Minimum computer requirements for Davinci Resolve?

Get answers to your questions about color grading, editing and finishing with DaVinci Resolve.
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Carsten Sellberg

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Re: Minimum computer requirements for Davinci Resolve?

PostFri May 03, 2019 4:12 am

VioletWolf wrote: Cooling: I'd seriously recommend water cooling as it sends the heat directly out of the case.

Heat management is very important and often overlooked.


Hi.

When I look at your CPU, do I understand why you think cooling is as important as you write, as I see, you are using an OLD CPU with a TDP of 220 Watt. Yes is will work with heavy cooling.
But the coming AMD Ryzen 5 3600 8 core 16 threads CPU have only a TDP of 65 Watt. It is 3.4 times lees, and will therefore require much less cooling. The AMD supplied cooler will be more than enough.

I will recommend Donald to buy one of the many X570 motherboards that will be introduced at the end of this month. AMD have this time really improved the motherboards, it will come with all the Input/Output capabilities, we have been missing in all the previous generations of the AM4 lines of motherboards.

To Donald will I write, that this build will not work as well as the systems as we previous wrote about. It is a build for YouTube, to show how cheap you can get a Resolve system up and running. And it are totally missing things as Harddrives?
Yes, I expect you can work with Resolve for one project. But i expect you want to save your old projects, some where, as you will make new projects?

But as long you buy one of the coming X570 motherboard, will you be able to send the PC back to your builder for upgrades. And then will I suggest you ask for several upgrades at the same time, if you both want more RAM and Harddrives. This will keep the labor cost for upgrades down.

Regards Carsten.
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VioletWolf

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Re: Minimum computer requirements for Davinci Resolve?

PostFri May 03, 2019 7:04 pm

A fair assessment regarding my 220 watt chip Carsten lol. Very power hungry.

Although I stand by the the practice of venting as much heat as possible directly out of the case. It doesn't cost much more. Percentage of build maybe 1-2% and the parts last longer. Heating/cooling is what kills electronics. (I've been running pro recording studios for 30 years. Temp variation is the killer).

It depends on location to some degree as well. What works in Germany or Alaska may not work well in hot locations like Arizona or Mexico.

We do agree in principal on most things. Not trying to argue at all. Sharing knowledge and experience is why we're here. I'm learning from your posts.

Motherboards: MSI has been my go-to board since my computer-shop owning friend has switched away from ASUS due to warranty returns. He says the QC has been bad for years. He used to use only ASUS in his builds, but no more. I've been on MSI for many years and never a single issue. (But whatever works on a budget).

MSI has a new MoBo for the upcoming AMD chips too: The MSI MEG X570 Creation Motherboard
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/ryzen ... 38967.html

I'll probably swap out my current board and CPU once this combo has proven stable. (The savings in electricity may pay for it in 2 years lol)

Please start a thread on your build(s) with these new chips/boards when you start. I'll probably be right there with you :)
Resolve 17.1.1 | Windows 10 x64 (Latest Updates) | AMD Ryzen 7 2700x
| 32GB RAM |MSI NVIDIA RTX 2070 8 Gig - Driver 457.51 | Refugee from Adobe Premiere / After Effects
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austindonald1

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Re: Minimum computer requirements for Davinci Resolve?

PostMon May 13, 2019 4:14 am

for the BMPCC 1080p recording in raw file format to create a 5 minute short film and maybe a few stills, would a 64 GB SD card be sufficient for $100
or does it have to be the 128 GB for $199?
Donald Austin
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Michael_Andreas

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Re: Minimum computer requirements for Davinci Resolve?

PostMon May 13, 2019 4:49 am

I rather doubt that an SD card will be fast enough to record in raw, but you should do your own research by downloading the manual linked from the product web page: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... s/W-CIN-12
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DR Studio 17.4.1 Win10Pro 21H1/19043.1320 - i7-6700K@4GHz, 32GB RAM
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austindonald1

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Re: Minimum computer requirements for Davinci Resolve?

