Best Iray rendering machine
Aabhnormal
Posts: 85
(I wasn't sure if this was a Commons thing or a Nuts and Bolts kind of thing... I'm not having a PROBLEM, per se... so it didn't seem to fit N&B... I'm totally cool if we move it...)
Okay... so soon I'll be upgrading. I'd love to have totally unlimited money and awesomeness, but I really don't. I need to make a targeted attack on how to make my renders in Iray go faster.
If you were building a computer from scratch to be a render machine, what would be the thing that would be the best target for Iray render? Processor? Video card? Memory? I know they help each other, but if I got a top of the line video card and an i3 processor, is that good enough? Would getting an okay video card and an i7 or i9 be better?
I'm really shooting to get my renders down from 70 minutes... o.O
Thanks!
---Aabh
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I wish some of my renders went below 70 mins, my last one went 25 hours :)
What are your current system specs? Are your scenes able to fit in GPU memory, or are they overflowing and going to the CPU?
While the video card is definitely the most important part of a render machine, you really don't want to skimp too much on CPU. CPU will affect how the program responds while you are creating your scenes, as well as if your scene is too big for your GPU. I really don't recomend using an i3 for much more than general web browsing, it's just not that powerful a processor line. i5 is a good general all-around CPU, and as such is a good alternative for most users. Although I would recomend looking into AMD cpus, they are back to being a very good option for the price. Also keep in mind Nvidia is about to release a new generation of GPUs, that according to NVIDIA are a major leap forward. I'm waiting to get more real world examples to see if they really hold up to the hype though. But even if they don't move the bar much at all, the current generation should drop in price pretty quickly once the new ones hit the market.
The problem with the new generation, 2000 series GPUs is that there are no Iray drivers available for them yet. If the previous 1000 series cards were anything to go by, it'll be several months before the Iray SDK for the new cards is released and it will then take a while longer for DAZ to integrate it with Studio.
The one good thing about the 2000 series is that it should drive the price of the 1000 series down.
Cheers,
Alex.
Currently I would say an i5, 16gb (8 should be fine-ish) and the 1070 is the sweet spot.
...I would go with an i7 or AMD Zen (Ryzen or Threadripper 1000 series) for the CPU as a backup should your GPU card not be able to hold a scene.
Keep in mind that when working on a scene in Daz the programme uses only a single CPU core so your want as fast a clock speed as you can get. Also the GPU determines viewport response. More video memory and cores, means faster refresh rate.
I would not go below 16 GB or a 6 core/12 thread CPU under 3.5 GHz base clock speed.
If you are on a tight budget, Indeed, the 10xx series GPU cards would be a better buy. The new RTX cards are expensive even from other manufacturers (and in some cases priced higher than the Nvidia Founders versions).
Thank you for the answers guys!
So... Hmmm... Okay! Well, it seems that I'm running a pretty good system as is, then.
I'm running an i5-2400 at 3.10GHz with 20GB of RAM with a GeForce 1050Ti. My "Day Job" is video editing and I need to up the processor for throughput so I figured I'd look into what would speed up render times while I was at it.
So we should be staying with the 1000 series of Nvidia cards, though? So if I should decide to upgrade the card (Maybe not, but I'd like to think it out), don't do the 2000 series just yet.
---Aabh
Do we actually know that Iray won't work on the 20x0 cards? It isn't lsited in the change-logs, but that may just reflect the nVidia NDA.
...20 GB? That is an odd amount. That would be 5 x 4 GB sticks so your memory would be running in single channel mode. Do you have unused DIMM slots on the board?
An i5 2400 only has 4 single cores with no hyperthreading which is similar to the old Core2 quad CPUs. This means if a render job drop to the CPU it will be slow. I had a 4core/8 thread i7 2.8 GHZ (3.4 GHZ Turbo) and that was slow when rendering on the CPU. A single character proof at 849 x 1,200 with my neutral background "photshoot set" took from 50 min to around an hour and half depending on hair and clothing textures.
My system now has 24 GB (6 x 4 GB) in three channel mode and a 6 core/12 thread Xeon at he same clock speeds as well as a Titan-X (the original card was a GTX-460). Big difference.
@Kyoto Kid: Yes. It was an old Whitebox that I inherited when the company moved to blade servers. So I've been upgrading it with what I could afford, which means it's... Frankenstein-y. And I believe it's even weirder than that: I think it's a pair of 8s and a pair of 2s... Which is one of the things I want to straighten out because these weird combinations on hardware are giving Premiere fits and that's have an impact on my job, so soon I'm going to be doing the gutting and rebuilding thing for many reasons.
But I'm getting that as long as my GEForce 1050ti has the render, we are good, it's when it drops out to the CPU that makes everything go super slow... which seems to fit how it works fine with a basic set, but as soon as I add a LARGE set (Like Mely's Farm), the renders go from 30 seconds to first rays cast to 4 minutes to first rays cast.
