Best hardware and OS for dcp-o-matic

[Jorge Costa]

Hello,

Can you tell the best hardware and operating system for dcp creation with dcp-o-matic?
Does it depends mostly on CPU, i guess?
What are the other hardware aspects one must take into account to build a fast machine for dcp creation?
Currently i've been using dcp-o-matic on two different machines, last generation Macbook Pro with i7 running Mac OSX El Capitan and a desktop with AMD FX 6350 CPU running Win 10. I'm getting about 4 fps by rendering a 2K Scope 2D, 24fps, 6 audio channel content, which isn't that great.

Thank you for this great program!!

[scorpio81]

Hi.
Yes, it depends heavily on CPU. So, you need more CPU computational power: more CPUs, more cores/threads and more CPU frequency. That's why server CPUs with 8 or more cores with HT are preferable.

[Carsten]

CPUs, CPUs, CPUs, Cores, Cores, Cores, HW threads, HW threads, HW threads. The more the better. If you aim for good performance, you should try to get a dual CPU system. Pretty cheap to get second hand are dual Xeon 5660, or, a followup, dual 2670 (e.g. used HP z600/z620/z800/z820).

If you buy something like an i7-5820, or AMD Ryzen 7-1800X, you get a nice initial boost, but at a price for the overall system. And then you're stuck, more or less and need to build a full second system to get further, because you can't use Desktop CPUs in dual CPU configurations.

You get the same performance from a second hand dual x5660 system at half the price (around 500-600US$)...

I think the best, yet affordable solution is a combo of a high clocked 4 coreHT desktop CPU (single thread optimized), e.g. i7-7700K for the GUI, and a networked dual xeon machine as encoding server. This will get you close or well above realtime encoding. You may add one or two more of these dual CPU xeon machines later. I guess with three of them, the network becomes saturated.

Carl is working on GPU, but it will certainly take some time, and the outcome is still unpredictable. Try to find a sweet spot with current or second hand gear.

OS is irrelevant. It's a bit pricey to buy a Mac Pro with so many cores currently, so you would need to get involved into bulding a hackintosh. But you can mix OS's between GUI and encoding servers, e.g. use your Macbook Pro for the GUI, and a z600 with windows or linux for encoding.

Two systems also allow you to split working, e.g. continue editing on your main machine, while the second machine is kept busy with encoding.

http://dcpomatic.com/benchmarks/fps

- Carsten

[Jorge Costa]

Hi,

Thank you for the replies and great advices.

If amount of RAM doesn't makes a big difference, I think that I may have found a good deal on a refurbished HP z600 workstation with only 16 Gb DDR3 RAM, for around € 380...

CPU - 2X Intel Xeon E5630, 2.56 Ghz, 4 cores, 8 threads.
GPU - NVIDIA Quadro 600, 1GB GDDR3 SDRAM
HDD - 250 Gb SATA

And, like Carsten suggested as well, i'll be using a Macbook Pro i7, for the GUI and other stuff.

Well, those benchmark tests are really handy!! Thanks for posting.

Best wishes.

- Jorge

[liloneum]

Hi,

About the OS, I would personally recommend to use a Linux one if you're not afraid about it.
It will let you get an cheaper computer (without a windows licence / without the cost of a Mac) and it will let you the possibility to easily and correctly format your hard drives for delivering.

Lilian

[Carsten]

16GB is enough for this machine. With many cores, you also need more RAM, since every added thread needs RAM. My z600 has 12GBytes, and even with 32threads configured, it is still sufficient.

The price for the dual quadcore is nice. You may check the mainboard once you have it - if you have a dual CPU machine with dual coolers equipped, it is very easy and cheap to upgrade the machine with two used Xeon 5660 or 5670/5675 CPUs later - if the mainboard is revision two or so.

You will also be very satisfied with the build-quality of a z600. Very modular, no screws design, very silent. Some components are proprietary, e.g. powersupply, specific RAM modules, CPU coolers. But the config you mention has everything needed.

With the new low power NVIDIA GTX 1050/1060 cards, you can even add a very fast not too expensive GPU.

Note the z600 and z800 only offer USB2.0 ports (plus Firewire). But you can add a PCIe USB3.0 card for 10-15€.
If the machine is equipped with ANY 56xx CPU, you can upgrade it to other 56xx hexa cores CPUs, as these machines use the C2 Chipset revision. Some early versions of the z600 do not support this.

Standard CPU coolers do not fit these machines, original replacement parts are very expensive, so whatever you do, buy a machine that is already equipped with two CPUs/coolers.


- Carsten

[Jorge Costa]

@ Lilian,
Thanks, good point, I may go Linux way with Ubuntu 64. Do you recommend other distribution?

@ Carsten,
Thanks again for your recommendations. The machine I'm inclined to buy its equipped with two cpu's and original coolers.
What mainboard brand should I expect to get with such HP z600 workstation? Intel one, I suppose. Or is there any other manufacturer supplying it? I'm asking because maybe its important to try to get Intel, even if it means spending more money.

I also see other brands doing workstations, like Dell, Fujitsu / Siemens (Celsius R650) ... should I consider them as a good alternative to HP? Usually they cost less than HP, but maybe not as good in terms of overall build-quality, performance, I guess.

- Jorge

[liloneum]

I think Ubuntu is the easiest way to go.
Use a LTS version for longer support.

Lilian

[Carsten]

It's an HP OEM mainboard. The only difference between early and 'normal' (C2) chipset revision is their capability to use dual 56xx CPUs.

From http://content.etilize.com/User-Manual/1019458200.pdf :

'Support for Xeon 5600 Series processors requires the C2 revision of the Intel 5520 chipset. Two methods are available to determine if a specific Z600 system has the C2 revision of the chipset. 1. Use the BIOS setup menu to access the "Boot Block Date" from the "System Information Menu". All B3-based systems will have a "1/30/09" date and C2-based systems will have a "01/07/10" date.2. HP Performance Advisor SW can be used to determine the PCA ID, which is reported by Performance Advisor under "System Configuration" and "Baseboard ID". All B3-based systems will have the ID "0AE8h" and all C2- based systems will have the ID "0B54h".'
So, if the system you buy already has dual 5630 CPUs, you should be fine.


Aside from that, the good thing about these machines is, unlike 'normal' BTO systems from your ordinary PC shop, you always know what you get. These machines are more or less like Wintel variants of MacPros. Only a very limited set of variations, mostly components like RAM, HDs, etc. The bad thing is, some components are proprietary, the good thing is, they are very well thought out.

They are also configured and set up properly from scratch. e.g. you can configure some SATA ports as eSATA ports for hotplug capability. e.G. I installed a CRU slot and configured it for eSATA, so I can insert and undock a CRU drive during operation. You expect such things to work in general nowadays, but very often, something doesn't work. On a z600/z800, it simply works.

You can also find the full HP machine and config documents online. These machines once did cost more than 5000US$, so you can expect some build-quality and robustness.

Similar workstations (using more or less the same chipset) are Dell Precision T5500 and FSC Celsius R570-2. As they are not so much more cheaper in identical CPU configs, I still prefer the z600. The z800 has a beefier power supply and more space for internal hard discs. The z620/z820 are using more recent CPUs and chipset, but sell at nearly twice the price second hand.

- Carsten