After using an 866MHz G4 for the last five years, I’ve sprung for a new system. The old G4 was from my days in studio, and, while it’s served me pretty well since university, it’s a dinosaur that’s just not cutting it anymore. Goodbye camera monies. Hello new hotness:
For comparison, old and busted:
I’ve decided to go with a new 2.66GHz quad-core Mac Pro with dual 23″ Apple Cinema Displays and a fistful of RAM. For the gearheads out there, here are the details on the core system:
2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
1GB 667 DDR2 FB DIMM ECC-2×512
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB
250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s drive
16x SuperDrive DL
Apple Keyboard & Mighty Mse
Mac OS X
I’m bumping the RAM with 8GB from Other World Computing, which offers the same sticks Apple plugs into their machines for less than half the price. I also picked up a set of six 750GB harddrives; three for the internal bays and three in external drives as dedicated backups.
Everything has arrived but the computer itself, which should be delivered on Monday. I’ll follow up on how this system handles a photo-heavy workflow.
16 Comments Add your own
1. Anand Sankaran | August 11th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Woah. Congrats.
2. Todd | August 11th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Thanks, Anand. It’s going to take a couple weddings and architecture jobs to pay off the bill for this, but a new system has been a long time coming. I look forward to putting the setup through its paces.
3. Carsten | August 11th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Nice one! It’s a great machine. I use one at work - and a slightly slower one at home
The 8GB of RAM is gonna be insanely fast.
4. Todd | August 11th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Hey, Carsten, thanks. I also use one of these machines at the office, though it isn’t so loaded up with RAM. Though just about anything is going to be faster than my current machine, I figured I should just go all out this time.
5. Jeff Hammond | August 11th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
6x 750gb ?!?.. wow..
it’s a great machine.. i’m looking forward to the follow-up on the 8gb ram..
6. Todd | August 11th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Hey, Jeff. You know I need the TBs – at least if I don’t right now, I will in the near future. So, I thought I’d just go for it now and be set.
I plan on keeping the stock 250GB drive just as apps and OS files, so the tree 750GB drives in the remaining bays will carry all the important data. I’ll be setting up a schedule to backup those three drives a few times a week, if not nightly.
I’ll keep you posted on the RAM – as I mentioned, my machine at work has the same chip set, but only 3GB RAM, so I should have a fair reference for comparison.
7. Stephen | August 13th, 2007 at 8:54 am
Hello indeed! Wow, that’s a very nice system and the contrast will no doubt be amazing! You won’t know what to do with all your spare time now that you don’t have to wait for Nikon Capture
Are you going to run those drives in RAID? You could have RAID mirroring + striping for ultimate reliability and performance…
Dual monitors is a great idea too - I have two 20″ widescreens at work and love them. Quite tempted to get a second one at home…
Try not to brag too much in your follow up post once it’s all set up!
8. Will | August 13th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
LUCKY!
I am so jealous. I am saving up to get a similar set up myself. Congrats on getting a set up that should last you for years.
9. Chris | August 13th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
This has been too long in coming brah. Who knows, Capture NX might even be usable once you have 8gb RAM installed. =)
10. Todd | August 13th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Stephen: I was initially interested in a striped, mirrored RAID setup, but decided to go with the more simple setup with just plain drives. I’m really looking forward to the two displays, too. I’ll let you know how it works out.
Will: Thanks. It wasn’t cheap, but I think it should last a while, especially with the storage and RAM. I’m traveling now, but look forward to setting everything up when I get back.
11. Todd | August 13th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Chris, between the 8GB of RAM and the new Capture NX 1.2, I think you might be right. Five years is a long time between computers, but hopefully this new setup should last me for a few years to come.
12. Christine | August 22nd, 2007 at 3:34 pm
major jealousy. i didnt realize you got two monitors too. i had that at 2e and was in heaven. one for internet + palettes, one for actual-size work.
i bet my G4 is more old and busted than yours. im saving for a laptop tho.
ciaociao
13. Stephen | August 23rd, 2007 at 7:01 am
So, Todd, when are you getting a Nikon D3 to go along with all this shiny new computer gear?
14. Todd | August 31st, 2007 at 9:31 am
Stephen, I’m already lusting after the D3 – which may be on the horizon at the beginning of ‘08. Time to call in some invoices and shoot some architecture jobs!
15. Conorwithonen | March 26th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
I can recommend the RAID setup. I don’t even think about disk access times now since I setup my Mac Pro with the RAID setup. It is super-fast and super-safe.
Believe it or not, about 10 days after setting up my system, I had a drive failure. Scared the living daylights out of me, but was covered under warranty, system functioned fully until UPS arrived with replacement. Turn system off, open up side, swap disks out, power reconnected less than 90 seconds start to finish.
Did take 2 days to rebuild the RAID to full capacity, however, but well worth it.
Love your work on flickr, aspire to do more with my D3!
16. Todd | March 27th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Hey Conor,
Thanks for the thoughts on RAID. So far, I have still just been doing daily automated backups from the internal drives to the external units. So far so good.
Glad to hear the RAID setup has worked well — and saved your data! — as advertised.
Also, thanks for the kind words.
speak up
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