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Integration of AMD's ProRender Technology (alongside Iray)

SubGeniusZeroSubGeniusZero Posts: 61
in Product Suggestions

Iray is great, and I use it with my Nvidia eGPU that I built for my iMac Pro (runing under Windows 10 on Bootcamp), but . . . since the iMac Pro shipped with an AMD Vega Pro 56 card inside it, it seems a shame that such a powerful graphics card is just sitting there, going to waste, when it COULD be used for ray-trace rendering, just like the Nvidia card is. The thing of it is, AMD has their own ray-trace rendering tech . . . it's called ProRender, and it's just as good as Iray is. It's cool. You guys should check it out and consider writing a plugin for Daz Studio Pro that harnesses ProRender and integrates it as a Rendering option, alongside Iray and 3Delight. It would be yet another option for those of us stuck out in the cold with AMD cards instead of Nvidia (though I'm lucky enough to have an Nvidia eGPU that runs under Windows). That's all.

Comments

  • PaintboxPaintbox Posts: 1,633

    Would be nice if there was diversity and choice, dont know if Nvidia sponsors Daz3D honestly.

    How is the eGPU Performance? Ive been thinking about it to get one? Isit on par with internal card?

  • SubGeniusZeroSubGeniusZero Posts: 61

    The eGPU's performance as far as Iray goes is fantastic. I can render a complex scene that used to take over 30 hours to render in just under 8 hours now. That's with using the eGPU + the system CPU. However, the caveat is that I cannot use my system's native OS, which is macOS. I have to use Windows 10 as the operating system, since macOS will not recognize an nVidia eGPU (Apple are dicks about nVidia; they're AMD only). But, here's the config:

    iMac Pro, Intel 8-core Xeon W processor w/ hyperthreading; 32GB ECC DRAM; 8GB AMD Vega Pro 56 gfx card; 27" internal display running at 5120 x 2880; 1TB internal SSD drive, 10TB external HDD drive (which is where my DAZ content and scenes are stored). The eGPU is an nVidia GeForce GTX 1080 TI, 11GB, housed in a Sonnet eGFX breakaway box with a 550W power supply, and connected to the iMac Pro via a 3 foot Thunderbolt 3 cable (this will only work with cables bearing the official Thunderbolt logo).

  • SubGeniusZeroSubGeniusZero Posts: 61
    edited August 2018

    So here's what I would advise you to buy:

    1 x GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB

    1 x Sonnet eGFX breakaway box, 550W

    1 x Thunderbolt 3 cable, capable of 40GB/s throughput, with the official Thunderbolt 3 logo on it.

    First, assemble the eGPU. Then make SURE you have the latest drivers installed for your motherboard, and especially for your Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports. Then connect the eGPU to your computer while your computer is turned off. Then turn on the eGPU unit. Then turn on your computer. Once your computer and the eGPU are both running, install the latest NVidia GeForce web drivers. That's all you need to do. After that, it should be up and running.

    Post edited by SubGeniusZero on
  • PaintboxPaintbox Posts: 1,633

    Those are some pretty beastly specs you got there. 

    I think my machine came with eGPU support, it was one of the selling points with DAZ in the back of my mind.

    Thanks for this information Subgeniuszero, will definitely going to go for this. Would be nice to run everything a bit quicker.

    Hopefully 1080 will drop a bit in price with the new card announcements.

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