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Cubix running in an 8x PCie 1.0 Slot for Resolve?
I posted this in the Cubix forum but not a lot of action.
I need to build a new system for DaVinci Resolve. However with the current state of flux and tech transitioning, I don’t feel safe with any of my current purchase options….Hackintosh or wait for new MacPro at a higher price. So as a patch for now and to wait it out before making a large workstation purchase, I’m considering a 4 slot Cubix. However my system is the original 2007 8 core MacPro 2,1, and can only run one 16x slot at max. I’m considering changing the slots to run in 8x and putting all 4 video cards (1 GUI, 3 GPU) in the Cubix box. With the Mac Pro running the Blackmagic card and ATTO RAID card in 8x slots. What sort of performance hit with the GUI and the Resolve GPUs are we really talking about with this setup? Or should I run my GUI card in the MacPro at 16x and the Cubix at 8x? Any thoughts or ideas welcome? I also wonder if I can even make the GTX 580s run on my older system. Even with the new drivers.
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14 Replies
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[Jeremiah Belt] ” I also wonder if I can even make the GTX 580s run on my older system. Even with the new drivers.”
In a MacPro 2,1. I highly doubt it. No Resolve config will likely tolerate not having the GUI in Slot One for starters.
I also don’t believe your vintage MacPro is eligible for upgrade to LION OS, which is required for the new nVidia drivers.
jPo
You mean “Old Ben”? Ben Kenobi?
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Thanks for the input Joseph. As far as Lion is concerned I checked and it is compatible and will run, however I am left out in the cold with Mountain Lion sadly. It wouldn’t be a problem to run the GUI card in slot one and the Cubix on another slot. But in that config the Cubix would have to run at 8x. According to Cubix it can run at 8x fine. I’m just curious if that would have an impact in Resolve. Really this is just a hold me over patch until I see what the new Mac Pro looks like later this year and whether or not I will go Mac Pro, Hackintosh, or PC for my DaVinci Rig.
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The other issue is that the mac-Pro 2,1 is PCIe V1.0 slots with limited bandwidth. I don’t know if the Cubix expander card will even work on that machine at all. I ran a GTX-285 card with a GT120 on a “original” Mac-Pro 8-core 3ghz machine and I had to load a special kext file to bypass the OS’s reluctance to use the V1.0 slot for a V2.0 card.
-Rob-
Robert Houllahan
Director / Colorist
Cinelab Inc.
http://www.cinelab.comMAHC-PRO 6-Core 3X GTX285 20Tb SAS Wave Panel Panny 11UK SDI Plasma.
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Thx Robert. Yeah that is my main concern. Last year at NAB chatting with the Cubix guys they said the PCIe V1.0 was there main concern. It would run but how well. And I fear exactly what you mentioned with the video card compatibility. All in all I don’t think it’s worth attempting at this point. Gonna just wait it out probably another 4 months and see if Apple does anything with the Mac Pro. Thanks guys.
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I just have some large projects coming up and would love to get off Apple Color. However grading a RED project at 4K today with Color and previewing out at 1080P with a Kona 3….I’m getting about 11 fps. Not bad for this old Mac and working off the R3Ds! Of course I have a officially unsupported newer video card in it, an SSD for a boot drive, and a 650MBs RAID 5. About as far as I can push this Dinosaur of a workstation.
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Resolve runs really well under Windows. I run it under both and up until the recent Lion Nvidia driver update was going to switch to WIn7 100% due to GPU and system flexibility.
Also since editorial folks are trending away from FCP and towards Media Composer there is much less dependence on Mac OS based systems. Don’t get me wrong, I far prefer Mac OS over anything else, but that said just on a minimal system I’ve had great results with:
HP Z400 3.06 GHZ
GTX 285 (funny enough this is a Mac flashed version!)
Quadro 600 for GUI
24 GB RAM (6x 4gb DIMMS)
16-bay Infortrend FC RAID-6Love it.
Your cubix will run just fine on a newer HPZ400 which can be had for just over $1000 new…. They have (2) 16x PCI-E Gen2 slots.. along with (2) PCI (who cares), (1) 8x PCI-e Gen2 and (1) PCI-e 8x Gen1 slots.
You could have the GUI GPU, cubix host card 3GPU + RR, a storage HBA, and the Decklink being very happy in there. And when the new Mac comes out in another year it won’t be a big waste.
I’ll be using my Z400 as a GPU-accelerated digital cinema DCP QC station.
just a thought,
Jonathon
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Thanks for the info Jonathon. That has been my thoughts as well. Been looking at HP workstations and hand built ones. Windows, even with the new driver, is still far more flexible from a hardware standpoint. But like you I love OS X so much it’s hard to make the leap. Also I plan to keep my old Mac Pro as a secondary workstation….so workflow sharing off the same RAID between Win and OS X might get sticky sadly.
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I really like the H Z-series. I would have rather got the Z800, but way more $$$. The z400 is an amazing value for the money.
There are ways to share the storage, but yes, it is a bit complicated if you want simultaneous high-speed access from both. The quickest and simplest way is with FibreJet.. .but that is NOT cheap.
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There are people out there running Resolve on Z800 workstations that dual boot OSX Lion and Win 7 and now that the GTX590 runs on both platforms you could save allot over buying the Cubix and just get the workstation with that GPU.
My $0.02..
-Rob-
Robert Houllahan
Director / Colorist
Cinelab Inc.
http://www.cinelab.comMAHC-PRO 6-Core 3X GTX285 20Tb SAS Wave Panel Panny 11UK SDI Plasma.
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[Robert Houllahan] ” Z800 workstations that dual boot OSX Lion and Win 7″
Really? That’s a neat trick. How…..?
jPo
You mean “Old Ben”? Ben Kenobi?
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