Computer Specs

Hi!

I recently bought a 2010 Westmere 2 X QuadCore (8 core) 2.4GHz Intel Xeon system with 16 gigs of RAM and a ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB graphics card to try to run Resolve more efficiently. I'm upgrading from a Mac 1,1 (2006) 2X duel 2.66Ghz (4 core) system!

Resolve still runs super slow... not at all in real time, choppy. Each movement takes lag time. Playback is very, very choppy.

Would I be better off trading it in for an older system, but with more horse power? For example, would a 2008, 3,1 Mac with a 2X QuadCore (8 core) 3 GHz Intel Xeon system with a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB graphics card do better for me than my 2010 8 core 2.4 GHz system?

I could always update the graphics card or add more RAM to either system. I read that the newer Westmere 8 core System (that I now have) makes OS X think it is 16 cores to get much faster than older 3GHz systems (8 hardware, 8 digital?)... but this could just be marketing? And maybe Resolve does not take advantage of this possibly 16 cores (seems like only native software?)? Let me know how to get my 2010 2.4GHz 8 core faster... or should I trade it back in for a 2008 3GHz 8 core system?

I know I could get things faster with faster hard drives? Maybe that is why the playback and movement is so, so slow and choppy? I'm just primarily concerned with having the right system first! Then I'd love any suggestions of improvement. If you think I should stick with the newer 2.4 8 core, please let me know how to speed it up to optimize for Resolve. If I'd be better served by an older 8 core 3Ghz system, I'd love to know that as well!

Thank you so very much for your thoughts, Resolve gurus!

Would getting another graphics card speed me up faster? Or a solid state / RAID drive? Or maybe an older system with a faster CPU? Apple told me that the Westmere 2.4's are faster than the older 3's, but I'd love to hear specifically about running Resolve.

Thank you again so much in advance for your thoughts & advice!

Get a GTX 980 card, that will speed things up considerably, and an SSD is also highly recommended, they are inexpensive now, even if you just grab a 256GB one to start with. The difference is astounding.

Before upgrading, make sure you have your current GPU setup to use the card for compute inside resolve, to make sure it is being used fully.

The 2.4GHz will be faster than the older 3GHz system, but you are held back by the disc and GPU.

Get a GTX 980 card, that will speed things up considerably, and an SSD is also highly recommended, they are inexpensive now, even if you just grab a 256GB one to start with. The difference is astounding.

Before upgrading, make sure you have your current GPU setup to use the card for compute inside resolve, to make sure it is being used fully.

The 2.4GHz will be faster than the older 3GHz system, but you are held back by the disc and GPU.

Thank you, Peter! This is very helpful. I will first make sure that my current GPU is setup right -- to use the card inside of Resolve... I've never made any changes like this -- so that very well may be the problem! There is somewhere in Resolve where I select the video card? I will read the manual!

If I am shooting with the BMCC -- I use SanDisk SSD cards. I have an enclosure for it -- is it faster to edit off of the card itself rather than transferring footage to the computer?

Also, sorry again for the newbie questions -- but is a SSD different than a RAID drive? Is it faster if the drive is internal rather than external or does it not matter too, too much?

Thank you so much again!

Also -- would I set the SSD internal drive as the main hard drive? Or just have the footage I'm working with on it as a secondary drive and keep the main hd the same as it is currently?

A friend suggested I try to edit my project first in Premiere or Final Cut and then export an XML file into Resolve -- that it might be faster to color correct that way (afterwards) than having Resolve looking at the raw blackmagic dng files?

I haven't figure out how to make sure Resolve is "using" the video card yet. I know it is in settings somewhere, but have yet to find it!

I figured out my other question -- solid state is different from raid drive, so no need to answer me there. Now once I buy an internal solid state drive -- I just need to figure out whether to try to use it as my system HD, or if there is no need for that (would be kind of a nightmare), but sounds like I would just have it as a secondary drive where I would keep my footage that I am editing on?

Thank you again X1000

After reading more on some other forums... I'm assuming you are suggesting I upgrade my System drive (which runs my Operating System, etc) to the solid state drive?

Thank you again

Definitely upgrade the system drive to an SSD, they are inexpensive and *everything* gets so much faster/better with the OS on an SSD, and even a 128GB SSD will do for the system.
Installing it isn't a nightmare, if you want to be up and running quickly, you can most likely just use Carbon Copy or similar, image your existing boot drive to the SSD, then boot off it from then on.

