Jon Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 Yo! So, I currently have a 2010 iMac that I use every day for production and occasional video editing with 4 gig ram and a 1TB HDD, and it's def in need of some juicing up. Specifically I'm looking at maxing out the ram to 16GB and updating the drive to a 1TB SSD as it's finding large Ableton projects difficult to handle without me bouncing tracks to audio and is super slow at bouncing/rendering. Unfortunately, it's the model just before SATA 600 speed SSDs were made available, so the maximum speed drive I can upgrade it to is a SATA 300, which as far as I understand is half the speed of a 600, though still at least 3 x as fast as what I'm currently using. Upgrading drives on an iMac is a pretty difficult install as you have to take the screen apart to access the harddrive slot etc , so I'd have to get it done by someone who knows what they're doing which will cost me close to £100 on top of the price of the drive. What I'm wondering is, whether should I do the upgrade and accept I can only upgrade to SATA 300, or sell it and buy a newer iMac or macbook with a monitor that can handle higher spec SSDs (and potentially multiple drives) and max that out. Thoughts? Does anyone here have a mac with a SATA300 drive for production - can it handle it? I'm tempted to sell it and get a newer machine. Cheers for your time Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 Neither the ram nor the ssd will make a MASSIVE difference to your plugins, they're much more CPU dependent. Having such low ram is going to give the computer a generally hard time anyway though, so it'll make a big difference to jump to 16gb generally. Likewise, even older Sata 1/2 will be a big jump in performance over even a 7200rpm hdd, but ram and ssd are going to be much bigger jumps for audio files and general performance than synths and effects. You'd likely see a boost because the General tax on the system was lower, but not your money's worth where you want it imo. I'd get something new, or max something older generation out. There are drawbacks, but the 2010/12 Mac Pro is serious bang for buck if you get the 12 core and put 64gb ram in it - assuming you want to stay with Mac. Otherwise I'd generally just recommend a new 5k iMac - max out what you can except the graphics card and you'll be flying for a good while and get to stay on Mac, or go for PC and save money. Also a good soundcard goes a long way, and you could potentially look into a UA one and use some DSP to give you more... no wait, you don't have thunderbolt on yours do you. To be honest either way the UA cards aren't the be all end all I think some people make the out to be, but the interface is pretty good and you basically get the DSP free if you're in the market for UA/RME/Apogee prices. I got an RME and couldn't be happier, it performs incredibly well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted March 8, 2017 Author Share Posted March 8, 2017 Neither the ram nor the ssd will make a MASSIVE difference to your plugins, they're much more CPU dependent. Having such low ram is going to give the computer a generally hard time anyway though, so it'll make a big difference to jump to 16gb generally. Likewise, even older Sata 1/2 will be a big jump in performance over even a 7200rpm hdd, but ram and ssd are going to be much bigger jumps for audio files and general performance than synths and effects. You'd likely see a boost because the General tax on the system was lower, but not your money's worth where you want it imo. I'd get something new, or max something older generation out. There are drawbacks, but the 2010/12 Mac Pro is serious bang for buck if you get the 12 core and put 64gb ram in it - assuming you want to stay with Mac. Otherwise I'd generally just recommend a new 5k iMac - max out what you can except the graphics card and you'll be flying for a good while and get to stay on Mac, or go for PC and save money. Also a good soundcard goes a long way, and you could potentially look into a UA one and use some DSP to give you more... no wait, you don't have thunderbolt on yours do you. To be honest either way the UA cards aren't the be all end all I think some people make the out to be, but the interface is pretty good and you basically get the DSP free if you're in the market for UA/RME/Apogee prices. I got an RME and couldn't be happier, it performs incredibly well... Thanks Chris. I'll look into the 5K. Have you looked into their new Flash drives? Am I right in thinking they're essentially SSD? Are you still running Mac OS on your new computer - have you had any issues with the new OS and plugins? I mainly use NI, Serum, Fab Filter and Soundtoys plugins. You're right, my iMac is the model before Thunderbolt was introduced, so I currently have the latest Apogee Duet, which suits me fine as I only ever record up to one stereo input at once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mutis Mayfield Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 Also SSD are best suited for the OS partition than data (recording the worst part for ssd lifespan). User and Library folders are commonly moved into second drive which becomes the big with all these