How the memory size affects the workflow on Apple Silicon devices ?
Hello,
I would like to change my 10 years Retina MBP with a MBP M4 Pro, and I hesitate between 24 and 48 GB ( price... ).
I know that the standard 24 GB is already great for most of the uses, but for future and potential projects, is there a big difference with 48 GB ?
More RAM means I can play more movies simultaneously, is there a way to calculate it ? Is it the same for applied effects ?
How the 2 available outputs affect graphics performance when they are both connected ?
And how many resources are used if I add a live camera in the timeline ?
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Comments
Hello @ClemClem,
In contrary of Intel machines, the Apple Silicon machines shares the memory between the CPU and the GPU : it means that the RAM is used as a video memory by the GPU. This is quite powerful.
If you plan to use only Millumin on this machine, 24GB should be sufficient, as it is optimized to preload/unload movies automatically. This is impossible to calculate exactly how many movies you can play at the same time, because there are too many factors, but this amount of RAM should be enough.
However, if you want to use it to create movies, sound or images, more RAM would be a good investment I guess. Maybe purchasing the previous generation (M2 or M3 Pro/Max) with 32 or 36GB.
Please keep in mind that we are not a hardware reseller, so this is just our opinion.
Best. Philippe
Thank you Philippe for your answer.
I thought it was easier to determine what I could and couldn't do in Millumin depending on the amount of RAM, but like you said the memory is shared between the CPU and the GPU, so the process is certainly more complicated.
All the best.
Would it be possible to re-implement the manual 'Force media preload' option?
For some large shows, we are seeing momentary stuttering at the start of large video medias. I'm assuming this is related to SSD read latency when loading and caching very large files.
In these circumstances, having a machine with a large amount of memory (192GB for example), and an option to manually preload all media to RAM, would eliminate the stuttering at the beginning of playback.
Hello @ectoplasmosis,
Sorry, this option will not be back (many reason, the main one : this option was not doing much any more because a change in the architecture).
If you have stutters in your project, be sure to press the "Optimize" button to have a first diagnostic, then contact us, so we could study this issue. Thank you.
Best. Philippe
The stuttering only happens for less than a frame (~15ms if running at 60Hz), mostly when triggering high-bitrate media items (we only use ProRes on Apple Silicon, no other codecs). We also only use 10-bit colour depth, never 8-bit. As mentioned, this looks like an SSD read latency issue.
The stuttering is also evident if playing back multiple laters of high-bitrate ProRes content in separate layers inside a timeline, especially when triggering and looping this timeline.
This happens on all Apple Silicon hardware that we have tried (M1 Max, M2 Pro/Max/Ultra etc). Hardware specs do not make a difference.
Would it be possible to include an option to pre-cache the first few frames of all video media items, instead of the entire contents? This would eliminate the stuttering.
Hello everyone,
I come back here to share my tests on a M4 Pro 24 GB unified memory ( the one I decided to buy ).
I wanted to know how this amount of Ram could be a limit to use Millumin and other softwares, so I made the following test :
I downloaded 8 movies .mp4 from a web public library, HD and UHD resolution / 25 fps, and they were converted in Apple ProRes 422 with AVF Batch Converter.
- memory used before connecting the 2nd display : 6,8 GB
- after connecting the 2nd display / HD monitor : 7 GB
-> around 8 GB with TextEdit and Preference System Monitor
-> I left internal display on ProMotion, 2nd display is 50 Hz
HD ProRes project
- launch Millumin ( version 4.18.j ) : 9,7 GB
- 1 clip per column, next column means add a clip to the previous ( from 1 to 8 )
-> I scaled every layer to 50% to see all clips playing
=> memory increased from 10 to 11 GB
UHD ProRes project
- launch Millumin : 11,90 GB
- idem, add 1 clip per column, scale 50%
=> memory increased from 12,60 to 15,80 GB
NOTES :
- no lag or freeze, constant 50 fps on external monitor
- Ram pressure green, no disk swap
- same Ram used and constant fps with 3s fades on each column
- the Ram used is the same with mapping ( output and 4 corners for all medias )
I was worried about memory because the amount used by the system increases quickly when any app is opened ( macOS Sequoia ), even basic ones, but I read that macOS uses memory when available.
I watched a comparison video between 2x M4 Pro devices 24GB and 48 GB, and the same tasks use much more memory on the 48 GB while it was completely smooth on the 24 GB.
The limit was the multitask when a virtual machine was launched : a bigger amount of ram seems to be relevant for virtual machine, LLM and AI, orchestral instrument plugins in sound softwares, and video compositing.
I made the same test in DaVinci Resolve with 8 ProRes UHD movies, and memory increased from 12 to 16 GB, so the same than Millumin.
-> UHD .mp4 files was playing well too
-> the accelerate and reverse playback was completely smooth even with the 8 ProRes UHD movies playing together ( not smooth with .mp4 files, normal )
The current tests are quite basic, and video files are small : around 20s each ones ( total size for the 8x ProRes UHD files is 9,36 GB ).
I don’t try yet adobe suite but I’m curious to know how After Effects will be limited with 24 GB.
If someone has experience with big Millumin project / configuration, 4K displays, Datapath, or video compositing ( Fusion, After effects… ), please share !
All the best.
Thank @ClemClem for these tests !