Recommended Systems for DaVinci Resolve

I'm thinking of moving from Mac to PC. Can you help?

Absolutely! Over the years we have helped quite a few of our customer make the move from Mac to PC. In fact, it is a large enough number that we have a dedicated Moving from Mac to PC? FAQ page to answer some of the more common questions we receive.

Will these systems work for the Free version of Resolve?

From a hardware perspective, the main limitation of the free edition is that it only supports a single GPU. Either of our Resolve workstations should work great for the free edition of Resolve - just don't waste your budget on multiple GPUs that you will not be able to use.

Do any of your systems support Thunderbolt?

Yes! Our "Standard" Resolve workstation natively supports Intel Thunderbolt 3. Unfortunately, our other configurations do not offer that functionality at this time.

Do your systems support 10-bit HDMI or SDI displays?

Yes, our workstations support 10-bit displays! In the past, you needed to use an NVIDIA Quadro video card or a Blackmagic Decklink card to enable 10-bit support, but as of July 29th 2019, the GeForce "Studio Driver" also supports 10-bit displays. However, if you are using a calibrated display for film or broadcast, we recommend using a Blackmagic Decklink cards as video cards do not always give 100% accurate color. Depending on the ports you need, we currently offer both the Blackmagic Decklink Mini Monitor 4K and the Decklink Studio 4K 6G-SDI.

These systems are too big. Do you have anything more compact?

We can certainly configure a more compact workstation if you need something that either fits in a smaller space or is easier to transport. However, be aware that they will be limited to a maximum of one GPU and potentially less total RAM & drive capacity - so they will not be quite as powerful as the systems we specifically target for DaVinci Resolve. If that interests you, we recommend contacting one of our consultants to discuss your situation.

Can I use Linux instead of Windows?

While Linux can at times be the right choice, in our DaVinci Resolve 14 Performance: Windows vs Linux testing we actually found that Windows should overall give you slightly better performance. In addition, there are a number of major considerations that should be taken into account such as the steep learning curve of Linux, lack of support for features like Thunderbolt, and the fact that you need to use a Decklink or Intensity card if you want to have audio through DaVinci Resolve. If you have a specific need for Linux, we can install CentOS by special request but in general we highly recommend using Windows 10 if possible.

I'm not sure what system hardware I should use. Help!

Depending on how much you want to dig into hardware and system specs, we have a couple different ways to help. First, we have a Hardware Recommendations page specifically for DaVinci Resolve that goes over all the different major hardware components and why you would use one part over another. Alternatively, you can always contact one of our consultants and we can help you configure a system that is perfectly tailored for your workflow.