Can the new Mac Mini runs Final Cut Studio 2 ?

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
QUESTION 1:

Is NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 128 MB of integrated video RAM sufficient to do video editing using Final Cut Studio without getting hang ? The system requirement in Final Cut says it won't work on Intel Integrated graphics card.



But this is NVidia card, so will it work ? I hope to use this new Mac Mini to learn Final Cut and iMovie so the last thing I want is for it to hang on me !!





QUESTION 2:

Can we connect the Mac Mini to a 24" LCD monitor ? Read some where that says that we need a 512MB of VRAM to run a 24" LCD screen. Is that true ?



Thank you.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    carniphagecarniphage Posts: 1,984member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ryan_khoo View Post


    QUESTION 1:

    Is NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 128 MB of integrated video RAM sufficient to do video editing using Final Cut Studio without getting hang ? The system requirement in Final Cut says it won't work on Intel Integrated graphics card.



    FCS will work with the old (slow) Intel GPU, but the hardware accelerated rendering will be very slow. Should work fine on the new NVidia Mac Mini.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ryan_khoo View Post


    QUESTION 2:

    Can we connect the Mac Mini to a 24" LCD monitor ? Read some where that says that we need a 512MB of VvRAM to run a 24" LCD screen. Is that true ?



    It's not true. The frame buffer for a 32bit deep 1920x1080 display needs 9MB.

    The large 30" display does need a special connector.



    C.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Carniphage View Post


    FCS will work with the old (slow) Intel GPU, but the hardware accelerated rendering will be very slow. Should work fine on the new NVidia Mac Mini.



    The hardware accelerated stuff doesn't work on the Intel one. The graphics just blow out and glitches go all over the screen.



    @OP: I'll test it out when I get mine and let you know if it runs ok.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    So, if the mini has no problem, the new iMac 24" (of all varieties) should be a breeze to run FCP and Motion?
  • Reply 4 of 8
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    So, if the mini has no problem, the new iMac 24" (of all varieties) should be a breeze to run FCP and Motion?



    Yep, same graphics hardware on the lowest one and dedicated GPUs above. They are new GPUs so there is the possibility of there being graphics driver bugs like what happened with the Geforce 6600 a while back but we'll see. The 9400 should be ok given that they are already on the Macbooks.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    Yep, same graphics hardware on the lowest one and dedicated GPUs above. They are new GPUs so there is the possibility of there being graphics driver bugs like what happened with the Geforce 6600 a while back but we'll see. The 9400 should be ok given that they are already on the Macbooks.



    How about the top of the line 24" iMac for 3D modeling and animation tasks? I'm seriously looking at replacing my old 1.8 GHz PPC G5 Mac with an iMac. I think the upgrade should be a notable improvement for my typical Adobe apps and 3D apps work.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    How about the top of the line 24" iMac for 3D modeling and animation tasks? I'm seriously looking at replacing my old 1.8 GHz PPC G5 Mac with an iMac. I think the upgrade should be a notable improvement for my typical Adobe apps and 3D apps work.



    You really just need lots of fast processors for 3D rendering. Modelling and animation don't use much power but raw rendering can take ages. What you'd be better off doing is getting a cheap Windows quad core box, possibly a Core i7 box, 4-8GB Ram. Then get a base Mac Mini with 4GB Ram.



    This way you have 6 full CPUs for rendering and the Mini would handle the content creation just fine with the 9400m.



    It sort of depends on what's coming down the line though because GPU computing kind of changes everything. If say Pixar develop their Renderman renderer with OpenCL, the iMac with the better GPU will render very quickly.



    But it will depend on which rendering engines developers decide to use the optimizations in and whether you happen to use that engine yourself. The safer option is certainly to go with the Mini + Quad and you benefit immediately.



    This also has the advantage that you can leave the PC churning away as a headless renderer and still get full use out of your main computer.



    It's actually cheaper too.



    http://www.overclock.co.uk/product/E...g-PC_6719.html

    Quad 2.66GHz Core i7, 3GB Ram, 9600GT - this machine is more than double the speed of the highest iMac and is £842 (I know, double the speed AND half the price. Sad reality is the iMac is just seriously bad value for performance).



    Mac Mini is £500 - add 4GB Ram from Crucial and maybe a 7200 rpm drive if you feel like messing inside the machine = £600



    Total = £1442



    The top end iMac is £1800 so with that £350 saving, you can buy a nice 24" display. E-IPS is a nice option. I don't know if Dell will have a 24" model but there are cheap 22" models:



    http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...D-2209WA&af=50



    This saves you from having to deal with the iMac screen glare. So for the same price as the top end iMac, you get a setup that is 2.5-3 times faster, a more pleasant screen and the ability to easily add storage to your Windows (or Linux) box for all your uncompressed render frames.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    rezwitsrezwits Posts: 878member
    You could run Final Cut Studio 1.0 on an Intel GMA, without hacking the installer and such. You couldn't install Final Cut Studio 2.0 on an Intel GMA unless you hacked the installer and such.



    That's what's so great about the NVIDIA MacMini and MacBooks. PRO APPS



    Laters...



    PS, In order to install you still need to meet the CPU requirements...
  • Reply 8 of 8
    webmailwebmail Posts: 639member
    Wow your $500 computer you run $2000 editing room software? We all positive you didn't pirate your copy...

Sign In or Register to comment.