Iray GPU rendering issue
sapat
Posts: 1,735
Literally overnight from Wednesday night after I finished a GPU render to Thursday morning when I tried to render with GPU again, I'm only getting those little gray/white checkers. Doesn't matter if I do a spot render or a full render, I get those checkers.
CPU and 3DL work fine. DS doesn't shut down or anything like that. During my GPU renders, I can hear my computer running constantly like it's got it's pedal to the metal so to speak. I don't notice it getting warm or smelling warm, just the louder noise like it's working hard.
I think my computer might be 4 (maybe 5) yr old this October. It's an i7-4470 running Windows 8.1, 500W power supply, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 3GB GDDR5 Graphics Card, and 32GB Ram. From what I know, it doesn't have any integrated graphics, just the card. Also, everyone keeps saying that the 760 card is only 2GB, but the sticker on the side of my computer says 3GB, so I'm always unsure about that.
Anyway, if anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate the help. I don't know the first thing about computers or how to diagnose things. BTW, I'm attaching an image. Nvidia has done things in the last few days. Sometimes that has caused issues in the past and I've had to do a rollback.
Thank you.

Comments
As reagrds the VRAM it may be borrowing some main system RAM. As for the performance - even being an 'older', less rapid card it should still dobetter than what it sounds liek it is, and I'd suspect it's dropping back to using the CPU only. I'd recommned something like GPU-Z to see what is happening in close to real-time, or MSI Afterburner which does sort of the same but adds the ability to modify how the fan on the card performs to aid in cooling.
Does it happen for all scenes or that specific scene?
Try updating your graphics driver.
Also you can check how much VRAM you actually have if you go to Nvidia Control Panel. At the top click Help > System Information and find "Dedicated video memory". There does exist a GTX760 with 3GB VRAM so it's possible you have it.
It happens with everything. Get nothing but solid checkers for GPU. Nvidia did some updates on 06/24 and 06/26, which I thought was drivers. I don't know how to tell which of these is VRAM, but here are screenshots of the list of things in the system info in the Nvidia Control Panel.
Yeah see it says you have 3072 MB for "Dedicated video memory". So the sticker was right.
I'm not sure what's causing your issue. Your graphics drivers are more updated than mine it seems. You could have a look through the log file to see if there's something wrong when doing GPU render. In DAZ you go to "Help > Troubleshooting > View Log File..."
Will do that, thanks.
Don't know what GPU-Z is, but anything is worth a go right now. Also the MSI Afterburner. Thanks for the tips. Things I never knew and wouldn't have figured out.
Here is a couple screenshots from GPU-Z. I haven't read the doc on Afterburner, so I have no clue what to do. This is the last thing DS log file said just now when I tried to render a sphere with GPU:
2018-07-01 18:56:11.118 WARNING: dzneuraymgr.cpp(307): Iray ERROR - module:category(IRAY:RENDER): 1.0 IRAY rend error: Cannot render: found no usable devices.
2018-07-01 18:56:11.118 Iray Render error: Invalid parameters (NULL pointer).
2018-07-01 18:56:11.143 Finished Rendering
2018-07-01 18:56:16.631 WARNING: Object::disconnect: Unexpected null parameter
2018-07-01 18:56:16.869 Iray INFO - module:category(IRT:RENDER): 1.1 IRT rend info : Shutting down irt render plugin.
2018-07-01 18:56:17.024 *** Scene Cleared ***
2018-07-01 18:56:17.105 DEBUG: End DAZ Studio to Hexagon Bridge log...
2018-07-01 18:56:17.180 --------------- DAZ Studio 4.10.0.107 exited ------------------
2018-07-01 18:56:17.180 ~
GPU-Z screenshots attached.
This was moved here in hopes of getting a response. I did the things that were suggested, but didn' get any replies. Still need help if anyone knows what the issue is.
thanks.
Not trying to be cute or snide here, honest question: Have you rebooted yet? Also try completely removing all NVIDIA software and drivers, and try using just the microsoft driver from windows update as a test (usually not the best idea, but will help to determine if it's possibly a hardware or driver issue). That's an older card, so I'm a bit worried that the new driver might have turned something off as part of it going End of Life, or a new feature being added that the card is too old to support.
No, not snide or cute at all. It's a valid question. Yes, I reboot a few times a day. And I turn my computer off every night due to the sketchy thunderstorms we have here.
Well, Nvidia did do driver updates on June 24th and again on June 26th around noon. I was still able to do GPU renders the rest of the day on the 26th, but the next morning, Thursday the 27th, no GPU at all, just CPU and 3dl.
How do I use the MS driver, or where do I find it? Is windows update already on my computer? I have Windows 8.1, so I tell updates to just let me decide what I want to download and install.
Sorry, I'm lost in this kind of stuff and need a bit more to go on.
Thanks, Suze
Windows Update runs automatically, and you don't want the MS drives if that's what it has given you.
