Avid Configuration Guidelines Apple Mac Pro Ivy Bridge 6-Core, 8-core or 12-core CPU Workstation Page 1 of 5 Dave Pimm Avid Technology April 24th, 2018
1.) Apple MAC PRO - Avid Qualified System Specification: MAC PRO / AVID Qualified Operating System: Mac OS 10.10.x (Yosemite) Mac OS 10.11.x (El Capitan) Mac OS 10.12.x (Sierra) Mac OS 10.13.x (High Sierra) MAC PRO Hardware Configuration Supported CPU Single Intel 6-Core Xeon E5 Processor @ 3.5GHz 12MB cache / 1866MHz memory Single Intel 8-Core Xeon E5 Processor @ 3.0GHz 25MB cache / 1866MHz memory Single Intel 12-Core Xeon E5 Processor @ 2.7GHz 30MB cache / 1866MHz memory Supported Video Card Dual AMD FirePro D300, D500 or D700 graphics with 3GB or 6 GB GDDR5 VRAM System Storage 256 or 512 or 1 TB PCIe based flash storage Standard AVID memory configuration: 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 1866 ECC memory OR 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3 1866 ECC memory OR 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR3 1866 ECC memory Memory configuration constraints - The 12 GB memory option is NOT supported as it only uses 3 DIMM slots that results in poor performance 2.) Qualified Operating Systems, Avid Client Editing Applications, Hardware and Shared-Storage support for the APPLE MAC PRO: Media Composer 8.x Mac OS 10.11.3 supported with MC 8.5 and above Media Composer/Symphony Supported with Mac OS 10.9/10.10 6.5.4.2+ 7.0.3.1+ - - Note: Audio input workaround required for MC 6.5.4.1 and 7.03. Apple thunderbolt monitor with microphone input or Avid MBox will work. Avid Mojo DX or OpenIO device will NOT work. Issue fixed with MC 6.5.4.2 and 7.0.3.1 Page 2 of 5 Dave Pimm Avid Technology April 24th, 2018
3.) Qualified Hardware and shared storage supported: Qualified / Supported Requires Avid Thunderbolt adapter Mojo DX Nitris DX** 10 bit, RGB and S3D NOT supported (HW codecs must Requires Avid Thunderbolt adapter be disabled for playback) Avid Artist DNxIO Thunderbolt 2 Avid Artist DNxIQ Avid Artist DNxIV 3 rd Party Qualified Hardware MC 8.8.3 required MC 8.9.4 required See release notes and Avid website for information regarding supported 3 rd party hardware (vendor qualified) Thunderbolt 3 Use apple TB3 to TB2 adapter Thunderbolt 3 Use apple TB3 to TB2 adapter Requires thunderbolt connection or Expansion Chassis ISIS/NEXIS 1Gb Ethernet Client ISIS 5500 / 5000, 7500 / 7000 V4.61 min On-board Gb Ethernet ISIS/NEXIS Hi-res (10 Gb) client Myricom 10G-PCIE-8B-S, 10G-PCIE-8B2-2S, 10G-PCIE-8C2-2T ISIS/NEXIS Hi-res (10 Gb) client Atto Thunderlink models: FFRM-NT-2102 (10GBaseT RJ-45) FFRM-NS-2102 (Optical SFP+) Atto R680 ISIS 5500 / 5000, 7500 / 7000 V4.77 min ISIS 5500 / 5000, 7500 / 7000 V4.77 min SAS storage option Requires Thunderbolt Expansion Requires Thunderbolt Expansion LSI 9200-8e SAS controller SAS storage option Requires Thunderbolt Expansion There are no PCIe slots in this Mac Pro. PCIe adapters will require thunderbolt expansion. Avid has qualified Magma ExpressBox 1T & 3T thunderbolt expansion Sonnet Echo Express SE II thunderbolt expansion Sonnet Echo Express III-D Desktop Thunderbolt 2 Expansion Chassis Sonnet Echo Express III-R Rack mount Thunderbolt 2 Expansion Chassis Sonnet xmac Pro Server Atto Thunderlink specifications located at the following link: https://www.attotech.com/products/thunderbolt-desklink-devices/thunderlink Page 3 of 5 Dave Pimm Avid Technology April 24th, 2018
4.) Mac Pro Thunderbolt bus structure The Mac Pro has 3 separate Thunderbolt (TB) buses. Best performance can be obtained by putting TB devices on separate TB buses. Thunderbolt bus 0 is least attractive if HDMI is being used since it includes the HDMI signaling. Common Thunderbolt devices include (but are not limited to): Avid Artist DnxIO Audio or Video I/O devices TB Expansion Chassis (with Myricom card, RED accelerator, etc.) Local TB storage TB Monitor (s) The following diagram depicts how the Mac Pro (Ivy Bridge) Thunderbolt busses are configured. Page 4 of 5 Dave Pimm Avid Technology April 24th, 2018
A.) Qualified Graphics Driver: Apple qualifies and releases graphics drivers for all graphics options. Use the driver that ships with each MAC OS. B.) AMD FirePro GPU monitor connectivity: The AMD FirePro graphics supports 3 4K displays or 6 thunderbolt displays. There is also an HDMI output for connection to HDMI monitor. Media Composer has only been qualified with 2 displays. C.) O.S. setting recommendations for optimum performance with Avid Editing applications: Some hardware devices will not recover from a computer SLEEP mode. The Avid MC app will remind the user to disable sleep in the Energy Saver preferences menu. Also, uncheck the box to put hard disks to sleep. Disable Wi-Fi and blue tooth if not in use Disable FileVault protection on internal disk (file encryption) D.) Intel NIC Port(s) for ISIS 5000 / 7000 connectivity: To set the Network MTU for high speed (10 Gb) access: Open system preferences Select Network icon Select Advanced Click on the Hardware tab Change configure to Manually Change MTU to Standard (1500) DO NOT USE JUMBO (9000) Click on OK to apply the setting Revision Update Revision Date Name Update A Feb 28 th, 2014 Dave Pimm Initial release of the MAC PRO configuration guide B Mar 4 th, 2014 Dave Pimm Remove Newscutter reference. C March 6 th, 2014 Jon Clarified statement about Nitris DX support Gryckiewicz D Oct 30 th, 2014 Dave Pimm Add Nitris DX for 8 bit only E Jan 13 th, 2015 Joe Conforti Added 3 additional qualified Sonnet Thunderbolt-to-PCIE expansion. Updated supported Yosemite OSX to 10.10.1 F Feb 8 th, 2016 Dave Pimm Add MAC OS 10.11 and Avid artist DNxIO G March 14 th 2016 Joe Conforti Clarified Atto Thunderlink details H May 9 th, 2017 Dave Pimm Add DNxIQ support J April 24 th, 2018 Dave Pimm Add DnxIV plus updates Page 5 of 5 Dave Pimm Avid Technology April 24th, 2018