Aperture on a Mac Pro

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Anyone uesed this combination yet?



If so, how was it?



I have tried it at the Mac store on a 2.6 MP with 1 Gig of ram & standard grafics card. Have to say that it didn't seem that much faster than my 17" MBP with 2gigs ram?



I presume this is the ram making the difference, but wondered if anyone else had any experience.



Thinking about a MP but is a bit of overkill really as I am not a pro - 'just' a hobbyist!



Thanks

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    The standard graphics card is terrible for Aperture. It's actually slower than the card in your MBP.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    icfireballicfireball Posts: 2,594member
    How much faster would aperture be with 2 x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB?



    Edit: (or in other words -- is it worth the $135 extra (edu price))
  • Reply 3 of 12
    I got the standard config mac pro, and added some 3rd party RAM to make 2GB. Aperture is acceptable with my 50,000 picture library. I plan on getting the X1900XT as soon as I have the 500 beans to spare. 2 GB is also not enough? Aperture eats it in a heartbeat. There goes another $900 or so. Gotta say I love this computer though.



    I don't think having two 7300 cards will help with aperture performance. Unless you're running two monitors. Even so, it won't be as good as the X1900XT. Just my 2 cents.
  • Reply 4 of 12
    mikefmikef Posts: 698member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Toadie


    I got the standard config mac pro, and added some 3rd party RAM to make 2GB. Aperture is acceptable with my 50,000 picture library. I plan on getting the X1900XT as soon as I have the 500 beans to spare. 2 GB is also not enough? Aperture eats it in a heartbeat. There goes another $900 or so. Gotta say I love this computer though.



    I don't think having two 7300 cards will help with aperture performance. Unless you're running two monitors. Even so, it won't be as good as the X1900XT. Just my 2 cents.



    If 2GB is not enough for an application like Aperature, I'd have to say the application is terribly buggy and poorly writtern. That is totally unacceptable in my books.
  • Reply 5 of 12
    akacakac Posts: 512member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mikef


    If 2GB is not enough for an application like Aperature, I'd have to say the application is terribly buggy and poorly writtern. That is totally unacceptable in my books.



    I think that's because apps like Aperature are written not with optimization but speed and power in mind. Remember it doesn't just keep one image in RAM. It has to keep tons of them in RAM for fast workout of the library. It also does non-destructive edits so its not simply making a change and keeping that in RAM either. It has to keep undoes and tons of per image data in there. An app like Aperature needs RAM because that's how it gets things done.
  • Reply 6 of 12
    icfireballicfireball Posts: 2,594member
    Apple writes their pro apps as if they are the only apps being used at any given time. And this makes sense to use ALL possible resources.
  • Reply 7 of 12
    mikefmikef Posts: 698member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Akac


    I think that's because apps like Aperature are written not with optimization but speed and power in mind. Remember it doesn't just keep one image in RAM. It has to keep tons of them in RAM for fast workout of the library. It also does non-destructive edits so its not simply making a change and keeping that in RAM either. It has to keep undoes and tons of per image data in there. An app like Aperature needs RAM because that's how it gets things done.



    I guess I just look at it from a developer's point of view. In my professional career as a software developer, if I created an app that had a 2GB working set, I'd be laughed at



    When I have a Mac worthy of running Aperature, I hope to become a user one day, but right now, I am shocked that 2GB of RAM isn't enough for it.
  • Reply 8 of 12
    2GB not enough????

    What nonsense!!!

    Aperture runs just fine on my 2GB iMac core duo (2.0 Ghz, 256 MB VRAM).

    I have a 7000+ picture library and work with 8MP raw files from my digital rebel XT.

    Shure, it could go faster but it is blazing fast as is.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mikef


    I guess I just look at it from a developer's point of view. In my professional career as a software developer, if I created an app that had a 2GB working set, I'd be laughed at



    When I have a Mac worthy of running Aperature, I hope to become a user one day, but right now, I am shocked that 2GB of RAM isn't enough for it.



    If the user had 2GBs of RAM, and you didn't take advantage of it in an app that hugely benefits from all kinds of caching, then you'd be laughed at.



    Aperture is flexible. The more RAM the better, it'll use everything you throw at it, but it doesn't need all that much.
  • Reply 10 of 12
    Let me clarify on the 2 GB thing... Aperture runs GREAT on this machine. I'd just like to feed it as much RAM as I can afford, which in a few weeks will be more than 2 GB. My G5 had 3 GB of RAM, and I almost never saturated that. With Rosetta Photoshop and Aperture going, I expect 4 will suit me. But even at 1GB when I first got it, this machine was better than my dual G5 1.8. I finally feel like I have a machine that can tackle Aperture well.
  • Reply 11 of 12
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by icfireball


    How much faster would aperture be with 2 x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB?



    Edit: (or in other words -- is it worth the $135 extra (edu price))



    Sorry, I just noticed this...



    Aperture won't use the second card effictively at all. You'd be much much better off with the X1900.
  • Reply 12 of 12
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mikef


    If 2GB is not enough for an application like Aperature, I'd have to say the application is terribly buggy and poorly writtern. That is totally unacceptable in my books.



    2GB is more than enough depending on what you do: but it is all about scalability: the whole point of unix and apps therein is the ability to use anything you toss at it: If I had an app like apature, I would want reasonable proformance with 1GB of ram, but I would be pissed if it didnt/couldnt use as much as I can toss at it: Cant speak for you, but most folks buy ram to use it all.
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