System upgrade, video card help please!

kaltland

I have a Core i7 4790, Nvidia GTX 980 4GB, 16GB, 1TB, 750W

I would like to use a 4K 27'' monitor, should I buy another video card? I don't want to drop the Daz3d rendering performace.

If I buy another Nvidia card (exclusively to render and modeling), maybe I can isolate the monitor in my old GTX 980. Would this 750W power be enough? 

Would 2 cards increase my cpu heat  ? I'm lost, need help!

thanks

 

LeatherGryphon

A power supply of 650w will nicely handle an RTX-3060 ($400+) and probably handle a 3070($600+) OK too. but a 750w power supply would be better for a 3070 or 3080($800+), but not enough for a 3090($1000+)

I don't know about handling 4K, because I don't have a 4K monitor so someone else will have to give a report.  But I can report that a 3060 handles 2K monitors (1440p) without breaking a sweat.

I'm assuming the 16GB is your motherboard's RAM size? and 4GB is the graphics card's VRAM size? 

If so, an RTX-3060 has 12GB VRAM and lots of CUDA cores for rendering DAZ images, but you might be limited by your motherboard's RAM size not being able to pre-process a large DAZ scene before dumping into VRAM for rendering.  32GB of RAM would be better.  And 48 or 64GB would be more impressive if not better.

Some RTX-3080 models have 12GB of VRAM but some only have 8GB or 10GB, which would also limit the size of DAZ scene you could render.  12GB is recommended.  3080's also have many more CUDA cores and should render faster than a 3060.  And right now, RTX-3080's are "cheap"ish .

RTX-3070 models, fit between 3060 and 3080 but when I looked at them it made more sense to go with either a 3080 or 3060.  I couldn't find an RTX-3070 with more than 8GB of VRAM.

The prices for the low end models (3050, 3060 & 3070) are probably not going to come down much more until after the 4000 series are fully issued.

Summary:  If you need a graphics card for DAZ rendering (either 3Delight or IRay) then an RTX-3060 with 12GB of VRAM is a good fit for the average DAZzer.  But professional graphics people doing long animations will need a high end card (3080 or 3090) on a more beefy computer with lots of fast RAM on a modern 500, or 600 level motherboard.  And I have a feeling that the RTX-30xx series of graphics cards will be around for many years as capable and practical devices for all except the most ambitious creators.

The yet to be released RTX-4000 series seem to be massive overkill for the average DAZzer.

I didn't consider an RTX-3050.  For me, the "50" models are just too wimpy for my type of work and too little bang for the buck. (if you disagree, explain your argument, in full, in the space provided here "_______")  If I'm going to spend $350 for an RTX-3050, I'd rather spend $400 for an RTX-3060 and get a major boost in performance and ability to handle large renders.  (Of course, a few months ago when graphics cards were unobtanium I thought about the 3050's for a while, but decided to wait.)

I'm tickled pink with my 3060.  I liked it so much I bought another for my secondary computer.

And as for multiple graphics cards in a single computer, I can't report.  I've never done it.  However, from what I read, it has limited advantage and is tricky to implement and utilize effectively.

Edited to add:  And you need to consider power connectors.  The upper end cards require two (or three) 8-pin, PCIe, power connectors from the power supply.  Whereas the basic lower end cards (3050 & 3060) only require one PCIe power connection.  

.  

butterflyfish

I have a 3050 and I love it. But I was coming from a 1050ti, so it's a huge improvement.

kaltland

LeatherGryphon said:

A power supply of 650w will nicely handle an RTX-3060 ($400+) and probably handle a 3070($600+) OK too. but a 750w power supply would be better for a 3070 or 3080($800+), but not enough for a 3090($1000+)

I don't know about handling 4K, because I don't have a 4K monitor so someone else will have to give a report.  But I can report that a 3060 handles 2K monitors (1440p) without breaking a sweat.