PostMon May 13, 2019 11:11 pm

Michael_Andreas wrote:I rather doubt that an SD card will be fast enough to record in raw, but you should do your own research by downloading the manual linked from the product web page: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... s/W-CIN-12


I'm confused, Black magic and SandDisk told me to get the San disk Extreme pro UHS ll 300 m/b SDSDXPK but didnt tell me the gb's

I thought SD stood for SanDisk?
Donald Austin
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Michael_Andreas

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Re: Minimum computer requirements for Davinci Resolve?

PostTue May 14, 2019 1:47 am

When talking cards, "SD" stands for "secure digital". Some SD cards are made by SanDisk, some by other manufacturers.

That speed of SD card, 300 MB/s, is well on the fast side of what is generally available to buy. If BM has gave a specific recommendation for that card for raw video, then it should be fast enough. Research the manual I referenced to see what the actual data rate is to see how fast the card will fill up. Also keep in mind the possibility that you will have to shoot a lot longer in production. What if you want an extra take? are you going to have a full production crew twiddling their thumbs while you download the files from the only card you have?
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austindonald1

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Re: Minimum computer requirements for Davinci Resolve?

PostWed May 15, 2019 3:43 am

Michael_Andreas wrote:When talking cards, "SD" stands for "secure digital". Some SD cards are made by SanDisk, some by other manufacturers.

That speed of SD card, 300 MB/s, is well on the fast side of what is generally available to buy. If BM has gave a specific recommendation for that card for raw video, then it should be fast enough. Research the manual I referenced to see what the actual data rate is to see how fast the card will fill up. Also keep in mind the possibility that you will have to shoot a lot longer in production. What if you want an extra take? are you going to have a full production crew twiddling their thumbs while you download the files from the only card you have?


Thanks for clearing up my SD confusion
Donald Austin
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Brad Hurley

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Re: Minimum computer requirements for Davinci Resolve?

PostWed May 15, 2019 1:24 pm

austindonald1 wrote:for the BMPCC 1080p recording in raw file format to create a 5 minute short film and maybe a few stills, would a 64 GB SD card be sufficient for $100
or does it have to be the 128 GB for $199?


Hi Donald -- you can record about 30 minutes of CinemaDNG Raw on a 128 GB SD card in the original Pocket Cinema Camera. That may or may not be enough for a 5-minute short film...I lived for 10 years in Vermont and I think of filmmaking like making maple syrup where it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. If you use that ratio you could easily shoot 200 minutes of video to get a 5-minute short film. If you're experienced and/or lucky and don't have to do many takes you can of course get by with a lot less.

If you're not dead-set on shooting Raw, try ProRes HQ, which can withstand quite a bit of manipulation in post; you'll be able to shoot longer. On a 64 gig card I can get about 40 minutes of ProRes HQ on my Pocket.
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austindonald1

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Re: Minimum computer requirements for Davinci Resolve?

PostWed May 15, 2019 2:38 pm

Brad Hurley wrote:
austindonald1 wrote:for the BMPCC 1080p recording in raw file format to create a 5 minute short film and maybe a few stills, would a 64 GB SD card be sufficient for $100
or does it have to be the 128 GB for $199?


Hi Donald -- you can record about 30 minutes of CinemaDNG Raw on a 128 GB SD card in the original Pocket Cinema Camera. That may or may not be enough for a 5-minute short film...I lived for 10 years in Vermont and I think of filmmaking like making maple syrup where it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. If you use that ratio you could easily shoot 200 minutes of video to get a 5-minute short film. If you're experienced and/or lucky and don't have to do many takes you can of course get by with a lot less.

If you're not dead-set on shooting Raw, try ProRes HQ, which can withstand quite a bit of manipulation in post; you'll be able to shoot longer. On a 64 gig card I can get about 40 minutes of ProRes HQ on my Pocket.

thanks, thats what i needed to know.
CinemaDNG raw is still available on the bmpcc? i thought only braw could be used?
if I use the 64 gb card, can i download on the computer what i recorded, then delete whats on card and record new footage?
Donald Austin
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Brad Hurley

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Re: Minimum computer requirements for Davinci Resolve?

