OT: mac pro & compressor

hey all,

just wondering about speed on the 8 core mac pros and compressor.

I'm on a g5 dual 2.5 and more and more i have to compress for the web. it's starting to kill me. otherwise i'm still doing pretty well on the ole' G5. no real complaints with FCP.

just wondering if anyone out there has experience in the performance boost going from approx what i have to the newer systems when it comes to the multi-core action.

not looking for bench marks or anything just ball park real world kinda thing.

thanks so much!
fp

It'll really depend on the codec you're using. I made the jump from a dual 2.5ghz to the new 2.8ghz 8-core and my MPEG2 2-pass encodes are about 10x faster. They went from being 1/2 realtime to approx 5x realtime (30min video -> MPEG2 in under 6mins).

However this is sort of apples to oranges since I now have to export a QT Movie (not self-contained) prior to bringing it into Compressor (this allows you to use a Virtual Cluster). This takes a little bit of time and is totally variable on the effects in your timeline and what has already been rendered.

I'm very very happy with the new machine though. I love having 4 internal drives.

that's pretty impressive.

I sorta think the biggest gain in the suite would be in Compressor considering the virtual cluster.

it's kind of incredible...
thanks!
fp

FCP itself is not really faster. The speed increases are only noticeable when exporting. It is a fantastic increase, but don't expect miracles from everyday use.