If your footage is under 1TB at a time, then I would also just have a 1B SSD for workspace.

I haven't figure out how to make sure Resolve is "using" the video card yet. I know it is in settings somewhere, but have yet to find it!
Thank you again X1000

Look under Preferences/System Overview and it will tell you which GPUs are in use.
You can click on 'Video I/O and GPU' to select use GUI card for compute if you only have one card and it isn't showing up as being used.

Get at least 256gb ssd for the system, I have 128gb just for system and apps and I'm running low on space time to time.

Awesome -- thank you so much.

Under System Overview, it is using my video card -- the ATI Radeon

Under Video I/O and GPU

It says "None" for capture and playback use as well as for resolve. Use red rocket if available & use gpu for red debayer are both checked. use system audio output is not checked.

GPU processing mode is set to Auto. Would OpenCL or CUDA speed me up at all?

My editing amigo was correct -- I just tried exporting an XML out of Premiere... DaVinci is running MUCH faster (real time!, but with only an occasional hick-up). It is running as well now as it used to run... when I was also using XML files. Interesting... So I guess it is just having problems playing the raw DNG files? If I put the raw files in a sequence and export XML it seems to do much better! Is that odd? I mean, it still has to read the raw source files that the XML is linking to, right?

Anyway -- it seems I've found my work around! (& I'm sure an SSD card will speed me up even more!!!). For some reason though, Blackmagic Resolve seems to read XML files (linking to raw files) better than Blackmagic 2.5 raw files?

Michael, the Radeon 5770 is prehistoric.

2.5-3 GB Video RAM is recommended for HD video (you can get away with 2) and 4-6 GB for 4k+

The advice on SSDs is good, but Resolve is so heavily GPU-dependent that your Radeon is likely to be your biggest bottleneck right now (your CPUs are fine).

Hey,

I saw your post and since I've quite the same MP, I can tell you what I've done (and therefore what you may choose too):

1/ Above all, buy a GTX 680 or 770 (same CC but cheaper), anyway more than 1500 cuda cores, and put it in slot 1, letting your 5770 in slot 2 (with the display connected to). You may need another cable to connect the new GPU, plus this, plus 2 regular ones behind to the GPU.
This is the more important stage. Your amd 5570 will be used for displaying only and the GTX will be used to work for Resolve.

Then go to Resolve preferences and check you see GTX 680/770 appear under Video I/O and GPU (maybe the amd won't appear BUT will be used for displaying).
At this point, everything has already changed in your Resolve use and playback

2/ you may install a raid0 with 2 SSDs in one bay with stuff like that (I got something similar for 1/4th of this price), and use it for your footage, to have a very quick access to rushes

3/ Forget about all Ghz ********, you've done what you had to, for Resolve is several GPUs and/or the more cuda cores you can.

Thank you all so much for your input!

So I am looking for a Geforce GTX 770 1G DDR5? Seems like you can get one used under $100?

http://www.dhgate.com/product/geforce-gtx-770-real-1g-ddr5-graphics-card/211762598.html?utm_source=pla&utm_medium=GMC&utm_campaign=olivia0817&utm_term=211762598&f=bm%7c211762598%7c104007-ComputerComponents%7cGMC%7cAdwords%7cpla%7colivia0817%7cUS%7c104007007-GraphicsCards%7cc%7c%7c0HRF%7c&gclid=CjwKEAjws5CrBRD8ze702_2dyjYSJAAAJK9ya0lsg0cXyUtEQcEqwHo-nBJkSOroV24OIg67ik792BoCF8bw_wcB

It will be amazing to be back up and running in real time on this new system.

Oh... but that only has 1 GIG of video ram... so that won't work if I'm working with 2.5k raw? For working with 2.5k... how many GB do I need in the card?

Thank you again

On the 4 gig ones (which seems like I should go for?) Any differences/preferences between a bit more affordable MSI Nvidia GTX 770 with twin fans vs a more expensive 3 fan windforce GTX 770? Or I should be set either way?

How much are the 770 cards you are looking at? There are 4GB GTX970 cards for about $280 on ebay.

[Dwaine Maggart]

You say you are upgrading from a 1,1 system. So what type of system do you have? Or have you just upgraded the 1,1 system? Normally a 1,1 system won't run OSX in 64 bit, and thus is relegated to OSX 10.7.5 or earlier. But you need a newer (64 bit) version of OSX to support the NVIDIA cards that people are recommending. What OSX version are you running?

