This is on OS X 10.13.6 running beta7.
I just did the candle benchmark with 2 pref settings:
Once manual (Result A):

- Screen Shot 2018-08-03 at 17.17.36.png (138.53 KiB) Viewed 552 times
And once Auto (Result B):

- Screen Shot 2018-08-03 at 17.17.45.png (128.02 KiB) Viewed 552 times
The difference is quite staggering.
Note: The top framerates (50) are probabaly capped. For some reason, Resolve does not play back faster than 50fps in the color tab. Timeline and Project FPS was set to 120 for this test.
Result A
TNR01 50
TNR02 50
TNR04 36
TNR06 24
Blur09 50
Blur18 50
Blur30 30
Blur66 15
Result B
TNR01 50
TNR02 33
TNR04 17
TNR06 11
Blur09 50
Blur18 26
Blur30 15
Blur66 7
I'd say, roughty 50% slower with auto settings.
How come? Shouldn't Auto be smart enough to pick the best settings?