gpu for rendering

[Sordidus]

Currently i have a gtx 760 and i was thinking about upgrading my rig. (http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/385429-improving-current-rig-or-build-a-new-one-workstation/)

Which gpu should i look for? (currently thinking about the gtx 980 ti)

 

Software i mainly use: autodesk Maya (mental ray, renderman), zbrush, blackmagic fusion, adobe products

 

Is it worth spending a lot on a new gpu and will the general speed increase?

[Swndlr]

980ti is basically the best to get right now, if your budget can allow it, thats the card of choice

[Fictionvl]

keep the 760 and use it for gaming, and have the 980 Ti for the editing and rendering 

[ExcitezR]

barely any programs utilize the GPU for rendering. With a 970 on Sony Vegas i get about 3-6% usage and adobe pp i get 10-15% usage if you want GPU rendering a quadro or fire pro is where its at 

[AdamH96]

970 if your on a budget. 980ti if your not. Titian X if your just in for the lols.

 

 

barely any programs utilize the GPU for rendering. With a 970 on Sony Vegas i get about 3-6% usage and adobe pp i get 10-15% usage if you want GPU rendering a quadro or fire pro is where its at 

Sony Vegas rendering is crap. With 12 threads/6 cores I can only utlize 25-30% of my bloody CPU... AE on the other hand works my system .

[Sordidus]

Well now i'm getting confused

 

I don't use Sony vegas or AE, I mainly use Autodesk maya and blackmagic fusion (compositing).

The 980ti won't improve the general speed of these programs that much? I thought that maya 2016 can use gpu's fairly well?

[ExcitezR]

Well now i'm getting confused

 

I don't use Sony vegas or AE, I mainly use Autodesk maya and blackmagic fusion (compositing).

The 980ti won't improve the general speed of these programs that much? I thought that maya 2016 can use gpu's fairly well?

most rendering programs are CPU bound but the ones you use i have no experience with so dont know 

[ExcitezR]

970 if your on a budget. 980ti if your not. Titian X if your just in for the lols.

 

 

Sony Vegas rendering is crap. With 12 threads/6 cores I can only utlize 25-30% of my bloody CPU... AE on the other hand works my system .

depends on your rendering pre-set with Sony AVC i get 40-50% usage and with the Main concept AVC i get 100% maxed out but still slower than the sony one for some reason  

[Sordidus]

After going fast through http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-ti,4164-10.html

I think it would improve the general speed of things in maya defintly viewport purpose and rendering, it will also improve a bit in fusion (since couple of nodes uses openCL)

 

My biggest fear is buying the card (which isn't cheap) and than realising it's not improving the general speed for my purposes.

 

Can anyone confirm that it will increase the speed for these softwares i use?

[Elapo]

Currently i have a gtx 760 and i was thinking about upgrading my rig. (http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/385429-improving-current-rig-or-build-a-new-one-workstation/)

Which gpu should i look for? (currently thinking about the gtx 980 ti)

 

Software i mainly use: autodesk Maya (mental ray, renderman), zbrush, blackmagic fusion, adobe products

 

Is it worth spending a lot on a new gpu and will the general speed increase?

 

Rendering in mental ray won't improve at all - that's purely CPU-based, same goes for renderman. Viewport performance in Maya and zbrush doesn't rely on GPU as much as to justify a 600$ GPU. Can't speak for fusion, but even adobe software doesn't care all that much about GPU IIRC (aside from certain effects/filters), though the large frame buffer of the 980Ti will help in premiere. 

 

You're making a fairly big jump, too. You should be fine with something lower. A 970 or something will probably be more than enough, and I doubt the difference between the 970 and 980ti is even noticeable when it comes to the applications you mentioned.

[Sordidus]

Rendering in mental ray won't improve at all - that's purely CPU-based, same goes for renderman. Viewport performance in Maya and zbrush doesn't rely on GPU as much as to justify a 600$ GPU. Can't speak for fusion, but even adobe software doesn't care all that much about GPU IIRC (aside from certain effects/filters), though the large frame buffer of the 980Ti will help in premiere. 

