Silverstack, 16" MBP, eGPU, 5600m and Davinci

Hello, lots going on in the title of my post obviously!

I have a 16" Macbook Pro, with a 8GB HBML 5600M card. This is a fast mobile card.

I also have an external Sonnet eGPU with a Vega 64 8GB.

Can anyone advise on the settings that would get the most out of DaVinci Resolve please?

I'm mainly rendering Prores 4444 (from either Alexa Minis or Mini LFs) into Prores Proxy or DNxHD files.

I'm confused as using the trial of Silverstack Lab produced MUCH faster renders.

So is there a magic combination of settings that Silverstack is using natively that I haven't stumbled upon yet?

Or is Silverstack inherently faster at these tasks?

Many thanks!

I believe that Resolve non-Studio only uses a single GPU card, so you might want to check in Activity Monitor how much of the GPU each program is actually using.

Also, is Silverstack outputting with the same settings in terms codec parameters? And how are you using Resolve to set up your conversions? (You could be doing a lot of things ranging from the Media Pool, to a timeline, to the Delivery page. I'm not familiar with Silverstack Lab, but if it's just a select-some-files-and-convert-them with application, you could be doing a lot of inefficient/extra things in Resolve.)

I don't really have an answer for you, but I think clarifying a couple of issues would help someone else give a good answer.

I believe that Resolve non-Studio only uses a single GPU card, so you might want to check in Activity Monitor how much of the GPU each program is actually using.

Also, is Silverstack outputting with the same settings in terms codec parameters? And how are you using Resolve to set up your conversions? (You could be doing a lot of things ranging from the Media Pool, to a timeline, to the Delivery page. I'm not familiar with Silverstack Lab, but if it's just a select-some-files-and-convert-them with application, you could be doing a lot of inefficient/extra things in Resolve.)

I don't really have an answer for you, but I think clarifying a couple of issues would help someone else give a good answer.

Thanks Wayne - I use the Studio version so Davinci is able to access both GPUs in theory.

Silverstack is using the same parameters, yes.

In Resolve, I put untouched clips on the Timeline then render via the Delivery page.

Definitely no VFX or anything else in the pipeline there. Thanks for the response!

Ah, you're using v 16. I was just about to recommend using the Generate Proxy from the Media Pool -- which might be simpler -- but that's a v17 feature. Also, you might want to try using Resolve on each GPU, only one GPU at a time, I've read that mismatched GPUs can lead to slower performance than a single GPU, and you definitely have mixed. (I use the same laptop, and the 5600M is very fast for a true laptop, but if the other is much faster you might want to manually select just that one.

You can use MediaManagement in 16 to transcode, might be worth a try.

You can use MediaManagement in 16 to transcode, might be worth a try.

Thanks Uli - does that function address the GPU in some different way?

I'd think so, if you are going through the timeline you are expanding everything into a 32-bit float RGB space.
That's not needed of you transcode only.

I'd think so, if you are going through the timeline you are expanding everything into a 32-bit float RGB space.
That's not needed of you transcode only.

Thanks Uli!

That is indeed faster. It has less functionality than the Deliver page, though, so there are some trade-offs.

Thanks for teaching me about the Media Management page, appreciate it.

I think my new workflow is going to be using Editready (for Prores transcodes), leaving Davinci free for color correction.

Thanks all!

In regards to the egpu, in preferences you should deselect the internal gpu and have only your external. Apparently Resolve shares the tasks evenly between the selected gpu's, or something to that effect.

Also, even if you have two thunderbolt ports on each side, make sure you have no other thunderbolt devices plugged in to the same side of your MacBook. The MacBook has only one bus on each side, meaning whatever you plug on the same side, will share the bandwidth... The exception to this are usb devices using the same ports.

I think my new workflow is going to be using Editready (for Prores transcodes), leaving Davinci free for color correction.

If you are looking for some more functionality, have a look at Kyno by Lesspain.

Hello, lots going on in the title of my post obviously!

I have a 16" Macbook Pro, with a 8GB HBML 5600M card. This is a fast mobile card.

I also have an external Sonnet eGPU with a Vega 64 8GB.

Can anyone advise on the settings that would get the most out of DaVinci Resolve please?

I'm mainly rendering Prores 4444 (from either Alexa Minis or Mini LFs) into Prores Proxy or DNxHD files.

I'm confused as using the trial of Silverstack Lab produced MUCH faster renders.

So is there a magic combination of settings that Silverstack is using natively that I haven't stumbled upon yet?

Or is Silverstack inherently faster at these tasks?

Many thanks!

Hi BM – before I give up on DaVinci Resolve Studio as my professional software, might you be able to say if the rendering speed is something that could be improved?

Thank you

Not sure if this is always the case... but I would expect a transcode to be much faster than render from a timeline of any NLE.

Not sure if this is always the case... but I would expect a transcode to be much faster than render from a timeline of any NLE.

Ah interesting, thanks for the thought.

In which case, I'd say that the DaVinci Media Management tool needs to be refined.

Currently it doesn't give many useful functions, and behaves in a different way than I would expect.

That's why there is a place in the market for tools like Kyno. A perfect NLE would rule the world of editing

That's why there is a place in the market for tools like Kyno. A perfect NLE would rule the world of editing

Thanks Uli – but I don't believe Kyno supports Sony X-OCT / RAW files.

I own Editready, which also does not support them. Sony make the licence so expensive, most of my excellent software, from indie developers, cannot deal with the files

You never mentioned the format. Probably Sony made the format so complicated that developers don't like to optimise it

You never mentioned the format. Probably Sony made the format so complicated that developers don't like to optimise it

No, I did mention the format above – the original post was talking about Prores rendering.

I'm on a Sony job right now – the renders are still very fast in LiveGrade Pro, but slow in Davinci both through Media Management and Delivery page