performance is worse than expected, GPU not really used

Hi,

I downloaded Resolve 17 to give it a try and while the program seems to be very good and stable (although very complex), I wonder why the performance is that bad. Maybe I expect too much with my poor hardware?

My footage is 3840x2160 MP4 taken with a Sony Alpha III. With the simple player from windows, I can play the vifeo without any problems and jumpt to whatever position I want immedeately. The integrated GPU is used there.

However, If I use Resolve, I have problems to play the video. It is extremely slow and I can not really jump to another position and move back and forth. It seems that Resolve only uses the CPU and none of the GPUs.

My timeline is set to full HD and only after I created proxies I could work with the files. I do not really have problems working with proxies, but wonder if there is something wrong with my configuration or drivers? Also, working in the media section is really annoying and I did not find how to create/use proxies already there. Any hints?

My System is at the lower end of requirements:
Resolve 17.4.2
Windows 10 Pro, 21H1
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8550U
RAM: 16GB
SSDs: 500GB and 1TB
Radeon RX 550, 2GB, driver version: 27.20.15026.0 (no update via Windows or Lenovo Updater available)

many thanks in advance for any hint! Also, if someone points me to helpful documentation; I did not really find a solution.

Uwe

The free version of DaVinci Resolve for Windows doesn't use hardware acceleration when decoding H.264/H.265 files. You need the paid version for that.

Also, an old Radeon with 2GB VRAM only falls below the minimal hardware requirements.

Ah, yes. With so little GPU VRAM the hardware accelerated decoding won't be enabled even in the Studio version. I believe BMD has stated that 3.5GB VRAM is required (that might have been for encoding though, they didn't specify).

many thanks for the replies. When i see it correctly, I have two options:

1) work with proxies in Resolve and accept the very poor performance in the "media" section

2) switch to another program

3) buy new hardware (I do not really want to)

right? Does anyone have a recommendation for 2) ? Or a "cheap" but OK solution for 3) ?

[Peter Chamberlain]

Here are a couple of low cost GPU options that will greatly improve general performance.
Resolve Studio version of course will help handle the compressed format too with these GPUs.

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/N ... 4090vs4105

many thanks for the replies. When i see it correctly, I have two options:

1) work with proxies in Resolve and accept the very poor performance in the "media" section

2) switch to another program

3) buy new hardware (I do not really want to)

right? Does anyone have a recommendation for 2) ? Or a "cheap" but OK solution for 3) ?

Filmora gives you GPU decoding in free version, BUT it also gives you a watermark which goes away if you pay for it. for 4K and your computer you likely do need GPU decoding, so Studio isn't for you unless you buy a reasonable GPU, and there's the cost of Studio too, so if you're just here for the free aspect Resolve isn't for you when working in 4K with a lower spec computer

many thanks for the replies. When i see it correctly, I have two options:

1) work with proxies in Resolve and accept the very poor performance in the "media" section

...or optimized media (which is my personal favorite way, actually the identical approach).

You can put all your project footage into a media pool, set the optimized (or proxy) media and render cache preferences (i.e 960x540 px and DNxHR LB codec), then "select all" source clips in the media pool, right click, select "generate optimized media" (or proxy if you wish) and leave it for overnight. In the morning go to the "playback" menu and tick the item "use optimized media where available", switch off the timeline proxy mode, and go for editing. DNxHR LB doesn't use GPU so for simple editing you should be okay, and the media pool performance should (hopefully) be acceptable.

But don't expect complex effects to work fine, they mostly rely on GPU.

Give this approach a try, maybe this will be an acceptable temporary workaround.

2) switch to another program

Another program will neither accelerate your CPU nor add a GPU to your hardware. So I doubt this will end up in any improvement, but the time waste is guaranteed.

3) buy new hardware (I do not really want to)

Without a working GPU, you are stuck, unfortunately. No way.

Any Nvidia GPU with 8GB VRAM will solve your puzzle. For me, even my really ancient 980M (mobile! but 8GB VRAM) does the job. Not fast, but neither crash nor freeze DaVinci on rendering, and I can easily tolerate the time needed for unattended generation of optimized media.

