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SLI and Daz UI

notiuswebnotiusweb Posts: 110
in The Commons

Okay, I know SLI does not help in rendering. But I am interested in the subject of whether or not SLI would help in creating a faster Daz UI and viewport experience in scene navigation.

Let's say I have 2 same 12 GB cards (ie Titan X) on same motherboard.  Would running them in SLI give any speed performance vs running them not SLI.  And it would be for handling the scene in the Daz UI itself, not while rendering.  Is there any advantage to 2 SLI vs 2 separate.

Also, if I have a 12 GB and a 6 GB card scenario, obviously not running in SLI, would the memory be capped at 6 GB between the 2 cards.  Again, this would be for DAZ's own UI handling of the scene, not the rendering process.

Thx and regards!

Comments

  • fastbike1fastbike1 Posts: 4,075

    The memory on the video card does not matter for the UI. If it did you couldn't load or look at any scene that was more than your video card. SLI actually hurts rendering if you have multiple cards because the machine only sees one card. This issues recently caused Ivy a bunch of trouble until she disconnected the cards. Nvidia warns you to NOT use SLI if using Iray. The UI handling is really your CPU and main memory.

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001

    If you have two 12 GB Titans....and you are having sluggish display issues there is something else wrong with the system.

  • notiuswebnotiusweb Posts: 110
    edited November 2015

    So my take away is that UI is discretely CPU and Ram, not GPU-related.  I have aTitan X as main display and also external Titan Zs, and the temp on all raise as the scene complexity increases in Daz (non-rendering, strictly UI, and not using the Iray viewport option in 4.8.). Also, the TDP for each card increases when viewed from a monitoriting tool like GPU-Z, showing Daz seems to be utilizing both theh X and the Z to produce the textured display?  Is it splitting GPU usage across all cards somehow...

    When viewing Youtube on Google Chrome, as a comparison, only the main primary Titan X temp raises, along with the TDP, whereas the Zs remains idle temp, idle TDP.

    Any ideas as to what type of background usage of available GPUs may be going on with Daz, as only one is the display?  To me it's not a problem, just something I am interested in persuing understanding, because I am looking to learn if in fact there were to be some scenario where actually a second X would in fact be enhancing the UI performanmce, I would be interested to add an X. I currently can switch usage of tyhe external Zs on and off indepandant of the main mobo as the Zs are run off of exteranl PSUs.  Also, I am not experiencing any sluggishness, rather I am interested in maximizing to the enthusiast degree.

    Thanks for any thoughts, again.  Regards!

    image

    Lineup of GPUs, using Octane Render

    image

    GPU layout in Daz Studio, and with the Octane Render plugin in Daz.

     

     

     

    OctaneRender6.jpg
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    Titan Z Iray OcDS.jpg
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    Post edited by notiusweb on
  • namffuaknamffuak Posts: 4,073

    The UI is actually OpenGL driven by whichever GPU is wired to the monitors. But - if you are using the Iray view mode for either the main or Aux viewport you will be triggering all of the GPUs you have tagged as available to Iray for rendering.

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001

    What is your OS?

    The card with the monitor attached should be the only one showing a load when just doing viewport tasks without using the Iray viewport options.

  • notiuswebnotiusweb Posts: 110

    I apologize, I updated my prior comment to include more info on my rig.  But It is not when rendering, it is strictly when using the UI.  (The pic I have shows what it looks like with Iray, but try to ignore that, I am talking about a scenario mentioned in mj1016' comment where Iray is not used at all.)  All of the GPUs' TDP and temp goes up across the board.  I don't really care so much, more I am interested in knowing how it plays out.  I tend, becuse of it, to use just the X alone when creating a scene, and then loading up all the cards active when rendering.  But I was fascinated with the idea of a second X run SLI potentially boosting speed of manipulation on a scene.   Thanks and regards!

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001

    There's a Windows 10/Nvidia bug where 2 cards not in SLI do strange things...one of which is unusual usage patterns.

  • notiuswebnotiusweb Posts: 110
    mjc1016 said:

    There's a Windows 10/Nvidia bug where 2 cards not in SLI do strange things...one of which is unusual usage patterns.

    Okay, interesting, thank you.  I am using Win 7 (I updated my profile again to show that!), maybe any related issue(s) would be across the OS spectrum.  The render mode, which is unused, is set to 3Delight.  I am also wondering if the usage of the Octane Render plugin is involved here, and that is what touches each card, even in a non-render setting... 

