DR 2019 Mac Pro GPU configuration

Hello everyone. This is my first post here but I've been using Davinci Resolve for around 3 years now. I started on a Mac and then built a custom PC with a 1080ti GPU and an intel i9. Currently The PC only gets used for Photo / Video. And I still use my old mid 2010 Mac Pro for all audio duties. Pro Tools, Live and Logic live on that machine. But it's no longer keeping up and I want to consolidate everything back onto 1 computer and I need to have logic available for client transfers. SO..... I'm looking at purchasing a new Mac Pro! I am however not sure of which GPU I need to go with to at least be as fast as my 1080 ti.

Any help would be much appreciated.

I'd say the one with Vega II if it's still available or Two MPX W5700...

I have the Mac Pro 2019 16 core with a single 32GB Pro Vega II. It handles up to 12K BRAW without any problems and renders of any 4K work I’ve tested can be about 100 fps. Also use Pegasus2 RAID 5, 8TB internal system storage, and only 48GB memory. If you’re using Fusion, I’d recommend more memory.

I have the Mac Pro 2019 16 core with a single 32GB Pro Vega II. It handles up to 12K BRAW without any problems and renders of any 4K work I’ve tested can be about 100 fps. Also use Pegasus2 RAID 5, 8TB internal system storage, and only 48GB memory. If you’re using Fusion, I’d recommend more memory.

Thanks for the reply.. I do audio work as well and work with a lot of large sample libraries so I will be going with 192gb of memory. Just not through Apple.

So how is your system when running lots of grading nodes? What about NR? I'm not going to be running 12k anytime soon. I'm totally fine with 6k and 4k for now so I should be good there. Do you grade as well edit?

I'd say the one with Vega II if it's still available or Two MPX W5700...

Thanks, how do those 2 scenarios compare processing wise to my current 1080 ti?

Lee, I was intending to add 192GB 3rd-party memory (6x32GB) when I bought the machine but put in only 48GB just to get the optimal memory access (6-way interleaving). However I’ve found 48GB sufficient at this time. I received the machine just before the pandemic lockdown and all my 2020 work was cancelled beginning in February so I haven’t done a new project to really kick the tires on it. I did finish some promotional videos for previous work but that was a music festival and not particularly demanding.

However I have graded and run through 12K video and it’s a pleasure to use on the new machine. You’re going to be fine assuming your media is on fast storage as well. The 12K video takes up most of the available GPU (Vega II 32GB). Sorry I’m not running with lots of effects or library audio clips so I don’t know how that will impact you. The 192GB should be good but others here know better than I.

I’d strongly recommend the 16-core as the best value option. Resolve is great using every resource you throw at it. So the cores can keep busy.

I’m glad I have the (rather expensive Apple) 8TB internal SSD that is controlled by the T2 chip. You can buy even faster SSD cards to install in the appropriate slots but the T2 doesn’t manage those. Currently I have a two day music festival tentatively scheduled and I’ll be editing that footage (probably 10 hours or more) on the internal SSD. My plan is to finish each project on the internal SSD and then migrate it to the external RAID 5 when done. In addition to the music festival, theatrical events and narrative shorts are tentative subject to pandemic protocols.

I was planning on doing a documentary but that would require purchasing a new Pegasus32 RAID as it would take a lot of storage space (50TB?) and a lot of time to complete.

Edit
My thinking on the single Vega II is that it is already an old card (but reliable and nicely capable) and in a few years there’ll be a great update to throw in there when needed. I was thinking about the new dual W5700XT cards before they were released, but prefer the single Vega now.

We went for the Radeon Pro Vega II Duo in a 16-core Mac Pro, and then threw 256GB of RAM at it because we could. It's been pretty fast, but we still into stressful situations where it struggles a bit. I think there are some circumstances where Resolve will never be able to play at speed, particularly with 3rd-party OFX plug-ins like Neat Video, which is pretty demanding. I have actually mulled over getting a second Vega II Duo, but I'm not in a hurry.

What is true is that we can throw 30 or 40 nodes at every shot in a timeline and it barely blinks. I've seen renders go at 350-400fps under some circumstances, so "blazingly fast" is what I would call the thing. It's also been very, very reliable "so far."

Thank you... My plan is to go with the 16 core, 192gb of memory from OWC, and the singular 1 tb internal ssd for OS and application install. I will be going with the Sonic Fusion Flex J3i to run 3 other SSD's for audio duties. 1 for samples and the other 2 in a raid 1 for Client audio recording. Currently on my PC video machine I'm running 2 G-Speed 32tb Shuttles for video footage. Each box has 4 drives in a raid 0 configuration. The second one is a clone of the main. I couldn't figure out a way to run those 2 in a raid 1 in windows but I think I'm able to do that in OSx using Soft raid. At least I was doing that years ago with 2 8tb externals at one point. While the Shuttles are giving me 800MBps of read speed I want more. So with this new mac I'm going to be picking up OWC's 16 tb Accelsior 4M2. This will be the working drive for all current video projects and will give up to 6,000 MBps read speed. Footage will still be sitting on the Shuttles as back up and the Shuttles will hold footage for older projects as well. While I don't have an issue with speed currently with the Shuttles, they are like wind turbines. I want to get my room quite as well. Even the PC is extremely loud. It will be nice to leave the Shuttles off when not in use. I'm trying to keep everything around 16k. And with just the single Vega II 32gb I can do that while still allowing me to add a second Vega II or the Dual version down the road as my needs change.

