Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Vega Frontier Edition on 4,1 5,1 Classic Mac Pro

bsbeamer said:
Also with 10.13.3 (17D102), NVIDIA Web Driver Version 387.10.10.10.25.158, and CUDA Driver Version 387.128. System SSD is HFS+ off Apricorn Velocity Solo X2 (with firmware upgrade). Media drives HFS+ off Apricorn Velocity Duo X2. SIP enabled. Running 27" ACD and 4K HDMI TV/monitor (which was disabled at the time of test).
Click to expand...

Pretty much the same here, except I am running the SSD on a Tempo SSD card. But that's not a problem at all, I tried import the video from a RAM drive, so drive speed is not an issue. Still 10FPS.

And I don't think the CHG 90 will make any different than the 27" ACD.

I believe if doing exactly per itdk92's instruction (e.g. Full Res. Premium), it should be very CPU limiting on a W3680. I wonder why your setup can achieve that result easily.
 
Last edited:
Davinci Resolve version 14.3.0.014
Preferences > Hardware Configuration > GPU processing mode was set to Auto

Just changed to CUDA for test 2 and restarted Resolve. Still getting 23.976. Activity Monitor reporting CPU at 1000-1175% (slight variations) when playing the source clip with Full Res Premium and RED decode. Scaling play window to 300% still getting 23.976. Scaling play window to 25% still getting 23.976. Scaling play window to 100% still at 23.976. Adding blur and color to just an effect window in the Color panel and still getting 23.976.

Chopping the source clip into 50+ segments and then bringing the timeline into color, occasionally dropping below 23.976 (21 with an occasional 19). CPU % reports the same.

Actual RAM usage is at less than 4GB (slight variations).

Do not use Resolve as much as Premiere/After Effects, so not certain if these results are ordinary or out of the ordinary. System fans are a little louder than with Premiere or After Effects so the load is definitely more taxing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: h9826790
@itdk92 do i need to change timeline settings or anything as im getting 17-18fps on my gtx770 4GBvram native driver osx 10.12 6c 3.33ghz 5.1
seems to high ?or is it just CPU limited only seeing about 24% GPU use
Screen Shot 2018-03-01 at 5.15.48 pm.png

edit
odd did some changes to gpu setting's (all on native osx driver)
openCL 18-19 fps 2.37gb vram used (vary stable fps)
cuda 17-18 fps 1.11gb vram used (vary stable fps)
metal 13-16 fps 2.28gb vram used (not stable fps)

so i gess it's just cpu limited if my FPS is that high with such a old GPU.
 
Last edited:
bsbeamer said:
Davinci Resolve version 14.3.0.014
Preferences > Hardware Configuration > GPU processing mode was set to Auto

Just changed to CUDA for test 2 and restarted Resolve. Still getting 23.976. Activity Monitor reporting CPU at 1000-1175% (slight variations) when playing the source clip with Full Res Premium and RED decode. Scaling play window to 300% still getting 23.976. Scaling play window to 25% still getting 23.976. Scaling play window to 100% still at 23.976. Adding blur and color to just an effect window in the Color panel and still getting 23.976.

Chopping the source clip into 50+ segments and then bringing the timeline into color, occasionally dropping below 23.976 (21 with an occasional 19). CPU % reports the same.

Actual RAM usage is at less than 4GB (slight variations).

Do not use Resolve as much as Premiere/After Effects, so not certain if these results are ordinary or out of the ordinary. System fans are a little louder than with Premiere or After Effects so the load is definitely more taxing.
Click to expand...

But did you set Full Res Premium and RED decode in the color section ? :)
[doublepost=1519983057][/doublepost]
orph said:
@itdk92 do i need to change timeline settings or anything as im getting 17-18fps on my gtx770 4GBvram native driver osx 10.12 6c 3.33ghz 5.1
seems to high ?or is it just CPU limited only seeing about 24% GPU use
View attachment 752863

edit
odd did some changes to gpu setting's (all on native osx driver)
openCL 18-19 fps 2.37gb vram used (vary stable fps)
cuda 17-18 fps 1.11gb vram used (vary stable fps)
metal 13-16 fps 2.28gb vram used (not stable fps)

so i gess it's just cpu limited if my FPS is that high with such a old GPU.
Click to expand...

My theory for now is that it’s GPU and GPU-VRAM-limited.

Mac Pro 8 Core 3.3Ghz D300 (2GB VRAM!) gave 8fps on 5K RED

Mac Pro 6 Core 3.5Ghz D500 (3GB VRAM!) gave 15Fps with the same 5K RED RAW
 
One thing I just thought of that MAY be a contributing factor...

