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CPU/GPU for the new Iray

kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
edited December 1969 in New Users

I just downloaded and installed 4.8 and plan on doing some re-renders of some of my scenes mostly to get familiar with Iray's settings, but I was wondering if I should just go CPU or use the CPU/GPU combo (I don't think my card is good enough to render on it's own)

I used to have 2 x gtx 460's in SLI, but when my GF's video card died, 1 of the 460's got transplanted to her PC.

I have 16GB of RAM and

AMD Athlon II x3 450 processor
Brand AMD
Series Athlon II X3
Model ADX450WFGMBOX
CPU Socket Type Socket AM3
Core Name Rana
# of Cores Triple-Core
Name Athlon II X3 450
Operating Frequency 3.2GHz
Hyper Transports 4000MHz
L1 Cache 3 x 128KB
L2 Cache 3 x 512KB\
Manufacturing Tech 45nm
64-Bit Support Yes
Hyper-Transport Support Yes
Virtualization Technology Support Yes

and my gtx 460 is the 1 GB card
Brand ZOTAC
Model ZT-40402-10P
Interface PCI Express 2.0 x16
Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA
GPU GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi)
Core Clock 675MHz
Shader Clock 1350MHz
CUDA Cores 336
Effective Memory Clock 3600MHz
Memory Size 1GB
Memory Interface 256-Bit
Memory Type GDDR5
DirectX DirectX 11
OpenGL OpenGL 4.0
RAMDAC 400 MHz
Max Resolution 2560 x 1600
3D VISION Game Ready Yes
SLI Support SLI Ready
Cooler With Fan
Dual-Link DVI Supported Yes
HDCP Ready Yes
Card Dimensions (L x H) 8.25" x 4.38"

Comments

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    a very simple scene might fit but most won't, so probably not a lot of point in trying to use the GPU

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 98,063
    edited December 1969

    I have 1GB in my video card - I can sometimes do a texture test on a naked figure (with a plane to bounce light), it depends on how many maps there are (and how big, and possibly on whether there are HD morphs). I was also able to render Stonemason's Streets of Asia 3, I suspect quite a few of hiss ets would be manageable as he's very careful about geometry and texture sizes. But fro multi-figure scenes, or scenes with a figure in an environment, i suspect it wouldn't be worth trying the GPU.

  • kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
    edited December 1969

    So until I upgrade my card, I should just do CPU renders with Iray?

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 98,063
    edited December 1969

    Probably, though if you have a scene that might work and you make sure there's no unsaved work you could try a GPU-assisted render.

  • kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
    edited December 1969

    Thank you both for the advice

  • kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
    edited December 1969

    So I'm really debating on using my Amazon card to pick up 1 of these
    http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-256bit-Graphics-04G-P4-3975-KR/dp/B00R3NK2LE/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

    I know for SLI you need 2 cards of the same type (so I wouldn't be able to SLI the 460 with the 970) but if I left the 460 in the PC, would Iray use both cards or should I just remove the 460?

    And would the 970 make that much of a difference over my other current PC specs?

  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,631
    edited December 1969

    Iray can't use SLI anyway, so that particular thing isn't necessary.

    I have two higher-end cards and two lesser cards and Iray uses all four. I would leave in the 460 but move it to the motherboard slot closest to your CPU, because that will result in it being used to run your monitor while the other card is rendering (if I've understood the explanations correctly).

  • kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
    edited December 1969

    So I should go ahead and pick it up so I can switch from CPU rendering to GPU rendering in Iray? (wasn't sure if it would make that big a difference as from the couple of specs I've seen here on the forums, yours included, they are all running multiple high-end cards)

  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,631
    edited December 1969

    kaotkbliss said:
    So I should go ahead and pick it up so I can switch from CPU rendering to GPU rendering in Iray? (wasn't sure if it would make that big a difference as from the couple of specs I've seen here on the forums, yours included, they are all running multiple high-end cards)

    Did you look at the benchmarks thread? Some people in that have 970's.

  • kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
    edited December 1969

    No, I've not seen the benchmarks thread. I will look for it :)

  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,631
    edited December 1969

    kaotkbliss said:
    No, I've not seen the benchmarks thread. I will look for it :)

    Here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/53771/

  • kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
    edited December 1969

    Thank you :)
    I saw some CPU's that were close to mine so it's probably safe to assume I would currently render that scene in 30-45 minutes, and it looks as though if I pick up that card I could get it done in around 6 minutes :)

    Clicking the "Checkout" button now LOL

  • kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
    edited December 1969

    This is going to pretty sweet! I decided to spend the little extra to have 1 day shipping and sure enough, it's out for delivery right now LOL.
    I'll be able to have more power in Iray when I get home from work... I can't wait :)

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