Thanks for the help.

Lee, I was intending to add 192GB 3rd-party memory (6x32GB) when I bought the machine but put in only 48GB just to get the optimal memory access (6-way interleaving). However I’ve found 48GB sufficient at this time. I received the machine just before the pandemic lockdown and all my 2020 work was cancelled beginning in February so I haven’t done a new project to really kick the tires on it. I did finish some promotional videos for previous work but that was a music festival and not particularly demanding.

However I have graded and run through 12K video and it’s a pleasure to use on the new machine. You’re going to be fine assuming your media is on fast storage as well. The 12K video takes up most of the available GPU (Vega II 32GB). Sorry I’m not running with lots of effects or library audio clips so I don’t know how that will impact you. The 192GB should be good but others here know better than I.

I’d strongly recommend the 16-core as the best value option. Resolve is great using every resource you throw at it. So the cores can keep busy.

I’m glad I have the (rather expensive Apple) 8TB internal SSD that is controlled by the T2 chip. You can buy even faster SSD cards to install in the appropriate slots but the T2 doesn’t manage those. Currently I have a two day music festival tentatively scheduled and I’ll be editing that footage (probably 10 hours or more) on the internal SSD. My plan is to finish each project on the internal SSD and then migrate it to the external RAID 5 when done. In addition to the music festival, theatrical events and narrative shorts are tentative subject to pandemic protocols.

I was planning on doing a documentary but that would require purchasing a new Pegasus32 RAID as it would take a lot of storage space (50TB?) and a lot of time to complete.

Edit
My thinking on the single Vega II is that it is already an old card (but reliable and nicely capable) and in a few years there’ll be a great update to throw in there when needed. I was thinking about the new dual W5700XT cards before they were released, but prefer the single Vega now.

Hi. For the most part I'm using DR's NR. The only OFX plugins I use is Film Converts Nitrate and Cinematch. I have no problem running those on 6k BM raw footage currently. Do you think I'll have problems with those? Or is it just NR that is the GPU killer?

I really wished NVIDIA and Apple would make up..

We went for the Radeon Pro Vega II Duo in a 16-core Mac Pro, and then threw 256GB of RAM at it because we could. It's been pretty fast, but we still into stressful situations where it struggles a bit. I think there are some circumstances where Resolve will never be able to play at speed, particularly with 3rd-party OFX plug-ins like Neat Video, which is pretty demanding. I have actually mulled over getting a second Vega II Duo, but I'm not in a hurry.

What is true is that we can throw 30 or 40 nodes at every shot in a timeline and it barely blinks. I've seen renders go at 350-400fps under some circumstances, so "blazingly fast" is what I would call the thing. It's also been very, very reliable "so far."

You brought up something else I was curious about. Can I order the mac with the 32gb option and upgrade to the 6 channel later? Or do I need to go straight to the 48gb 6 channel?

And do you know how the dual W5700X cards compare to the single Vega II 32?

Lee, I was intending to add 192GB 3rd-party memory (6x32GB) when I bought the machine but put in only 48GB just to get the optimal memory access (6-way interleaving). However I’ve found 48GB sufficient at this time. I received the machine just before the pandemic lockdown and all my 2020 work was cancelled beginning in February so I haven’t done a new project to really kick the tires on it. I did finish some promotional videos for previous work but that was a music festival and not particularly demanding.

However I have graded and run through 12K video and it’s a pleasure to use on the new machine. You’re going to be fine assuming your media is on fast storage as well. The 12K video takes up most of the available GPU (Vega II 32GB). Sorry I’m not running with lots of effects or library audio clips so I don’t know how that will impact you. The 192GB should be good but others here know better than I.

I’d strongly recommend the 16-core as the best value option. Resolve is great using every resource you throw at it. So the cores can keep busy.

I’m glad I have the (rather expensive Apple) 8TB internal SSD that is controlled by the T2 chip. You can buy even faster SSD cards to install in the appropriate slots but the T2 doesn’t manage those. Currently I have a two day music festival tentatively scheduled and I’ll be editing that footage (probably 10 hours or more) on the internal SSD. My plan is to finish each project on the internal SSD and then migrate it to the external RAID 5 when done. In addition to the music festival, theatrical events and narrative shorts are tentative subject to pandemic protocols.

I was planning on doing a documentary but that would require purchasing a new Pegasus32 RAID as it would take a lot of storage space (50TB?) and a lot of time to complete.

Edit
My thinking on the single Vega II is that it is already an old card (but reliable and nicely capable) and in a few years there’ll be a great update to throw in there when needed. I was thinking about the new dual W5700XT cards before they were released, but prefer the single Vega now.