GPU for image processing Resolve 10.1

Hello

I know this has been discussed to death, but nonetheless...


I am thinking of buying a dedicated graphics card for image processing in resolve. The current setup is a base Mac Pro:

3.33 Ghz 6-core intel xeon
24 GB 1333mhz ddr3
ATI Radeon HD 5770
Running os x 10.8
Davinci 10.1 lite

Was thinking of leaving the hd 5770 for the GUI and buying a Geforce GTX 680 4gb for image processing.

I am pretty much a blank sheet of paper when it comes to pimping computers so if anyone could comment on this choice and the problems that I might run into would appreciate that. Or if there are other choices in £400-£500 price range that are known to work better in the given circumstances let me know.

This is intended to work with primarily music videos and occasional shorts. Red RAW, sony Raw, prores occasionally dslr footage.

Thanks for the input

Stepan

Here's my suggestion since I've been running my system for almost a year without any problems.

1- Replace the ATI-5770 with a GT-120, slot one is GTX-680 and slot two GT-120. (Find one on EBay)
2- Go to eBay and order the MacPro to six and eight pin connectors from a seller called "crazyconn".

This is the recommended setup because there are not enough power ports or power supply wattage on the MacPros to support both the ATI and GTX-680. Do not go any higher than a GTX-680 unless you plan on installing the GPU in an Expansion Chassis (there up to $3000).

Hope this helps.

Careful with your GPU for GUI. Some folks have been saying that v10 no longer accepts the 120.

Also, Resolve Lite doesn't support separate GPU & GUI cards anyway. The 680 is a fine option for shared GPU/GUI.

We have two systems running GT-120's on Mavericks and so far no issues, but thanks for letting me know. I now have info that can help me if we do start having issues.

Thanks

Also, Resolve Lite doesn't support separate GPU & GUI cards anyway. The 680 is a fine option for shared GPU/GUI.

Resolve Lite DOES support separate GUI & GPU cards. It does not support multiple GPU cards tho.

So turns out I have a gt 120 collecting dust anyway. Can ATI hd5770 work together with gt120 just as temporary measure before i get my 680? Or is this not possible/recommended?

It should, however I would give it a try seeing you can do no harm. Just choose Open CL in your preferences instead of CUDA, but as stated in a previous post a GPU may make very little difference with the Lite version of Resolve.

Thanks

Ok cool will have that in mind. Thanks for the input!

So it seems that the mac editions of evga 680 are 2gb, while other models of 680 can be 4gb. Do they exist in 4gb for mac and/or is it too power hungry for fitting in the macpro?

http://www.ebay.com/sch/macvidcards/m.html


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So it seems that the mac editions of evga 680 are 2gb, while other models of 680 can be 4gb. Do they exist in 4gb for mac and/or is it too power hungry for fitting in the macpro?

I have been running a 4gb PC Version in my machine as a GPU and a GT-120 as a GUI for the last year without a hitch. According to the Manual the GTX-680 is to power hungry for a Mac but the GTX-570 isn't which was my old GPU. After looking up specs on the two cards I found that the GTX-570 draws 219 Watts and the 680 - 195 Watts.

You can even use the PC Version as a GUI card as well as long as you are running 10.8.3 or newer. If you use it as a GUI you will not see the initial boot up screen on your Mac which is a little disconcerting but once booted you will get the Logon Screen or your desktop depending on how your system is set to boot up. A seller on eBay called crazycon sells the correct cables for the 6 and 8 pin connectors on the 4gb 680.

Thanks

Great! Thanks for the thorough explanation!

I've been using a GTX680 4gb flashed from ebay and has been very good on a 4,1 - 8 core mac pro. i recently ordered a GTX780 3gb from macvidcards and will give that a go and see how it compares to the 680's i have.

