Can my current setup run FCS2?

I have a G5 Dual @Ghz PowerPC With 2 Gigs Ram, HD Decklink Pro and a an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card.

I've ordered FCStudio 2.

Do you think it will run ok (particularly COLOR) on my setup and, if not, do you guys have any suggestions for improvements in performance which will not drive me into bankruptcy?

Best

Harry

PS: O/T. Why do I always get so irritated when I find someone posting the same question here and on the Sacred Cow and on the Apple site? After all, it's the logical thing to do, but it always annoys me and I don't understand why I react that way. Harrumph.

According to the system requirements, YES! If you go to the apple web site for FCS2 and look at the system requirements, it does say the 9800 Pro will work but not how well.
It also recommends the X800 video card for optimum usage of Color on an AGP machine.

The bigger question is "will color need a second monitor to operate" as it is depicted in the literature.

Without driving you into bankruptcy, I'd say another 2Gb of RAM will be the best bang for your buck.

All bankruptcy aside, a new Intel machine wouldn't hurt things.

Yeah, upgrade the video card ... More memory is always a good thing.

Color will run on a single monitor (that's how they were demoing it at NAB), but probably is better on a dual monitor setup.

DougL

Many thanks to you all for your advice and replies. It's sounding like I should get more ram (as usual) and this X800 card. At least for starters.

Best

Harry

A follow up question:

About this X800 card ... At the moment I have this Radeon 9800 thing which lets me have two screens.

Does the X800 card give me two screens?

I guess just slap it in there and leave the Radeon 9800 card in there too, huh?

Thanks very much for the advice.

Best

Harry

apple has a lot of system requirements to run Color at all. if you read at apple Color-specific system requirements, you basically need a 2.5 GHz G5 Quad or Mac Pro with PCIe graphics card. no AGP system qualifies to run Color. as for the other GPU dependent app Motion, a radeon X800 with 256 MB of VRAM is recommended, but should work with the radeon 9800 pro GPU (with 128 MB or VRAM).

ismael rosales

chief information architect
[www.cloakmedia.com]

Oh man! Bummer. But does that truly mean that it won't run on my steam powered 2 Ghz (which has PCIe slots), or does it mean that Apple would like to sell me a new computer and that it will run, but not as efficiently?

What do you think?

Harry

Final Cut Studio 2 System Requirements
Minimum Requirements to Install All Final Cut Studio Applications

A Macintosh computer with a 1.25GHz or faster PowerPC G4, PowerPC G5, Intel Core Duo, or Intel Xeon processor

1GB of RAM

An AGP or PCI Express Quartz Extreme graphics card (Final Cut Studio is not compatible with integrated Intel graphics processors)

A display with 1024-by-768 resolution or higher, Mac OS X v10.4.9 or later, QuickTime 7.1.6 or later. A DVD drive for installation
========================================================
Color-Specific Requirements

The standard graphics card in any Mac Pro, 17-inch MacBook Pro, 24-inch iMac with Intel Core Duo, or 2.5GHz or faster Power Mac G5 Quad:

ATI Mobility Radeon X1600
ATI Radeon X1600

NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT, 7600 GT, 7300 GT, 6800 Ultra DDL, 6800 GT DDL, 6600, or Quadro FX 4500. A display with 1680-by-1050 resolution or higher. A three-button mouse for full functionality

The first set of requirments to install and run FCS2, the second are more specific to Color.
Does that mean the first set is operational for Color and the second set is optimal?

I just called Apple and the Final Cut Studio 2 guy told me that the whole suite will run fine on my steam powered Mac - including "Color".

I have no idea if he's right or not, but I just got a little sticker shock when I worked out the price for the Octo-thing and bells and whistles - came to around $6000.

So I'll live in hope.

I'm going to the Editor's Lounge meeting tonight where they are demo-ing it, so maybe I'll learn some more.

Best

Harry

Harry,

Here is the posting text from a thread above about FCS2 from Paul from Apple. It is about the very question you are trying to answer.

" It requires a fast video card (see the list on our web-site). The cards it is compatible with first appeared in G5 class machines. Therefore, a G5 is recommended. We do not block the installer if you have a G4 (1.25GHz) so in theory you could try it. But it's not a supported configuration for Color because the video card is not sufficient.

Color includes a single display mode for 17" laptops and for customers using a single display on their desktop systems. There are a lot of tools and controls in the interface and a second display is strongly recommended. It's nice to have the second display to hold your video and your scopes. In addition, you could use the 2nd display for DCD in FCP too. But it's not a reqruiement."

Thanks again to PfA for taking time to answer these pre-installation questions.

As a fallow up to Harry's post:

What's the cheapest* Intel Mac one could buy that will run the entire FCP Studio 2 ?
_________
*Bare minimum requirements.

The reason I ask this question is that the add-on's required to make a G5 fully functional for all the app's of the FCP Studio 2 might end up more than $2,000.

Therefore, my question is:

Is there an Intel Mac for around $2,000?

Thanks for the post, John. It looks like I should start by just upgrading my video card and see how it goes speed wise.

By the way, the Editor's Lounge demo is NEXT Friday evening at 6.30pm - not yesterday evening as I said in my previous post.

Best

Harry.

filmman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As a fallow up to Harry's post:
>
> What's the cheapest* Intel Mac one could buy that
> will run the entire FCP Studio 2 ?
> _________

The least expensive MacPro is the 2.0 GHz at $2200.00. The 24" iMac is 1995.00

Running FCS2 is one thing, but expanding it to do all those wonder things is another.

I know most of us will be disappointed with having to upgrade or running it less than full speed.

But remember you will be using 2007 software on 2004 (G5) or the crazy ones 1999 (G4) technology...

Its pretty ridiculous to expect a pro app to use outdated tech and be fully functional. For the Apple Software engineers to have it work (at all) on some of these legacy systems is fantastic.

I'm sure if Apple was still making G4 or G5 machines they may have optimised it a little more but we know they need to move forward and if you haven't then I hope that no-one complains as change is the necessary part of innovation.

Personally I can't afford to upgrade my machine unless a couple of big jobs come in over the summer and I really don't want to sell my trusty G5.

I've put in my FS2 order already so will do a write up ASAP and give you all a run down using it with the Dual 2Ghz G5, X800, Blackmagic HD 4:4:4 and 4TB RAID and 15" MBP with and without second monitor, I too am very interested in seeing if color is usable on these specs.



Ben



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