Final Cut Pro X 10.1 Shootout:
2013 Mac Pro vs 2010 Mac Pro
Originally posted Thursday, January 9th, 2014, by rob-ART morgan, mad scientist
Updated January 20th, 2014, with FirePro D700 and Dual GeForce GTX 680 results
Updated February 12th, 2014, with 8-core 2013 Mac Pro with FirePro D700s
Updated February 13th, 2014, with top 2013 iMac results
Final Cut Pro X 10.1 features "optimized playback and rendering using dual GPUs in the new Mac Pro." As some of you know, we already showed the optimization affecting the 2010 Mac Pro tower's performance when it has matched pairs of GPUs. Thanks to the OWC test lab, we can show you how the 2013 Mac Pro with dual FirePro D300s, D500s, or D700s performs when rendering FCPX's GPU intensive video effects.
GRAPH LEGEND
nMP 12c D700s = 2013 Mac Pro 12-core with dual FirePro D700 GPUs
nMP 8c D700s = 2013 Mac Pro 8-core with dual FirePro D700 GPUs
nMP 6c D500s = 2013 Mac Pro 6-core with dual FirePro D500 GPUs
nMP 4c D300s = 2013 Mac Pro 4-core with dual FirePro D300 GPUs
iMac 4c G780M = 2013 iMac 4-core i7 with one GeForce GTX 780M GPU
MPt 6c 7970s = 2010 Mac Pro 6-core with dual Radeon HD 7970 GPUs
MPt 6c 7970 = 2010 Mac Pro 6-core with one Radeon HD 7970 GPU
MPt 6c 7950 = 2010 Mac Pro 6-core with one Radeon HD 7950 GPU
MPt 6c G680s = 2010 Mac Pro 6-core with dual GeForce GTX 680 'Mac Edition' GPUs
MPt 6c G680 = 2010 Mac Pro 6-core with one GeForce GTX 680 'Mac Edition' GPU
MPt 6c 5770s = 2010 Mac Pro 6-core with dual Radeon HD 5770 GPUs
MPt 6c 5770 = 2010 Mac Pro 6-core with one Radeon HD 5770 GPU
The 2010 Mac Pro was a 3.33GHz 6-core Westmere with 24G of RAM running OS X Mavericks 10.9.1. FCP Assets and Projects resided on a Sonnet Tempo SSD Pro PCIe card as a way of closely simulating the internal flash storage of the 2013 Mac Pro.
Gaussian Blur -- We applied this effect to our 1080p two minute sample video. (SMALLER number in Seconds is FASTER.)
Water Pane -- We applied this effect to our 1080p two minute sample video. (SMALLER number in Seconds is FASTER.)
BONUS TEST -- We also wanted to measure performance of Motion 5.1 which features similar improvements. So we rendered the RAM Preview of Atmospheric - Open sample project.
INSIGHTS
Good news for those who ordered the 2013 Mac Pro: With its dual FirePro GPUs, it will be a strong performer when rendering FCPX 10.1 GPU intensive effects and Motion 5.1 RAM previews.
Sweet spot: The 8-core 2013 Mac Pro with D700s (based on these few tests) is the best performer when it comes to FCPX 10.1 and Motion 5.1.
Good news for those who are continuing with their 2009 - 2012 Mac Pro tower: You will benefit from the optimizations made in FCPX 10.1 and Motion 5.1 for the 2013 Mac Pro with high-end GPUs. With a pair of matched high-end GPUs, you can render even faster, though in the case of the dual Radeon HD 7970s and dual GTX 680s, we had to use a supplementary power supply. "No pain, no gain."
As for those contemplating a top-of-the-line iMac purchase, its single GTX 780M performed better than any single Mac Pro tower GPU.
Feedback or comments? Contact me
, mad scientist.
Also, you can follow me on Twitter @barefeats
SHOP APPLE STORE USA
Support Bare Feats by clicking our Apple display ads or THIS Apple USA link when ordering any Apple product.
Twelve Core Mac Pro towers are still being sold by various parties on Amazon. For other models of Mac Pro tower, search on "Mac Pro desktop" on Amazon.
OTHER SOURCES FOR MAC PROs
