Linux v Windows v MacOS - Quick Testing

[Phillip Lakis]

Hey

I had access to a Resolve Linux box today and i just done some quick testing,
It may be of interest.

Specs:
2x E5 2678v3 - 128gb Ram - GTX Titan 6gb + GTX 1080 8gb.
I booted my Win10Pro drive to do a quick test and see the difference.

Linux
Encode 15min Epic Dragon to ProRes 422HQ - 9m 45s

Windows
Encode 15min Epic Dragon to DNxHR HQ - 11m 22s

Mac Pro - 3.33ghz - 128gb Ram - GTX Titan X (Maxwell)
Encode 15min Epic Dragon to ProRes 422HQ - 17m 49s


Debayer
Full Premium
4k DCI Timeline

16fps - Windows
15fps - MacOS
24fps - Linux

Linux was buttery smooth at full debayer.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Resolve on Linux is far more optimized... That was the case up through v10 and it still seems to be the case.

Some discrepancy exists because you're encoding to DNx in Windows and to ProRes on the other two tests, but it's usually not all that different. You should probably use ProRes 4x4 as a better comparison to DNx or have used DNx in all the tests.

On the Linux box, using the 6GB Titan along with the GTX 1080 is actually crippling the 1080. Not sure what the full impact would be, but not a great combo happening there due to the generational differences and how the multiple GPUs are utilized.

I'm going to assume the Mac Pro is a 12-core. 128GB RAM is nice, but RAM performance is taking a 15% hit with that quantity installed. Best performance comes with 96, 48 or 24 GB installations to properly align with the triple-channel memory architecture. Either way, the system will clearly show its age here. Even the older Maxwell Titan X is hindered by the PCIe 2.0 interface and the system as a whole is choked off by the 1333MHz memory speed.

Anyway, just academic musings here. I think the comparisons show what needs to be shown here -- apparently better optimization on Linux and the aging hardware of the Mac Pro...

 

[jake blackstone]

I would suggest DPX instead of Prores for DNx. It is uncompressed and it's one of the oldest of them all, meaning it is probably the best optimized format of any existing formats. And the best part, any platform can use it. Right now I too happened to have Resolve running on all three platforms. Weird thing, I'm having thermal problems running Resolve on Windows 10, but the same computer (SuperMicro X10DRG-Q) runs Resolve on Linux flawlessly. But on HP Z820 On Windows 10 Resolve runs perfect as well. SuperMicro has something like 9 huge fans, it's VERY loud, while Z820 is nearly silent and yet, SuperMicro is the one that having thermal issues. Go figure...
Also, once set up, Linux will never ask you to update it or does it run any useless background services, like the other two always do. There is something to be said, when the software manufacturer provides it's own OS, like all Linux software manufacturers do- Resolve, Baselight, Lustre/Flame, Mistika. There is just no comparison between purpose built OS and general purpose OS. Linux is not easy to set up, but once it's up and running, Windows and OS X doesn't even come close to the stability and power of Linux installation...

 

[M.Halsell]

Jake, are you running 3 production systems? Or you doing a bit of testing ? Are you finding caveats for over the other?

 

[jake blackstone]

Jake, are you running 3 production systems? Or you doing a bit of testing ? Are you finding caveats for over the other?

I'm running all three, but Mac is still the main one. My hope, once I get the Z820 up and running on Windows platform to finally ditch the MacPro. Resolve on Linux is flawless, but without the panel it's just a Prores rendering platform. So, my hope soon to completely move my grading to Windows and either set up a Linux Resolve remote rendering of Prores or, if that networking turns out difficult (I hear there is now a 10GE over the Cat6 cable?), just use shared database, with Linux ands Windows Resolve again being the rendering platform.

 

[Marc Wielage]

There is something to be said, when the software manufacturer provides it's own OS, like all Linux software manufacturers do- Resolve, Baselight, Lustre/Flame, Mistika. There is just no comparison between purpose built OS and general purpose OS. Linux is not easy to set up, but once it's up and running, Windows and OS X doesn't even come close to the stability and power of Linux installation...

That's very true. My memory is that on original daVinci on Red Hat Linux, they stripped out a bunch of stuff in the OS to streamline it and make the system boot faster. It was a fairly rock solid system, but we weren't trying to run anything else along with color-correction -- almost no background tasks.

 

[Michael Tiemann]

That's very true. My memory is that on original daVinci on Red Hat Linux, they stripped out a bunch of stuff in the OS to streamline it and make the system boot faster. [...]

As a Red Hat guy (a person who actually works at the company), I will say this about that. Back in 2000-2003, all sorts of Wall Street wizards joined together to make Linux an absolute kick-ass platform for all sorts of applications that needed optimizing: big number-crunching analytics engines, low-latency messaging platforms, flexible workload engines, etc. The work didn't stop then, that was just the point at which virtually every major bank on Wall Street had reoriented from Unix to Linux. From 2004-2008, the adventure continued, moving from the most niche applications to the majority of the workloads (which are very diverse in their nature). From 2008-2012, major advances in virtualization led to creating many more powerful ways to shape the OS for specific workloads. From 2012-today, all that continues, at the compute level, the storage level, the networking level, and higher levels, too. The point is that today, the idea of stripping down the OS to gain more performance is no longer a great strategy. The better strategy is to use the powerful interfaces built in to the latest OS to optimize the OS for the workload.

