Davinci Resolve & Multi 3090s

[Pooh]

I've swapped from Adobe Premier to DaVinci Resolve Studio as my video editing suite of choice. Steep learning curve but getting there.

Resolve is a beast when it comes to GPU utilisation and with the Studio version you can use multiple GPUs.

I'm running with a single 3090 and was wondering if anyone had tried a 2nd GPU and if so what the real world difference was over a single GPU.

Thanks

 

[Pooh]

Should have said if anyone else it thinking of giving Resolve a go, then do it. It's so much quicker and responsive than Premier Pro, also no Adobe subscription tax to worry about.

 

[Tetras]

Puget have some benchmarks on it and the overall score in the review of the 4090 had 2x 3090's score as 2.2% higher than a single 4090 and 12.5% higher than a single 3090.

 

[Pooh]

Thanks - I just found some of those benchmarks today as well. Interesting reading. I might just bump up to a 4090 if I can get one a reasonable price but not worth breaking the bank over. Would probably sell my 3090 if I did that rather that having two cards. Doesn't seem to be worth it the performance increase.

 

[J.James]

Should have said if anyone else it thinking of giving Resolve a go, then do it. It's so much quicker and responsive than Premier Pro, also no Adobe subscription tax to worry about.

I am @Pooh !!
But people keep putting me off it - yourself included unfortunately, I think you complained about the steep learning curve on your other thread, as does everyone else.

I will need to edit some DJI Pocket 3 footage on my upcoming PC (some stuff shot at 4k/100fps), I'm just waiting it out for those nvidea cards to refresh and will likely go with a 5080), It'll be a gaming machine, budgeting about £4k ish.

My only editing experience is with Go Pro studio & Adobe Premiere Elements 14.

I'm guessing you would suggest staying with Adobe Premiere for a familiar feel as to Elements, but I would rather pay full whack once for some quality software.

I don't really want to do anything complicated with Resolve, Is it really such a pain just to join a few clips on a timeline? maybe add in a little music and then export the thing to a file?

 

[Mr Jack]

I think you complained about the steep learning curve on your other thread, as does everyone else.

My experience of Resolve - having absolutely no prior experience of video editing - is that it's easy to do stuff in, and easy to find help for on the internet. Can't compare it to anything else, and obviously it depends what you want to do.

 

[Pooh]

My experience of Resolve - having absolutely no prior experience of video editing - is that it's easy to do stuff in, and easy to find help for on the internet. Can't compare it to anything else, and obviously it depends what you want to do.

Absolutely this.

I was not complaining about the learning curve, it's a fact of life when you come from another platform. Resolve is a very complex bit of software and extremely capable. To think you can use such software without a learning curve is crazy. There is a ton of guidance on YouTube to help you though.

If you’re doing basic stuff it’s not too bad. The free version has some limitations re the number of filters you can use etc but for throwing a couple on clips on a timeline it’s fairly easy. Watch 10 mins of YouTube and you’re off to the races.

A couple of weeks in and I’m still learning but flying compared to the responsiveness of premier.

Wish I’d taken the jump a long time ago

 

[J.James]

I'll give the free version a go and maybe practice with a few random clips. It would be nice to learn something a little new, and yes, definitely find a few 'Beginner' tutorials on the tube

 

[mid_gen]

I'll give the free version a go and maybe practice with a few random clips. It would be nice to learn something a little new, and yes, definitely find a few 'Beginner' tutorials on the tube

I've been using Resolve heavily for six months now, feel like I'm getting there with some good work flows. Only scratched the surface of Fusion etc.

The main thing to bear in mind when learning it imo, is that there isn't ONE way to do most things. You can look at different tutorials and each one will show you a different way, so don't get hung up on trying to figure out what the RIGHT way is, as there may be several!

Studio is well worth it imo. I shoot climbing videos, take a 4k vertical static shot, and then crop in to horizontal, and pan upwards to follow the climber, and use SuperScale to bring it back up to 4k, works a treat.

 

[J.James]

Thank you @mid_gen I will probably treat myself to the Studio version for Christmas

 

[Pooh]

Update....

I managed to get a 4090 and here's the results

I'm working on a long project, currently at 1 hour and will probably double at least. It will then be split into sections for easier consumption.

The timeline is 4K 50fps with average data rate of 150-200mbps shot in various HEVC formats ( Camcorder, GoPro and iPhone 15 Pro ) and is pretty heavy with image stabilisation, text overlays, zooms, noise reduction (crappy GoPro sensor), etc etc.

On the 3090 an export to H265, 30mbps with fairly easy settings took 45 minutes to render
On the 4090 with exactly the same settings, it took 30 minutes, reducing render time by 33%

I then did a dual card run
On the 4090 and 3090 combined, it still took 30 minutes. The killer is that when you have two dissimilar cards, Resolve goes at the pace of the slowest card, so it's like having two 3090s

Looking at the FPS during render I saw the following

3090 = 90-92 FPS
4090 = 130-135 FPS
3090 & 4090 = 132-137 FPS

So the 4090 bangs out roughly 50% more FPS