That's a lot of rebooting and powering off of your computer. Personally I'd recomend getting a good UPS (battery backup) with voltage regulation and just leaving the system running. BUt for now, one quick thing to try is inside Studio, go to the render tab and hit the Default button, then make sure it is set to use Iray as the render engine, then try another render. If that doesn't work, make sure your computer has an internet connection as soon as it powers on, then go to Control Panel, Programs, then uninstall everything NVDIDIA. Do not reboot yet, ignore when it asks you to. Now go to my computer and right click on "This PC" and hit Manage. In the window that pops up go to "Device Manager" and then expand Display Adaptors. Right click on your video card and hit uninstall (if it asks to uninstall the software, tell it yes). After this is done, reboot the machine. When it comes back up windows will automatically install the Microsoft version of the driver. Once that's done, try a render again
Not long term, but they can be used to test if the new Nvidia driver is bad.
It only happens in renders? or happens anywhere else? like games?
Daz Studio 4.10.0.123 is the latest build. Update and try again.
Does your video card show up under the advanced render settings?
From what i can see .123 is a beta - has it become the official release, I don't have it in my DIM, at least not that i can see.
4.10.0.123 became the official release in December 2017. There has not been a public Beta since then
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/206696/daz-studio-4-10-pro-general-release-updated/p1
I was looking just at the thread titles.
There is something wrong at the driver or card level - that first gpu-z image does not have a check-mark in CUDA -- and that is what Iray uses. Check to see if there are any errors shown in the system logs or device manager. (Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Device Manager, expand Display Adapters)
I'll try this and see how it goes. I'll do it now before I install the new version of DS.
Yes, only in renders. I don't play any games on this computer, and don't have any installed.
My version of DS is 4.10.0.107. I'm way behind. Just keep forgetting to get the new one. **Ok, I downloaded 4.10.0.123. Just have to install it.**
I looked at the Device manager and it says the device is working properly.
My graphics card shows up in DS render settings/advanced. OptiX is NOT checked.
I do have CUDA with this card. My version is 23.21.13.9135 and the product name is NVIDIA CUDA 9.1.84 driver. i don't know where the system logs are in Windows 8.1.
Forgive me for doing a 'bulk' answer, but wanted to include responses to everyone's ideas. Will report back once I get all things NVIDIA uninstalled and then install the newest DS.
Thanks!
One thing you can do since you have no games or anything would be to run a benchmark. Heaven is a popular benchmark and is under 300MB to download. It will run your card hard, just like Iray will, assuming the card works. We are not concerned with what the performance is, rather we just want to see if the card is actually running. Having MSI Afterburner to monitor the fan and clock speeds will tell us if the card is in fact running. This can tell us if the issue is exclusive to Daz, or if the card is having problems.
Your CPU is pretty decent, and has on board graphics, so in the worst case your PC will be usable if you remove the card. I didn't know 3GB versions of the 760 existed, but they indeed are real. They were strictly OEM parts.
I have onboard graphics???? I had no idea. How can you tell? Yeah, for a 4 year old computer it's pretty good. It's an ASUS, and it's the best computer I've ever owned. It has a lot of stuff that most computers didn't have 4 yr ago. And yes, the card is OEM!
I'll take a look at Heaven for sure. However, I'm scared to death to have it run my card very hard. I'm a beta tester, and test every single day. Just about everything is Iray, and a fair amount of dforce. I'd be up the proverbial creek if I lost the ability to even do CPU iray rendering and dforce. Yikes!
Thanks!
I just looked at Heaven Benchmark and it's only for NVIDIA GeForce series 8 and higher.
I checked the page. When they say Nvidia 8xxx series, they're talking about the 8000 series graphics cards, from circa 2006. Your card can definitely run it, I ran it on my GTX 460.
Just to be clear, is your monitor cable plugged into a port on your motherboard, or into a separate graphics card plugged into a slot?
LOL, ok. I had no idea about that. My monitor is plugged into the Nvidia card which is plugged into a slot.
I'll download Heaven then.
Thanks!
Thanks for that info. I guess when I looked at the side of the box it came in, I didn't see that. Shoulda googled it! Yeah, I get it would bury my card which is why I want to get a new power supply and probably a 1080Ti which is what I want to get. At his point the 11GB sounds like the direction to go. To get an 8GB seems like I'd be left behind pretty soon. I figure go big or go home at this point. Not sure at all if the motherboard has anything to do with the the size card I can get, or what size power supply I'd need.
I would advise against buying a GPU now unless its absolutley needed, since it seems we may see a new line of Nvidia cards sometime soon ( I heard somewhere that may announce them around september or october).
I'd love to wait, believe me. Buying a new card now and then having to buy a newer used car in September is a budget buster. Need the car cuz mine won't pass inspection this year. Need the card since I'm a beta tester for 2 stores and several vendors. I need Iray every day. I have CPU, but when you're trying to crank out tests, (especially rendering a 63 frame seamtest animation) I need GPU.
<-- angry and wanna cry.
Everybody's 700 cards seem to be dying dont they?
An 11GB card would be awsome! I so wanted one but I couldnt justify the expense.