So where should I invest CPU or Graphics card?

michaelxm_a1dddd836b

Hi everyone. Well I am down to the final steps building new modeling pc, so now which should I do that will get best results? Should I move up from the quad cpu to perhaps an 8 core..or should I lean more to a 4 gb graphics card. Obviously I can never build some super computer like Daz has when they make those "look how easy this is" videos..lol but it would be nice to make my own perfom better.. I tried going and looking places like youtube for reviews, etc..but all they seem to do is show how fast their games run .. so this seems the place to get input from genuine 3D creation folks.. thanks :o)

nonesuch00

As someone that renders with CPU and knowing me CPU render times and myself reading of others GPU render times without a doubt go for the GPU. I am very limited in how quickly I can try shader, light, or other similar settings that effect render lighting in order to learn and utilize what I like.

michaelxm_a1dddd836b

Thanks for the reply, nonesuch00. So does this mean rendering speeds are better with more gpu power vs cpu power? I heard somewhere that once the gpu reaches its max, it reverts back to using the cpu. But with all the Iray hype around here these days..it seems gpu power is the big deal. I was using a 2 gb gpu, but it wasn't all that impressive so I went back to the old type rendering in Daz Studio, and got better results :o)

 

fastbike1

never mind

dakini

I've been trying to figure that out myself.

I am using a computer I built back in 2011 with 16GB RAM and a 2 gb GPU (Nvidia Quadro 4000). It was a pretty powerful system at the time but now almost all of my Daz scenes where I'm using IRAY for rendering are too big to squeeze into that 2GB, so my renders are all being done with the CPU.

I think if I was going to upgrade one thing in this system it would be the GPU. From what I've read on these forums it is looking like a better GPU for my purposes would be a NVIDIA - Founders Edition GeForce GTX 1080 8GB, or a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB. Unfortunately, those cards look to be almost $1000 and hard to come by right now. I'm waiting to buy because I'm hoping the prices on them will come down to more reasonable prices again soon.

nonesuch00

It will always be true with moden CPUs & GPUs that the GPU will render an order of magniture faster or more than a CPU render. But For DAZ scenes if you exceed the amount of RAM that your GPU can hold then you get a CPU render so it's not like the GPU has gotten slower, it's that you are CPU rendering.

For DAZ scenes a single character or two can generally be rendered in 4GB GPU. More than 2 characters and when you start including some of the more sophisticated architectural and outdoor enviroments then you need 8GB or even 11 or 12GB RAM on you GPU. And it is possible to make DAZ scenes that are too big for a 12GB video card too.

Also, don't forget when you use fibre eyebrows and fibre hairs on your characters that will use much more RAM than polygon hair. Also many or most new DAZ models have polygon complexity settings in the Parameters tab that can be set to Base or High resolution (a grey dropdown menu) and also a viewport subd (subdivisions - higher number are more polygons and more RAM you need) and a render subd that vary from 0 - 4 and sometimes I've seen a setting of 5. To save RAM so you can render set the viewport and render subd to 2 or 1 or even 0 although that can make finished renders look somewhat blocky.

michaelxm_a1dddd836b

Thanks again for the replies. nonesuch00, ah so it does revert back to cpu once the gpu maxes out. 12 gb gpu? ..wow these renders are getting a bit rediculous. Oh well not like I'm trying to compete with dreamworks or anything. Actually I am more toward animating, and using the older models such V4 (original) so maybe detailing will be a tad more forgiving :o) ..  dakini, yes I agree about those prices. 4gb for now is about my limit, unless I take out a second mortgage lol .. Sadly too, not much support for AMD type gpu, which I actually prefer. Several of the Nvidia cards in the past I used, seemed to always have that white washout issue.

dakini

nonesuch00,

Thanks for mentioning these things.

Also, don't forget when you use fibre eyebrows and fibre hairs on your characters that will use much more RAM than polygon hair.

Yes, I was working on a scene with one G8 male, pants, shirt, shoes and simple backdrop and was amazed it was using 8 to 11GB RAM when rendering. After reading this I took a closer look at the hair and eyebrows and I think they are fiber.

