Is Final Cut Express Dual Processor Aware?

[sososowhat]

I know FCP is written to take advantage of dual processors, and I believe that iMovie isn't.

What about Final cut Express?

 

[legacyb4]

Hrm. I guess while iMovie itself doesn't support dual-cpus, having a dual processor machine makes a huge difference in system responsive (at least down in the G4 500 and under class of machines).

My old G4/400 went from unbearable to actually fun to use when I upgraded to dual 500s...

So if FCE doesn't directly support duals for processing, I imagine your overall productivity and system feel will be vastly improved.

 

[Arden]

http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/specs.html

System requirements
Macintosh computer with a 300-MHz or faster
PowerPC G3 or G4 processor and built-in FireWire
A 500-MHz or faster single or 450-MHz dualprocessor Power Mac G4 or PowerBook G4 is required for G4 real-time effects.
A 667-MHz PowerBook G4 is required for mobile G4 real-time effects.
Mac OS X v10.2
QuickTime (included)
256MB of RAM (384MB recommended for G4 real-time effects)
40MB of available disk space required for installation

 

[sososowhat]

System requirements
A 500-MHz or faster single or 450-MHz dualprocessor


Yes I saw this, but I don't think it answers the question. It does imply an equivalency between dual 450 and single 500 (which doesn't say much for the power of a second processor), but it could easily mean that the 2nd proc offloads system tasks so realtime effects have a whole cpu to themselves.

Does FCE utilize both procs simultaneously for rendering/rte, etc in a dp-aware way?

 

[adambyte]

I thought any app that is OS X native automatically supports dual processors, because it's an OS level thing. Am I wrong?

 

[bobw]

Yes, I believe you are wrong. The app has to be written to take advantage of dual's.

 

[brianleahy]

In most situations, you have (at a minimum) Finder running as well as whatever app you're using. A dual processor machine will at least put your app on a processor more-or-less by itself, without having to deal with Finder.

By contrast, an app written in a multithreaded fashion can use (part of) the power of both processors for its own purposes.

Check out Process Monitor to see all the things your single processor is doing. Then just imagine all that work divided between two processors, and you'll understand the advantage.

 

[adambyte]

Ah. I see. Thanks for the enlightenment.

 

[Captain Code]

Originally posted by adambyte
I thought any app that is OS X native automatically supports dual processors, because it's an OS level thing. Am I wrong?

A program can use both processors without any special coding, except that the program must use multiple threads. For example, if FCP FCE uses one thread to draw the video to the screen and another to render an effect, the 2 tasks will be split up between the processors automatically.

Depending on how hard the 2 tasks are, you may not notice a lot of difference between single and dual processor machines. So if you have one thread rendering something, and another updating a progress bar, well then you wouldn't notice any difference.

As to the question about whether or not FCE uses multiple processors for rendering, I couldn't find anything on Apple's site about it. You should try emailing them.