Any way to make a Z600 with Quadro GPU work with DAZ again?
rezaf
Posts: 23
About two years ago, I got myself a used Z600 with a Quadro GPU especially for rendering. It didn't bring the considerable improvement in rendering times when compared to my desktop PC I had been hoping for, so I only used it for a few dozen renders before mothballing it indefinately as the time I could dedicate to my DAZ hobby grew sparse for a while.
Fast forward to the present, I have some more time for DAZ again, and started to do renders every now and then, but now I also need my PC for other stuff, so I'd like to do the renders on the Z600.
Unfortunately, when I turned it on again, it insisted on installing a huge windows update, and afterwards, DAZ rendering was incredibly slow.
The reason for this wasn't hard to find, DAZ had stopped making use of the Quadro GPU, instead rendering on the CPU only.
Obviously something that needed to be fixed. First I tried updating the GPU driver to the newest version. No dice. Then I updated to the newest version of DAZ, to no avail. When I disable CPU for rendering, the render just "finishes" immediately, the log then says "Could not find a compatible device for rendering" or something to that effect.
Does anybody have an idea what I could try to get DAZ to fly again?
I already submitted a support ticked on the issue, but unfortunately, DAZ customer support doesn't seem to be a thing anymore, I received an automated reply saying it could take "up to three business days" to receive an answer, but the ticked has now been sitting at "Open" for almost a month. So I hope maybe someone here can help me.
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Comments
The Iray render engine in the new Studio only runs on Nvidia GPU graphic cards, if you don't have one it will only run on the CPU. You can still use 3Delight too..
I'm sorry if that wasn't clear, but the Quadro DID render Iray before as well - the Quadro IS a Nvidia GPU, which is why I got the Z600 specifically for that purpose.
Iray stops supporting older nVidia graphics cards. Which Quadro have you got?
This. The model of GPU and the version of DS you're using will determine whether or not you'll be able to use the GPU to render.
Thanks, that's probably the explanation, I think it was a Quattro 2000, though I have to double check (otherwise it's a 4000).
But it USED to work. Is there anything I can do to make it work again? Downgrade the drivers? Downgrade Daz (though I'm not sure how to get older versions, sounds like it was a mistake to update in the first place)?
For a Z600 workstation you want to completely forget about the antique card and instead render Iray to CPU, not GPU. Or... you do if you have a reasonably fast Z600 (Xeon X5670 CPUs or higher, a good amount of the original RAM). There are different editions and speeds for a Z600. With 12 cores and 24 render threads on a 2nd gen Z600 with X5670s or better, you should get near real-time iRay scene start-up with Daz 4.12 or higher, after only a light application of Scene Optimizer. Even faster if you turn off the scene's ground shadows and set the viewport to the Interactive (fastest) version of Iray. Daz 4.12 is important, because it upgraded Iray to a much faster version.
Z600s are not for shovelling the Windows 10 train-wreck onto, unless you only want to play games. It's a $10,000 highly-tuned workstation and thus you also want the original OS (Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate) and the original Intel workstation drivers - so you can get things like the SSD talking directly to the RAM via a fast side-channel (without plodding across the motherboard). The easiest way to get these drivers is in the official Intel bundle disc from the Internet Archive, as "HP Restore Plus!", though some were later updated.
Well, thanks Martirilla. Though, once again, my expectations were set by running Iray renders on that same machine with the same GPU and on the same operating system.
They were usually only a little slower than the renders on my old PC (it had a GTX 770), which obviously weren't the fastest to begin with.
I don't know which generation the system is, but running on CPU is definitely not an option, the difference is like night and day - I let a render run for like two hours before realizing there was an issue and it had progressed to a mere 2%. I'm not expecing wonders here, just that I could finish renders over night or during the day when I need my actual machine for other work.
I'm totally prepared to buy a new machine eventually, but the current GPU prices are just inflated to a level where I feel this isn't the right time to do so.
That sounds like you may have an early generation low-end Z600, then. You can find out via the Device Manager in Windows - it will tell you what number your Xeon CPU is and how many cores you have. If you see 12 x X5670s (or better) listed then something in settings is preventing Daz from accessing all cores, and it's probably trying to run on only one or two. If you see 12 x X5690s (top of the range) then... I want to buy it from you :-) Otherwise, you can get a refurbished later-generation HP Z600 with X5670 or X5675 CPUs for about $250. They were widely used as servers by businesses, even though they were made for artists, and sold by the tens of millions - thus they are very easy to find now as they are being sold off. Digital Art Live magazine had a full review and guide to the right kind of Z600 a while back, aimed at Poser and Vue users, which has a lot of useful tips.
The system has a mere eight cores, obviously an older model.
All I wanted was to get it render in the same manner than it already did. I didn't want it to be faster or anything, it used to work, I want it to work again in the same way it already did, that's all
Appearently too much to ask.
Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not going to buy another aging Z600, IF I upgrade I'm going to buy something that has any hope of being FASTER than the system I'm otherwise rending on now (which has a GTX 980). I know it'll cost me, and I am willing to shell out, just not two or three times the GPU RRP.
If you want to render "the same manner than it already did", then you must use the same version of DS and the drivers you used. When support for the RTX 30xx cards was added, the support for some older cards was removed (Not supported = Not working). They will not be bringing support back for the older cards.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/6200861/#Comment_6200861
4.14.0.8 (November 10, 2020)
Thanks PerttiA, I already figured as much - hence the "too much to ask" comment. The wonderful new world of software where updates the user never asked for are installed without him having any say in the matter.
The oldest Daz I still have a setup for is a version from 2019, maybe I'll try to install it and see if I can downgrade the video driver, though I wouldn't be surprised if this was impossible in Win 10.