Hello, this is my first post here and I am trying to figure out a few things.

I have a Mac Pro 3.1 with the following specs:



I was running Logic Pro 9 under Mountain Lion for a while and I decided (after a superduper img backup) to do a clean install to El Capitan + Logic Pro X 10.2.4.

All went well until I started using this configuration for production: started to have CPU spikes all the time, with clicks and pops, even after setting Logic with recommended settings for 8 cores, etc.
To no avail and after finding some info online that pointed to the fact that this Mac Pro 3.1 was "too old" for El capitan & Logic Pro X 10.2.x to run smoothly due to graphics, etc ( I found information stating that upgrading my video card might help but not solve the problem) I decided to go back to Mountain Lion and Logic Pro 9 + Logic Pro X 10.0.7. This configuration works but, of course, I cannot run some software that I liked on El capitan, and some AU's that I tried while testing the system. I decided to do another Superduper img backup and now I am in the process of installing from scratch Mavericks and Logic Pro X 10.2 to test that configuration, and I will do the same with Yosemite.

Question is: The issues that I am experiencing with this Mac Pro 3.1 + El Capitan + Logic Pro X 10.2.x are really related to my Hardware being too old? Could I get a better performance if I upgraded my video card or it is not worth the try?

I was thinking about buying a new Mac Pro but then I saw that there may be an upgrade coming in september with better CPU's, etc.

I also got the idea of building a PC, but price would not be much different than a Mac Pro on the higher end of the scale for CPU, RAM, etc, plus windows IMO has a more convoluted workflow and Cubase (which I used for a long time before migrating to OS X) seems to have stability issues.

Anyway, if anyone has some pointers, I would appreciate it.

 

did you try to increase the latency and buffer in logic preferences?
usually this solves this kind of issue

 

Yes, I have, no go. nothing so far has been able to work. I am very hesitant about buying a $500 video card just to try it.

 

I'm on a MacPro 1.1 running 10.11.5 with Same amount of memory and no issues when I tried logic X. I doubt it's the hardware. What plugs are you using effect etc are you using in your sessions?

 

Dude change the video card I had the same Mac a while back the GT 120 is crap

 

What size of project? If it's large: How do you lay out tracks, plugins and busses with plugins? => How well is your CPU load distributed over multiple cores?

I doubt it's an LPX issue, I'd rather suspect
- 3rd party plugins with either high latency or 10.11 incompatibilities (have you tried with LPX-internal plugins?)
- Your audio i/f drivers don't like 10.11
- Try running LPX in Low-resolution mode (Finder: Get Info => "Open in low resolution")
- Try this too
- Do you get the same issues with the internal sound device?

 

+1 for a new video card and you can also use cuda with nvidia native drivers.
Must Be the problem.
VSl pro 5 is also a good choice.

 

I tested using one VI track with one FX on bus, Will test again tonight after I restore the config. Will make a video.

 

Your computer should be running smooth as silk... although it may run better on Yosemite than El Capitan (IMHO)

I see you have 24 GB of memory installed. You also stated it has 8 cores... what configuration of memory are in the 8 slots? You do realize that the memory has to be matched pairs?

 

I found these options:

http://www.macvidcards.com/store/c8/Mac_Pro_3,1.html

Which one would you recommend?

 

Can't recall right now, I'll check when I get home tonight.

 

then maybe you should install yosemite

El Capitan has a new graphic engine (they call it 'metal')

Apple has an extremely poor track record in terms of graphical development. They could never master OpenGL so they switched to 'Metal' with a lot of marketing. (however you can read articles about Occulus Rift & macs for example).
It's what they do usually. For Yosemite they bothered their clients for 8 months with the brand new amaaazing discovery deamon to optimize wifi, only to drop it in the last update of the OS and recognize it was fucking up the system severely...

Anyway Yosemite works with OpenGL while El Capitan is under 'Metal'. If you have pops and clicks regardless of buffers/latency/system performance then stick to Yosemite.