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2Gb of GPU usage before rendering starts

ian_burney_1d4c6307c2ian_burney_1d4c6307c2 Posts: 6
edited August 2018 in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

I am using Daz 4.10 with a GTX 1060 6Gb for GPU renders (no monitors/displays attached) and I have a basic Radeon 1Gb for driving my monitors/displays. When I use Task manager, I see GPU usage jumps from 0 to 2Gb just on launching DAZ, even before any scene is loaded or created. Can anybody explain why 2Gb of GPU is used on my render card before I even render and if this will limit the render capacity to just 4 instead of 6Gb effective GPU when I start my render, i.e. will a scene over 4Gb fail even though I have a 6Gb card?

Post edited by ian_burney_1d4c6307c2 on

Comments

  • ebergerlyebergerly Posts: 3,255
    I'm curious...when you say "will a scene over 4GB fail", how do you know if the scene is a "4GB scene? "
  • ian_burney_1d4c6307c2ian_burney_1d4c6307c2 Posts: 6

    I personally don't know how to size a render but I know from other forum threads that if a scene is too big for the GPU, Daz will use CPU. So given the 2Gb load on startup, I would just like to know if there is something wrong with my config or will I still be able to render 6Gb scenes in GPU.

  • ebergerlyebergerly Posts: 3,255
    edited August 2018
    Im not sure about the specific amount, I'll check my 1060 later and see. But my guess is that Studio/Iray wants to grab some VRAM upon startup so you the user will have it available when you load and render a scene. It prevents other apps from grabbing it first. Maybe they guess the size of a standard scene is 2GB or whatever and grab it. And then when you actually load your scene it uses that memory thats already assigned (aka "allocated"). Kinda like going to a crowded restaurant and asking a friend to grab a seat while you order. Thats just my guess though. But as a user I'd certainly want them to do that.
    Post edited by ebergerly on
  • algovincianalgovincian Posts: 2,636

    Let me guess… Windows 10 – not Windows 7?

    I run a 1060 with 6 GB on Windows 7 Pro.  I’m on the phone atm, but IIRC, Gpuz reports about 290mb on a fresh boot and after launching DS on the system.

    - Greg

  • ebergerlyebergerly Posts: 3,255
    Ian.burney how are you determining that it's Studio using the VRAM? You should be using Task Manager Details tab where it shows VRAM usage per process.
  • fastbike1fastbike1 Posts: 4,078
    edited August 2018

    I don't anywhere near that knid of VRAM usage on my 980TI. It's the only card in the system and I typically have about 425MB of usage with Studio, Chrome, and a couple of File Explorer windows open.

    When I close Studio, GPU VRAM usage drops (immediately) to 322MB.

    Win 7, 64bit

    Post edited by fastbike1 on
  • ebergerlyebergerly Posts: 3,255
    edited August 2018
    If it really is Studio grabbing too much VRAM, I'm wondering if the default startup scene has some feature enabled that might be the cause. Maybe iray preview is enabled, or some HDRI grabbing memory, or something like that? But first I'd use Task Mgr Details to verify it's Studio.
    Post edited by ebergerly on
  • ian_burney_1d4c6307c2ian_burney_1d4c6307c2 Posts: 6

    I'm on Windows 10 64bit and looking at GPU usage in Task manager. I have 12Gb standard RAM and 6GB VRAM. Remembering that the 6Gb card is not driving the monitor/displays, GPU capacity shows as 6Gb in Task manager details tab with 0 used before DAZ 4.10 startup then 2Gb is used before I load / create any scene so it looks like DAZ usage rather than Windows 10 usage. I am not at the computer at the moment but I will check the startup scene and viewport preview settings yet. If it is just reserving 2Gb I would be interested to know. I do know the Streets of Venice (any preset scene without additions) switches to CPU because it doesn't fit in VRAM but I don't know if that is greater than 6Gb anyway.

  • ebergerlyebergerly Posts: 3,255

    I'm guessing you have a default setting of Iray preview. I also have a 1060 on W10 64 bit, and I get basically 0 GPU VRAM usage when starting Studio with a blank scene, UNLESS I set the viewport to Iray preview, in which case it takes 1.8 GB. I'm guessing that's your problem

  • ebergerlyebergerly Posts: 3,255
    edited August 2018

    By the way, from my experience if the scene takes something like 30GB of system RAM, that will correspond to about 9-10 GB of GPU VRAM. Not sure if that's a good rule of thumb but for a 1060 with 6GB that might correspond to maybe 15 GB of system RAM, with some room to spare. So it sounds like if you have 12GB of system RAM you might be just under what it takes to overload your GPU VRAM. I'm thinking 16GB might be more appropriate for a 6GB 1060 if you want to squeeze every drop out of the GPU

    Post edited by ebergerly on
  • ian_burney_1d4c6307c2ian_burney_1d4c6307c2 Posts: 6

    Thanks for your help. It was the IRay preview in startup. I have switched to texture shaded and GPU is untouched until rendering :)

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