Wondering whether or not to spring for that 8-core Mac Pro? Well, when it comes to Final Cut Pro, it seems that loading up on extra processors definitely does the trick. By monitoring CPU usage while running various tasks, Bare Feats found that Final Cut Pro took full advantage of the potential processing power on the 8-core Mac Pro.
While running rendering tests on FCP and Compressor 3, one task would use as much as 527% of the CPU. By creating “virtual clusters,” the testers were able to create a rendering process that utilized all 8 processors. This took a 24 minute process down to an 11 minute process.
Whether rendering a single task with Compressor 3, creating a virtual cluster, or doing simultaneous renderings by various apps, we think the 8-core Mac Pro provides an advantage to professional video and audio creators.
Link [ via HDForIndies ]
This is highly misleading. FInal Cut Pro does NOT use 8 cores, it only uses 1. Compressor will use 8 Cores if you set up virtual clustering but NOT if you export from Final Cut. If you export from Motion it will.
Final Cut has some work to do and I wonder why Barefeats is so misleading to this. I called Apple and they said Final Cut Pro just uses the cores when it needs them and their is no way to set it to use all 8.
I am a bit frustrated at this.