how much vrma is needed for a beginner
swierczynski88
Posts: 7
Hey, I'm just getting started with Daz3D. Unfortunately, I'm currently using an AMD card, which makes rendering anything other than the genesis models a bit of a nightmare in terms of time. That's why I'm planing purchasing an RTX card for this purpose.
Could anyone tell me how much VRAM is typically used for an average environment? For example, something like the Z 24 Hour Bar or a similar-sized scene.
I'd prefer estimates without or with minimal optimization, as it's easier for me to learn without delving into optimization right away. If possible, please provide an example or a link to the environment in the Daz Store.
I've been checking out forums, and many users suggest that even 8GB of VRAM might not be enough. In my country, the cards are not the cheapest, so currently I can only afford the rtx 4060 16gb or maybe RTX 4070 12GB. I've only found information stating that one Genesis 8.0 model uses about 1.5GB, but finding details about environments is more challenging due to various factors. Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
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Comments
8GB's is just not enough. One can render something small with lots of optimisation but why bother with 8GB cards when one can get 12GB cards at the same price or even cheaper.
The chepest card with 12GB's of VRAM is RTX 3060 12GB.
A 12GB card has twice as much VRAM for Iray rendering than an 8GB card, as the base load from Windows, DS, the scene and the necessary working space are taking about 4GB's
This was rendered on RTX 3060 12GB in 5 minutes and 5 seconds
The VRAM used by a scene will depend mostly on the number and size of maps used, so it will vary a lot from environment to environment depending on what's included in it and how it was setup, there's no way to give a "typical environment size".
A minimum of 12GB VRAM is what is typically recommended in the various "what card / PC should I buy" threads nowadays.
It's related to the initial question: I read that ideally, someone should have three times the amount of VRAM as RAM (so with a 12 GB GPU, 36 GB of RAM is recommended).
On Mac, Daz seems to be able to use virtual memory (I saw peak at around 50 GB a time or two
and more regurlarly a little bit over 32 GB, which is the amount of RAM available on my Mac and everything seemed to work as usual) but I have yet to have the opportunity to test it on Windows (my Mac is my most powerful computer and the one with the biggest amount of RAM). Could Daz on Windows use a bit of virtual RAM if the installed RAM is not enough, or will it crash ?
DS can use virtual memory in Windows but usually the computer becomes sluggish when that happens.
If there isn't enough virtual memory, then Windows will crash
Hi, I use the RTX 4060ti 16gb, for a budget card I feel like it's done a great job in daz studio. I ended up getting a second one shortly after to speed things up a bit, and won't upgrade until the 5000rtx series drops.
There's one thing about this card to take note of, which is the lack of cuda cores. This will slow rendering down, but as far as issues involving vram I have had very few, if any, that I've had to work aorund. So far none of the issues I had to work around couldn't be easily handled with Scene Optimizer.
Thank you for the information. As I mentioned earlier, I have an AMD card, so I lack a point of reference. Nevertheless, your response has provided me with a clearer understanding.
thx.
I happened to have the environment in question, and it took me approximately 20 minutes to render it using the GPU solely. I have a RTX 3060, 12GB VRAM. That's using all presets from the scene in question and using the "Full Bar View: Left Corner" camera as a POV (Render: https://imgur.com/ceZUQqu), yes the render looks kind of bad cause I haven't changed anything, it's out of the box Daz settings. Now, RTSS+MSI reported that it used approximately 1200MB of VRAM in DAZ Studio see here -> https://imgur.com/wSF4aMC. Granted RTSS/MSI can only report on the amount that is requested, not what is actually used. Whereas Task Manager reported approximately 5400MB used during rendering, see here -> https://imgur.com/DwOl9I6 adding a gen 8 char with some clothes and hair to the mix (Gia 8, Rock on Clothes, Layla hair) increased it to 6.2GB, see here -> https://imgur.com/DXCSJTm and increased rendering time with a couple of minutes (didn't time it and forgot to check in time but it appeared to be ~2 minutes longer), using the same scene and the same perspective (https://imgur.com/YoaPmIt).
Personally I (obviously) use 12GB of VRAM and it works fine for me. Would I have minded 16GB of VRAM? Of course not. But I don't do this professionally and thus I wasn't going to shell out that amount of money when I got my 3060. I guess my point is, how much VRAM you actually need depends on the complexity of your scenes as well as whether or not you're "just dabbling" (like me) or you intend to actually make something more professionally which might warrant an investment.
So what your choice will be depends on whether you want to cram more into your scene or speed in rendering. But since you're a beginner, I'd honestly just pick the cheaper option. Unless you're gaming and also want the extra gaming performance then I'd choose the 4070Ti, or if you can think of a good enough reason to pick the more expensive option as I assume the 4070Ti is the more expensive option.