Also many or most new DAZ models have polygon complexity settings in the Parameters tab that can be set to Base or High resolution (a grey dropdown menu) and also a viewport subd (subdivisions - higher number are more polygons and more RAM you need) and a render subd that vary from 0 - 4 and sometimes I've seen a setting of 5.

I didn't know about these settings until I read your post. I played around with them and now the same scene is using half the amount of RAM to render!!! In a closeup I am noticing a hard edge on the cheekbones which I suppose could be smoothed out in Photoshop later.

michaelxm_a1dddd836b,

What is the white washout issue? I haven't run into that. (knock on wood) Are there certain Nvidia cards that are a problem?

nonesuch00

Also, I forgot something. Rendering a image or frame a UHD will use more RAM than rendering smaller frames like just HD (1280x720). 

Probably you can render both stills and animations at FHD which is 1920x1080 if you buy the newest nvidia video cards with what is it 11GB or 12GB RAM?.Anything less than than for animation you probably want to render at SD until you can save or the more capable cards become cheaper.

I don't think I'd try to render animations at UHD even with the best and newest nVidia cards unless you have a computer that you can leave alone for a week or more, depending on how long the animation is doing nothing else but the animation render.

For animations you can do quickly consider buying the pwToon or the pwShader Bundle for the DAZ 3DL renderer. You have to manually reassign the surfaces materials though to use the pwToon & other shaders. Then rendering a UHD frame in your animation will take all of 5 seconds or so. It's more important to be satisfied with your animation at first the the shaders assigned because the shaders & renderer are always easier to change later then redoing a portion of an animation.

michaelxm_a1dddd836b

dakini; the washout seems to be with everyday applications, such as text. Seems the white bg overpowers the text making it hard to read. It's one reason I had to switch the layout in Daz Studio to a dark background, because it was hard to read in the default mode. I never seem to have that with the amd cards...so I don't know..maybe nVidia is just too vibrant when it comes to whites.

nonesuch00; I doubt I'll be getting that much of a high end gpu anytime soon. I was not aware of those other add ons. Do you use those 2 addons together to achieve those really fast renders? I do believe you are saying though that the shader is something you would use after the quick renders to enhance them.. right?

 

Edit: nonesuch00; ok now I see that pwtoon is included in the shader package :o)

 

 

nonesuch00

michaelxm_a1dddd836b said:

dakini; the washout seems to be with everyday applications, such as text. Seems the white bg overpowers the text making it hard to read. It's one reason I had to switch the layout in Daz Studio to a dark background, because it was hard to read in the default mode. I never seem to have that with the amd cards...so I don't know..maybe nVidia is just too vibrant when it comes to whites.

nonesuch00; I doubt I'll be getting that much of a high end gpu anytime soon. I was not aware of those other add ons. Do you use those 2 addons together to achieve those really fast renders? I do believe you are saying though that the shader is something you would use after the quick renders to enhance them.. right?

 

Edit: nonesuch00; ok now I see that pwtoon is included in the shader package :o)

 

 

The shader is what the render model uses to determine how the simulated light will react to a surface when it is rendered. It is not a post processing technique. Given that I have only a CPU and integrated intel GPU I render for animation tests using pwToon and the pwShaders (I don't have them all).

plarff

GPU and get a card that has 6GB or more VRAM...

WendyLuvsCatz

a GPU gives you more rendering bang for your bucks

long before iray I bought both a decent GPU 980ti and Octane render as pricey as it is, it was still cheaper than upgrading the rest of my PC.

I actually use Octane still in preference to iray (mostly with Carrara sometimes standalone) as it is just so much faster for animation with some less strictly PBR settings

dakini

michaelxm_a1dddd836b,

Thanks for explaining washout. Luckily, I haven't had that problem with the Nvidia card that I have.

nonesuch00,

I'm not rendering anything UHD. Lately I've been staying in the 1024x1280 size range and exploring what I can do with IRAY and photorealistic portraits. So far renders are taking between half an hour and two hours. Not too bad, but the scenes are pretty simple.

I have pwToon, pwSketch, pwGhost, Visual Style Shaders, Subsurface Toon Shaders. Given the limitations I have with my graphics card I have been thinking about giving them a try again.