I am planning on buying a new iMac (2020) but concerned that the video processor requirements on your website indicate NVIDIA and ATI cards seem to be required. This is not an option with the new iMacs which only come with Radeon Pro 5500 XT, Radeon Pro 5700. Do these cards work with VDMX??
Those cards are fine. A Radeon Pro 5500 XT is an “ATI card”. AMD acquired ATI in 2006.
I’m running VDMX on a new MacBook Pro 16" with the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 4 GB card. Works fine.
You would be better off building a hackintosh. You can build a 20 core machine on an x299 board for about 2.5k. Or you can build a 6 to 8 core on a z470 board for about 1.5k or less depending on the build. https://www.tonymacx86.com/
My friend uses VDMX on a hackintosh, but when I show up with a single backpack and laptop (MBP) and he comes with a desk, monitor, keyboard, and big tower – I think he slightly regrets that decision for VJing. I’m sure it’s great with video editing, but all depends on where you spend most your time?
I do all my own video production, not just the VJing, so when I have a gig I take a u-haul, not a backpack. Laptops are great for those simple plug-and-play gigs, but if you want to do video production and live video production you need several rack mounted media servers.
Yep, I understand. A new mac mini would fit in a rack mount chassis. Or a mac pro. Not to talk down on Hackintoshes; I’m all for them, but if you are on the gig and something goes wrong or crashes because of it… Obviously, if you can get all the parts, create a stable system and update nothing, it should be fine. But personally, it’s a risk I can’t afford to take.
I’ve used hacks for 15 years and never once had an issue. I have used it for million dollar Microsoft conferences and even EDC main stage. All intel apple hardware is made by ASUS and Gigabyte. Its all just a PC in a fancy case. Its 100% a real mac. lol I bought my house with CASH i made using my Hackintosh.
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Sadly building a Hackintosh (OSX86) for VDMX is nearly impossible at the moment due to the current GPU shortage. For example the OpenCore guide for the Overall Best Hackintosh GPUs recommends the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8Gb which is currently very hard to find (impossible) and will cost 350-400% more than normal. BTW OpenCore is the way forward for OSX86 with builds much more stable. Who knows how Apple Silicon will change things, the initial results look impressive and if GPU prices stay high there won’t be much difference in cost between a hack and a real Mac.
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I recently got my hands on an upcycled 5,1 12 core 2010 Mac Pro from my Mac repair buddy, and sweet talked him into including the Sapphire Nitro+ RX 580 8GB he had just got for his trash can pro using an eGPU sled. I just wanted the extra hdmi outs, and was going to use it for my video editing, but I’m considering using for my VDMX rig. I have the latest intel i9 16” MBP that I was using with VDMX but I worry about nuking it with the fans going so loud. Do you think the pro is worth taking on to gigs with the specs in the image above?
PS. Installing the gigabyte alpine ridge t3 card is a breeze and jumping the dvi outs from the 580 into the AR give you video support ala t3. I tend to use USBC to hdmi uvc cables cause they connect faster.