Single GPU Recommendation with Resolve?

[James P. Wong]

We have a system at work that is setup to use DaVinci Resolve, however it is used for several tasks that prevent it from being dedicated (with more open PCI slots).

My question is:
1. Is there a specific NVidia model that you recommend that will work with both Resolve and Lion given this single slot/single GPU limitation that I have with our Mac Pro's configuration?

The goal is to be able to grade R3D Epic 4K footage natively within resolve. NOTE: I'm not expecting real time performance with just one GPU (and am aware that when color correcting/grading 4K footage on a high end Mac Pro, Resolve should be set to Half-Res Good or such)

Using DaVinci Resolve currently gives me (expectedly) subpar performance because I don't have a second GPU/video card installed to do the heavy lifting. HOWEVER, I am currently doing basic grading on 2K ProRes 422 HQ transcodes of Epic footage (not at realtime, mind you, but acceptable to preview, color correct, use the tracker etc with several nodes).

The current GUI/video card installed is the ATI HD 5770 that came built-to-order with the system.

Here are the system specs:

Mac Pro 5,1
OS X Lion 10.7.2
24GB of RAM

Slot 1: ATI Radeon HD 5770
Slot 2: RED Rocket Card
Slot 3: Empty (houses the back ports that complement the RED Rocket card, however)
Slot 4: RAID Card

Slot 3 is unavailable since the RED Rocket Card and RAID Card take up space over the slot.

That said, I've only got room to replace the card in Slot 1 only
(PCI extender is out of the question right now)

I read the Davinci Resolve Config Guide but can't implement two video cards since the slot are all taken up currently in this Mac Pro system.

I've seen several models mentioned and am wondering if the Quadro 4000 will play nice with Resolve, Lion and FCP 7 or if you have a better recommendation to replace the 5770.

Thanks in advance for any insight you have,
James

[Doug Beatty]

edit- I see an expander is out of the question.

I was under the impression that you couldn't get Resolve up and running on a Mac Pro with only 1 GPU?

I'm in the process of upgrading to a combo of GT 120 and GTX 285, FWIW. I have heard that the 285 is the best bang for the buck.

[James P. Wong]

edit- I see an expander is out of the question.

I was under the impression that you couldn't get Resolve up and running on a Mac Pro with only 1 GPU?

I'm in the process of upgrading to a combo of GT 120 and GTX 285, FWIW. I have heard that the 285 is the best bang for the buck.

Thanks for the tip :) If we had the extra slot available I would go with the two-cards (GUI and GPU) route, but unfortunately this isnt the case for this tower. So I'm wondering if any single GPU card (to replace the 5770) would be able to crunch better with Resolve...

[Tehben Dean]

It will run with stock macpro graphics card, albeit a bit slow. Will let Simone who knows what they are talking about say more.

[Dwaine Maggart]

Hi James,

We don't test or recommend single GPU card systems, because the performance is so poor. I would GUESS that a high end CUDA card, such as a Quadro 4000, would work better in a single card situation than the HD5770.

[Rob Ruffo]

edit- I see an expander is out of the question.

I was under the impression that you couldn't get Resolve up and running on a Mac Pro with only 1 GPU?

I'm in the process of upgrading to a combo of GT 120 and GTX 285, FWIW. I have heard that the 285 is the best bang for the buck.

It is.

[James P. Wong]

Hi James,

We don't test or recommend single GPU card systems, because the performance is so poor. I would GUESS that a high end CUDA card, such as a Quadro 4000, would work better in a single card situation than the HD5770.

Understood. I'm wondering if anyone reading this thread has a Quadro 4000 for their single GPU setup for Resolve and can provide some info on how many FPS they are getting correcting 4K footage (if even possible)?

[Dan Kanes]

GTX 480 FTW.

[James P. Wong]

GTX 480 FTW.

Thanks for the recommendation, Dan ;) We have a GTX 480 that we'll be putting into the Mac Pro to replace the 5770 next week, and I'll let folks know of my findings/performance with it.

[Stacey Spears]

Does Resolve benefit from NVIDIA Maximus? I am thinking more about the upcoming Windows version. I will be using a Quadro 6000 with a Tesla M2090 inside of the QuadroPlex expander/chassis.

[Peter Chamberlain]

Hi, Maximus is about running two GPUs in the one system and as Resolve has been doing this for many years the prime benefit of Maximus would be the discounted purchasing option for the packaged cards, thus for new users only.

Resolve will work in a single shared GPU config, just like a iMac or MBP but not at real time in HD which is our benchmark. If you use a Q4000, set the red decoder to 1/4 res and timeline to 720P you should get reasonable playback speed, then set to higher res and decoder settings for render.
Peter

[Dan Kanes]

I'd love to see a Maximus Card running resolve. I bet that's quite powerful if there is driver implementation for CUDA that would work.

