Wich Mac Pro would be best?

[Monty Rakusen]

My Mac advisor suggested that I buy the  One 3.33GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon "Westmere"
but my mac dealer says why not the Two 2.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Westmere" (8 cores)

I believe they are similar in price. There must be a reason behind this...the Mac is for post production on standard 286mb files CS5.
And to process files in Phocus.

Any thoughts?

Keep safe

Monty

[Dustbak]

I would go for the 3.33 6-core. Though Phocus does use most cores during part of the export process in general most things do not use all cores. 6-Cores would mean 12 threads. I think you will benefit more from the higher processing speed because of the higher clock speed in most cases.

Certainly CS5 you will appreciate the higher clock speed over more cores. Many of the Adobe functions are terrible in using all (or even many) cores. In general CS5 is not using more than 3threads (on my system anyway), in that case I would appreciate it when these are faster.

Actually my MacPro 2009 will be 36months old and written off in March '12. I will put my money where my mouth is and get another MP with the higher clock speed over more cores (provided I will not go for the most expensive version which is very unlikely).

[Monty Rakusen]

Thanks thats helpful and I agree.

Monty

[Dustbak]

BTW. You could also get the single processor base model and upgrade the CPU by yourself. Replacing the CPU in a 2010 model is trivial. This will save you a lot of money. (you could do this with a dual processor model too).

I am now in the process of upgrading my 2009MP from 2.26 to 2.93. I could even try updating the firmware of the 2009 so it can take the latest 6-core CPU's. I just happened to stumble onto 2 2.93Ghz Xeon 5570 processors for a low price which is why I opted to do this first.