PostWed May 15, 2019 2:50 pm

austindonald1 wrote:CinemaDNG raw is still available on the bmpcc? i thought only braw could be used?
if I use the 64 gb card, can i download on the computer what i recorded, then delete whats on card and record new footage?


It's easy to get mixed up between the BMPCC and the BMPCC 4K. My understanding is that you bought an original BMPCC and you have a BMPCC 4K on order, right? The BMPCC (original Pocket) can still shoot Cinema DNG raw; it's only the new BMPCC 4K where that capability was removed in a recent firmware update and you can only shoot BRAW or Prores.

And yes with the 64 gb card you can download onto your computer, delete and record new footage. You will need to remove the SD card from the camera, put it into a card reader, and transfer the files to your computer. Using Resolve's clone tool is the safest way to transfer your footage to your computer (and it's best to store those files on an external hard disk...they're going to be huge and it's better to have them on an external drive than to store them on your system drive). Once you've done that, reformat the SD card inside your BMPCC, which will erase your footage and reformat the SD card. You're using Windows if I remember correctly so format your SD card in exFAT not HFS+ (which is a Mac-only format).
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VioletWolf

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Re: Minimum computer requirements for Davinci Resolve?

PostWed May 15, 2019 6:33 pm

All very good advice from Brad.

I'd add: Make sure to have two external drives for footage. One as a working drive and the other as a backup. When you offload your footage make a copy to the second drive and stash it somewhere safe, preferably off-site form your primary.

A second SD card is a good idea too. SD cards are very reliable.. until they're not lol. I've had a few go bad on me. Not what you want to happen when the set and actors are all ready to roll
Resolve 17.1.1 | Windows 10 x64 (Latest Updates) | AMD Ryzen 7 2700x
| 32GB RAM |MSI NVIDIA RTX 2070 8 Gig - Driver 457.51 | Refugee from Adobe Premiere / After Effects
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austindonald1

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Re: Minimum computer requirements for Davinci Resolve?

PostThu May 16, 2019 2:19 am

Brad Hurley wrote:
austindonald1 wrote:CinemaDNG raw is still available on the bmpcc? i thought only braw could be used?
if I use the 64 gb card, can i download on the computer what i recorded, then delete whats on card and record new footage?


It's easy to get mixed up between the BMPCC and the BMPCC 4K. My understanding is that you bought an original BMPCC and you have a BMPCC 4K on order, right? The BMPCC (original Pocket) can still shoot Cinema DNG raw; it's only the new BMPCC 4K where that capability was removed in a recent firmware update and you can only shoot BRAW or Prores.

And yes with the 64 gb card you can download onto your computer, delete and record new footage. You will need to remove the SD card from the camera, put it into a card reader, and transfer the files to your computer. Using Resolve's clone tool is the safest way to transfer your footage to your computer (and it's best to store those files on an external hard disk...they're going to be huge and it's better to have them on an external drive than to store them on your system drive). Once you've done that, reformat the SD card inside your BMPCC, which will erase your footage and reformat the SD card. You're using Windows if I remember correctly so format your SD card in exFAT not HFS+ (which is a Mac-only format).


Yes correct, i have the original bmpcc but since i can still shoot in Cinema DNG, which is awesome, im going to hold off from buying the new bmpcc4k

Thanks for the valuable info...
Donald Austin
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austindonald1

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Re: Minimum computer requirements for Davinci Resolve?

PostMon May 27, 2019 3:54 pm

VioletWolf wrote:All very good advice from Brad.

I'd add: Make sure to have two external drives for footage. One as a working drive and the other as a backup. When you offload your footage make a copy to the second drive and stash it somewhere safe, preferably off-site form your primary.

A second SD card is a good idea too. SD cards are very reliable.. until they're not lol. I've had a few go bad on me. Not what you want to happen when the set and actors are all ready to roll


is it better to buy two 64 gb cards rather than one 128 gb ,so ill have a back up instead?

Does 64 gb has 15 minutes of record time with raw cine dng in 1080p?
Donald Austin
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