Accelerating Topaz AI apps

[Ian Greenhalgh]

Hi folks

 

I've just started using some of the Topaz AI apps for photo processing, mostly Sharpen AI. They produce wonderful results but are very slow on my current setup - Dell Precision T5810 with Xeon E5-1630v3 and 32Gb quad channel DDR4, AMD Firepro W5100.

 

I'm going to upgrade my CPU soon, probably to a 2680v3 which will give me 12 cores instead of 4, that should speed things up. However, I suspect that the way to get much faster performance with these AI apps is more GPU power.

 

My budget is limited, so grabbing an RTX or some other powerful current or last gen GPU isn't an option.

 

I'm wondering, will one of the cheap P106 mining cards from China work to accelerate these apps, retaining my current firepro as my video card? That means running both AMD & Nvidia drivers side-by-side.

 

I note that some of the older Tesla cards like the Grid K20X are pretty cheap on ebay, would one of those be a better option?

 

I also note that Sharpen AI supports intel's OpenVINO, does this mean I can use an old Xeon Phi coprocessor such as the 3100 series to accelerate the app? I note those are cheap on ebay, although the 300W TDP and forced air cooling requirements are a concern.

 

I've struggled to find any relevant info on this topic, so right now I'm pretty uninformed on the whole subject of accelerating AI apps.

[SpacePilot7132]

I can't speak on the p106, but you may want to try a quick and dirty msi afterburner gpu overclock (I'm running a 1660S), I used those programs to upscale a couple old family videos and the difference that a relatively small overclock makes is pretty amazing. If I were you, I would pick up a used rx 570/580 or a 1650 which would be a crazy improvement. You can pick up a 570 for ~70 on EBay

 

Edited October 5, 2020 by SpacePilot7132
Pic did not have required info

[Ian Greenhalgh]

Does the +217% mean that it's approximately three times as powerful as the Firepro?

[SpacePilot7132]

Yes it does!