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hard disc speed for resolve
I have a 2008 2.8 octocore mac pro with my scratch disc being 2 drives in software raid 0. I’ve always had plenty enough speed for editing in FCP and grading in color as I always transcode to ProRes and I almost never have more than two video layers in my timeline usually just 1 (documentary type work).
Now that Color is eol I’m contemplating adding Resolve. The recommended hardware configuration is 4 drives in raid 0. Is that necessary if I continue my Pro-Res workflow and usually have just 1 layer of video?
Also, I have a 5770 as my gpu currently and was thinking of adding a flashed gtx 470 off ebay. Will my computer be affected with this setup in programs that don’t utilize CUDA. This is not going to be a dedicated “grading” computer but rather my “do it all” system. Any advice is appreciated. -Richard.
P.S. I know “download the free version and try it” is an easy answer but I don’t have a CUDA card yet and wanted some advice before I got frustrated with potential performance issues. Thanks.
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7 Replies
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Richard, from the DaVinci Resolve manual:
OpenCL GPU support
grading images up to and including HD resolution.
5870 and ATI 5770 GPUs available with the MacPro.I’m sure your two RAID drives are sufficient but you can always “download the free version and try it” which should be an inexpensive, easy, and painless effort for you. If HD video is your maximum resolution, then you may be fine without adding the NVIDIA card.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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If you’re planning to do all your grading using strictly GPU live render, that your present set up will suffice. But if you’re planning any kind of cache operation, than you will need to use 4 drive RAID configuration, as recommended by BM. The reason being, Resolve caches everything as DPX and that requires fast disks.
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I’m in the process of switching hardware from a “do it all” Mac Pro using Color to Resolve.
Just as a heads up – you may need to buy more hardware than you originally think you need since Resolve requires a more complex setup than Color.
Here are a list of things I had to buy after buying Resolve than I didn’t originally think I would need.
– A new user interface monitor ($250): Resolve requires at least a 1,920×1080. I had a 1680×1050 which cropped out quite a few buttons that need pushing.
– A new User Interface Graphics card ($150) (along with a Nvidia Quadro 4000) because my 4870 took up 2 spaces of external slots. There are 5 slots (and only 4 PCI slots) – so it depends how many you need. The GT 120 I bought to replace the 4870 only takes up 1 slot.
– A Decklink 3D extreme capture card for the external monitor ($1000). I had a Decklink Studio ($700) which seems to work although I only got it working today and is not supported by Blackmagic for Resolve. But so far so good.
– A HDLink Pro Display port adapter ($500)- Because I have a Display Port “in” only Grading Monitor. If you have an HDMI monitor you can use HDMI from the Decklink. But that will use up another slot.
– Tangent Wave Panel ($1,500) – Blackmagic did just add color wheels to the user interface a few days ago. But so far they are not as responsive as they are in Apple Color. They work but are a little “loose”. I have not bought the panel yet, but plan to do so in the future. You can work without it though.
– And you might want a 3rd monitor for the scopes. Resolve is not like Color. You can’t just click the grading monitor and jump from full screen to scopes. You can use them on your user interface monitor, but they are floating panels which you have to constantly push around.
If you need more than 4 PCI cards you will need a Cubix (I think that is what it’s called) to add more PCI slots. Sounds like your set up is simple like mine so you don’t need one. But if you do that’s at least $2,500.
So far I’m very impressed with Resolve. I’m just learning color grading. But Resolve does seem much better than Color. But as I said, just a heads up on all the stuff you need to use it.
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[David Smith] “Resolve does seem much better than Color.”
I wonder if that is why Apple just bailed from Color. Hmmmm…..Stuart Ferreyra
Professional Colorist, Finisher, Online Editor.
http://www.timecodemultimedia.comTIMECODE MULTIMEDIA
– Professional, Affordable Post Production for Indies.
– ProTools 9 Sound Design, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.
– Color Grading, Finishing and Mastering for TV and Film.
– DaVinci Resolve, Apple Color / SD, HD, SR, RED, ALEXA, DSLR.
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Thanks for all the input guys. Pretty pumped about learning Resolve. I may go ahead and download the lite version when I get back to the office on Monday. It’s surprising how little investment it looks like I have to make to add “Resolve” to my arsenal. Pretty cool.
It sounds like for just hd resolutions that a decklink card $1000, a flashed gtx 470 $400 and the software $1000 I should be up and running. That’s about the upper limit of my budget and bumping up to a 4 drive raid would add about $800 bucks and put it out of the running for now.
Could someone clarify the idea of “Cache operation” through a 4 drive raid and the benefits of said setup. I’m unaware of DPX. Is GPU live render how I’ve been operating using Apples Color? Thanks.
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With cache enabled, resolve will render selected or all scenes to a selected hard drive as DPX files. So, next time you playback, instead of live GPU render, Resolve will just playback rendered files from that drive The advantage being, that you are not limited anymore to GPU power. For example, if you use just one GPU for render, then NR is impossible in real time. With cache ON it is not a problem anymore. resolve has number of different cache options, so only the ones, that exceed your GPU needs to be rendered to disk. But for all that cache goodness you need a 4 drive RAID.
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Hi David,
A quick input here… I’m also learning Resolve and just assembled my Resolve station few weeks ago on a Mac Pro 2008, just before the 8.01 version with the color wheels. With a limited budged, and having followed the various advices to buy the Wave panel, as soon I saw the color wheels update I felt a little frustrate for the money spent on the Wave panel…
Well, I have to admit, I was wrong… Even with the color wheels, the use of a panel makes the DaVinci a totally new animal – it was made to be used with a panel. The Wave panel is great, and although not perfect, does a really amazing job controlling the software and it makes you not only well more productive, but you also feels more creative (and professional), having simultaneous controls instead just a mouse and keystrokes. The color wheels is great to give you a quick view of “where you are with the trackballs”, so they in matter of fact, complements the Wave trackballs with a visual feedback.So far, I’m very happy I followed the BM support and forum advices in getting the Wave.
Fabio Cormack
Davinci 8 – Tangent Wave – Decklink HD Extreme 3D+
Final Cut Suite
Adobe CS5.5 Suite
Rio de Janeiro – Brazil
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