Extreme EPYC Workstation, same class as new Mac PRO.

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

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Extreme EPYC Workstation, same class as new Mac PRO.

PostSun Jun 09, 2019 4:53 am

Hi.

I got the idea, to show you what is available today. Why do you have to wait to this fall, for the last information on Apples new Mac PRO.

I learned by participating in this forum, how impotent the Graphic Card Performance are for Resolve. In an another thread told Peter us a nice message, around a coming release of Resolve using the AMD's Infinity Fabric interconnections. Today we know of two AMD Graphics cards with the Infinity Fabric interconnections. The Radeon Instinct MI50/MI60 and coming this fall, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II or Duo.

For this build suggestion, do I choose 3x Radeon Instinct MI50, with a estimated total cost of ~ $6300.

This will give the following performance:

Peak Single Precision (FP32) Performance of 40.2 TFLOPs
GPU Memory Size of 48 GB and
Memory Bandwidth of 1024 GB/s

https://www.amd.com/en/products/profess ... tinct-mi50

To compare have nVidea Titan RTX:

16.3 TFLOPs of FP32 power.
24 GB of GDDR6 Ram and
Memory a bandwith of 672 GB/s

That is 2.5x the TFlops, Double the amont of vRam and 50% more memory Bandwith.

As CPU for this build suggestion, will you have the possibility to choose between tree 1st generation EPYC CPU designed for single socket operation:

EPYC 7551P 32 cores / 64 threads and a TDP of 180W/180W $2100
EPYC 7401P 24 cores / 48 threads and a TDP of 155W/170W $1075
EPYC 7351P 16 cores / 32 threads and a TDP of 155W/170W $750

More information in this link:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/11551/am ... c-analysis

And as the EPYC uses 8 memory channels, will its 24 cores and 32 cores versions, not have the odd memory configurations as the Threadripper with its 4 memory channels have.


In this link, do I read about a project, where they build a complete new EPYC workstation, inside a 12 years old SUN Ultra Workstation cabinet.

https://www.servethehome.com/introducin ... rkstation/

They start to select the new SUN Ultra EPYC Components on page 3:

https://www.servethehome.com/introducin ... station/3/

They choose the Gigabyte MZ01-CE0 motherboard, that have space for four double width PCIe x16 cards.

I don't know the price of the Gigabyte MZ01-CE0 motherboard, but I found the similar Gigabyte MZ31-AR0 on Amazon to a price: $527.84

https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-MZ31-AR ... B077BKKJXZ

It will have space for 3x dual slot Radeon Instinct MI50, A single slot Graphics Card for Resolves display and a Declink Card with a PCIe x8 Interface.

Here is a link to Gigabytes page for the MZ31-AR0. I suggest you use some of the ECC Registered RAM from their QVL List:

http://download.gigabyte.eu/FileList/QV ... 0_v1.0.pdf

And here is link with a review of it:

https://www.servethehome.com/gigabyte-m ... therboard/


Until now, I have shown to you, that you already today can buy an extreme set of Graphic Cards together with a 24 core / 48 threads CPU and a motherboard for an estimated price of $7902.84

How do you like it. How many do you think are ready to pay this amount of money, for this kind of performance?


And finally, why don't we all uses systems as above?

First we have to wait for the release of the Resolve version, that take advantage of AMD's Infinity Fabric interconnections.

And then, AMD have already confirmed the NEXT generation of its EPYC CPU's will come in Q3 of 2019.
It will be manufactured on the new faster 7nm process node and will, as the Radeon Instinct MI50 Graphic Cards come with the PCIe ver 4.0 Interface.
The maximum core numbers will be increased to 64 cores and 128 threads for the Single socket motherboards, and to a total of 128 cores and 256 threads for Dual socket motherboards.
So there are many good reasons to wait a few months.

Regards Carsten.


EDIT: Changed 'an alternative' to 'same class as' in the heading.
Last edited by Carsten Sellberg on Sun Jun 09, 2019 5:29 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Marc Wielage

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Re: Extreme EPYC Workstation, an alternative to new Mac PRO.

PostSun Jun 09, 2019 5:14 am

It's not an alternative if it doesn't run Mac OSX.

It's an alternative to HP and Dell and Puget Systems and Supermicro and many other PC workstations that can run Windows and Linux.

Let's wait until the new machines are actually released and available for testing before you say for a fact you can or can't beat it for power, price, or anything else. Everything is specious right now.

Meanwhile, in the next couple of months, read these articles on the power of suggestion and why people believe what they choose is better than anybody else's, even in the face of logic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giffen_good
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choice-supportive_bias
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MishaEngel

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Re: Extreme EPYC Workstation, an alternative to new Mac PRO.

PostSun Jun 09, 2019 1:14 pm

Marc Wielage wrote:It's not an alternative if it doesn't run Mac OSX.


The nice thing about an OS is that it's just an OS.

Is Davinci Resolve under Mac OS that different from Davinci Resolve under Windows 10?
The same counts for all other applications.

When the Mac Pro is released for purchase sept..dec. 2019?, we will see what the cost of performance will be.