How much are the 770 cards you are looking at? There are 4GB GTX970 cards for about $280 on ebay.

Cool -- is the GTX970 better / faster than the 770? Will they all work in a Mac Pro tower? I am sure they are PCIe slots?

You say you are upgrading from a 1,1 system. So what type of system do you have? Or have you just upgraded the 1,1 system? Normally a 1,1 system won't run OSX in 64 bit, and thus is relegated to OSX 10.7.5 or earlier. But you need a newer (64 bit) version of OSX to support the NVIDIA cards that people are recommending. What OSX version are you running?

Hey Dwaine -- I posted my system in my OP. It is a 2010 Westmere 8 core (2X4 2.4gHz) with 16gb or RAM. I'm running the newest version of Yosemite.

I had a 1,1 from oh 2004-2005? I just recently bought this "new" refurbished 2010 computer (I don't really like the look of Mac's new trashcan anyhow!). I used Resolve successfully with real time play on computer at school.

Thanks!

How much are the 770 cards you are looking at? There are 4GB GTX970 cards for about $280 on ebay.

Cool -- is the GTX970 better / faster than the 770? Will they all work in a Mac Pro tower? I am sure they are PCIe slots?

Pretty sure the 970 uses less power and will work better (and faster) in a MP Tower, but not 100% sure.

How much are the 770 cards you are looking at? There are 4GB GTX970 cards for about $280 on ebay.

Cool -- is the GTX970 better / faster than the 770? Will they all work in a Mac Pro tower? I am sure they are PCIe slots?

A lot (everything ?) of what should been chosen specifically comes from (1) the number of cuda cores and (2) the Vram. The rest is your opinion about what is worth paying for... or not.

GTX 770 : typically 1534 cuda cores - 2 Gb default VRAM (4 available)
GTX 970 : typically 1664 cuda cores - 4 Gb default VRAM

The 770 is clearly the well known GTX 680 which was renamed, at least same specs for sure... Actually I personnaly don't see a great difference in perf, though the 770 has to be sold cheaper normally....
This said, I didn't read again the beginning of the thread, but if you have Resolve full, you may put 2 x GTX 770 in your tower if you happen to find em for a good price

I just borrowed a 2GB 770 this evening, will post full results later, but the 970 is , on average, just under 30% faster on the standard candle tests, it looks like the power consumption is almost identical, but the 970 is a full 10 degrees cooler under load.

The 970 I have here requires 2 x 6pin power connectors, the 770 requires 1 x 8pin, and 1 x 6 pin, so check your power supply has what you need.

Thanks for the test report, for him and anyone

The 970 I have here requires 2 x 6pin power connectors, the 770 requires 1 x 8pin, and 1 x 6 pin, so check your power supply has what you need.

This is no real pb anyway.
Until gtx 770 (therefore 680 too, and under of course, but finally also with 970 as you noticed it sucked less power), you can put 2 GC in a tower MP by doubling each motherboard cable and/or adapting 6 to 8 pins as you wish (see links on my previous post).
2010 and 2012 MP have 1000 W and this widely ok for these kind of GC and the rest of HDs, even with 4 bays and every PCIe overcrowded. [2008 MP had... 1400 W, just to say for those who wonder , thus even more ready].

Thanks for the test report, for him and anyone

The 970 I have here requires 2 x 6pin power connectors, the 770 requires 1 x 8pin, and 1 x 6 pin, so check your power supply has what you need.

This is no real pb anyway.
Until gtx 770 (therefore 680 too, and under of course, but finally also with 970 as you noticed it sucked less power), you can put 2 GC in a tower MP by doubling each motherboard cable and/or adapting 6 to 8 pins as you wish (see links on my previous post).
2010 and 2012 MP have 1000 W and this widely ok for these kind of GC and the rest of HDs, even with 4 bays and every PCIe overcrowded. [2008 MP had... 1400 W, just to say for those who wonder , thus even more ready].

Thank you!

Yes -- I currently have an ATI Radeon, so hoping to use this video card just to power full Resolve.

I am a bit worried about all the connections, etc. though. How can I be sure that a 970 will work in a 2010 Mac Pro? Do you think I'll be able to connect it? It sounds like a 770 is a more sure bet working with a Mac Pro? They all have PCIe connections I'd assume? But the power cables you are talking about are connected to the back for the cables to... where? Sorry for the newbie question! But you hook the back of the video card somehow back into the computer even though it is connected already via PCIe??

