GPU memory question

I've noticed some odd things about Iray and my GPU. When I'm rendering a scene (simple architecture, two gen 3 figures and HDRI lighting) I can get it done in under twenty minutes. I ususally am rendering several as part of a comic book. But after a bunch of renders, it seems to slow down, and sometimes, kicks over to the CPU (which then takes over an hour). I will cancel, save scene and close Daz. I then relaunch Daz, open the same scene and viola! back to rendering with GPU in under twenty. Same scene. I've worked at making sure I build scenes that don't over power my GPU so that I can render quickly with IRAY (Which is amazing by the way), but I don't understand why I need to relaunch after a while. Any Ideas?

Windows 10, Nvidia Gforce 1060, Daz Studio 4.9 Beta (becasue the regular release doesn't support the Nvidia 1060)

Comments

  • nDelphinDelphi Posts: 1,921

    Sometimes the GPUs memory isn't released after a scene is rendered or canceled. It seems to be a bug.

  • frank0314frank0314 Posts: 14,711

    You could put in a bug report.

  • sarge74sarge74 Posts: 121

    Right. OK. I guess I should do a bug report. I was just wandering if anyone else had experienced this and if maybe there might be a setting or something I'm not aware of that would help. 

    Thanks for the replies. 

  • TooncesToonces Posts: 919

    I get the same issue when doing multiple renders or animations with large scenes.

    The workaround for me is to disable Optix in Render Settings > Advanced.

  • sarge74sarge74 Posts: 121
    havsm said:

    I get the same issue when doing multiple renders or animations with large scenes.

    The workaround for me is to disable Optix in Render Settings > Advanced.

    I'll try that. Thanks so much for sharing. Much appreciated!

  • Sensual ArtSensual Art Posts: 645
    edited January 2017

    Happens to me every time on subsequent render attempts even if I cancel a render midway (Note: my scene memory often exceeds GPU memory). On observing the the GPU memory utilization through GPU-Z, I can see that the GPU memory is indeed not being released upon exiting the render. This was happening even with the earlier version of Iray. As the current version of Iray dumps more information in the logs, its easy to identify when this issue occurs.

    The only reliable workaround apparently is to restart the Studio at the cost of reloading time of the entire scene.

    Edit: The OptiX Prime Acceleration option is disabled by default for me.

    Post edited by Sensual Art on
  • scorpioscorpio Posts: 8,533
    edited January 2017

    Leaving the render windows of previous renders open also takes up memory.

    Post edited by scorpio on
  • fastbike1fastbike1 Posts: 4,078

    This is not a general bug. As long as I close render windows, I can clearly see the GPU memory being cleared (via GPU-Z). All the time.

  • grinch2901grinch2901 Posts: 1,247
    sarge74 said:

    Right. OK. I guess I should do a bug report. I was just wandering if anyone else had experienced this and if maybe there might be a setting or something I'm not aware of that would help. 

    Thanks for the replies. 

    I've seen it. Same scenario as you, rendering a sequence of images as comic panels so everything in the scene is the same except pose and camera angle changes from render to render. Everything renders GPU for several panels and then, randomly, in one it will use CPU only and all subsequent ones render via the CPU. Obviously the scene fits in the card so it's a bug.

  • sarge74sarge74 Posts: 121
    sarge74 said:

    Right. OK. I guess I should do a bug report. I was just wandering if anyone else had experienced this and if maybe there might be a setting or something I'm not aware of that would help. 

    Thanks for the replies. 

    I've seen it. Same scenario as you, rendering a sequence of images as comic panels so everything in the scene is the same except pose and camera angle changes from render to render. Everything renders GPU for several panels and then, randomly, in one it will use CPU only and all subsequent ones render via the CPU. Obviously the scene fits in the card so it's a bug.

    Thanks for the response. At least I'm not alone. Wonder if there's something that can help with this. It sort of takes you out of the groove, you know?

  • I've really only seen this if I don't close render windows from earlier renders.

  • pdspds Posts: 593

    It's my understanding that the reason leaving previous render windows open consumes GPU memory is that you can resume unfinished renders at any time.

  • outrider42outrider42 Posts: 3,679

    I've really only seen this if I don't close render windows from earlier renders.

    I can verify it can happen even when you do close all the old render windows. Its kind of random for me. But it tends to happen more when I push the vram close to the limit with larger renders. Everything is cool for a while, and then -boom- CPU mode. Gotta restart Daz.

    I've had another issue, too. I've had a few renders where the top half is transparent. This only happens on large renders that are close to maxing vram. And after this happens, Daz is uselessly stuck in CPU mode. Plus any further render attempts will have the top half be transparent as well, even much smaller scenes. But here's the thing, I can go back to my old 4.8 install and run the exact same scene without any issues. And repeatedly. 4.8 does not have this problem. Hell, I was even able to render it in 4.8 with 4.9 still open. I have 4.8 and 4.9 both installed, I'm glad I still have 4.8 for these situations. The more I use 4.9, the buggier it seems to get. It absolutely uses more vram than 4.8.
  • fastbike1fastbike1 Posts: 4,078

    (at least) One other reason: If a previous render is left open, subsequent renders will be faster because geometry,etc is already loaded. Works when you are tweaking lighting, poses, and so forth. Some advantage for materials changes as well. Previous renders don't have to run any longer than seeing the image appear (for instance a quick lighting check). I will often do a fast low res lighting check, then a full res render when I'm satisfied.

    pds said:

    It's my understanding that the reason leaving previous render windows open consumes GPU memory is that you can resume unfinished renders at any time.

     

  • sarge74sarge74 Posts: 121

    I've really only seen this if I don't close render windows from earlier renders.

     

    I can verify it can happen even when you do close all the old render windows. Its kind of random for me. But it tends to happen more when I push the vram close to the limit with larger renders. Everything is cool for a while, and then -boom- CPU mode. Gotta restart Daz.

     

    Yes. That's what's happening to me. I do not leave previous render windows open. That's not the issue. Thanks for your input Outrider.

  • The latest official release 4.9.3.166 (well there might be a newer one today) now supports 10xx cards. It might not fix your problem if you have a higher beta version.

  • sarge74sarge74 Posts: 121

    Not sure what the beta number was when I installed. I installed it on Dec 20. So the new official release supports the Nvidia Geforce 1000 series?

  • HavosHavos Posts: 5,582
    sarge74 said:

    Not sure what the beta number was when I installed. I installed it on Dec 20. So the new official release supports the Nvidia Geforce 1000 series?

    yes

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