Dave, I totally get your frustration — noise reduction is one of the heaviest effects in Resolve, and node caching should be the solution, not the problem. Based on what you've shared, here are a few things that might help (or at least explain what's going on):
1. Check if your cache is really on the external SSD Just saying “the cache is on the SSD” might not be enough. Resolve only saves cache there if you specifically set the cache path in:
- Project Settings > Master Settings > Working Folders > Cache files location
If not set manually, it defaults to:
- Code: Select all
/Users/USERNAME/Movies/DaVinci Resolve/CacheClip/
That’s on your internal drive, not the SSD — even if media or project files are elsewhere. Please double-check this setting in the project that’s giving you issues.
2. Use a lighter cache codec You mentioned long caching times and choppy playback even after caching. Try switching the cache format to a lighter codec like:
- ProRes 422 (NOT HQ)
- DNxHR SQ
Go to
Project Settings > Master Settings > Render Cache Format. These formats are easier for Resolve and macOS to read from, especially off external SSDs.
3. Don’t use iCloud Drive for media or cache If anything is saved inside
iCloud Drive (e.g. on desktop or documents if iCloud sync is on), macOS may offload parts of the file to the cloud to save space. This causes:
- Files silently going “offline”
- Cache being invalidated
- Horrible performance
To be safe, always store cache and media folders outside of iCloud — ideally on a local SSD with iCloud disabled for those folders.
4. System tools or macOS background processes can interfere Some tools can slow down or even invalidate cache files:
- Antivirus software (Norton, Bitdefender, etc.)
- Cloud sync apps (Dropbox, Google Drive)
- Time Machine if your SSD is not excluded
- Spotlight indexing
- SSD “cleaning” apps like CleanMyMac
If you're not sure, try testing with a clean macOS user account and no third-party tools running.
5. External SSD may still “pause” behind the scenes Even if the SSD is never unplugged, macOS can put it into sleep/power-saving mode. That may cause Resolve to “think” the cache is unstable or corrupt and silently recache it.
Try moving the cache temporarily to your internal SSD (just for testing). If caching becomes consistent, your SSD or macOS's handling of it might be part of the problem.
6. General advice on caching workflow- Enable “Node Cache” on the NR node
- Set “Render Cache” to User mode
- Right-click the clip > Render Cache Color Output
- Wait for the full blue line above the clip
If the node is blue but playback is still choppy, you’re likely hitting I/O or memory bottlenecks — not GPU or CPU limits.
7. Known issue? DR 20 is still maturing, especially with new Apple Silicon (M4). You're not the only one seeing flaky cache behavior. If you can, post your logs and system details to help the devs reproduce this. Or try the same effect in a clean project — it might be a project-level bug.
Hope this helps! Let us know what you find when checking the cache path and system setup. Don’t give up on Resolve just yet — you’re super close to a solid workflow.