DaVinci Resolve 12 GPU Performance Question

Update:
I found out that the "Midtone Detail" slider I was using to smooth skin was causing a lot of dropped frames from all the nodes I was using. So I right clicked on that node and Node Cache - On. That solved my issues.

4 Hour Courses on Shooting Video with DSLR's:

Follow Dave Main YouTube Channel:

Follow Dave on Facebook:

Follow Dave on Twitter:

Follow Dave on Google+:

Follow Dave on Flickr:

[orreymodo]

Dave - If you are processing RAW footage - or others I'm not sure which it all applies too - Right click the files and check render cache clip source to on. This will make sure Resolve pre caches all the RAW processing first, then no matter which nodes are then applied and or removed. Resolve always maintains the processed RAW clip in cache feeding the first node. You don't get cache flush on the biggest burden when doing node work. It might help a lot

[MichaelTucker]

Dave Dugdale also take a look at the Sapphire Firepro GPU's, as they will automatically overclock.and are designed for video editing.

[arunthomas]

I am by no means an expert but, I downloaded the lite Beta version of Resolve 12 and I had issues with my H.264 footage also, my computer was dropping frames. But I then used MPEG stream clip to convert it to DNxHD and my computer hadn't dropped frames at all. I was monitoring the CPU and my hard drives also. Two weeks prior to this, I had spoken to a tech support person from Black Magic Design who actually advised me to transcode all my footage to DNxHD before working with it in Resolve (since I have a PC). I haven't dealt with 4K though. My computer specs are as follows: Intel Core i7 4790K, 16 GB ram, nVidia GTX 760, SSD as Boot drive, 1 TB mech harddrive @ 7200 rpm as Scratch disk, another 1 TB mech harddrive @ 7200 rpm as my export disk.

[Zager-recap]

I can't find D.Resolve V12.0
I have GPU problems with V12.5
where i can found it?
Thank you.

[GlueFactoryBJJ]

One other question is do you know what effect the recording software has on the video card? Since it is recording video, it could be affecting DaVinci's performance.

[RemcoJvGrevenbroek]

yes !
Mid detail in combo with keyer is a drag in the beta i hope they fix that

Remco johannes

[pigmintfilm]

Hi Dave, I havn't got around to fully testing Resolve 12, but was quite interested in what you had to say. But I won't be happy if your prognosis is that most people may need to upgrade their system.

I hope you call it like it is in your review. This would be a serious black mark for DaVinci if it can't handle footage as well as Premiere.

[rustlersstuff]

theres a way to optimize content for editing. Its like a smart preview in LR. That will speed up the edits while in DR and then when you export the project it'll do it from the full file. Im a newb here so not sure if that'll fix anything for sure.

[FabienMathey]

I can be wrong, but the GPU thing can also be related to the memory available on the card. 2GB is very small when considering 4K video. However, I noticed that the CPU is maxed out too in the second time you played the video (editing tab I believe). If you know some one that has either a 680 with 4GB or you have the cash for a far better GPU ;) go ahead... but I would try and test it first to see if your CPU is able to take the load in the editing tab. You said it was OC to 4.3 GHz and that is where it sat. Hope it helps...

[BurninSven]

You need a dedicated monitor card like the intensity pro or the new 4k version or similar for monitoring instead of a graphics card. It still can give you problems with playback though on lesser systems

[raredreamfootage]

What kind of SSD do you have? And what lane is it using? SSD's can get bottlenecked by the lane structure and onboard controller.

[JeremyAbles]

I'm trying to understand are you looking for a way around only being able to to use 1 gpu on the non studio version of Resolve 12?

[TonyCantShoot]

I have an i7-7500U, Intel HD 620, 12gb DDR4 RAM, 1tb HDD. Can I run Davinci  resolve ?

[TehSpeedRunner]

Hi, Dave!
What lense did you use for the pool wide angle shot in this video?
Thanks in advance!

[GlueFactoryBJJ]

First, check to see if DaVinci allowed you to assign which video card it will use for GPU acceleration. Also, do they support multiple GPUs (in SLI or not) for acceleration (adobe doesn't). If not, usually the first GPU is used, which means that, even if you have two, you will only be using the first (which will be the "GUI" card).

I'd say get the 980 ti, but you probably won't be using the 680 much. Another option would be to get the 12gb titan. Right now you can't tell if the card is GPU or memory bound. My guess is that since the "professional" Quadro cards typically have more memory than "gamer" cards, DaVinci may be using more memory and you might have idle GPUs on your 680 because of it.

Of course, the best people to ask would be black magic, especially if you have a contact with them or to check their forums as the question of best card must have been asked before...

[JasonBowdach]

I would recommend upgrading to a card with at least 6GB VRAM for good 4K work AND tweaking settings, as they can change performance quite a bit. There are a few major settings that will help, and beta3 improves h264 performance significantly (released last night).

1. In Setttings, for monitoring, change to 8 bit and the other option aside from bilinear, You can also "minimize UI during playback". There are a few hidden but useful tweaks. Enough interest and Ill put a post together. 

Are you liking it more than R11?

[JimRobinson-colors]

Hi Dave- I had issues with the Resolve 12 lite also - I thought I had a monster computer set-up - Mac Pro ( late 2013 ) 3.5 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon E5 - with 16 gb Ram DDR3, AMD FirePro D500 Dual GPU. Had been editing in FCPX - with very little problem - switched to DiVinci Resolve 12 and any 4k playback is choppy - frames dropped - much like yours. After a lot of hunting around in Black Magics forums - the conclusion is that Resolve does not like any h.264 files in any wrapper ( Sony or GH4) . So I started using 5DtoRGB to transcode to Apple ProRes ( It also does DNxHD ) everything runs smooth now. The funny thing is that 5DtoRGB actually does a better job ( cleaner looking ) than FCPX did with the transcoding. It looks sharper and cleaner. Apparently most NLEs use Quicktime to transcode and it doesn't do the greatest job of it.
- also clicking on smart cache render ( under Playback menu ) really helped me to.

[sammakesmusic]

Help! I just bought a GT 740 with 4GB VRAM as a second GPU for resolve 12 free (GUI card is GT520). My project is still lagging! Is this card not good enough? Or is it the settings? My computer is a Win 7 x64, 20GB ram, i7 45xx

[Redwaversz]

wtf i7 5960X paired with GTX680? bottleneck lol you should use 1080Ti or Titan XP or even Quadro

[eagletheblue]

It seems you already figured out your system's bottleneck.
Drops in frames begin if the GPU load hits 99%(full load).
The CPU barely breaking a sweat, with 1/3 load, damn I wish I had that CPU <.<, I need to retire my amd x4 :p.

I think the next question is: how much video ram do you need? I only see it at 1, 6GB max, does that change with the file size of the clip you are editing(length, length + resolution)?


I found a post in the "Blackmagic Forum", were they discussed the memory usage with higher than 4k footage with some plugins. Seems like that is breaking out off the 6GB barrier of the GTX980Ti :D

I think if this is an investment in the Future and criticly used with video editing/processing/compute operations the Titan with more Memory would be the better choice. If you dont want to go higher than 4k, i think the 980Ti is enough.

I dont know if you want to spent more than 2000$ for a Workstation card~

Why only Nvidia!?
Personal preference and experience, well the only cards i had from ATi/AMD broke or had defects after a while. All Nvidia cards i and family used didnt give up or died, I just retired my 8! year old GTS 8800 512 for an GTX570 OC just because of performance reasons. That card was still kicking and running without problems :0
But I think you also can take a look at the new Radeon 300 series~