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Capture One and Mac Pro configuration

Fabio Sirna
Hi there,
I'd like to upgrade my current workstation to a more performing Mac Pro to use mainly Capture One and I'm evaluating the rent of a Mac Pro to pair with a display Eizo CG 247 and get also the best color performance.

The Mac Pro can be configured with different option, in particular:


    - CPU, quad-core up to 12 core
    - RAM, from 12Gb up to 64gb
    - GPUs with different


On Phase One website the reccomended system is:


    - Use processors with multiple cores, e.g. Intel Core i7TM or better
    - Have 16 GB of RAM or more
    - Leave plenty of hard disk space free (100Gb recommended)
    - A fast hard disk e.g. a Solid State Disk (SSD)
    - A fast Graphics card from NVIDIA or AMD with minimum 2GB RAM



In order to find the best balance between budget/performance for the next 24 months (this is the rent duration), I'm trying to understand if is better a faster machine (more CPU es. 6-core, lower RAM es. 16gb) or a slower machine with more RAM (es. 4-core with 32gb).
Just to give you an idea, the following configurations for 24 months has the following costs:

112E/month + 12E Capture One Subscription

    Quad-core a 3,7GHz with 10MB of cache L3
    32GB (4 x 8GB) di ECC DDR3 a 1866MHz
    Flash PCIe da 256GB
    2 GPU AMD FirePro D300 with 2GB VRAM GDDR5


140E/month + 12E Capture One Subscription

    6-core a 3,5GHz with 12MB of cache L3
    32GB (4 x 8GB) di ECC DDR3 a 1866MHz
    Flash PCIe da 256GB
    2 GPU AMD FirePro D500 with 3GB of VRAM GDDR5


I'd like to find a well balanced configuration that can fit my needs: best color performance, I don't need to process tons of RAW image daily, but I'd like to work smoothly with large catalogs, RAW editing in CO (I don't use any other tools e.g. Photoshop or Pixelmator).

Thanks for any suggestions!

Fabio
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Comments

3 comments

Date Votes
  • Eric Nepean
    I notice that CapureOne makes considerable us of the GPU. When the GPU is not well utilised (for example in COP versions before 9.2 with 5K machines) then performance is affected.

    I observe that 2 GB of VRAM is used pretty quickly by COP.

    Capture one have also reccomended to me that 6 cores is preferable (except I cannot afford a MacPro, I have an iMac 17,1 with i7 which I got on refurbished discount)

    Based on the number of cores and the GPU I would think that your second configuration (6-core, D500 GPU +3GB VRAM) will perform faster.

    I have seen some good reports of DAM functionality by people who use slower machines and have their catalogs on external SSD drives. I'm still trying to sort it all out.
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  • Fabio Sirna
    Thanks Eric,
    so according to what you are saying the best option will be 6-core e GPU with at least 3gb.

    And what about RAM? I imagine at this point 32gb is a must 😊
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  • LSdigi.com
    [quote="fabiosirna" wrote:
    Thanks Eric,
    so according to what you are saying the best option will be 6-core e GPU with at least 3gb.

    And what about RAM? I imagine at this point 32gb is a must 😊


    I have never seen C1 9 RAM usage above 8-10gb, but it does help to have at least 32gb if you run e.g photoshop / indesign alongside.
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