I currently have REDCINE-X Pro installed on this machine. This machine has been used since FCP7 days with some RED projects. Do not remember if I installed any accelerators or additional decoders, but believe I did. I recall years ago there were QT installs required and a lot of tricks to get footage to work properly with any software before editing. Also remember REDAlert and REDRushes were used on this machine before REDCINE. Most of that work was with 4K files and the majority was encoded/transcoded to HD for editing with 1st pass color grade. LUTs didn't work well back then and most producers I worked with couldn't deal with seeing underexposed or "weird" looking non-optimized footage.

There are no obvious .component files in QT folders.
 
mm id gess it's complex, my default timeline is only 1080p so im not shore if changing it to 8k will mater ?
and id gess on a real timeline things get more complex.
(and maybe checking on windows to see comparisons)

also not shore why h9826790 has less FPS than me with his far faster card with much more vram ? maybe changing the forcing cuda will help? (or maybe something is wrong on my copy of resolve, i may have changed some prefes at some time when playing around)

my old full back for anything like this-
resolve 14 + titan v 12gb (+ gtx1060 and up)
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...-14-GPU-Performance-NVIDIA-Titan-V-12GB-1108/
resolve 14 gpu scaling
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...e-14-GPU-Scaling-Analysis-1-4x-Titan-Xp-1060/
resolve 14 CPU comparison
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...U-Performance-Skylake-X-vs-Threadripper-1063/
 
orph said:
mm id gess it's complex, my default timeline is only 1080p so im not shore if changing it to 8k will mater ?
and id gess on a real timeline things get more complex.
(and maybe checking on windows to see comparisons)

also not shore why h9826790 has less FPS than me with his far faster card with much more vram ? maybe changing the forcing cuda will help? (or maybe something is wrong on my copy of resolve, i may have changed some prefes at some time when playing around)

my old full back for anything like this-
resolve 14 + titan v 12gb (+ gtx1060 and up)
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...-14-GPU-Performance-NVIDIA-Titan-V-12GB-1108/
resolve 14 gpu scaling
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...e-14-GPU-Scaling-Analysis-1-4x-Titan-Xp-1060/
resolve 14 CPU comparison
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...U-Performance-Skylake-X-vs-Threadripper-1063/
Click to expand...

I tested with different setting.

With One-Eighth Res. Good, my Mac can also easily hit 23.976 FPS with just 500% CPU usage.
With Quarter Res. Good, the CPU usage increase to max, and can hardly maintain 23.976 FPS (but stay above 22 FPS).
Anything above Half Res. Good are the same, CPU maxed out, around 10FPS.

And the process is not graphic card intensive in my case (both VRAM and GPU).

Hardware acceleration choose Auto or CUDA won't make any difference.

I suspect you didn't turn off Proxy mode at the Playback setting (menu bar). If I turn Proxy mode on, then my Mac can easily achieve 23.976 FPS regardless what setting in the bottom left section with just ~500% CPU usage.
 
ok did some more playing about.
and made shore proxy's where off and saw no real change (the 22fps was just for a split second ignore that)
but when i turn performance mode off (just below proxy's) my fps drops
performance mode off
openCL 3.2GB vram used, 50-70%gpu use 5-6FPS
cuda 800mb vram used, 30-70% gpu use 5-6 FPS
metal 2.8gb vram use, 0-6% gpu use 0-1 FPS (less than one fps relay)

thats the only real change iv seen so far, i gess i can try the nvidia driver (im using the native one so far) and win 7 performance to i gess if any one relay wants it.

also im only ruining two 1080p displays if it matters and i suspect VRAM may matter more on a time line that longer than 6sec's ?

(i did clear proxy's and cash at the start and a few times just for luck)
Screen Shot 2018-03-03 at 12.30.40 pm.png Screen Shot 2018-03-03 at 12.32.24 pm.png Screen Shot 2018-03-03 at 12.31.55 pm.png

edit to be clear i did have proxy's off originally,
 
Last edited:
orph said:
ok did some more playing about.
and made shore proxy's where off and saw no real change (the 22fps was just for a split second ignore that)
but when i turn performance mode off (just below proxy's) my fps drops
performance mode off
openCL 3.2GB vram used, 50-70%gpu use 5-6FPS
cuda 800mb vram used, 30-70% gpu use 5-6 FPS
metal 2.8gb vram use, 0-6% gpu use 0-1 FPS (less than one fps relay)

thats the only real change iv seen so far, i gess i can try the nvidia driver (im using the native one so far) and win 7 performance to i gess if any one relay wants it.

also im only ruining two 1080p displays if it matters and i suspect VRAM may matter more on a time line that longer than 6sec's ?

