3DS Max help needed - Hardware issues

markymark · February 23, 2015

So I have two identical machines for render nodes:

i7-5960X

16GB Ram

X99WS

3xGTX970 4GB

Windows 8

3ds Max 2015 Latest Update (SP3)

iray rendering

However when I give them a job sometimes one of them will render using GPU and the other will claim there is not enough vram and drop back to the CPU rendering even for the same frame. Sometimes they will render fine for a while then all of a sudden it will complain that there is not enough vram even though the difference in each frame is absolutely minimal.

It is a strange and sporadic issue and I have tried everything I can think of. I'm beginning to think it may be related to the 3.5+0.5GB issue, which would be very unfortunate because then I would need to get refunds for all 6 of them and convince my boss to pony up for the 980s (which would also require new power supplies => More money).

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Should I try older drivers and downgrade cuda from 7 to 6.5?

Thanks

Enderman · February 23, 2015

Is there an option to virtually limit the amount of vram that the program uses for rendering? Try setting it at 3GB

Or you could try buying a proper workstation GPU with 8-16GB of vram, which would do way better than 3x 970s

thekeemo · February 23, 2015

I'm thinking that the frames may be bigger than 3.5gb what resolution format renderer etc?

markymark · February 23, 2015

Is there an option to virtually limit the amount of vram that the program uses for rendering? Try setting it at 3GB

Or you could try buying a proper workstation GPU with 8-16GB of vram, which would do way better than 3x 970s

No, not that I'm aware of. Yes that would be the ideal solution, however a single K5200 costs more than all 6 of the 970s combined. It would also be slower than a single 970 and offers no significant advantage other than having 8gb of vram.