    But I got you, the take away is that there would be no performance boost, as it were, running cards SLI in the strict sense of a Daz viewport.  In fact, it may wind up inhibiting the flow of performace for the general purposes of users.

    Thanks!

     

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    notiusweb said:
    mjc1016 said:

    There's a Windows 10/Nvidia bug where 2 cards not in SLI do strange things...one of which is unusual usage patterns.

    Okay, interesting, thank you.  I am using Win 7 (I updated my profile again to show that!), maybe any related issue(s) would be across the OS spectrum.  The render mode, which is unused, is set to 3Delight.  I am also wondering if the usage of the Octane Render plugin is involved here, and that is what touches each card, even in a non-render setting... 

    But I got you, the take away is that there would be no performance boost, as it were, running cards SLI in the strict sense of a Daz viewport.  In fact, it may wind up inhibiting the flow of performace for the general purposes of users.

    Thanks!

     

    Right...SLI is only a boost for some games and not much else.  And since I don't have multiple high end cards and Octane, I can only guess about its effects, but I wouldn't say that it is completely outside the realm of possiblity.

  • nickalamannickalaman Posts: 196

    I had the same issue with my Titan card, what fixed it for me was the following;

    Daz Studio preferences
    Interface
    Display Optimization should be =  Best..I think the default is None.

     

    Nick

     

     

  • VisuimagVisuimag Posts: 551

    I'll just add, I have two SC Titan Xs and the way to get extra juice, in the UI especially, is to use the NVIDIA control panel. In it, turn Antisotropic Filtering on and set it to 16x, turn FXAA on, and turn SLI rendering mode to either Force Alternate 1 or Force Alternate 2. Been doing that this way since the original Titan released.

  • Tim NTim N Posts: 193
    Visuimag said:

    ... turn SLI rendering mode to either Force Alternate 1 or Force Alternate 2.

    Visuimag,

    1. Are you saying that you're running Daz with SLI turned on?
    2. What benefits do those anisotropic filtering and FSAA settings bring to Daz? (My intuition is that they would slow it down, not give it "extra juice".)

    Cheers.

  • Midnight_storiesMidnight_stories Posts: 4,112

    I tried the anisotropic filtering and FSAA settings it was a little quicker but turning on SLI made it a touch slower so turned that back off. I've got twin 980Ti's

  • VisuimagVisuimag Posts: 551
    Tim N said:
    Visuimag said:

    ... turn SLI rendering mode to either Force Alternate 1 or Force Alternate 2.

    Visuimag,

    1. Are you saying that you're running Daz with SLI turned on?
    2. What benefits do those anisotropic filtering and FSAA settings bring to Daz? (My intuition is that they would slow it down, not give it "extra juice".)

    Cheers.

    Well, with Force Alternate, which I guess they say is a form of SLI. As for FXAA and AF, when I enable them, in addition to, Force Alternate, I get quicker results. It may also help, but I cannot confirm this, that I'm running 120Hz monitors. 

    Just all trial and error.

  • VisuimagVisuimag Posts: 551
    edited December 2015
    Midnight_stories said:

    I tried the anisotropic filtering and FSAA settings it was a little quicker but turning on SLI made it a touch slower so turned that back off. I've got twin 980Ti's

    How does your interface set-up look? That can also make the difference. For example, here's mine:

     

    DAZ Studio Interface Settings.png
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    Post edited by Visuimag on
  • Midnight_storiesMidnight_stories Posts: 4,112
    edited December 2015

    Mine looks the same, the only thing with mine I couldn't find where the Force Alternate option was.

    Post edited by Midnight_stories on
  • VisuimagVisuimag Posts: 551
    edited December 2015
    Midnight_stories said:

    Mine looks the same, the only thing with mine I couldn't find where the Force Alternate option was.

    In the NVIDIA Control Panel, look here:

     

    Control Panel.png
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    Post edited by Visuimag on
  • fastbike1fastbike1 Posts: 4,075

    The simpler answer is that you shouldn't be using SLI when doing Iray.

  • StratDragonStratDragon Posts: 3,167
    edited December 2015

    turning off Hardware Anti-Alising in the display prefs can make a huge difference in the response time of the interface.

    Post edited by StratDragon on
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