Time for a Resolve Lite Editor's Version

What? Resolve doesn't dictate one choice. Resolve runs on all 3 major operating systems (cough cough FC). It supports all the major CPU and GPU manufactures. Hardware choices aren't limited they are wide open!
...
Since the OP has brought up Apple products multiple times, here is the lowest powered option recommend. This isn't a high power expensive monster. It's on Amazon right now for under $900 with free shipping.

• "Limited performance for more than HD ProRes"
• mid 2017 12" MacBook
• 1.3Ghz dual core i5
• 8GB ram
• 512GB PCIe drive
• Intel HD Graphics 615

that's indeed an interesting example, because the same machine obviously wouldn't be able to run/start resolve, if you want to use the linux operating system!

i really like the fact, that resolve finally has become available on the linux platform, but its much more picky hardware requirements and very bad codec support in comparison to resolve on the other operating systems are still more than unsatisfying.

developers aren't an elitist minority. They wrote the application and know whats required, ignoring what they say is pure stupidity.

they are also just working men, which do their job as good as possible, and in most cases they represent just a tiny part of a much more complex creation process, where the actual value of the output is more related to happiness on the users/customers side.

sure, valuable knowledge and experience of experts in their field should never be underestimated or ignored, but that's better shared in some kind of respectful dialog, where better arguments convince the other side, than by just forcing the counterpart to tacitly accept a single provided solution without tolerating dissent.

but we are here to talk about the insufficient performance of resolve under less optimal circumstances...

You're here to ask BMD to spend money on development, so you don't have to on hardware.

I don't think that's a reasonable ask.

I don't see how other NLE's are significantly more responsive when you start throwing stuff at them ...

I actually find Resolve performing better than PP on the same hardware.

At the time I switched, I was using an i7 920 and GTX 960. Hardly cutting edge stuff.

I don't see how other NLE's are significantly more responsive when you start throwing stuff at them ...

I actually find Resolve performing better than PP on the same hardware.

At the time I switched, I was using an i7 920 and GTX 960. Hardly cutting edge stuff.

If you're running on a decent machine, then that will be the case. The better your system the larger the gap... if you're running on a machine with an inadequate GPU though, then Premiere will actually perform better with non-professional codecs like h.264.

But put it on a machine with any decent GPU, including the pitiful mx150 in my inexpensive and now aging Ultrabook, and you can quite easily work with 4K footage.

The complaints about the price are laughable though. Anyone complaining that Resolve is too expensive for them to migrate from the Adobe fleet isn't thinking... because if you use AfterFX and Audition as well as Premiere, then you're paying $600/year, which is obviously 2x the one-time price for Resolve Studio...

This thread has been inactive for a year, so I apologize for resurrecting it. Beats starting a new thread just centered on my problems

I really want to transition to Resolve, but this hardware won't cut it: ten year old W10 Core i7 system with 12GB of ram and a GTX 780.

I can upgrade the graphics card to a RTX 2070 8GB for about $600 CDN,
AND/OR, I can upgrade my free version of Resolve to Studio for $300USD,
AND/OR I can upgrade my system ram to a motherboard-limited 16G for about $200 USD.

Which option/options will give me the biggest bang for my buck?

I don't want to build a new $3K USD system. I'm just a retired film maker looking for light entertainment editing 1080P while confined to barracks.

Thanks for any advice.

I really want to transition to Resolve, but this hardware won't cut it: ten year old W10 Core i7 system with 12GB of ram and a GTX 780.

You don't specify the CPU or the codec of the footage you'd be working with, and can't speak to 12GB dram (16gb is recommended minimum), but you should be able to work with 1080p in some form or other -- transcodes or optimized media, if necessary -- reasonably well on that machine, unless you're expecting real-time performance from processor-intensive fx. Did you try?

Peter:

for HD, i'd save the 2070 a bit of overkill given the rest of the machine, and go for a 1050Ti for around $100 on Craigslist

and then up the sys ram

spend anything left over on SSD's to cache - cache's or optimised media will be workflow that the machine can support

i built a machine for a retired filmmaker recently from left over bits and craiglist finds, a z420 refurb'd for $200 + 1050Ti for $125 + a MediaSonic 4 bay RAID for $90 + 4x 2Tb WD red's that i had pulled from an array, his cost was $0 (SMART status on them showed a zillion hours and contant overheating, so worthless to sell, but still totaly functional)

for HD, i'd save the 2070 a bit of overkill given the rest of the machine, and go for a 1050Ti for around $100 on Craigslist.

Wow. If a $100 1050ti will give me what I need, I'll be stoked. All I really need currently is to be able to play HD smoothly. Crappy scrubbing I can deal with.

and then up the sys ram
OK. The motherboard maxes out at 16GB. If another 4GB over my 12GB will help, I'm in.

spend anything left over on SSD's to cache - cache's or optimised media will be workflow that the machine can support

A big SATA SSD? I think this machine won't support M.2 drives. I have a Samsung 500GB system drive installed currently.
Am I correct in the knowledge that my free version of Resolve (V 16) ignores the GPU? Especially for decoding h264 and h265? In other words, would paying for Studio improve my situation?


i built a machine for a retired filmmaker recently from left over bits and craiglist finds... his cost was $0

He must love ya! Thanks for your input.

@ John Paines.

Hi John. Thanks for your input.

I need to decode H264 and H265 footage. CPU is a Core i7. I don't see much in the way of compositing in my future, but I do need to do speed changes, titling and CC.

Performance with "optimized media" improves things remarkably, but the rendering time, drive space and file management issues are problematic.

If it's true that Resolve Studio uses the GPU more efficiently for decompressing the H264/5 media than the free version, I'll upgrade. If not, it's not really worth it to me, despite the reasonable price. I don't need most of the other benefits of Studio like multi-cam, etc.