DaVinci Resolve System Requirements

Introduction

Ever since it was first released by Blackmagic Design in 2009, DaVinci Resolve has quickly become one of the top-of-the-line video editing programs on the market today. In fact, it’s safe to say that DaVinci Resolve is now an industry standard and the go-to software option for many professional editors, colorists, and visual effects artists around the globe. But even though it offers a ton of industry standard features at a budget-friendly price, DaVinci Resolve isn’t exactly your typical home video editor.

After all, like any software application that can handle high resolution 4K footage with hundreds of layers of effects and graphics added to each project, DaVinci Resolve does require a pretty hefty computer system to run well. And if you want to be able to work fast and efficiently without having to worry about dropped frames or playback issues with your footage, then finding the perfect system setup for editing videos in Resolve is absolutely essential.

To help you make sure your computer is up to snuff for running this powerful video editing program, let’s take some time to walk through all of the system requirements for using DaVinci Resolve 16 on either MacOS or Windows computers:

DaVinci Resolve 16.1 requires a system with at least one GPU that meets specific requirements.

A GPU is a graphics processing unit, which is a component of your computer that processes information for the monitor or display. A CPU is a central processor unit, which handles all other tasks on your computer. Graphics cards come in two types: integrated GPUs and discrete GPUs (also known as dedicated graphics cards). Integrated GPUs are built into the motherboard of your computer. Dedicated graphics cards are separate pieces of hardware that connect to the motherboard via PCIe x16 slots or PCI slots.

DaVinci Resolve 16.1 requires at least one GPU with OpenCL 1.2 support (Open Computing Language).

OpenCL 1.2 enables interoperability between software written using OpenCL and software written using OpenGL ES 2 specifications through Khronos Group’s SYCL (Symbolic Clocks) specification, allowing developers to write code once that can be easily adapted to run across multiple platforms with minimal effort on their part. To date, this technology has mainly been used on macOS computers running 10…

We suggest a minimum system configuration of an Intel Core i7, 16GB of RAM, a fast hard drive and at least 1 NVIDIA or AMD GPU that supports OpenCL 1.2 or CUDA 10.0.

The following is a list of the minimum system requirements for DaVinci Resolve Studio, DaVinci Resolve Advanced and DaVinci Resolve Free:

• Intel Core i7 Processor or AMD equivalent;
• 16GB of RAM minimum;
• Solid state disk (SSD) for the Operating System and Project files;
• At least 1 NVIDIA or AMD GPU that supports OpenCL 1.2 or CUDA 10.0

If you are running Mac OS X, you need to be on OS X 10.14 or later.

If you are running Mac OS X, you need to be on OS X 10.14 or later.

DaVinci Resolve 16.1 is only compatible with Mac OS X 10.14 and newer versions of our operating system. If you have an older version of the operating system installed, then please upgrade it before proceeding with the installation of DaVinci Resolve Studio or Studio 16 which will allow users to take advantage of all new features and enhancements included in DaVinci Resolve 16 and later versions of our software products

On Windows, you need to be on Windows 8.1 or later with the latest updates installed

On Windows, you need to be on Windows 8.1 or later with the latest updates installed. It’s recommended that you’re on Windows 10. However, if you’re still running Windows 7 or 8 we have a few extra steps for you as well:

First things first, make sure your computer meets the minimum system requirements for DaVinci Resolve 15:

• 64-bit processor (Intel® Core™2 Duo 3 GHz or AMD Athlon™ X2 2.8 GHz)
• 4GB RAM (8GB recommended)
• 1GB OpenGL 4 compatible graphics card (Nvidia GeForce GT 750M or AMD Radeon HD 7750)

If you are on Linux, we offer downloads for Ubuntu 18.04, CentOS 7 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

• Linux is an operating system.
• Ubuntu and CentOS are both popular distributions of Linux.
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux is another type of distribution—it’s a more business-oriented version of Fedora, which is also a popular distribution.

What is a GPU?

You’ve probably heard about GPUs before, but what exactly do they do? A GPU (or graphics processing unit) is a processor that specializes in handling the mathematical calculations necessary for rendering images. In other words, it helps your computer create images on your screen.

GPUs are most often used to handle 3D graphics—but they also make it possible to create more realistic 2D effects than would be possible using only software alone.

GPUs can be dedicated processors or integrated into CPUs (central processing units). They can either be discrete chips or built-in parts of motherboards or video cards.

What is a CPU?

A CPU is the main processor in your computer. It’s the central unit of a computer, and it’s responsible for executing instructions. The CPU executes all instructions from memory and other peripherals, such as disks and printers.

The CPU also schedules tasks that are run on your computer, allocates resources to those tasks (such as RAM), regulates communication between devices and programs running on your computer, and manages memory allocation among all running programs within its system address space.

DaVinci Resolve has some specific system requirements for optimal performance

DaVinci Resolve has some specific system requirements for optimal performance. The system requirements are listed in the article, and they’re the same for both Windows and Mac. If you’re using DaVinci Resolve Studio or DaVinci Resolve, then you have to make sure your computer meets these minimum requirements:

• Intel i5/i7 processor with 4 cores or more (recommended)
• 6GB RAM (recommended)
• 64-bit OS only

Conclusion

We hope that this guide has helped you understand your computer’s hardware options for using DaVinci Resolve 16. This is a powerful video editing program, but it is not well-suited to run on an older computer. If you are shopping for a new computer, keep these requirements in mind. They will help ensure that you have the best system possible for running DaVinci Resolve 16.