New Macbook

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p8guitar
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Re: New Macbook

Post by p8guitar »

On an M1 with 8GB of unified memory, Resolume would let me have (6) 1280x720p24 slices out NDI. On an M1 with 16GB of unified memory, Resolume would let me have (9) 1280x720p24 slices out NDI. But, it was only using 12-13GB of unified memory. It wasn’t using all 16GB. But, the CPU and GPU were maxed out at 95%+.

So, yes, there is a cause and effect relationship between unified memory and some types of performance in Resolume. But, until you test two different machines and compare them side-by-side, you can’t really know what the exact differences are. Sorry. But, unified memory is a new idea and no one really knows how to think about it or predict with any level of certainty what amount you need or what the impact will be, because regular people like us don’t know where the bottlenecks are. Ya know?

Is it CPU? Is it GPU? Is it memory bandwidth? Is it OpenGL’s single-thread rendering? Who knows? I don’t.
what does NDI mean?
Yes, this is difficult... we can just try out and get experienced. I think I will not need more than 32 GB unified memory, hope this will be true for the next years!

resolumejunkie
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Re: New Macbook

Post by resolumejunkie »

Yeah. You never really run out of memory on these new Apple Silicon Mac’s. When you’re out of 32GB, it just starts using the SSD as “RAM” … I think it’s called swap space or something. It’s much slower, but at least your computer doesn’t freeze up.

p8guitar
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Re: New Macbook

Post by p8guitar »

Arvol wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 18:24 Ram is used for loading decks, thumbnails and FFGL's. So if you just plan to play clips and don't have thousands being loaded at once, 4-8gb should be plenty. If you plan to load several hundred clips at a time in multiple decks and also want to use a bunch of plugins, then maybe 16-32gb would be worthwhile.
I always put 64gb in my builds just to be safe but I rarely use more than 24GB
My current Resolume project only uses 2 GB of GPU memory, this surprises me. I have about 20 decks, and some longer videos. You are right, in most cases 4-8 GB is plenty... ;-)

resolumejunkie
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Re: New Macbook

Post by resolumejunkie »

Oh, and NDI is a way of sending video around over internet protocol… usually a local network. If you want bunches of outputs from Resolume and don’t want to use your Thunderbolt or HDMI ports for some reason, you can output NDI from Resolume and then receive NDI on a hardware NDI to HDMI converter. There are pluses and minuses to the workflow. For live, it’s mostly minuses. But, it’s something you can play with if you like.

p8guitar
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Re: New Macbook

Post by p8guitar »

Ah, thanks for the explanation! I use Spout to send the output of Resolume to OBS to record it on the same computer. I understand NDI would be another way to do this.

resolumejunkie
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Re: New Macbook

Post by resolumejunkie »

Sure! Anytime! The other big difference I noticed between the M1 Pro and M1 Max was number of external monitors you can connect. M1 Pro was only 2. M1 Max was 4.

EYE_CLOUD_081
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Re: New Macbook

Post by EYE_CLOUD_081 »

I am purchasing a new machine. I do not have a budget limit. Is an investment. I am torn between Macbook M1 Max XS Alienware A51. I want to eventually have both because I believe I should deal with both OS, and also, have a proper back up. But as a right now, what would you suggest?

I work with Resolume and original material. I am a visual artist, and also started into the VJing world, so I need a machine up to a very high performance level.

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Arvol
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Re: New Macbook

Post by Arvol »


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zaniz
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Re: New Macbook

Post by zaniz »

My desktops are pcs, but for live performances I use Macs, not only because I hate windows, but I use VDMX too and this app only runs on macOS. To me , on my old mbp2015 with 16Gb of ram, Resolume do a very good job managing memory, even with large resolutions.
Last week I have the opportunity to see a friend using photoshop, cinema 4d and after on the new m1max with 32Gigs of ram. this guy compares some operations on this Mac and his desktop pc i9 11000 series 64Gb ram. the new Macs beats the desktop in practically all the tests, even with some apps running in a emulate mode via rosetta. With the ram at 400gbs speeds, the new shared memory show its power in every image or movie retrieve. Scrubbing 4k video on a heavy premiere project, the new Mac don't skip any frames.
About the 64GB on Mac, I really don't know if Resolume will use all this memory, but when I will go out to buy a new machine (especially long lasting Macs like my 2015mbp) I always thinks in specs that I will need 4 years from now, I always spend a lot of money in memory and ssd upgrades, I never regret about that.
If you can, wait a bit more, YouTube are full of reviews of these machines now, soon enough some Resolume Brother will post a review of Resolume running natively on M1max, hopefully with lots of 4k outputs :) .
I think its too soon to understand these new SOCs and its relation with memory, but these new Macs are very promising.

ozenzop
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Re: New Macbook

Post by ozenzop »

The new M1 does not have 64GB dediated video memory. It has unified memory which is shared across CPU and GPU

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