock the RAM on the december iMacs.. so make sure it's changable before you order.
To me, though, they do not look as servicable as the Mac minis.. 😠
Edit: seems they are changable.. 🙂http://www.apple.com/imac/specs/
Hi Tom,
I just wanted to ask you about what you said about the color correction. To be quite honest I'm not sure what the best workflow is, and I haven't gotten my feet wet in multi-cam editing. Basically my work-flow has been.
1) Import from the camera as optimized media - I found that adding color-correction at the import stage cause a severe hang with my tape-based Canon unit.
2) Color-correct the imported files before loading any files into a project
3) Drag files onto the timeline
4) Click on the color-correction box
5) Start editing - Usually I have one camera zoomed a little tighter on the singer, one on the whole band, and my iPad or iPhone camera at different angles so I start cutting things according to who is the focus of the moment, add a Ken Burns effect every here and there, Titles, an occassional transition effect.
6) Add music effects after the looks are taken care of
7) Export
Are you recommending clicking on the color-correction box after everything is done?
Thanks - TZ
Color correction is usually one of the last steps in the production process.
What is the biggest bottleneck on this machine - CPU, GPU, RAM (now at 8GB), or the HD, and would I be better getting a current 27" iMac, a 2012 Mac Mini, or SSDs for my current Mini?
