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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Multiple Titan GPUs within REDCINE-X...?

Rob Anderson

Rob Anderson

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Is there an advantage to installing multiple Titan GPU's (not in any kind of SLI mode), for debayering within REDCINE-X?

Will REDCINE-X use every Titan GPU that gets installed or will REDCINE-X only use one card at a time?

If REDCINE-X will use multiple Titan cards, will it use them without forcing SLI?

Thanks in advance.
 
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I have 3 GPUs in my system (GTX 570 , 780, Q 4k) and RCX has a pulldown in the prefs where you select which one to use (just one). So... I'm guessing it's not multiple GPU capable? Or do they all have to be the same model?
 
Christopher Barrett said:
I have 3 GPUs in my system (GTX 570 , 780, Q 4k) and RCX has a pulldown in the prefs where you select which one to use (just one). So... I'm guessing it's not multiple GPU capable? Or do they all have to be the same model?
Click to expand...

Is there a noticeable difference from the 570 to 780? Just curious to how well utilized RCX is of new cards.
 
When is the Red SDK going to be updated for use in other applications, like Premiere and Resolve? Dying to ditch the Rocket.
 
anyone from RED ?

i kind of asked this same questions in 5 different threads but nobody ever commented on it …

hope we can get an ETA…

thanks

g
 
Not really, rcx is uising opencl right now, not cuda. nvidia cards are poor at open cl. GTX780 was not much faster than the GTX580 for r3d to dpx, so maybe a few % faster than a 570.

Jett He said:
Is there a noticeable difference from the 570 to 780? Just curious to how well utilized RCX is of new cards.
Click to expand...
 
How fast will a Titan transcode 4KHD material in a 12 Core Mac Pro? Trying to figure out the best non-Rocket card to buy ;)
 
Titan or GTX780 are good cards in a Mac Pro if you have them flashed so they play nice with power draw and a few other EFI issues. Running them stock, they can become problematic under load. Or you need to supplement them with additional power, especially if you have a higher-clocked 12-core system.

I think a GTX680 Mac Edition is still probably the best bang for the buck in terms of availability and simplicity, utility..

Once multi-GPU support is enabled in RC-X, things could get interesting. We can look at using cards like the GTX690 and elusive GTX790, the latter not officially launched yet. GTX690 (or dual 680's) outperforms the Titan in a great many tasks for the same or less money when the apps support multiple GPUs.
 
Thanks Jeff! What is a good affordable PSU option for the Titan? Is there anyway the PSU turns on and off with the computer...or do you have to manually turn it on and off? And is removing the side panel the only viable option?

I have heard that the Titan is going strong it in Mavericks, even the stock ones not getting flashed! Not sure if I NEED a Titan or if I can get buy with a different card for transcoding from 4KHD 23.98 to 1080p 422 @ 23.98. Right now a Red Rocket seems stupid to buy or even rent when a nice card can get me where I need. Just need to figure out which one to get ;-)
 
I've been running a 2012 12-core Mac Pro system with both a vanilla/stock EVGA Nvidia Titan and a RED ROCKET-X installed, without an additional PSU, for weeks now. Hundreds of transcodes and FCPX/Adobe/RC sessions later, it's still working perfectly, as it should.

I posted benchmarks and Titan card data here.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?108706-Dragon-impressions

No flashing or external/additional PSUs required.
 
Adam, you can pull power from the optical bays if needed. The system will supply power for the Titan, even though you are technically over-drawing, through the Logic board PCIe power connectors. You just have to be sure you don't over-draw the system as a whole.

Rob, which CPUs are you running in your system? Are all PCIe slots filled? Drive bays? The system can only provide so much power and there's a point where you will burn up the PSU or other components in the system. It's not a matter of if, but when...
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
Adam, you can pull power from the optical bays if needed. The system will supply power for the Titan, even though you are technically over-drawing, through the Logic board PCIe power connectors. You just have to be sure you don't over-draw the system as a whole.

