Blackmagic Forum

Hi.

In lieu of recommending a Windows-based processing system for my employer, I'm using my own PC do some Resolve Lite 9 transcoding tests (25fps Alexa Pro Res 4444 to Avid DNxHD 36/185X).

My machine's running Windows 7 Pro 64-bit SP1, and Resolve Lite 9.0b3. The hardware's based on a Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH motherboard and a Core i7 3770K CPU. I'm using the internal Intel HD4000 GPU for the GUI.

The Config Guide talks about the GTX 580/680 graphics cards for processing. But I have an Asus GTX 670 TOP with 2GB of VRAM, which appears to be getting very popular as a good 'bang for your buck' GPU (got mine for under £350).

So I was wondering if there was a specific combination of NVIDIA GPU drivers and CUDA environment that is optimal for this GPU. The drivers seem to start at 301.42 (can't get anything earlier to install). And there's a straight choice between version 4.2.9 and 5.0.27 CUDA downloads from the Nvidia website. The 5.0.27 CUDA installs the version 305.6 GPU driver.

Resolve Lite's overview shows that I have the GTX 670 card OK. But there doesn't appear to be much GPU processing going on when I'm DELIVERing my Avid media. There's certainly a lot more use of the GPU when our Mac systems (even those with just one ATI/AMD graphics card) convert the same media. So I'm wondering if I'm missing a step, or if the GTX 670 just isn't the right card for Resolve Lite under Windows.

I should say that even though the GPU appears to be idle when rendering my DNxHD media, I'm still getting approx. 35fps - seemingly off the CPU alone. But you can never have enough processing speed when you're processing high-end media.

Of course, if the GTX 670 isn't the right card, and there's no support for it coming in upcoming releases, then I'm a bit stuck. But if that is the case, then it would be good - for work purposes - to know for sure, so I can steer by company towards the 680 instead.

So does anyone from BMD know if there's hope for my 670?

Many thanks,

Steve

Sorry - meant to say that our company's Mac Pros were using the GT120 GPU, not AMD/ATI.

I would say though that my MacBook Pro (Mid-2011) is running an AMD 6770 GPU, and gets a steady 30fps transcoding the same media - and I can see the red and green GPU lights are active while processing.

For as close a comparison as possible, I'm not using any fancy drive or interface architecture either - read and write on the same internal SATA drive. I know it's not the fastest, but it does mean I can do a fairly close comparison, whatever system I run. They all have to have a SATA boot drive, after all.

Cheers,

S

It looks like u r using the gpu correctly. Remember, all color image processing is in the gpu including during render. The CPUs encode to the codec but from your description it appears to be operating.
Peter