I've ordered from mac*pro & macvidcards off of ebay for my 3 gtx cards. all solid purchases. with macvidcards he doesn't seem interested in communicating much if you contact him so you have to do much of your homework prior but still is very solid. he does clearly list whether a given card works with the mac power supply or needs an external power supply. the GTX780 was $750.00 flashed and will work with existing PS. GTX680 4 gb's were $640 each. i see them cheaper on ebay but i felt more comfortable going with an ebayer that is mentioned often in all of these kinds of threads.

i saw a post that macvidcards posted on creative cow back in august stating that the GTX780 3gb would smoke the GTX680 4gb. i should know in about a week when i get to compare.

good luck
david

Yeah, i've noticed that a lot of people talk about the same ebayer all the time. It does really help if you don't know much about these things. Otherwise i wouldn't consider buying from ebay at all. Let us know how your new gtx performs!

I've been using a GTX680 4gb flashed from ebay and has been very good on a 4,1 - 8 core mac pro. i recently ordered a GTX780 3gb from macvidcards and will give that a go and see how it compares to the 680's i have.

Just a quick note, my only concern with the GTX-780 is that it draws 250 watts. Apples specs on the Mac Pros is 300 Watts maximum for all slots combined. Therefore if you add anything other than the 780 you may run into not being able to cold start the machine unless you have a Cubix Chassis, especially if your like me and have five hard drives in your system. 1tb boot and four 4tb Raid 0 drives.

FYI - All specs for Nvidia Cards are available on the Geoforce website.

Thanks

Yeah, i've noticed that a lot of people talk about the same ebayer all the time. It does really help if you don't know much about these things. Otherwise i wouldn't consider buying from ebay at all. Let us know how your new gtx performs!

i wasn't an ebayer either. I've now bought one card from mac*pro and 2 cards from macvidcards. I've made NO other purchases from ebay.

i completely understand your reluctance. a couple of years ago i was in the same place but getting the best card at that time didn't leave any other options so i took a chance with a leap of faith and dove in. luckily it worked out.

david

I've been using a GTX680 4gb flashed from ebay and has been very good on a 4,1 - 8 core mac pro. i recently ordered a GTX780 3gb from macvidcards and will give that a go and see how it compares to the 680's i have.

Just a quick note, my only concern with the GTX-780 is that it draws 250 watts. Apples specs on the Mac Pros is 300 Watts maximum for all slots combined. Therefore if you add anything other than the 780 you may run into not being able to cold start the machine unless you have a Cubix Chassis, especially if your like me and have five hard drives in your system. 1tb boot and four 4tb Raid 0 drives.

FYI - All specs for Nvidia Cards are available on the Geoforce website.

Thanks

i have thought about this although you have offered hard numbers that i wasn't aware of so thanks for that information. in my own 8 core and 12 core i am running a pci sata cards which i am now concerned with. at work one of the 12 cores has a decklink card so i need to research those numbers of power usage. i have one other 12 core at work that has nothing inside and is running off a network. this is probably what i will use as the test mule. in that currently i have a 7950 3gb.

the amount of internal HD's doesn't play into the 300 maximum watts you mentioned does it?

thanks!
david

Bearing in mind the amount of thorough replies on this post, explaining to me in plain english what to do and how to do it, i feel obliged to post about the results. Ended up getting evga 680 mac version (so 2gb only). Thought this would be more appropriate for a first timer like me. Right now gt 120 is used for the GUI and 680 for image processing. Of course, really happy with the results, even though the only thing i can compare to is radeon 5770 for both gui and image processing.

However i've noticed something weird and can't miss the opportunity to pick your brains about it.

I currently have a project with both 2k and 4k sony f55 raw in it. When rendering prores 4444 with identical settings to desktop,

2k is:
rendering at 30-32 fps, is using the CPU up to 99% (according to activity monitor), gpu is used at around 30% (according to atMonitor), vram is 50%, and the network usage (the raws are on a server so this is the average read speed during render) 40mb/s

4k is:
rendering at 15-15.5 fps, is using the CPU up to 60%, gpu at around 30%, vram is 50%, and the network usage is around 80mb/s

Last time i've tested, the network was capable of 300 mb/s read speed.

QUESTION: If the GPU, CPU, vram and network are not maxed out then why is the render speed slower on 4k?

Thanks for your input

Stepan

I have only worked with HD footage so I most certainly could be wrong but my assumption would be that the drive that you are rendering too is not fast enough to write 4k files as fast.

I know it has been suggested to work of thunderbolt raid arrays for that very reason.

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