Some used 1070/1080 (but with 8GB VRAM!) will do the job.

Studio isn't for you unless you buy a reasonable GPU, and there's the cost of Studio too, so if you're just here for the free aspect Resolve isn't for you when working in 4K with a lower spec computer

Actually, you can use the free Resolve version, but at a tradeoff of the disk space for the pre-transcoded media. Use ffmpeg to transcode your source footage from H.264/265 into i.e. DNxHR HQ at full size, and the free Resolve will ingest it. Then generate optimized media from these transcoded files, to get responsible UI and timeline for editing. More details on transcoding here: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=147285

But for anything more complicated than simple edits (think transforms, color grading, effects) you will be stuck anyway, because DVR (both free and studio) heavily relies on GPU for almost every effect offered.

So, the decent GPU is a must no matter what version of DaVinci you decide on, be it free or Studio. Here is an excellent explanation, why: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=151804#p810320

This applies to any other NLE, too.

Does anyone have a recommendation for 2) ? Or a "cheap" but OK solution for 3) ?

2) Edius... its not expensive, not a subscription, works very well on lower spec'd hardware.
3) New GPUs are not cheap and easy to find these days... which is partly why I'm still using my old 6GB GTX1060, which continues to perform well enough for me. So one of those, or better should be fine. Have a look on eBay... used cards can be found at reasonably affordable prices (and for less than the cost of an Edius license).

You can get through with lesser GPUs if you split complex work into steps with Render in Place into a good codec.

Actually, you can use the free Resolve version, but at a tradeoff of the disk space for the pre-transcoded media. Use ffmpeg to transcode your source footage from H.264/265 into i.e. DNxHR HQ at full size, and the free Resolve will ingest it. Then generate optimized media from these transcoded files, to get responsible UI and timeline for editing. More details on transcoding here: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=147285

But for anything more complicated than simple edits (think transforms, color grading, effects) you will be stuck anyway, because DVR (both free and studio) heavily relies on GPU for almost every effect offered.

Yes, I was thinking a 4core U series combined with no GPU processing or GPU decoding sounds like a horrible existence using Resolve, but I misread the statement about his GPU, it's under spec, it's not that Resolve won't use it, He should try the options you mentioned and see how it works for him

Wow, many thanks for so much replies and your help! I will test how the suggested workflow using optimized media and see if it works for me. I do not want to create professional videos, so I can live with issues like long rendering times, but when working with the UI it should not be too annoying.

Unfortunately, I forgot to explicitly write that I currently have a laptop, so just adding a new GPU is not an option (also no Thunderbolt for eGPU). Sorry for that.

I will try to test the suggestions soon, most probably after Christmas when there are some free days. And hopefully, I will come back with good news.

Many thanks again to all!

What.jpg (418.35 KiB) Viewed 1174 times

Hi people,
I have Studio version and when I'm exporting I use NVIDIA for encoding instead of NATIVE but anyway it doesn't work, it uses CPU still instead of GPU. Who can help explaining what is wrong or what I do wrong...?
[attachment=0]What.jpg[/attachment

many thanks for the replies. When i see it correctly, I have two options:

1) work with proxies in Resolve and accept the very poor performance in the "media" section

2) switch to another program

3) buy new hardware (I do not really want to)

right? Does anyone have a recommendation for 2) ? Or a "cheap" but OK solution for 3) ?

Filmora gives you GPU decoding in free version, BUT it also gives you a watermark which goes away if you pay for it. for 4K and your computer you likely do need GPU decoding, so Studio isn't for you unless you buy a reasonable GPU, and there's the cost of Studio too, so if you're just here for the free aspect Resolve isn't for you when working in 4K with a lower spec computer

Filmora don’t give you a gpu decoding with free version if it put a watermark, at my home I call it demo version, not free version.
Resolve had a free version which allow you to use 90% free with working license with some small limits about uhd resolution output and some plug-in not active. A watermarked software is only a demo not a free version.


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