 

You're making a fairly big jump, too. You should be fine with something lower. A 970 or something will probably be more than enough, and I doubt the difference between the 970 and 980ti is even noticeable when it comes to the applications you mentioned.

Okey just the reply i needed, i've looked fast on the internet and found that some calculations can be done on the gpu for MR like GI/FG?

So only when i would use a GPU based renderer it would be wise to invest in a good gpu.

 

I'll look for a bit more information about this.

I highly appreciate your input!

[Elapo]

Okey just the reply i needed, i've looked fast on the internet and found that some calculations can be done on the gpu for MR like GI/FG?

So only when i would use a GPU based renderer it would be wise to invest in a good gpu.

 

I'll look for a bit more information about this.

I highly appreciate your input!

 

Hmm, you're right, MR does support some cuda. TIL! It looks like it's fairly recent though.

 

I tried finding the settings for CUDA accelerated GI, but I couldn't find it, and it doesn't seem to be working by default. If you happen to know how to use it, I'll be happy to do a quick render test for you to see how much difference it really makes.

[Sordidus]

Hmm, you're right, MR does support some cuda. TIL! It looks like it's fairly recent though.

 

I tried finding the settings for CUDA accelerated GI, but I couldn't find it, and it doesn't seem to be working by default. If you happen to know how to use it, I'll be happy to do a quick render test for you to see how much difference it really makes.

 

In this link there is an MEL script to easy enable GPU.

http://blog.mentalray.com/2014/07/07/mental-rays-gpu-accelerated-gi-engine-prototype/

 

In the link they tested it with a quadro k5000 and divided the render time almost in 2 so not so sure if a gtx 980ti or gtx 970 would improve a lot or not

[citizend13]

AFAIK, There are standalone renderers out there that can use GPU acceleration. OCTANE (cuda only) Redshift (cuda only)  Luxrender (cpu +gpu capable OpenCL) Blender Cycles (CUDA but 2.75 release has OpenCL). Even V-ray has GPU acceleration for it's RT engine. They all have their pros and cons, but they're all significantly faster than your CPU. One thing to consider though is you're still going to be bound by the GPU memory. A cpu can have access to 128 gb of ram, while GPU's at the moment only have 12 gb at most. If you're going to work massive scenes with massive textures then it's not gonna work. 

 

In terms of viewport performance, nothing is going to match quadros and firepros. Their drivers are just more optimized for it. Check out the benchmarks and you'll see a huge gap, even from the mid range quadro vs high end gaming gpu. However in terms of rendering, gaming gpus are right up there. 

 

usually you can get a cheap quadro for daily use, and a gaming gpu for rendering. It can work but you cant exactly guarantee stability. 

 

IMO if it's just a hobby then you can get by with a gaming card. However if this is what you plan on using for work, you should save up and get a Quadro or a firepro. 

[Elapo]

In this link there is an MEL script to easy enable GPU.

http://blog.mentalray.com/2014/07/07/mental-rays-gpu-accelerated-gi-engine-prototype/

 

In the link they tested it with a quadro k5000 and divided the render time almost in 2 so not so sure if a gtx 980ti or gtx 970 would improve a lot or not

 

I tried getting it to work, but it only crashed max when rendering It's an experimental feature after all, I guess.

 

That being said, A K5000 has 1536 Cuda cores so both the 970 (1664) and the 980Ti (2816) should be faster.

 

Anyway, I don't think it's worth spending a lot of money on something that will allow you to use an experimental feature NOW. Maybe it doesn't work, and then you'll end up waiting for the official release, by which time your expensive GPU might be horribly outdated.

 

AFAIK, There are standalone renderers out there that can use GPU acceleration. OCTANE (cuda only) Redshift (cuda only)  Luxrender (cpu +gpu capable OpenCL) Blender Cycles (CUDA but 2.75 release has OpenCL). Even V-ray has GPU acceleration for it's RT engine. They all have their pros and cons, but they're all significantly faster than your CPU. One thing to consider though is you're still going to be bound by the GPU memory. A cpu can have access to 128 gb of ram, while GPU's at the moment only have 12 gb at most. If you're going to work massive scenes with massive textures then it's not gonna work. 

