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Resolve on Mac update
Hi Guys, following many requests, I just wanted to give you all an update as our ongoing testing for Resolve on Mac is going well.
We now have Resolve running on the current MacPro with dual Quad core 2.26GHz CPU’s (Use 6GB RAM – not 8GB) as this is the standard available on the Apple store. [12GB also OK] No issues found to date except maybe long delivery times of MacPro. Is there a new model coming? That will be fun.
CPU/Bus speeds etc. and power availability restrict some performance on the older 2008 MacPro so it wont be a recommended config but I imagine some facilities will give their old MacPro a try.
The GTX285 was shown at NAB and used for many of our demos but is now EOL by NVidia so the FX4800 is on the current draft build list for our image processing. If you have a GTX285, that works but does consume more power and two of two power connections!
A GT120 is required for the GUI monitor and it does a bunch of other smart things. We have done some tests with just one GPU card, and on 17″ MacBookPro however for MacPro we will spec the FX4800 (or GTX285) and GT120 as required items.
You will need a DeckLink Extreme 3 or 3D for video I/O and deck control. For storage access, the Apple Raid card is working fine (or use the OS RAID 0 software raid with four internal disks) or you can use an Atto dual 4Gb FC with Xsan2.x for SAN use. We have a system here sharing project metadata and media with a Linux system on the same SAN. Also testing a number of other storage solutions. Most working very well. Details later.
Thanks for the feedback guys … we are listening and continue to do what we can as soon as we can.
I will provide another update when we are closer to release, which is just a few weeks away.
regards,
Peter -
58 Replies
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Thanks a billion for the update, Peter. Looking forward to more news.
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The gfx card swap is interesting. I thought the GTX series are currently faster than the 4800. I guess nvidia is not going to give us a mac version of the GTX480 any time soon. 🙁
The 4800 only has 192 cuda cores, but the GTX 480 has 480 cores. So my guess is the only reason the 4800 is being used is because it’s the last nvidia solution for a mac?
Nick Hasson
Smoke/Color
http://www.niceedits.com -
Thanks for the update Peter!
I’m curious – if NVidia comes out with a new card, is it safe to assume it would just work with DaVinci?
Also, since only the GT120 is actually used for display, would a non-mac GPU possibly work for DaVinci’s number crunching?
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As a matter of curiousity, how is the license controlled? Serial number keyed to the GPU? Dongle? Other?
jPo
You mean “Old Ben”? Ben Kenobi?
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USB Dongle.
Dwaine Maggart
Blackmagic Design DaVinci Support -
I’m glad it’s a dongle rather than a serial only. Time to invest in a USB hub to serve my other dongles then.
The shipping date just can’t come early enough. -
How does it run with a ATI 4870 + FX4800.
Would that work instead of a GT120?
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GT120 and FX4800 (GTX285) are required items as we use 32 bit floating point CUDA for image processing. As new CUDA card options become available will review them.
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What yields better performance the 285 or the 4800?
Nick Hasson
Smoke/Color
http://www.niceedits.com -
GTX285 has more CUDA cores than FX4800 but less RAM. It also uses more power, creates more heat etc.
The GTX285 does provide another node or two of HD in realtime but with the Resolve ‘on the fly proxy’ feature i’m not sure this outweighs the benefits of the FX4800.
Unless you have a GTX285 I would be looking closely at the FX4800 even though its a little more $.
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