My personal philosophy that you should buy what you know what works and whats on the market. That or wait and see when it arrives, if you have the patience.
I would personally upgrade from the 1050, the cards above have way more cuda cores, needed for Iray. There is a comparison list somewhere.
....Well if it can support 8 GB sticks, replacing the two 2 GB sticks with two 8 GB sticks would be a good option as it would also function as dual instead of single channel memory as all the sticks are the same memory size (improves the efficiency of the memory). This would also give you 32 GB. You should also check the memory speed of the two 8 GB sticks before upgrading so you can get a matching pair. Also check the company as it is always best to use the same brand when upgrading.
I reviewed the specs on the i5 2400, and it uses Socket LGA 1155 which supports Sandy Bridge generation CPUs that could be tricky to find but not impossible, and depending on where you buy, may not be very expensive (I found one 6 core 3.4 GHz for 149$ [boxed] at one outlet). Sandy Bridge architecture along with the supporting motherboards also only support DDR3 memory not DDR4 (not a major deal for what we do) so again for the upgrade you might find a decent price (saw one pair 8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz on Amazon for 88$).
With only 4 GB of video memory, the 1050ti is pretty much at the "minimal" limit for GPU rendering, which is why you are likely having scenes dumping to the CPU Another way to go instead of upgrading the CPU (though I still recommend doing so sometime as well) would be to consider a GTX 1070 which would give you double the VRAM for rending. Pricing for these are pretty much falling back to earth and are near if not below what they retailed for when card was first released (Best Buy has the Founder's edition version for 349$). It really depends on what your creative ambitions are. If you find you will be moving to larger more involved scenes, then the 1070 would be a wise upgrade as it will still flat out beat even that 6 core/12 thread Sandy Bridge CPU in Iray render speed.
What is the power rating on the PSU? that is important for any upgrade.
I'd still also swap out those two 2 GB sticks for two 8 GB ones.
Agreed. I used to build my own computers and it seems that the computers have wandered their way into a technicality beyond my comprehension... again :)
When we put in the GeForce, I upgraded the PSU to make sure we had enough power, but I fear there might be limitations there, so that's a good thing to note.
Anyway, thanks folks! I really appreciate all the help on this! I feel that I'm much better armed going into the upgrade! :D
---Aabh
As many cores as you can afford; as much RAM as you can afford; wait to see what the 20 series card (specifically the 2080ti) has to offer. Otherwise it is about what you can afford.
I would go for an i7 from intel or from AMD, an 2700X; hell if you could, the 2950x is a small upgrade to the threadripper 1950x I have, and less than I paid. I like having the extra cores and RAM - scenes drop to CPU (which may or may not change with the new cards).
Personally, I'd wait until you see what the new cards do; I'd still plan on 16GB RAM minimum and a 2700x or an I7; yes you can get by with less; pretty amazing what folks manage with less. But so are the times they can find themselves waiting.
Edit
Oh and whilst I think about it: get a damn good PSU. PSUs are the only component (really) that can take other components with it when it blows.
FYI, CPU rendering is still slow even with a Threadripper. I have a Threadripper 1950 with 3200 mhz memory running 3200 mhz (default is 2400 mhz), and a few Pascal Titan Xs. A single Titan X is much, much faster.
To the OP, the simplest answer is you want the best graphics card you can afford/want to spend.
The new 2xxx series is coming soon. 2080's next week. No dates on the 2070 and below, but they shouldn't be too far. Current information is due to the mining craze kind of falling off of a cliff, there are a surplus of 1000 series cards still. Word is at least they will be available at least through the end of the year. The 1080 Ti's are a really good buy right now.
...yeah I saw an EVGA 1080Ti for 709$ at Newegg. Still available....
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487381&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Video+Card+-+Nvidia-_-N82E16814487381&gclid=CjwKCAjwlejcBRAdEiwAAbj6KT5YM7tFQEbXXPAskii7-TPfHgg4__2p2UN1upW4Xi_oX7zUeaNOShoCfNAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
...and one from Gigabyte for 649$. Also still available.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125955&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Video+Card+-+Nvidia-_-N82E16814125955&gclid=CjwKCAjwlejcBRAdEiwAAbj6KZUa7A30wK_I7WFRhDgyTSM-uThw-vgJns0Ep10J_tLLYPmytX4oiBoCfP4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Sadly the 2070 seems to be the "stepchild" of the RTX series as it is not NVLInk compatible so you won't be able to link two together for improve frame rate if you are also into games.
...the issue of going to an AMD Ryzen or Threadriper is the OP would need to buy a new motherboard as well as all new memory as well since the Zen CPUs and MBs support DDR4 not DDR3 Effectively it would mean building a new system save for the drives PSU and case rather than upgrading what is already there.
Actually moving to any newer generation of Intel CPUs will not only also require a new MB and DDR4 memory, but moving to W10 as well (YMMV with that last one).