Mac Pro advice

[biliousfrog]

Graphics cards have no impact on rendering, they're purely for displaying an image on screen and a modern GeForce should be fine.

Personally, I can't understand why you're getting a Mac which is essentially a PC workstation with a Mac OS but with less hardware options and then running a Windows emulation so that you can run a Windows only application. Wouldn't you be better off getting a professional PC workstation?...I don't really understand the logic in it. If you're using Lightwave or C4D I would understand it...or even getting Max to run on an existing machine...but buying the wrong tool for the job and then fudging it so that it works seems really odd to me.

[Zander]

Graphics cards have no impact on rendering, they're purely for displaying an image on screen and a modern GeForce should be fine.

Personally, I can't understand why you're getting a Mac which is essentially a PC workstation with a Mac OS but with less hardware options and then running a Windows emulation so that you can run a Windows only application. Wouldn't you be better off getting a professional PC workstation?...I don't really understand the logic in it. If you're using Lightwave or C4D I would understand it...or even getting Max to run on an existing machine...but buying the wrong tool for the job and then fudging it so that it works seems really odd to me.

Thanks for your reply. Actually I realise they have no bearing on the actual rendering side...........sorry for that. First off, why a Mac. Personally I would like a PC, but my boss wants a Mac for a lot of reasons. One being bang for buck. A Mac Pro with dual 3.2 gig quad cores and 10 gigs of ram etc come in under the price of other Pcs he has looked at, plus he uses MAcs. I have to agree with you also, but I am not buying it. What I need is some good referances to give to him to help him with the choice. A lot of people out there who use both Macs and 3ds Max report great sucess. So that s why Im out here looking for advice from you all to help me. I looked at Boxx and thought it was a great option.

If you have any ideas of where to buy a machine for a comparitive price and specs, please let us know.

Also, if your up on graphics cards. There are so many around to buy, I use a Quadro FX 1700. So what benift would...............say a 5500 Quadro Fx have over the 8800, and what does one do better than the other. Our problem right now is dealing with huge landscape files and using large satelite images. Hope you can help us out and many thanks.

[Srek]

A Mac Pro with dual 3.2 gig quad cores and 10 gigs of ram etc
Are you aware that currently no mainstream 3D or 2D software is available in 64 bit for Mac?
I only know of some smaller tools that are able to use more than 4 GB on OS X.
For Windows XP/Vista 64 bit you can find 64 bit versions for most commonly used 3D packages.
The 10 Gig will of course help on OS X if you realy use several apps in parallel, but this makes only a difference if more than one application is realy actively beeing used.
Having said this, the Mac Pros make great PCs if you run Windows on them, however the argument of working in a mac environment does not hold anymore in this case.
Also if you work with satellite images, keep in mind that currently practicaly no 2D painting application is available in 64 bit on Windows (with the exception of BodyPaint 3D which doubles as 2D and 3D painter and afaik Gimp)
Cheers
Björn

[biliousfrog]

Perhaps look into Lightwave with Infinimap. Lightwave has always been Mac compatable and infinimap has been used with great success with huge resolution files and little resources.

Mac pro's are quite competitively priced at the moment but srek does make some valid points with regards to 64bit. Also bear in mind that Adobe has no plans for 64bit Photoshop on Mac until CS5 so creating hi-res maps will be difficult outside of a 64bit version of Windows. As for just how cheap Macs are currently, well I don't think that they're that cheap. Certainly worth having a look from a non-Mac fanboy perspective and taking into consideration future upgrades, support etc.

[Zander]

Perhaps look into Lightwave with Infinimap. Lightwave has always been Mac compatable and infinimap has been used with great success with huge resolution files and little resources.

Mac pro's are quite competitively priced at the moment but srek does make some valid points with regards to 64bit. Also bear in mind that Adobe has no plans for 64bit Photoshop on Mac until CS5 so creating hi-res maps will be difficult outside of a 64bit version of Windows. As for just how cheap Macs are currently, well I don't think that they're that cheap. Certainly worth having a look from a non-Mac fanboy perspective and taking into consideration future upgrades, support etc.

Thanks for your help and comments. My boss has looked further into this, and has found out more positvies. CG Architech has posted many favourable reviews of comapnys and individuals using Mac Pros with bootcamp. XP Pro 64 and 3d Max. Speed wise, the Mac Pro is out there in front of most commercially available Pcs for the price. Being a PC man myself and the one who will possibly recieve it, I am on the fence, but ..............if it does run well, then who could argue with a machine that boosts such great specs. >Funny thing, when you google '' the fastest pc for 3D studio max ''.............you might get a surprsie as I did what results appear.

[lots]

The best option is probably to get the Mac and run XP64 bit (Or vista if you're so inclined) via Boot Camp. It shouldn't be any different than any other PC. Though boot camp is needed for Windows, since Mac Pros do not have BIOS but EFI instead...

Also note, with windows installed, you can put any graphics card you like in the system. It wont be usable in OSX but it will work just fine in Windows.. :)

[imashination]

My work is looking at getting me a Mac pro for work running Bootcamp and 3DS Max. The graphics cards available are mainly games based

Considering the mac has approximately 1 game, and thats solitare, what makes you think the graphics cards are games based?

[kemijo]

Considering the mac has approximately 1 game, and thats solitare, what makes you think the graphics cards are games based?

Haha...I don't even have a Mac (yet) and I know this statement is misinformed. Not sure if you were joking, but a quick Google check unearthed this:

http://www.macgamedatabase.com/ssps/0/6/reviewlist

[biliousfrog]

Thanks for your help and comments. My boss has looked further into this, and has found out more positvies. CG Architech has posted many favourable reviews of comapnys and individuals using Mac Pros with bootcamp. XP Pro 64 and 3d Max. Speed wise, the Mac Pro is out there in front of most commercially available Pcs for the price. Being a PC man myself and the one who will possibly recieve it, I am on the fence, but ..............if it does run well, then who could argue with a machine that boosts such great specs. >Funny thing, when you google '' the fastest pc for 3D studio max ''.............you might get a surprsie as I did what results appear.

haha...I hope you're not refering to this?

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/05/apple_mac_pro_fastest_pc/

£5,000 quad-core Mac faster than Pentium-D PC shocker! :applause:

I believe that a very successful local guy uses Mac Pro's with Max, I don't doubt that they're very capable of the job, the whole thing just seems a bit weird to me.:shrug:

[Grohu]

haha...I hope you're not refering to this?

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/05/apple_mac_pro_fastest_pc/

£5,000 quad-core Mac faster than Pentium-D PC shocker! :applause:

I believe that a very successful local guy uses Mac Pro's with Max, I don't doubt that they're very capable of the job, the whole thing just seems a bit weird to me.:shrug:

It was proven that under bootcamp XP pro runs faster than on a native PC machine with same specs. I can't find the link now as I have a farewall at work but will try to dig it later.

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