The Need for Speed

After extensive research and testing the edit suite is now faster and more powerful then ever.

I’ve fitted a new high end graphics card – the 280x. Which is now rendering four times faster than the old card in Final Cut Pro X. I put my benchmark results on the fcp.co forum which put me near the top of the list, just under the very latest, top of the line MacPro.

I also took the time to install a new 6TB RAID array. I’ve been waiting for the new generation of Western Digital 2TB drives with an improved platter layout and IO. So now this three drive system gives me over 400MB/sec read and write which is crazy. I’m using an external 6TB eSata RAID for automated incremental backups of the entire editing RAID while I work so there’s always a recent working backup should the unlikely happen and a hard drive fails. Now that FCPX uses the GPU for exports and the fact that RAID is so fast, this makes the mundane tasks at the end of an edit so much quicker.

I’ve improved the edit suite room with acoustic treatment tiles, moved out lots of kit and bought myself a new FCPX specialist keyboard. But most importantly I’ve moved both mainframes into the room next door, so now it is completely silent and much cooler. That’s not something I’ve seen in any edit suite, anywhere for over a decade. They are normally very noisy, stuffy rooms with poor lighting and little space.