Because I, and many others, are currently running 970 and 980 cards in the Mac Pro.

The extra connections are just power cables to the card, all GPUs with any grunt require power connections as the PCIe bus cannot supply enough power. This is true for both the 770 and the 970.

I found a video here that shows the power connections.

A friend suggested I try to edit my project first in Premiere or Final Cut and then export an XML file into Resolve -- that it might be faster to color correct that way (afterwards) than having Resolve looking at the raw blackmagic dng files?

That's IMHO a good idea to first edit in Premier or FCP then export if you're doing Prores. I doubt you can do that with Raw BM dng unless Primer/FCP latest version supports BM raw. I am not aware of this new Premier / FCP capability. If so I stand corrected.

If I'm planning to edit with DaVinci Resolve lite 12, only ProRess422, will I need the latest Mac with all bells and whistles, or my 512 MB video card will be enough?

upd: not 4K but 1080

I would strongly advise getting at least a 2GB card.

Because I, and many others, are currently running 970 and 980 cards in the Mac Pro.

The extra connections are just power cables to the card, all GPUs with any grunt require power connections as the PCIe bus cannot supply enough power. This is true for both the 770 and the 970.

I found a video here that shows the power connections.

Cool -- you are running a 970 and a 980? Do you think I will be good enough with one extra video card + the radeon I have to run the display? Getting 30% faster out of a 970 or 980 sounds worth it for $100 more!

Because I, and many others, are currently running 970 and 980 cards in the Mac Pro.

Thank you again for all your help, advice, the video, etc.

Can I ask exactly what version of the card you are running? I just put an offer in on this one (which was turned down) -- http://www.ebay.com/itm/NVIDIA-GeForce- ... 3f4d80ce68

But I just read on the side you need Microsoft Windows to use it! So is there a certain 970 that you recommend to go with your Mac?

Thanks again so very much.

Michael, cool down...

I was also very excited and afraid to forget anything, but I searched the web for ages (at least 5-6 months) and NOW, I've been using a 2008 MP with a amd radeon 5770 for GUI (so the monitor must be connected on it) and a GTX 680 2 Gb (same spec as 770) in the slot 1 for processing.
In Resolve, there is a great % of chance that only the GTX appears, but it's not a pb

So :
1/ Yes, you can buy this card, it will work for sure
2/ Of course MS is recommended, for what you're about to do is not with a "Mac Edition" labeled card. But you don't care : you just have to double one of the 2 pcie power supply cable to hook up your new 970, which you put in slot 1 (down below)
3/ if you want to put 2 gtx like him, be aware that only one will process if you only have Resolve Lite, the second one is only used for GUI (=> with Lite, your AMD is enough for GUI)
4/ Enjoy

Michael, cool down...

I was also very excited and afraid to forget anything, but I searched the web for ages (at least 5-6 months) and NOW, I've been using a 2008 MP with a amd radeon 5770 for GUI (so the monitor must be connected on it) and a GTX 680 2 Gb (same spec as 770) in the slot 1 for processing.
In Resolve, there is a great % of chance that only the GTX appears, but it's not a pb

So :
1/ Yes, you can buy this card, it will work for sure
2/ Of course MS is recommended, for what you're about to do is not with a "Mac Edition" labeled card. But you don't care : you just have to double one of the 2 pcie power supply cable to hook up your new 970, which you put in slot 1 (down below)
3/ if you want to put 2 gtx like him, be aware that only one will process if you only have Resolve Lite, the second one is only used for GUI (=> with Lite, your AMD is enough for GUI)
4/ Enjoy

Sweet -- Thanks man. I have full Resolve. Can I set it up to use the new card + the radeon then? I don't think I'm getting that 770. The dude turned down my 258.99 offer and wants 315. Good to know I can get one just like it to use in the Mac though! I'm going to keep hunting!

If you have full version, you may even double the 2 cables and put 2 gtx, as long as the power consumption of each card doesn't exceed what a 770 sucks (check power consumption of the cards).
A reseller for professionals granted me it works great for 2 x 680 or 2 x 770 in a westmere MP.

If you schedule to keep a radeon, which I presume is mac edition - therefore single cable card - , no pb anyway : connect your monitor to the radeon, and don't forget to download CUDA for mac and the latest driver before putting the new card in, resulting in 2 preference panes, in which you want to select nvidia driver for default driver (instead of the generic OSX one)

What will happen : in all cases, you will tell Resolve to use the GTX first to process, THEN the second card if needed only (not sure to be able to select it with a radeon).

