Timeline preview performance problems

I'm evaluating DaVinci Resolve to determine if it's the editing software I want to work with.

So far, I'm really loving it. It has such a rich feature set.

But the big problem I'm having is preview performance. The stuttering playback prevents me from catching issues with my videos until they are rendered.

I have Timeline Proxy Resolution set to Quarter. And Render Cache set to Smart.

Can anyone tell me if upgrading to the paid version and its better support for GPUs would improve preview performance?

Also, not only do I have to set the Timeline Proxy Resolution for each project, it seems there are a number of settings that reset this setting back to Full. Is there any way to tell Resolve to use my preferred setting?

If your system is causing the problems with the free version of Resolve it is unlikely Studio will help.
What are your system specs and what is the source, codec, and resolution of your video clips?

If your system is causing the problems with the free version of Resolve it is unlikely Studio will help.
What are your system specs and what is the source, codec, and resolution of your video clips?

I have a Dell XPS 8940 64-bit with 32 GB RAM. The processor is 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11700 @ 2.50GHz, 2501 Mhz, 8 Core(s), 16 Logical Processor(s).

Really, the system is no slouch.

My clips are GoPro (H.265 Main L6.0, 5312 x 2988) and a DJI drone (H.264 High L5.1, 3840 x 2160).

Often the playback is fine. But during transitions and even occasionally when it's just playing a clip I have problems.