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Have a 1080Ti, thinking about getting a 2080Ti-two card rendering?

EnoughButterEnoughButter Posts: 103
in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

I understand how SLI works in general (and I don't want to set up SLI) , but the whole 'multiple cards for iRay' thing just seems odd to me.  

So basically, I can install my new 2080Ti card, move my 1080Ti to a couple of empty slots (it blocks one, LOL), install the Nvidia drivers, and iRay will just find both cards and speed up renders?  

And it won't mess up regular PC usage like games and the like, which will just see the 2080Ti?  

Comments

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 102,712

    That is correct (well, as far as I know with rspect to games).

  • fastbike1fastbike1 Posts: 4,078

    @NeverEnoughButter " the whole 'multiple cards for iRay' thing just seems odd to me"

    What's odd about having two GPUs used for Iray rendering? Iray was designed to accommodate multiple cards

  • kenshaw011267kenshaw011267 Posts: 3,805
    NeverEnoughButter said:

    I understand how SLI works in general (and I don't want to set up SLI) , but the whole 'multiple cards for iRay' thing just seems odd to me.  

    So basically, I can install my new 2080Ti card, move my 1080Ti to a couple of empty slots (it blocks one, LOL), install the Nvidia drivers, and iRay will just find both cards and speed up renders?  

    And it won't mess up regular PC usage like games and the like, which will just see the 2080Ti?  

    I bought a 2070 specifically to speed up renders, I have a 1080ti I still use for gaming. My renders go a lot shorter and I hope that if/when Nvidia gets around to putting RTX into iRay my render speeds will accelerate again.

    When I installed the 2070 I just opened DS, opened the advanced tab of render settings and selected the 2070 and the 1080ti for rendering, both actually were selected already, and it all "just works."

  • EnoughButterEnoughButter Posts: 103
    fastbike1 said:

    @NeverEnoughButter " the whole 'multiple cards for iRay' thing just seems odd to me"

    What's odd about having two GPUs used for Iray rendering? Iray was designed to accommodate multiple cards

    Sorry, I come from using Windows for gaming, and it just doesnt work that way. Even SLI (two same cards, have to be connected to one another by a separate cable), is much more complex and touchy than "just leave the cards in the computer, it will be fine."

  • EnoughButterEnoughButter Posts: 103
    kenshaw011267 said:
    NeverEnoughButter said:

    I understand how SLI works in general (and I don't want to set up SLI) , but the whole 'multiple cards for iRay' thing just seems odd to me.  

    So basically, I can install my new 2080Ti card, move my 1080Ti to a couple of empty slots (it blocks one, LOL), install the Nvidia drivers, and iRay will just find both cards and speed up renders?  

    And it won't mess up regular PC usage like games and the like, which will just see the 2080Ti?  

    I bought a 2070 specifically to speed up renders, I have a 1080ti I still use for gaming. My renders go a lot shorter and I hope that if/when Nvidia gets around to putting RTX into iRay my render speeds will accelerate again.

    When I installed the 2070 I just opened DS, opened the advanced tab of render settings and selected the 2070 and the 1080ti for rendering, both actually were selected already, and it all "just works."

     

    The 2070 has 8GB of memory, right? Do you still get the max 11GB of memory from the 1080Ti, or does it use the smaller card size? (I'm guessing sadly it won't combine them)

  • kenshaw011267kenshaw011267 Posts: 3,805
    NeverEnoughButter said:
    kenshaw011267 said:
    NeverEnoughButter said:

    I understand how SLI works in general (and I don't want to set up SLI) , but the whole 'multiple cards for iRay' thing just seems odd to me.  

    So basically, I can install my new 2080Ti card, move my 1080Ti to a couple of empty slots (it blocks one, LOL), install the Nvidia drivers, and iRay will just find both cards and speed up renders?  

    And it won't mess up regular PC usage like games and the like, which will just see the 2080Ti?  

    I bought a 2070 specifically to speed up renders, I have a 1080ti I still use for gaming. My renders go a lot shorter and I hope that if/when Nvidia gets around to putting RTX into iRay my render speeds will accelerate again.

    When I installed the 2070 I just opened DS, opened the advanced tab of render settings and selected the 2070 and the 1080ti for rendering, both actually were selected already, and it all "just works."

     

    The 2070 has 8GB of memory, right? Do you still get the max 11GB of memory from the 1080Ti, or does it use the smaller card size? (I'm guessing sadly it won't combine them)

    It uses the 1080ti solo if the scene is bigger than 8Gb.

    SLI is a high bandwidth, low latency connection between the two cards which allows them to render the same scene in real time, IIRC one does the top half and the other the bottom half. That isn't needed in iRay and apparently is something of a hindrance, Nvidia recommends turning off SLI when rendering.

    For rendering, in iRay at least, it really is as simple as put as many cards, with CUDA, as you can in the same rig and start rendering.

  • EnoughButterEnoughButter Posts: 103
    kenshaw011267 said:
    NeverEnoughButter said:
    kenshaw011267 said:
    NeverEnoughButter said:
    For rendering, in iRay at least, it really is as simple as put as many cards, with CUDA, as you can in the same rig and start rendering.

    That is pretty cool, thanks!

  • rrwardrrward Posts: 556
    NeverEnoughButter said:

    I understand how SLI works in general (and I don't want to set up SLI) , but the whole 'multiple cards for iRay' thing just seems odd to me.  

    So basically, I can install my new 2080Ti card, move my 1080Ti to a couple of empty slots (it blocks one, LOL), install the Nvidia drivers, and iRay will just find both cards and speed up renders?  

    And it won't mess up regular PC usage like games and the like, which will just see the 2080Ti?  

    I have three video cards in my render system: 2 2080ti's for Iray, and a 1060 (6GB) for the display (I don't game on that system). The cards are just sitting next to each other, no SLI at all. I told Studio to use the 2080ti's and leave the 1060 alone. Works just fine. I've had various multiiple video card setups of the years for rendering, never ran them in SLI as most rendering engines don't or can't work with it.

  • david_23523141david_23523141 Posts: 40

    I would suggest adding a second 1080ti at the moment. The 2080ti is very expensive and provides a percentage gain over 1080ti, whereas the 1080ti can be found on eBay for very cheap and still is quite valid for iRay and other render programs that use CUDA cores. 

  • kenshaw011267kenshaw011267 Posts: 3,805
    david_23523141 said:

    I would suggest adding a second 1080ti at the moment. The 2080ti is very expensive and provides a percentage gain over 1080ti, whereas the 1080ti can be found on eBay for very cheap and still is quite valid for iRay and other render programs that use CUDA cores. 

    I would suggest that if the budget is tight.

    Otherwise the 2080ti is a better investment for rendering. Nvidia has said they will add RTX support to iRay. We know that in other render engines the performance bump with RTX is far more than a few percentage points.

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