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Final Cut Pro X freezing on top spec new 27" iMac, help!

I finally received my new 27" iMac today and installed all the latest updates and then the latest versions of FCPX and compressor.


Spec of new iMac:


27" Late 2012

3.4Ghz Intel i7

8GB RAM (I also added 16GB of third party RAM to the machine to take it up to 24GB RAM but remove this later)

GeForce GTX 680MX 2048MB Graphics card

1.12TB Fusion Drive (1.09TB free)

OS X 10.8.2 Mountain Lion


Immediately I noticed performance issues and then it kept freezing whilst running FCPX - the whole OS would freeze resulting in me having to actually turn off the machine and turn it on again. It happened repeatedly so have done all the obvious things but still have the issue.


So far I've tried (with no luck):


- removing the third party RAM

- restarting the computer, multiple times

- making sure everything is up to date

- removing the FCPX preferences

- doing a PRAM and SMC reset

- fully uninstalling and reinstalling FCPX

- running the short and long Apple Hardware Tests (no problems found)


I am working with a large quantity of video files off an 8TB Thunderbolt drive but I've been using FCPX on my old 27" iMac and had no problems with that at all, the spec of that being far less powerful:


27" mid 2011

3.4Ghz Intel i7

8GB Ram

Radeon HD 6970M 1024MB

1TB hard drive


I'm thinking it could possibly be the graphics card or a software issue?


Any help or advice would be great!!!


Thanks!


Jon

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Jan 14, 2013 1:51 PM

Reply
489 replies

Feb 26, 2013 12:40 AM in response to bofproductions

Bad news, you won't be able to use your machine with FCPX. And going thru the motions and disruptions of back and forth trips to the Apple Store like Gaddster will not contribute in any way to change things. This machine and it's specifictions is not working with FCPX, period. No point in changing it unless it's for another model with different hardware specs.


But other then that it's the best and fastest machine I have had. It really is impressive if you have the 2GB Graphics card lot's of RAM and in my case a 768GB HardDrive SSD


But the only way I can enjoy editing with it at this point is by using Premiere Pro and After Effects. But to benefit from the machine's hardware on these two pieces of software you need to install the NVIDIA driver and make a small tweek so that the software recognizes the card.


Here is a link to how to enable the NVIDIA CUDA capabilities on the new iMac 27" with a 680MX 2Gb card.


http://www.vidmuze.com/how-to-enable-gpu-cuda-in-adobe-cs6-for-mac/comment-page- 1/#comment-8928


Enjoy and don't worry, Apple will fix this.....one day!!!!

Feb 26, 2013 9:54 AM in response to le500

Just got of the phone with apple. Getting the same story. The guy I talked to on the phone put me on hold and talked to a "senior advisor" and came back and told me that the engineers are aware of the problem and are looking into it. I've waited a month to get this machine and have people waiting on their projects to get done. they've waited this long on me, I can't make them wait for apple to come up with an update. This is absurd.

Feb 26, 2013 10:43 AM in response to bofproductions

Just a thought to you iMac users..


Can you switch Graphics in the system preferences under Energy saver ?


Reason I ask/suggest is that on my rMBP if turn off Automatic graphics switching (Thus in theory should get better performance) I actually get WORSE performance...


Perhaps you guys could experience with that, at least until Apple comes up with a solution.



PS --- Although the system does NOT warn you --- you HAVE to restart the mac for the changes to take effect... At least on my machine..

Feb 26, 2013 12:31 PM in response to jonuk85

Well, I just finished reading all this and canceled my order for an identically configured machine. I'm gonna go with the 675 card with maxed out system RAM instead. What do you think I'll be losing in real world terms, given that I mostly work on projects less than 20 minutes long (although I do tend to go wild with layering effects and filters, having been a long time PhotoShop guy)

Feb 26, 2013 1:13 PM in response to jstuartbaker

What I can't live with is the idea that the early bird guys not to call ourselfs idiots cause some of us are (namely me) for having bought the first batch (I always get caught doing this) is that on top of having a machine that does not deliver what was promised we paid more then the guy ordering it today. I bought mine early December 2012 and received it first week of January. I paid 4329€ and it's now 3929€


Don't you love hating Apple? Really, I feel so stupid having fallen into their trap again and succombing to my impulsive buying habits. But then again, how am I supposed to know that one month later the price goes down by 400€

Feb 26, 2013 1:22 PM in response to jonuk85

We all Paid for the top iMac here so that FCPX would glide and perform as it was intended.


I dont hate Apple, but I hate them for taking the gloss of a abulous machine with this software/hardware fault.


I posted something to macrumors.com, 9to5mac and maclife to see if they could champion the issue for us and maybe get a more thorough response to ease our pain 😐

Feb 26, 2013 1:35 PM in response to Gaddster

It was the possibility that this could be a bigger issue than any of us realizes at the moment gave me cold feet. I'm not getting paid for my work but I do volunteer stuff for local arts groups, and while they're not exactly in a position to fire me, they do need to get these projects out. I figure I'll regret bailing at some point.......I just hope it's far enough down the road to take the sting out of it. Anyway, I'm still pulling for Apple to solve this for the benefit of the rest of everyone with the big dog GPU

Feb 26, 2013 1:36 PM in response to jonuk85

I've been editing in FCPX with mine and while I've had a few lock-ups, it's been working really, really well. The sky isn't falling and I'm an Apple user because I trust the company will deliver top notch gear that performs exceedingly well. They'll work out the bugs and sooner or later this thread will die out and be forgotten. In the mean time the glitch is obviously more of a pain for some than others. I love this new top-spec iMac.

Keep the faith.

Feb 26, 2013 2:24 PM in response to 5-string

Soe things Apple (and SVP of Marketing Phil Schiller) should be aware of:

- it costs 6 times more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an old one

- 89% of Consumers purchase from a competitor following a poor customer experience

- only about 4% of dissatisfied customers complain; 96% just go away

- 50% of consumers give a brand one week to respond to a service concern before they stop doing business with them

- a 5% increase in customer retention increases profits up to 125%

- probability of selling to an existing customer: 60-70%; probability of selling to a new one: 5-20%

- it takes 12 positive service incidents to make up for a negative one

- 70% of customers will do business with you again if you resolve their complaints

- 68% of Customers leave because they think you don’t care about them.

Final Cut Pro X freezing on top spec new 27" iMac, help!

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