What is the best Mac Pro configuration for my needs?

Hi,

I am about to buy a new mac. I am going to buy a Mac Pro.

I use Photoshop very intensively, working on a lot of high end retouching jobs. I also do some 3-D work using Lightwave and Z Brush. All my work is for print so it involves very large files worked on at high resolution. I often will be retouching files of 5GB and higher.

What is the best Mac Pro configuration for these uses? Assuming money is no object. (Unfortunately money is an object but I thought I'd aim high to begin with and work back from there!)


Thanks,

Well, considering you will be rendering gargantuan files, get the fastest processor:



my configuration includes 4x256mb ati radeon hd2600, if you REALLY don't care about money, i'd say upgrade to the best option (the nvidia 1.5gb card). Also, I threw in a 1tb hard drive in the first bay, you can upgrade the other 3 bays with 1tb+ hd's from third parties. (since you are working with such large files so often). I didn't upgrade the mighty mouse and keyboard to wireless, but i did put in airport.

so basically, i'd say

2x3.2quadcore
2gb ram (upgrade from 3rd party, ALWAYS)
1x1tb hd (upgrade from 3rd party)
4x256mb radeon hd2600 (upgrade to nvidia if you have the money)
etc.

i would just get the 8800GT you don't need that many graphics cards unless you need 8 monitors.

Considering that the 3.2ghz is only about 7-11% faster than the 2.8ghz and you're paying a huge premium for that modest processing gain, I would personally keep the 2.8 and use the extra cash to upgrade to the 8800GT and get some extra RAM ( and not from Apple.) You can check out some of the new Mac Pros benchmarks vs. the old Pros here

http://www.barefeats.com/harper.html

The 8800 GT will suffice as will the pair of quad 2.8GHz processors. Upgrade your RAM at OWC and your HD's at Newegg.
The faster processors will not help that much when editing photos. The Quadro video card is for 3D work and isn't much faster than the 8800 GT. The Raedon 2600 HD isn't a bad card either but the 8800 GT is a lot nicer.
Question, why are you editing 3GB files? Are you using a billion and a half layers or something?