 

In terms of viewport performance, nothing is going to match quadros and firepros. Their drivers are just more optimized for it. Check out the benchmarks and you'll see a huge gap, even from the mid range quadro vs high end gaming gpu. However in terms of rendering, gaming gpus are right up there. 

 

usually you can get a cheap quadro for daily use, and a gaming gpu for rendering. It can work but you cant exactly guarantee stability. 

 

IMO if it's just a hobby then you can get by with a gaming card. However if this is what you plan on using for work, you should save up and get a Quadro or a firepro.

 

iRay, which is included with Maya, is another unbiased renderer, just like the ones you mentioned. There's some cons that come with all of them though, one of which is that they're actually SLOWER than biased renderers. They're faster in pushing out a result, but the result is noisier. The longer you set a frame to render, the less noise you'll have, but you'll always have some. 

 

This makes most (if not all) unbiased renderers slower.

[citizend13]

 

I tried getting it to work, but it only crashed max when rendering It's an experimental feature after all, I guess.

 

That being said, A K5000 has 1536 Cuda cores so both the 970 (1664) and the 980Ti (2816) should be faster.

 

Anyway, I don't think it's worth spending a lot of money on something that will allow you to use an experimental feature NOW. Maybe it doesn't work, and then you'll end up waiting for the official release, by which time your expensive GPU might be horribly outdated.

 

 

iRay, which is included with Maya, is another unbiased renderer, just like the ones you mentioned. There's some cons that come with all of them though, one of which is that they're actually SLOWER than biased renderers. They're faster in pushing out a result, but the result is noisier. The longer you set a frame to render, the less noise you'll have, but you'll always have some. 

 

This makes most (if not all) unbiased renderers slower.

 

General rule of thumb IMO biased renderers are faster until you turn the fancy stuff on. as for unbiased renderers (my experience is with Blender Cycles only)  It's generally slower but you get more accurate lighting right off the bat. With GPU accelerated renders, the advantage is often getting to see your changes in real time. When used mental ray a few years back, you had to render, make changes then render again. it gets tedious. On the other hand, if you've got low light scenes, it can be the bane of unbiased renderers.. the less light more noise-> . 

[Elapo]

General rule of thumb IMO biased renderers are faster until you turn the fancy stuff on. as for unbiased renderers (my experience is with Blender Cycles only)  It's generally slower but you get more accurate lighting right off the bat. With GPU accelerated renders, the advantage is often getting to see your changes in real time. When used mental ray a few years back, you had to render, make changes then render again. it gets tedious. On the other hand, if you've got low light scenes, it can be the bane of unbiased renderers.. the less light more noise-> . 

 

That's what the draft settings are for

 

You're right though, but I don't find that the realtime rendering is worth getting an expensive GPU for. The Final Gather on GPU that they're implementing in Mental ray does look more interesting though.

[Sordidus]

Thx for trying it out Elapo!

 

I'm kinda in a weird position atm, just about to graduate, I have 2 small jobs i'll make soon (3D commercial) but not to sure if i'll keep doing small jobs or find a job at a company.

So not to sure if i'll keep using my rig for work or just as a hobby after working hours..

 

I guess i'll just wait untill i'm certain and in the meanwhile get a SSD, put some more extra ram into the pc and maybe buy a gtx 970 or something not to sure about that one yet.

 

Thanks for clarifying things guys, much appreciated!

[Chiobe]

I'm edited videos and I find that CPU and HDD are the 2 biggest elements that slow you down, then comes RAM and finally GPU. At least that seems to be the case when it comes to video and I'm guessing 3D is the same.

So make the jump to X99 if you want a powerful render pc and invest in some good SSDs (maybe even PCIe SSD).

[Sordidus]

Seems to be the case

 

Can you explain to me why i should buy a new motherboard (X99) not to sure what it would improve

[AdamH96]

Seems to be the case

 

Can you explain to me why i should buy a new motherboard (X99) not to sure what it would improve

Pretty expensive way to go, but you do get some improvements. Quad channel DDR4 memory, ~$400 i7-5820K 6core/12thread CPU, 10 Sata 6gb/s (if you need the space, but you probably wont). or you can go with the X79 platform if you want more than 4 cores.