PS2 performance on a Mac Pro

I'm sick and tired of waiting for the mythical x1900XT G5 PCI-e edition, and I'm considering a Mac Pro with that card and 3 GB of RAM. I know from reports here that it should be quite fast with Aperture, but what I'm concerned about is Photoshop performance. I do most of my editing in PS2 (using the open in external editor command). The image files start out at 45 MB or so, and are often at 150 MB by the time I save them again.

My current set-up is a dual-core G5 2.0Ghz with 2.5 GB RAM and Raptor 10k RPM boot drive, using a second 400 GB HD as a scratch disk in PS2. I'm wondering how PS2 performance with a 2.66 MP + 1900XT + 3 GB of RAM would compare in "real world" usage with my current set-up.

My other option would be to get a ridiculously priced 7800GT for $800 and bump up RAM to 4 GB on my G5. But I figure I can sell the G5 for $1800 or so, and for a few hundred bucks more get a MP instead of sinking money into an older machine.

What do you think?

G5 2.0 dual-core Mac OS X (10.4.6) 17" Apple LCD, NVIDIA 6600 LE, 2.5 GB RAM, 10,000 RPM 74G Raptor boot drive

Posted on Oct 26, 2006 9:35 AM

25 replies

Badlydrawnboy Author

Level 2

378 points

Oct 28, 2006 7:43 AM in response to Phil Shockley

Phil,

I really appreciate your response, as I was just preparing to buy a MP! However, after reading what you've written I think I'll hold off. The reality is that I use Aperture mostly as a photo management and organization system. I'm a fine art photographer and I spend a lot of time on each image, and I do all of my editing and adjustments in Photoshop. So although Aperture is a hog on my G5, Photoshop is pretty quick. If I have to choose between the two right now, PS is more important. I think I'll stick with my G5, bump up the RAM to 4 GB (that is the most that PS can utilize on my G5, correct?) and hope that ATI or someone comes out with the rumored x1900XT sometime. If that happened, I'd probably be satisfied with my G5 for a long time to come.

Thanks again,
Chris

Oct 28, 2006 8:09 AM in response to Badlydrawnboy

I think that's probably your best bet, Chris.

The MP at home isn't really used in a production environment so the performance hit isn't much of an issue to me right now. (and still a bit faster than my old machine) I couldn't make the same move at work. (I'm actually moving up to a new G5 Quad at work with 8 gigs of RAM - the powers that be bought this machine to use as a Version Cue server!? I convinced them that the machine made more sense for imaging. Unfortunately, it only has the base card - otherwise, it'd be a smokin' Aperture machine)

I believe Photoshop can address roughly 3-3.5 gigs of RAM at present. Here's a good article:

http://photoshopnews.com/2005/07/07/memory-allocation-and-usage-photoshop-cs2-2/

Mac Pro 2.66 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Badlydrawnboy Author

Level 2

378 points

Oct 28, 2006 8:45 AM in response to Phil Shockley

This may sound insane (and maybe it is, what do you think?) but I've actually been thinking of selling my current box and picking up an older AGP G5 2.7Ghz if I can find a good one used. Many of them have the Radeon 9650 card, which is much better than the cruddy GeForce 6600 I have, and I can upgrade to even better cards like the x800XT. What's more I'd get a 30% speed increase while I'm at it. Both Photoshop and Aperture performance would improve as a result, at a fraction of the cost of an MP.

What do you think?

Oct 30, 2006 7:54 AM in response to Badlydrawnboy

doesnt Nvida have video cards that match the ATI X1600 for the G5????? there has to be. most of there cards are 256MB vid ram or more

Badlydrawnboy Author

Level 2

378 points

Oct 30, 2006 7:59 AM in response to Christopher Neufeldt

doesnt Nvida have video cards that match the ATI
X1600 for the G5????? there has to be. most of there
cards are 256MB vid ram or more

One would think so, wouldn't they? The PCI-X G5s can upgrade to the x800XT. But there is NOT ONE aftermarket graphics card upgrade available for PCI-e G5s, which I unfortunately have. This is a very sore subject, believe me.

Oct 30, 2006 12:44 PM in response to Badlydrawnboy

i found a mac pcie video card http://dealnews.com/deals/XFX-Ge-Force-7900-GT-256-MB-PCI-Express-Video-Card-for -180-after-rebate/137104.html

you said there wasnt one :P

i also found a company that is called DeckLink. yes i found em and they are for mac

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Oct 30, 2006 12:48 PM in response to Christopher Neufeldt

Mac video - for use in OS X - must have EFI firmware on a Mac Pro, or Open Firmware to work in G5. It wasn't that there aren't video cards that are PCIe. BUT, going to Dealnews, and clicking on Mac cards, you get a page saying "Sorry."

Lots of threads on video and EFI issue if you take a look.

Badlydrawnboy Author

Level 2

378 points

Oct 30, 2006 12:53 PM in response to The hatter

Exactly. We've got NOTHING. (Yes, I'm angry at Apple.)

Oct 30, 2006 1:04 PM in response to Badlydrawnboy

You might want to include ATi and Nvidia in with that anger while you're at it.

Badlydrawnboy Author

Level 2

378 points

Oct 30, 2006 1:10 PM in response to infinite vortex

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I've read elsewhere that Apple has to provide something (drivers?) to ATi and Nvidia in order for them to make cards that will work in the G5 PCI-e? Seems to me that if Apple made this a priority, it would happen.

But, you bet - I'm plenty angry at all of them.

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PS2 performance on a Mac Pro