*Resolve > Preferences > System Overview : you must see your GTX as video card 1, and should be able to tick the 2nd one to process too (in addition with its job of displaying), but not sure if it's an amd

*Resolve > Preferences > Video I/O and GPU : you want to select CUDA

EDIT : the first 2 pages I visited while surfing the web to achieve what you're trying now, here and here. It's been working for a while, don't be afraid

Do you think I'd be okay with 4 gigs of Vram? Or should I spend more for 6? I saw the GTX 980's have dropped in price. Any huge differences between the different models of GTX 980's?

Peter wrote --

I would strongly advise getting at least a 2GB card.

Would I see quite a speed increase above 2 though? 2 vs 4? 4 vs 6?

Thanks again so much for your thoughts!

Do you think I'd be okay with 4 gigs of Vram? Or should I spend more for 6? I saw the GTX 980's have dropped in price. Any huge differences between the different models of GTX 980's?

Peter wrote --

I would strongly advise getting at least a 2GB card.

Would I see quite a speed increase above 2 though? 2 vs 4? 4 vs 6?

Thanks again so much for your thoughts!

ALWAYS get more RAM

Thank you -- and other than RAM... any difference between the models?

I guess I'm still going to look for a 970 or 980 based on all your suggestions?

Premiere runs the Blackmagic Raw footage so slowly... I really need to get a video card before the 14th of this month as I'm doing some editing now!

Does anyone have a best suggestion for Video Card for MAC currently? As far as power and affordability? If not, I am going to dig in and search for a 970 / 980

Thank you, thank you. Finally taking care of this Appreciate ALL YOUR HELP !!!

What do you think about them to the now released 1070 and 1080?

Hello!

I decided to start a new thread related to 1070/1080 vs 970/980 here -- viewtopic.php?f=3&t=66732&p=374889#p374889

Thank you so very much!

I am just bumping the thread -- any thoughts on the 1080 NVIDIA vs 980?

I am just bumping the thread -- any thoughts on the 1080 NVIDIA vs 980?

No question the 1080 will be far superior performance wise vs the 980.

You say you are upgrading from a 1,1 system. So what type of system do you have?

I have a 5,1 system.

(your CPUs are fine).

The 2.4GHz will be faster than the older 3GHz system, but you are held back by the disc and GPU.

I was planning to "upgrade" to two Intel Xeon X5690 Six Core Processor 3.46 GHz. This will be quite a bit faster than the 2.4ghz cpu's, no? Doing the upgrade myself doesn't look too difficult from watching videos online.

No question the 1080 will be far superior performance wise vs the 980.

every PCIe overcrowded.

I'm looking to upgrade to a 1080TI, but read about some power issues with the Pascal. Have any of you upgraded a 5,1 2010 Mac to a 1080TI 11gb? Is it hard to "flash" a drive or use the power that is onboard?

ALWAYS get more RAM

I am upgrading to 128GB 8X16GB NEMIX RAM

an SSD is also highly recommended

I am going to go with SSD internal drives, but do I need to get a SATA adapter for them it looks like? Something like this?
https://www.amazon.com/ICY-DOCK-Tool-Le ... pons&psc=1
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP! IN RECAP -- I am upgrading from --

2010 5,1 MacPro
Westmere 2 X QuadCore (8 core) 2.4GHz Intel Xeon system
16 gigs of RAM
ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB graphics card
SATA Drives

to --

2010 5,1 Mac Pro
Intel Xeon X5690 Six Core Processor 3.46 GHz (12 core) 3.46GHz
128GB 8X16GB NEMIX RAM
GEFORCE 1080TI 11GB Graphics card
SSD Internal Drives

My last questions again are --

This is a way faster CPU yes?
How to install 1080TI? Flashing? How to connect to power with power issues with Pascal?
SSD drives need a SATA enclosure like I linked to?
I'll be able to edit 4k raw with this and do some good After Effects / 3d work / Resolve work without so much lag and slug?

THANK YOU THANK YOU AGAIN!!!

Looks like the Vega 7 VII draws even more power than the 1080 TI? I wonder if it would also work with the Pixlas mod? https://thehouseofmoth.com/mac-pro-pixlas-mod/

Being a newbie to computer modification, feeling a bit overwhelmed