Avid Configuration Guidelines
Apple Mac Pro Ivy Bridge 6-Core, 8-core or 12-core CPU Workstation
Page 1 of 4 Dave Pimm / JC – Avid Technology – Jan 13, 2014
Rev E - Release
1.) Apple MAC PRO - Avid Qualified System Specification:
Qualified / Supported
Mojo DX
Yes
Requires Avid Thunderbolt adapter
Nitris DX
10 bit, RGB and S3D NOT
supported (HW codecs must
be disabled for playback)
Requires Avid Thunderbolt adapter
3rd Party Qualified Hardware
See release notes and Avid
website for information
regarding supported 3rd
party hardware (vendor
qualified)
Requires thunderbolt adapter or
Expansion Chassis
MAC PRO / AVID Qualified Operating System:
Mac OS 10.9.1
Mac OS 10.10.1
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 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 / Symphony 6.5.4.2, 7.0.3.1, 8.x
- Supported: With Mac OS X 10.9.1 and above
- 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
3.) Qualified Hardware and shared storage supported:
Page 2 of 4 Dave Pimm / JC – Avid Technology – Jan 13, 2014
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Unity ISIS 1Gb Ethernet Client
ISIS 5000 / 7000 V4.6.1
On-board Gb Ethernet
Unity ISIS Hi-res (10 Gbit)
client
Myricom 10G-PCIE-8B-S
ISIS 5000 / 7000 V4.6.1
Requires Thunderbolt Expansion
chassis
Atto R680
SAS storage option
Requires Thunderbolt Expansion
chassis
LSI 9200-8e SAS controller
SAS storage option
Requires Thunderbolt Expansion
chassis
There are no PCIe slots in this Mac Pro. PCIe adapters will require thunderbolt expansion
chassis. 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
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
Page 3 of 4 Dave Pimm / JC – Avid Technology – Jan 13, 2014
Rev E - Release
Revision
Date
Name
Update
A
Feb 28th, 2014
Dave Pimm
Initial release of the MAC PRO configuration guide
B
Mar 4th, 2014
Dave Pimm
Remove Newscutter reference.
C
March 6th, 2014
Jon
Gryckiewicz
Clarified statement about Nitris DX support (not supported)
D
Oct 30th, 2014
Dave Pimm
Nitris DX for 8 bit only
E
Jan 13th, 2104
Joe Conforti
Added 3 additional qualified Sonnet Thunderbolt-to-PCIE
expansion chassis. Updated supported Yosemite OSX to
10.10.1
Revision Update
Page 4 of 4 Dave Pimm / JC – Avid Technology – Jan 13, 2014
Rev E - Release
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