I'm assuming the 16GB is your motherboard's RAM size? and 4GB is the graphics card's VRAM size? 

If so, an RTX-3060 has 12GB VRAM and lots of CUDA cores for rendering DAZ images, but you might be limited by your motherboard's RAM size not being able to pre-process a large DAZ scene before dumping into VRAM for rendering.  32GB of RAM would be better.  And 48 or 64GB would be more impressive if not better.

Some RTX-3080 models have 12GB of VRAM but some only have 8GB or 10GB, which would also limit the size of DAZ scene you could render.  12GB is recommended.  3080's also have many more CUDA cores and should render faster than a 3060.  And right now, RTX-3080's are "cheap"ish .

RTX-3070 models, fit between 3060 and 3080 but when I looked at them it made more sense to go with either a 3080 or 3060.  I couldn't find an RTX-3070 with more than 8GB of VRAM.

The prices for the low end models (3050, 3060 & 3070) are probably not going to come down much more until after the 4000 series are fully issued.

Summary:  If you need a graphics card for DAZ rendering (either 3Delight or IRay) then an RTX-3060 with 12GB of VRAM is a good fit for the average DAZzer.  But professional graphics people doing long animations will need a high end card (3080 or 3090) on a more beefy computer with lots of fast RAM on a modern 500, or 600 level motherboard.  And I have a feeling that the RTX-30xx series of graphics cards will be around for many years as capable and practical devices for all except the most ambitious creators.

The yet to be released RTX-4000 series seem to be massive overkill for the average DAZzer.

I didn't consider an RTX-3050.  For me, the "50" models are just too wimpy for my type of work and too little bang for the buck. (if you disagree, explain your argument, in full, in the space provided here "_______")  If I'm going to spend $350 for an RTX-3050, I'd rather spend $400 for an RTX-3060 and get a major boost in performance and ability to handle large renders.  (Of course, a few months ago when graphics cards were unobtanium I was considering them.)

I'm tickled pink with my 3060.  I liked it so much I bought another for my secondary computer.

And as for multiple graphics cards in a single computer, I can't report.  I've never done it.  However, from what I read, it has limited advantage and is tricky to implement and utilize effectively.

Edited to add:  And you need to consider power connectors.  The upper end cards require two (or three) 8-pin, PCIe, power connectors from the power supply.  Whereas the basic lower end cards (3050 & 3060) only require one PCIe power connection.  

. 

Thank you so much for your help, 

I'm currently using a Nvidia GTX 980 4GB, and I'm super happy with it BUT I would like to buy a 4k monitor, I'm not sure if I should use 2 GPU's (one for the monitor and the other for rendering) or replace it all for a single RTX 3060 12GB. ----- 16GB is my memory ram but I think it's not that expensive to add 32GB.

***Honestly, I'm a long time mac user and I'm slowly going to PC, I love so much retina screen... :(

BradCarsten

It may be worth waiting for the 40 series cards to come out. I saw an article saying that the 4070ti will match the 3090's performance. 

kaltland

Sorry but what a VRAM means in a video card? larger scenes? or more objects?

 

Gordig

In order for Iray to use your GPU to render, the scene has to fit in the card's VRAM, making VRAM the most important consideration for Iray rendering (the more, the better). Texture maps make a bigger impact on VRAM than geometry, so you can render a ton of objects that all use the same texture maps more easily than you can render a smaller number of objects that each have multiple high-res texture maps.

kaltland

BradCarsten said:

It may be worth waiting for the 40 series cards to come out. I saw an article saying that the 4070ti will match the 3090's performance. 

I think you are right and prices need to drop, mainly for the RTX 3070 and 3080 but I'm afraid of these will need a 8-pin, PCIe, power connectors from the power supply... I have no idea if my motherboard can hold it. I have a 750W  

 

kaltland

I wish I could have both, a GTX 980 4GB (for a 4k monitor) and a new RTX 3060 or 3070... (for Daz3d).