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Iray, VRAM and Task Manager

QuasarQuasar Posts: 650
in The Commons

I've been using Daz Studio for some years now. since Iray has been around, I've been loading items into my scenes and hoping I don't overload the VRAM. We all know what a pain it is when a render drops to CPU. Then, a few days ago, I wondered if I could see how much VRAM I'm using and decided to check the Windows Task Manager. I've known it was there but never thought to see if it had a VRAM monitor in it before now. To my delight, it does! It seems to work pretty well too. Have others been using this all along and I just missed it all this time?

For those who haven't tried it, right-click on the Windows button and select Task Manager on the menu. If it's the first time you've used it, you may not see all the tabs at first. If that's the case, click on More Derails at the bottom of the window. Once you see the tabs, click on the Performance tab and then select GPU. 

I've been able to watch the VRAM usage while I'm rendering and see how close I'm getting to the max. It's been really handy. I can see how much of my regular RAM is being used as well. I have Studio set to render in a new window, and I've noticed that Studio does not release the VRAM from the render, even after it's done, until I close the window. That means each new render will use up a little more VRAM if there are multiple render windows open. I like to compare renders sometimes after making changes, so that was a surprising discovery. Don't do that if you're getting close to your video card's limit.

Anyway, maybe this is something most people know, but I've seen some people ask if there is a way to know if your PC is dropping to CPU rendering. This might be a good way, so I thought I would share. 

Comments

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,202

    ...still on W7 and Task Manager doesn't have that option so I use MSI Afterburner.

  • NorthOf45NorthOf45 Posts: 5,533

    Quasar said:

    I've been using Daz Studio for some years now. since Iray has been around, I've been loading items into my scenes and hoping I don't overload the VRAM. We all know what a pain it is when a render drops to CPU. Then, a few days ago, I wondered if I could see how much VRAM I'm using and decided to check the Windows Task Manager. I've known it was there but never thought to see if it had a VRAM monitor in it before now. To my delight, it does! It seems to work pretty well too. Have others been using this all along and I just missed it all this time?

    For those who haven't tried it, right-click on the Windows button and select Task Manager on the menu. If it's the first time you've used it, you may not see all the tabs at first. If that's the case, click on More Derails at the bottom of the window. Once you see the tabs, click on the Performance tab and then select GPU. 

    I've been able to watch the VRAM usage while I'm rendering and see how close I'm getting to the max. It's been really handy. I can see how much of my regular RAM is being used as well. I have Studio set to render in a new window, and I've noticed that Studio does not release the VRAM from the render, even after it's done, until I close the window. That means each new render will use up a little more VRAM if there are multiple render windows open. I like to compare renders sometimes after making changes, so that was a surprising discovery. Don't do that if you're getting close to your video card's limit.

    Anyway, maybe this is something most people know, but I've seen some people ask if there is a way to know if your PC is dropping to CPU rendering. This might be a good way, so I thought I would share. 

    If you set the graph to "Multiple engines", you can change the parameters displayed in each of the four graphs. You might like to set one of them to "Cuda" to see if, and how hard, your GPU is actually rendering.

  • QuasarQuasar Posts: 650

    Thanks for the tip. It uses 95-100% of the Cuda cores in the scene I'm rendering now.

  • TynkereTynkere Posts: 834

    +1 on After Burner.  

    Somewhat related-- maybe you've already noticed.  In Taskman, