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DaVinci Resolve for Mac Configuration Guide, October 2010
Hi,
An updated version of the DaVinci Resolve for Mac Configuration Guide has been posted on our website. You can find the PDF on the DaVinci Support page.
We’ve received a lot of requests by owners of Early 2008 Mac Pro computers wanting to use Resolve. Resolve 7.0.2 added this support and this edition of the configuration guide provides details of which models are certified and what settings need to be changed. Compressed formats may or may not be processed in realtime depending upon the codec used. Compressed file formats place higher demands on the CPU than uncompressed formats. Of course uncompressed file formats require a fast disk array to cope with the high read and write data rates.
If you are regularly using compressed file formats, a certified 2009 or newer series Mac Pro is recommended for realtime performance.
Regards,
Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design -
7 Replies
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Thanks Luke!
I see the Quadro 4000 is mentioned. Very nice!
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Hi Gary,
We mentioned the NVIDIA Quadro 4000 for Mac in the latest guide even though it is not due to ship until November and even though it is not yet certified for use with Resolve.
We kept hearing rumours that the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 for Mac would be discontinued (true) and so there was speculation that Mac users would not be able to find a graphics card to run with Resolve (false). We just wanted to reassure everyone that there would be a GPU card they could buy which would run with Resolve for Mac once the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 was no longer available.
Regards,
Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design -
Really nice to see MacPro 2008 certification. What’s the main drawback of using these vs a 2010-model? Pure rendering-speeds they seem to keep up quite well give or take a few %. Also, would the single CPU 6-core 2010 machine work? For most applications it’s the fastest machine around, but perhaps DaVinci prefers a slower 8/12 core machine?
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Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Post Production Services
http://www.freecloud.se -
Single Quad core systems are not ideal. Resolve uses a fair amount of CPU with dpx clips but lots when there are codecs required. The majority of compressed file types use CPU processes and this on top of the normal operation really likes more CPU’s. It will run on a single dual core laptop… you just wont get the full experience compared to a dual quad core 2009 or 2010 MacPro.
I also recommend sticking to the recommended RAM configs. 6, 12, 24GB for 2009/10. 8, 16, 32GB for 2008. Each CPU model used the ram differently.
Peter -
No, I was referring to the new single 6-core MacPro 2010. This runs at higher clock-speed than any other system to date and still has 6-cores, given it might be a little limited in the RAM-area (not sure if RAM-through-put is a problem with a system like Resolve).
Also most tests show an “old” 2008 8-core 2.8Ghz or faster system to perform very similar to modern system (with lower clock-speeds of course).
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Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Post Production Services
http://www.freecloud.se -
Hi, we doen have a single six-core here so I can say how much slower it will be than the dual CPU models.
My guess is it will work for lower resolutions and uncompressed images but you may have playback performance issues with compressed files as the CPUs decompress the images.
Peter -
Interesting, thanks! We’re looking into getting a Resolve for out main-online suit likely and it would probably mean an upgrade of hardware in general as well.
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Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Post Production Services
http://www.freecloud.se
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