Rob, which CPUs are you running in your system? Are all PCIe slots filled? Drive bays? The system can only provide so much power and there's a point where you will burn up the PSU or other components in the system. It's not a matter of if, but when...
Click to expand...

The unit I keep referencing in the 'Dragon Impressions' thread is a Mac Pro 2012 12-core (2x 3.06 GHz). It's one of our demonstrators. PCIe's are an Nvidia Titan stock, RED Rocket-X, USB 3, and a Blackwood beta custom board. We did full burn-ins and load checks. System is excellent. Using standard onboard PSU. There are no issues.

I ran this specific tower at even higher loads for over a full year using a different configuration of cards. Again, no issues. The MP 'power problem' is terrifically overstated. MacVidCards and the MacRumors group et al are running made up numbers. We've been doing actual testing for over a year at high loads. Not even a freeze or hint of problem.

And with other Mac Pros, I've also routed additional power and provided instructions for other people to do so. This is my post from 2011 on MacRumors:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1076970
 
OTOH, I've cooked a few Mac Pros myself running heavy loads on them. Some of them last weeks, even months, before they're tits-up. I've also had a couple that were loaded up like this and they never failed. I haven't paid attention to what numbers are going around on any of the MacRumors groups. Fact still remains that that in a dual 3.06GHz system with a Titan, Rocket, SAS HBA (ATTO H680 or similar) and a Decklink HD Extreme, 6 or 8 DIMMs, optical drive plus SSD, and 4 x HDD's internally, you are exceeding the peak rating of the PSU. It's only a matter of time… Or for some, it may be a matter of luck. I'm usually not that lucky… Or maybe I am. I have had some successes.

Titan is rated at 250W TDP. Mac Pro 4,1 and 5,1 are only rated to handle 330W combined for all PCIe cards and power connectors.

Apple tends to over-engineer their PSUs rather well and they realistically can probably supply 350W to the PCIe system, but that's really stretching it by the time you factor in the cards I've listed. So if you're rockin' with a system that's working for you, great. If your Mac Pro does burn up, then well, I suppose you probably will know why. Most anyone in my position is not going to go around recommending an over-draw of the PSU or PCIe subsystem. Because when a system does burn up, guess where the angry fingers get pointed. ):
 
Rob Anderson said:
The MP 'power problem' is terrifically overstated. MacVidCards and the MacRumors group et al are running made up numbers.
Click to expand...

Hey, to clarify, as the guy at head of MacVidCards, we are not "running made up numbers".

When I have posted power consumption numbers they are the real ones that anyone can see for themselves by dropping $10 and buying "Hardware Monitor".

Until I did this, I advised against 6 to 8 adapters. Since then, I have seen that a Mac Pro can consistently pull 130-140 Watts off a single PCIE plug using a Titan. However, I have also seen that a GTX285 can draw 120+ watts as well.

There is a large DIT house in Hollywood that has multiple carts running our GTX580s in each and every cart. I have been to the facility many times and spent time discussing their needs. They wanted EFI on the cards to make troubleshooting in the field easier.

They wanted rock solid stability because they can't have a machine crash while taking footage from camera drives.

My advice has been formed from a place where I have 100% confidence. I created GTX580 3GB cards that answered all of this.

I have been in the film biz for a very long time. I have been on sets in Malibu where a Red was crashing constantly and we had to send for a second body. Fear and anxiety were the rule on those sets, and I was very glad it wasn't my department that was at the "blame" end. I do not want that for my customers or for the people who follow my advice.

When I first discovered GTX780 and Titan drivers in OSX I started testing them. Here is what I know and what I am certain can be duplicated in the field by anyone reading this.

If I take a Titan and sick the OSX "Furmark" benchmark on it at full 2560x1400 res, it will shut a Mac Pro off like a light. If I try the same thing with a GTX780, it will complete the test every time.

For this reason I don't recommend that people run Titan with internal power. It is quite possible that there is no actual way to use a card to render that will pull this kind of power.

But it is in my and my customers' best interest for me to err on the side of caution. My accountant also had a word in this, something about "liability".