[Peter Chamberlain]

Dan, please read my comment directly above.
Resolve has been using multiple GPUs in this manner for years.
Peter

[Koray Birand]

edit- I see an expander is out of the question.

I was under the impression that you couldn't get Resolve up and running on a Mac Pro with only 1 GPU?

I'm in the process of upgrading to a combo of GT 120 and GTX 285, FWIW. I have heard that the 285 is the best bang for the buck.


How are you going to do that GTX 285 need two power inputs and nothing left for GT120...
I have the same problem need 3 power inputs for my GTX 286 and 4000, now I am just using 4000 as a single gpu which sucks.

[Dan Kanes]

Dan, please read my comment directly above.
Resolve has been using multiple GPUs in this manner for years.
Peter

Thanks Peter - If I had the spare cash to throwdown on this combo I would love to use it with my Custom Mac workstation.

[Dwaine Maggart]

The nice thing about the GT120 is that it needs no Aux power connector. And it fits in slot 2.

[Koray Birand]

The nice thing about the GT120 is that it needs no Aux power connector. And it fits in slot 2.

Is it Cuda ??

[jake blackstone]

Is it Cuda ??

Koray.
I understand it is easier to just ask here, but how about a little research, before asking?
Both your questions can be answered very easily with minimal research or if you just read the Resolve installation manual.

[Dwaine Maggart]

In fact, it IS CUDA capable. You can run Resolve on a system with JUST a GT120. Not very well though. The point is, the GT120 is being used to drive the GUI display. On Resolve with multiple GPU cards, the card driving the GUI display is not involved in the CUDA GPU processing. Leaving the other card available to fully process only GPU data, which will make your Resolve performance a lot better.

[Koray Birand]

Thanks Dwaine, for the info. really appreciate.

[Koray Birand]

Koray.
I understand it is easier to just ask here, but how about a little research, before asking?
Both your questions can be answered very easily with minimal research or if you just read the Resolve installation manual.

Jake, instead of spending 30 seconds to criticize me you could have just said no or yes. I know how to google, and I know GT120 well, I just thought Doug misspelled the model number.

[jake blackstone]

Jake, instead of spending 30 seconds to criticize me you could have just said no or yes. I know how to google, and I know GT120 well, I just thought Doug misspelled the model number.
Koray.
I wasn't answering this particular question but your other questions, such as:

"How are you going to do that GTX 285 need two power inputs and nothing left for GT120...
I have the same problem need 3 power inputs for my GTX 286 and 4000, now I am just using 4000 as a single gpu which sucks."

The fact it is you, who misspelled the GPU model and you could have goggled it as well, but you instead keep asking questions. If you know GT120 so well, then how come you don't know, that it doesn't require the external power supply plug?
Dwaine is a busy individual, that spends a lot of time assisting Resolve users with legitimate questions. So, as I've said, if you just read the Resolve installation manual, you could have spared Dwaine little time.
But hey, I guess it's a free forum and anyone can ask any questions, no matter how mundane...

[Koray Birand]

Koray.
I wasn't answering this particular question but your other questions, such as:

"How are you going to do that GTX 285 need two power inputs and nothing left for GT120...
I have the same problem need 3 power inputs for my GTX 286 and 4000, now I am just using 4000 as a single gpu which sucks."

The fact it is you, who misspelled the GPU model and you could have goggled it as well, but you instead keep asking questions. If you know GT120 so well, then how come you don't know, that it doesn't require the external power supply plug?
Dwaine is a busy individual, that spends a lot of time assisting Resolve users with legitimate questions. So, as I've said, if you just read the Resolve installation manual, you could have spared Dwaine little time.
But hey, I guess it's a free forum and anyone can ask any questions, no matter how mundane...

Another 30 secs... cool

[Christoffer Glans]

GeForce GTX580 3GB
I think that card will do

[Jon Thomasberg]

<overhead loudspeaker> "Pissing contest clean-up on aisle 3" :)

[jake blackstone]

GeForce GTX580 3GB
I think that card will do

If only that card could run on a Mac. Alas, no one has succeeded in doing that, yet...

[Dan Kanes]

Not true - modify ATY_INIT as seen here:

http://forum.netkas.org/index.php?topic=1120.0

and here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYa39Y5nR6A

[jake blackstone]

Not true - modify ATY_INIT as seen here:

http://forum.netkas.org/index.php?topic=1120.0

and here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYa39Y5nR6A

Unlike GTX470 and 480, which are correctly recognized and fully supported, albeit unofficially, by Resolve, no one has tried and succeeded running Resolve with with 580, yet. I wouldn't recommend even trying running it in any way shape or form in any kind of production environment, even , if it's possible to boot 580 up. On the other hand multiple GTX 470s and 480s had been running very successfully in many installations.
Even according to your own post there are numbers of issues with 580, causing computer to freeze up.