A dual EPYC ROME (2x 32c/64tr) ~ $10.000, 1 TB RAM ~ $6.000, 4x RTX Quadro 8000 ~ $ 22.000 system isn't cheap either.
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SteveMulcahy

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Re: Extreme EPYC Workstation, same class as new Mac PRO.

PostTue Jun 11, 2019 7:50 pm

Marc Wielage wrote:It's not an alternative if it doesn't run Mac OSX.


This has been partially my point to all the people bleating that they can build a cheaper PC.

Fine. I can’t afford even a base Mac Pro at home, and I’m ok with that, even though I have a fine cheese grater Mac Pro at home, I was given it by an old employer, couldn’t have bought that brand new either! I will probably upgrade to the Ryzen 9 next year. But I am not walking into my employer’s broadcast production area and proclaiming that I could build a faster, better machine (perhaps even a hackintosh) for them cheaper than the new Mac Pro. They’re ok with spending the money for the new Mac Pro, because these computers are more than the spec sheet to them.

The things I’m interested in from a hobbyist (as far as video)/professional IT side of things are will case manufacturers copy Apple’s frame/body design, and will we see FPGA cards for Resolve on Windows/Linux?


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Trensharo

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Re: Extreme EPYC Workstation, same class as new Mac PRO.

PostSat Jun 15, 2019 10:55 pm

Operating system is just an App Launcher to me.

I don't care what OS a computer runs. Only that it runs the software I need to get things done.

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Marc Wielage

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Re: Extreme EPYC Workstation, same class as new Mac PRO.

PostSun Jun 16, 2019 1:14 am

Trensharo wrote:Operating system is just an App Launcher to me. I don't care what OS a computer runs. Only that it runs the software I need to get things done.

Then don't buy a Mac. It's not for you.

I have often said that I routinely curse Windows and Linux and Mac OS every day, because they're all irritating, they're all illogical, and none of them are 100% reliable. But I can generally get the job done just fine with Mac. I don't pretend it's the right system for anybody, and I don't like Apple as a company, but Macs generally work well for me (particularly with Resolve). I think the 2019 Mac Pro will solve a lot of problems on reliability and power... but it is very, very expensive.
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Trensharo

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Re: Extreme EPYC Workstation, same class as new Mac PRO.

PostSun Jun 16, 2019 1:16 am

Marc Wielage wrote:
Trensharo wrote:Operating system is just an App Launcher to me. I don't care what OS a computer runs. Only that it runs the software I need to get things done.

Then don't buy a Mac. It's not for you.

I have often said that I routinely curse Windows and Linux and Mac OS every day, because they're all irritating, they're all illogical, and none of them are 100% reliable. But I can generally get the job done just fine with Mac. I don't pretend it's the right system for anybody, and I don't like Apple as a company, but Macs generally work well for me (particularly with Resolve). I think the 2019 Mac Pro will solve a lot of problems on reliability and power... but it is very, very expensive.
I already have one.

And this isn't a debate. Chill out.

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Marc Wielage

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Re: Extreme EPYC Workstation, same class as new Mac PRO.

PostSun Jun 16, 2019 2:06 am

Trensharo wrote:And this isn't a debate. Chill out.

I'm not the one being hostile -- you're fanning the flames of the argument. One problem with arguing with strangers on the internet is that you have no idea how much knowledge and life experience they might have. I've owned computers since the spring of 1980 and used them daily ever since 1978; I've used more Windows machines than most people have ever touched. I had Macs starting way back in 1987, and I've had to use everything from CP/M to DOS to every version of Windows and every version of Mac OS available in the last 30+ years. There are many days when I've had to use multiple operating systems in the same day; it's part of how post works. I think there's a place for Windows and good reasons to use it; it's just a means to an end.

But at some point it becomes a religious discussion, and people fly off the handle. Me, I say there's good and bad with all OS's, all hardware, and all religions. It's a personal choice. If somebody wants to go in a different direction, I say "more power to you" provided you don't subject me to propaganda. Blackmagic is one of the few companies out there that allows users to choose Linux, Mac, or Windows for their main program, and it gives us a lot of flexibility in terms of how we work and what we do with it. I'm very thankful that Blackmagic has that philosophy.
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Uli Plank

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Re: Extreme EPYC Workstation, same class as new Mac PRO.

PostSun Jun 16, 2019 9:56 am

Amen, bro! You must be about my age…
No, an iGPU is not enough, and you can't use HEVC 10 bit 4:2:2 in the free version.

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MacBook M1 Pro, 16 GPU cores, 32 GB RAM and iPhone 15 Pro
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Trensharo

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Re: Extreme EPYC Workstation, same class as new Mac PRO.

PostSun Jun 16, 2019 10:56 am

Marc Wielage wrote:
Trensharo wrote:And this isn't a debate. Chill out.

I'm not the one being hostile -- you're fanning the flames of the argument.


By saying that an OS is basically an launcher to me and that I don't care which one I use?

I'm sorry... am I being bamboozled?

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