Need Graphics Card Information
Faeryl Womyn
Posts: 3,624
I tried doing a search for the information but there is simply too much information posted about NVidia cards and I can't sort through it. I have my son's computer. Quad Core with 6 gigs of ram and a Radeon R9 270 graphics card. Every search I make about CUDA only leads to NVidia and I have no idea if this computer will handle the new Daz and the IRay. My limited knowledge is more about computers before the Quad Cores so the new stuff has me lost. This is a screen shot of when I hit properties for the computer. Will my computer handle the new daz?
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Comments
You will be able to use Iray, but not through the GPU, as it is a radeon. Iray will render on a radeon card, but slower than using GPU rendering. You will need to set it up for CPU rendering.
I believe Cholole misspoke a little bit. "Iray will render on a radeon card' is not accurate. Iray WILL render on your computer using the CPU only. Iray will NOT render on a Radeon graphics card. This means that the renders will be slower than if you had an NVIDIA brand graphics card installed. You also only have 6 gigs of RAM on your computer. That might limit the size of scene you can render when using the CPU rendering.
I think this is more of a case of whether or not the power supply will handle a newer, more powerful card. Theoretically you could drop a Titan in there...if space and power weren't problems, but on the practical side of things, I don't think it would go in there...without major renovations (new case, power supply...and if all that is done, why not just new everything?).
A cheap 4 GB 740 Nvidia card will more likely than not be a direct replacement (power, etc) for that Radeon card...and allow GPU rendering.
Thank you all for your quick response.
My son in law owns and operates a computer shop. He sells, repairs, upgrades and builds computers. He built my son's computer to handle games. Technically it's suppose to have 8 gigs of ram, just haven't added the last 2 yet, money being short and all. Power supply should not be a problem but will check on that part, and as for the tower being big enough...um...sits on the floor and its 2 feet tall, don't think that will be a problem. What do I need to look for to find out what kind of power supply I have to see if it will handle the Iray? Never had to look before so don't know how to do that.
As for renders being slower. Currently takes about 5 to 10 minutes to render, especially if I use shaders and the uber lights, but never more then that. What kind of difference would I be looking at for render times if the power supply is suitable?
And finally...6 gigs ram might not be enough to properly use the IRay? What is the recommended about of ram for this. Thought I had plenty.
16 to 32 GB.
If you are doing scenes, you basically want at least double the largest scene you typically do. That allows for keeping Studio open while rendering (needed), the renderer using memory and the OS/anything else with enough memory to do anything.
An NVidai card for IRAY will make a huge difference to rendering (in IRAY), as long as it has enough memory on it; also ensure it is one of the more recent models, and preferable at least a 960, 970 or 980. Adding more memory to your computer will also help you enourmously, as long as you are using a 64bit OS (which your screen shows you are doing); if you're not it is a waste of time as you only access about 3.5GB with a 32bit OS.
IRAY is a NVidia techology; it uses the CUDA cores - so generally the more the better, when comparing cards of the same generation; other factors come into play when comparing those of different generations.
You could leave the card you have as a display card, and add a second card purely for rendering; they do work together. Just bear in mind that with the two different drivers installed tends to conflict if you intend to use open cl on AMD (probably not an issue for you).
The only way I would have an issue is if it changes things in regards to my son gaming. It is his computer and will be several months before I finish paying off the one my son in law is building for me. I have been showing him all the info I can get with regards to the new daz. He explained about using the CPU if CUDA is not enabled. Might take me longer to get my computer if I have to upgrade the ram that much. Graphics cards I can easily find a a deal. My son only paid $130 for the one I listed above as we got lucky when we found that. I will keep searching and looking for deals of the parts I need.