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moss experiential
moss experiential
Participant
December 20, 2017
Answered

2011 (Late) MacBook Pro i7 - Premiere Pro CC 2018

  • December 20, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 2355 views

I'm trying to access the Mercury Playback Engine OpenGL with in Premiere Pro CC 2018 for my 2011 MacBook Pro (Late) which is running on a 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7, Intel HD Graphics 3000 512MB, 8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3, Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD.

Unfortunately, Premiere Pro CC 2018 only offers me the option of the 'Mercury Playback Engine Software Only' mode. Is there a work around to unlock acceleration?

Rendering times are so much longer and some effects don't allow me to use them if I don't have this feature active. Not having acceleration is a deal breaker for me using this computer to edit. If I had the ability to unlock the acceleration, this computer would be more than capable of doing what I need.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer RjL190365

Guess what? That integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 that's in Sandy Bridge CPUs such as the one that's inside your 2011 MacBook Pro does not officially support OpenCL at all. In fact, you'd need an Ivy Bridge or later CPU just to get an integrated graphics that supports OpenCL at all in hardware. Thus a result, regardless of the Premiere Pro version, you're "permanently" stuck in the software-only mode.

2 replies

moss experiential
moss experientialAuthor
Participant
December 20, 2017

@RjL190365

That's unfortunate to hear, I was really hoping for a way to make this machine work with Adobe's GPU acceleration options.

I downloaded an app called Open GL Extensions Viewer and ran a test showing my computer is rated for OpenGL 3.3 at 1280x720 60fps (see attached screen shot)..not sure if Adobe supports OpenGL or quite frankly how OpenGL and OpenCL are different.

Are you saying then my only option would be to replace the logic board to my machine to a 2012 (Ivy Bridge) or newer CPU?

Best,

David

R
RjL190365
Legend
December 21, 2017

OpenGL is not used at all for GPU acceleration in any of Adobe's products. Instead, OpenGL is actually used for portions of the programs' interfaces. If a GPU didn't support OpenGL at all, or if the latest revision of OpenGL that's supported by a given GPU is still too old, then Premiere Pro would not have even started at all.

moss experiential
moss experientialAuthor
Participant
December 21, 2017

@RjL190365

Got it.

I guess my only option then is to upgrade my CPU. Thanks for your insight and feedback, much appreciated.

Best,

David

R Neil Haugen
R Neil Haugen
Legend
December 20, 2017

It would appear you don't have enough vRAM on the Intel chip to use Mercury Acceleration ... it takes I think a minimum of 1Gb.

Neil

Everyone's mileage always varies ...
    moss experiential
    moss experientialAuthor
    Participant
    December 20, 2017

    Hey Neil -

    Thanks for your advice, hopefully you're right. I'm going to try upgrading my RAM to 16GB, which I believe should also increase my vRam to 1024 MB since it's built into the logic board.

    I'll start there and let you know if it works.

    Thanks!


    David

    R
    RjL190365Correct answer
    Legend
    December 20, 2017

    Guess what? That integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 that's in Sandy Bridge CPUs such as the one that's inside your 2011 MacBook Pro does not officially support OpenCL at all. In fact, you'd need an Ivy Bridge or later CPU just to get an integrated graphics that supports OpenCL at all in hardware. Thus a result, regardless of the Premiere Pro version, you're "permanently" stuck in the software-only mode.

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