7.1 multi GPU support

[Ola Haldor voll]

I’d love to be able to use the GTX285 and then add Quadro 4000 along the road.

[Robbie Carman]

ditto. I also have an extra 285 (got it when everyone was searching) that I plan to plug into my cubix over the weekend. Hoping it works!

Robbie Carman
—————-
Colorist and Author
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[Gary Taylor]

Cool Robbie!

Keep us posted on how it performs. Which Cubix do you have?

Thanks,
Gary

[Peter Chamberlain]

Our expectation is the slowest GPU will pace the others so keeping them the same is best, similar in performance likely to also be ok.
Peter

[Robert Houllahan]

So this seems to beg the question… what is the difference between a multi-GPU OSX machine and the Linux option now? Is the Linux Resolve still using Infiniband linked GPU’s?

-Rob-

Robert Houllahan
Director / Colorist
Cinelab Inc.
http://www.cinelab.com

Mackbook Pro

[Peter Chamberlain]

Linux still offers greater GPU options (up to 16) and also bigger and better I/O to disk of the large image files. Steroscopic 3D at 2K is real time and 4K on Linux in realtime is a breeze, as is RGB at 10 bit for stereoscopic monitoring, data waveforms on a separate server etc. The Linux also handles more RAM and yes uses IB for expansion, can connect to CXFS file systems as well as StorNext, etc etc. These are balanced by QT and ProRes on Mac, and easy plug and play for external drives. The UI is the same and feature set closer than you can imagine.

The differences are driven by external factors, mainly OS and hardware, as BMD make the application as ‘the same’ as we can but there is no doubt, there is still plenty of reasons for the Linux systems.

Peter

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Robert,

Further to Peter’s reply, the multi-chassis Linux systems also have more CPUs which are particularly useful when working with compressed file formats.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Kevin Cannon]

I notice in the Mac configuration guide that it says it is best to put all GPUs in the expansion chasis… which in the case of 2 GTX 285s would mean you don\’t get to take advantage of double-high slot 1 in the Mac. How necessary is it to put the GPUs in the same chasis, and that it is the expansion chasis?

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hardworkingpixels.com

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Kevin,

You’re quite right that using 2x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 cards in the Cubix expander going to use up all four slots as these cards are double-width.

It’s quite possible that running one GTX 285 in slot one of the Mac Pro, and another GTX 285 and a GeForce GT 120 in the Cubix expander, would work fine. It is one of the hundreds of permutations and combinations of cards and slots that we’ve not tested yet. The engineers think it might work fine but there is a possibility that the CUDA processing might become confused and try to use the GeForce GT 120 for the GPU which would cause terribly slow performance.

There’s a bunch of other configurations we’d like to test in the New Year such as four Quadro 4000’s in the Cubix expander rather than just three. I expect the “Where to install your hardware in a Mac Pro and PCIe expansion chassis” section of the configuration guide to grow as these configurations are tested over a month or so and found to be reliable.

In the meanwhile, Resolve customers are likely to try all sorts of combinations to see if they work so it will be exciting to keep an eye on this forum to find out what people have tried and found to work well.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Kevin Cannon]

Thanks Luke,

I\’ll definitely post my findings as I try different arrangements. I\’m thinking two 285s in the cubix for DPX and stereo DPX, and swap one 285 for a Red Rocket when necessary… However if It turns out that one 285 in the Mac and one in the cubix is valid, I would have enough room that swapping won\’t be necessary…

prehistoricdigital.com
hardworkingpixels.com