So, we mod Titans to have boot screens and be able to run on Dual 6 pins, but we then tell you that you are responsible for how you power it. For those who wish to use their Titan in Bootcamp this has the added bonus of PCIE 2.0 speeds while there, something not possible with stock Titans.

So, I have spent hours running a X5680 upgraded MP 12 core with Titan powered internally. I am fairly sure that MOST people can do this for some time with no issues. One scary thing is that the load isn't balanced. It literally will pull 75 Watts from the 6 pin side and 140+ Watts from the 8 pin side. Again, anyone can verify this via "Hardware Monitor", I didn't make up the numbers, they are reproducible by anyone.

Truth to be told, when I hear the Mac Pro konk out with a "click" it scares me. If I send out 20 or 30 cards and 6 months later the MPs start frying, I would be in a heap of trouble. So, for the sake of long term safety and reliability, I urge caution.

I can only guess that the RR card isn't pulling much load at all for it to be possible to use it with splitter with Titan.

I know that there is almost no way for a GTX780 to bring down a MP so I push those instead of Titans. (Being 50% of $$$ and 80+% of performance helps too)

If people find that Titans work in the field, I am thrilled. I don't post warnings because I like to scare people. I post warnings because it is the responsible thing to do. If I say "Go ahead, run a Titan, you will have no problems" and I am right 99% of the time and 500 people follow my advice, that leaves 5 people with unstable machine or something blown. So I err on the side of caution. I have to.
 
Dave P said:
Hey, to clarify, as the guy at head of MacVidCards, we are not "running made up numbers". When I have posted power consumption numbers they are the real ones that anyone can see for themselves by dropping $10 and buying "Hardware Monitor".
Click to expand...
Forgive me for using the phrase 'made up', but the figures you've shared regarding tolerances (at least the ones I have seen you share many times previously over on MR) have all been hypothetical guesses at what the MP PSU and tracers can do. So to rephrase, you're taking guesses at what the load potentials are and while you're obviously going about it in a scientific method to deduce those tolerances, you're still guessing. The results that I see getting posted are unconfirmed by Apple or anyone else for that matter.

I can only judge by what works and what doesn't. The configurations I've posted work and I only shared those results after doing plenty of testing with my own gear and my own money. Take it or leave it.

I was a customer of yours Dave. Nice to bump into you on RU. That is, I was a customer of yours up until you took to insulting me on MR last year. Not sure what line I ever crossed with you but apparently simply sharing information about card configurations and what has been working rock-steady for us was enough. Can't say I'd buy again after that.

**Edit: All I ask is unless you, yourself, have tested the configurations I've posted and have CONFIRMED that those configurations have burned out your hardware, there is no reason to warn people off of them. I find it strange that those friendly warnings invariably steer people towards your products. (And you probably want liability advice from your insurance agent and your lawyer, not your accountant.)
 
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Jeff Kilgroe said:
OTOH, I've cooked a few Mac Pros myself running heavy loads on them. Some of them last weeks, even months, before they're tits-up. I've also had a couple that were loaded up like this and they never failed.
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We've actually gone out of our way specifically to fry a MP. We can't get it done. Not with graphics cards and overloading the PSU anyway. The best result we've had so far is a sudden power off. Disconnect the card, reboot works fine and all benchmarks return to the same. We have yet to nuke a single board with any configurations we've tried. And we have been trying.

There are of course lots of configurations that do not work. And we don't recommend or post those for anyone else to try. What we do share are tested, working configurations that we've given plenty of time to run with. We're not an authority and never pretended to be. Just a group of people willing to throw real hardware to get results instead of playing around with hypothetical numbers. I know you're the same type of guy, Jeff. So I really truly am interested in hearing the precise configurations you've used that caused MP's to burn up on you.

**Edit: Obviously not saying it can't be done. Just haven't found a combination that will make it happen. Lots of other combinations cause instability, crashes, click-offs, etc. But we have yet to burn up a single MP or anything plugged into it. After trying for so long, I'd kind of like to check that box finally.
 
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