The big difference between Microsoft, Apple, and Linux is that in the case of the first two, the OS progress is limited by how customers can communicate their needs to the vendors and how much resource those vendors are willing to apply to meet those needs. In the case of Linux, numerous communities, including Hollywood VFX and animation studios, massive retailers, global airlines, US military and intelligence communities, the scientific supercomputer community (which covers everything from high-energy physics to genomics and bioinformatics, with a bit of global climate modeling thrown in for good measure), in addition to Wall Street and the ever-growing Linux community itself all contribute directly to the software that Red Hat prepares for commercial production use. This much larger community, which encompassing a mind-bogglingly large range of potential optimization challenges, solves that problem today not by forking the code into myriad optimized sub-versions, but by configuring each deployment using higher-level configuration tools and functions.

But as great as Linux is, it's nothing without applications supported in ways that users can use them. The $30K panel is a significant barrier compared to the $995 offering available for a Windows computer with a mouse and keyboard.

 

[luigivaltulini]

I would suggest DPX instead of Prores for DNx. It is uncompressed and it's one of the oldest of them all, meaning it is probably the best optimized format of any existing formats. And the best part, any platform can use it. Right now I too happened to have Resolve running on all three platforms. Weird thing, I'm having thermal problems running Resolve on Windows 10, but the same computer (SuperMicro X10DRG-Q) runs Resolve on Linux flawlessly. But on HP Z820 On Windows 10 Resolve runs perfect as well. SuperMicro has something like 9 huge fans, it's VERY loud, while Z820 is nearly silent and yet, SuperMicro is the one that having thermal issues. Go figure...
Also, once set up, Linux will never ask you to update it or does it run any useless background services, like the other two always do. There is something to be said, when the software manufacturer provides it's own OS, like all Linux software manufacturers do- Resolve, Baselight, Lustre/Flame, Mistika. There is just no comparison between purpose built OS and general purpose OS. Linux is not easy to set up, but once it's up and running, Windows and OS X doesn't even come close to the stability and power of Linux installation...

Jack you have problems!
.I Be on X10dax with 2696 v3 and no problem with 2 1080, overclocked CPu and GPU.
It works the same on Linux and equal on win 10, same performance, no crash.
You have configured all right in the bios supermicro?
let me an example of your problem, so I can replicate
I stay still on Win 10, when I have to correct it any timeline can I open premiere and correct mounting from the mistakes and redo XML.
Unfortunately, my clients are bunglers hehe

 

[luigivaltulini]

Hey


Debayer
Full Premium
4k DCI Timeline

16fps - Windows
15fps - MacOS
24fps - Linux

Linux was buttery smooth at full debayer.

hey Philip ,
Everything always depends on the CPU, more cores you have the better it is for R3d.
You have the source, red dragon 5kff or 6kff or 4k ff with that compression?
You have the timeline 4k dci and blackmagic output? 4k or 1080?

thanks

 

[jake blackstone]

Jack you have problems!
.I Be on X10dax with 2696 v3 and no problem with 2 1080, overclocked CPu and GPU.
It works the same on Linux and equal on win 10, same performance, no crash.
You have configured all right in the bios supermicro?
let me an example of your problem, so I can replicate
I stay still on Win 10, when I have to correct it any timeline can I open premiere and correct mounting from the mistakes and redo XML.
Unfortunately, my clients are bunglers hehe

Hi Luigi.
I have 3GPUs-NVS 510 for GUI+2 GTX780Ti, 2xE5-2690 V3, 72GB RAM, Bios v2.0a, Decklink, AJA 3G, LSI 9260-8i RAID controller.
BIOS is set up according to Blackmagic in configuration manual. Above 4G enabled.
All devices are showing up fine with all SuperMicro drivers for Windows 10 applied. Windows updated to the latest version and all other updates installed, including nVidia driver.
Any ideas?

 

[luigivaltulini]

ok jack this is mine bios is pretty same at your
In bios PCI DEvices Option Rom Setting --> use legacy for firt slot pci-e and if you not are sure where is your first gpu configure all in Legacy.
In bios Above 4g for me work better in Disable.
In bios ACPI setting i use NUMA --> ENABLE
In win 10 Advanced Setting Power option --> Minim processor state 100 %
In Win 10 Nvidia Panel --> Power management mode : MAximum performance

for try , get out NVS 510, use 2 gpu 780 only. 1 gpu in firt slot x16 and seconf 780 in 3 slot pcie x16.
Let me know

[/URL][/IMG]

 

[jake blackstone]

ok jack this is mine bios is pretty same at your
In bios PCI DEvices Option Rom Setting --> use legacy for firt slot pci-e and if you not are sure where is your first gpu configure all in Legacy.
In bios Above 4g for me work better in Disable.
In bios ACPI setting i use NUMA --> ENABLE
In win 10 Advanced Setting Power option --> Minim processor state 100 %
In Win 10 Nvidia Panel --> Power management mode : MAximum performance

for try , get out NVS 510, use 2 gpu 780 only. 1 gpu in firt slot x16 and seconf 780 in 3 slot pcie x16.
Let me know

[/URL][/IMG]

Hi Luigi.
Thanks for the info.
The Bios legacy is already the same as you have, except NUMA. I haven't checked that. I will now.
I was told by SuperMicro tech support to enable Above 4G as otherwise only two GPUs will be recognized and I have three
Yes, I can pull NVS 510 out to test, but I need that card to operate software I'm using on Linux. So, for the sake of the test, I can try to pull it and disable above 4G, but if that works, it still will not help, as I must have the three GPU configuration I presently have.
Thanks again for your help, as I already spent couple of weeks trying to figure this Windows dilemma out.
I'll let you know what I find and I will contact you privately...