(i did clear proxy's and cash at the start and a few times just for luck)
View attachment 753107 View attachment 753108 View attachment 753109

edit to be clear i did have proxy's off originally,
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your settings.

Found the reason. It's the project settings -> Master settings -> Timeline resolution.
Screen Shot 2018-03-04 at 03.37.57.jpg

If I change it back to 1080P, then I have the same result as yours. If I change that to 8k, then only get ~5FPS. And once go 4K or beyond, the proxy playback can make the difference.
 
  • Like
Reactions: orph
:oops: ops
ok so with ultra HD set i get
cuda 4-5 fps
cuda 6-7 fps with performance mode on

(to be fair post 36 was not clear on all settings :rolleyes: so i hoped it was all going to be auto done for me :D)

id gess a mix of CPU & GPU bottlenecks as your gtx1080 must be what 4-8 times faster than my gtx770 but your only gaining about 2 times the fps (also may be more complex :()

interesting tho, ill have to install resolve on windows 7 and see how it looks there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: h9826790
Can re-test with various timeline settings early next week with NVIDIA CUDA. Just looking for 8K results, or 4K/UHD and 1080 too?
 
if you want to retest anything be clear on all needed settings so people like me dont mess it up :p

:D it's a fun topic and relay i need more time in resolve to learn it, any one know anywhere good to read up on resolve id love some links been out of touch since v8 (used v8 a lot just for grading for output back then).
 
Adding to the list of current issues; I tried running Furmark w/ Vega FE on my 2010 cMP and the GPU shuts down, not the computer. I have it connected to a 1000W external PSU with each 8pin on its own line from the PSU. After about 20 seconds my screens go dark, computer is still on, and then the fan on the GPU start going nuts. Has anyone else had this problem?
 
Any further word on this? These seem to be crashing in price suddenly, sometimes cheaper than a 64...wondering if anyone’s compared the two over a period of time to see which plays nicer with Mojave & the cMP. Thinking it may be time to jump off the Nvidia train for now.
 
hello there! i wanted to check in and see how things were with the amd vega fe and mac os mojave. i would think new the built-in drivers would allow the card to function better than the web drivers i've been using with my current nvidia 1080ti. it's on apple's list of supported gpu cards for the cup 5,1 with mojave. i just purchased a liquid-cooled vega fe and i want to install it into my 5,1. should i be expecting any challenges? i purchased a thermasilk 750w power supply to power the card. thanks! chris
[doublepost=1548453262][/doublepost]everything functioning great with metal and mojave with the amd vega fe?
 
luxychris said:
hello there! i wanted to check in and see how things were with the amd vega fe and mac os mojave. i would think new the built-in drivers would allow the card to function better than the web drivers i've been using with my current nvidia 1080ti. it's on apple's list of supported gpu cards for the cup 5,1 with mojave. i just purchased a liquid-cooled vega fe and i want to install it into my 5,1. should i be expecting any challenges? i purchased a thermasilk 750w power supply to power the card. thanks! chris
[doublepost=1548453262][/doublepost]everything functioning great with metal and mojave with the amd vega fe?
Click to expand...

The Vega FE works well, is fast and stable on Mojave, if you could live with the work around to keep the fan speed down, and the issues of using a non-EFI GPU. I haven't used the Vega FE since the the second public beta of Mojave, but there was no improvement with the fan. I submitted a bug report and Apple asked for more information. No reply from them since.
 
Last edited:
thanks for the reply! much appreciated! glad to hear things seem to be stable with mojave. do you think a liquid-cooled version will also have an issue with fan speed? thanks! cheers, chris
 
With the fan cooled Vega FE: it's easy to get the fans to shut down by playing a HEVC clip in IINA or Quicktime Player (there might be many other similar "solutions").

HOWEVER, this seems to put the card in a energy saving mode and performance goes down along with the fans. In Geekbench 4, this corresponds to around 35.000 points less or so.

It's nice to be able to shut the card up for casual computing, and it's trivial to start/stop the fans, but I wouldn't say it's working 100%.

But I do appreciate the 16GB of memory in Resolve and it's 100% stable for me.
 
i can confirm that the liquid-cooled version of the vega fe works in a mac pro 5,1! mac pro users rejoice!
 
A year ago I ( and many others) submitted bug reports about the high fan speed/noise of the Vega 64/FE on the cMP 5,1. Apple asked for a systems report and I sent it to them. This past spring Apple finally emailed that they addressed the issues. I had sold my FE card, so I couldn't confirm first hand, but 10.14.5 supposedly fixed the fan issues in the Vega 64/FE. See first post in this thread.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back