stuff. https://www.google.es/search?client=safari&hl=es-es&q=os+x+ssd+user+library&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjds6igosjSAhWBlhQKHWPEAAsQvwUIFigA&biw=768&bih=928 A fast search to look into the topic. So don't waste money on big ssd (but maybe faster one) and expend it on ram/cpu as Chris right pointed you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted March 9, 2017 Author Share Posted March 9, 2017 Thanks for the help, man. I've never owned a SSD before so this is all new information to me. So, in the case of an iMac, for example, where you can only fit one drive in the computer, is it best to have a smaller SSD built in and have an external thunderbolt HDD for storing your sample libraries and project data? When it comes to making backups of a computer split in that way, would I need to create a time machine backup of both drives on separate back up drives or is it possible to backup both on one HDD drive (storage permitting)? In addition, I own a 2011 MacBook Pro that I use purely for DJing and internet browsing, which is in dire need of a juice up too (it's going to be an expensive few months!). Like the iMac it has 4 gig of RAM and 500Gig of HDD storage - I was going to add a larger SSD to it and max out the RAM. Again it's an older model, where removing the optical drive and adding a second drive isn't possible. Is adding purely a 500gig SSD for storing 300-400 gigs of music going to be hindrance? Should I look at selling the laptop and upgrading to a more recent model that can fit a SSD and a large HDD and max that out? Many thanks again for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted March 9, 2017 Author Share Posted March 9, 2017 Also, rumor sites suggest that it seems like a new iMac range may be released this month, interestings! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mutis Mayfield Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 In the case you can upgrade with two units, yes. The intrrnal ssd and extra thunderbolt/fiewire (depending on the model and budget) are a right solution. About backup there should be no problem since this is how fusion drives seem to work... but the best bet is to check OWC for see if there are some upgrade kit for your machines. They usually have and age if the machine is a plus more than a problem (the newer had soldered ram, hd...). So take a look (search for data doubler): https://www.macsales.com/ Also if you want to be aware about Apple updates the most accurate web is macrumors. It has roundup and buyers guide sections which are great to take right decissions with time as a constrain. https://www.macrumors.com/ Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 I haven't upgraded to Mac OS yet, I'm still on El Capitan. The reason is down to the fact I have a sort of hotrodded Mac Pro, and some things will probably need fixing when I upgrade and I might need to put the stock graphics card in again to do the upgrade. That's not the case for all replacement graphics cards, mine is a special case. From what I can tell though it should be fine after a couple of hours of tinkering, but I'll probably put it off for a while yet. An i7 or Xeon will give you a big boost for plugins, because of the virtual cores and larger cache allowing you to do more stuff at once. Final cut is heavily optimised for the amd graphics cards in the new macs and even though they're relatively low powered you'll probably find it plenty fast enough for video. Premiere pro won't run as well without a faster card, which you can only put in an old style Mac Pro. When apple says flash they mean ssd, same thing yeah! My Mac Pro plus 5k monitor cost less than the mid spec iMac and is faster (significantly so in some areas), but I have no thunderbolt. I do have usb3 and 5k and the ability to run much more internal storage - and even run ssd at the same speed as the new macs, although I don't (yet) because it requires a new adapter that I haven't bought. In all I'm tremendously pleased with it - dual hex core Xeon, 64gb ecc ram, 12gb titan X graphics, ac wifi with Bluetooth le, usb3, 5k monitor, a 1tb and a 256gb ssd... it really flies. It's less power efficient than a new iMac, but has more raw horsepower and was cheaper. I can run 8 tracks with ni passive eq and satin on every channel with some diva instances in divine mode and an assortment of other plugins etc on 128 sample buffer which is about 3.2 ms on the fireface ucx. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted March 9, 2017 Author Share Posted March 9, 2017 Thanks again guys. I checked out the OWC site and it turns out I can do the SSD + HDD install on my current laptop, so I'll do that and max out the ram and then start saving for a new iMac 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Rock Well Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 Everyone's beaten me to it and much more knowledgable, but still I second binning the iMac and getting new one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted March 14, 2017 Author Share Posted March 14, 2017 Update: my laptop is now whizzing around having the time of it's life. Seems to be enjoying Sierra too! Cheers again 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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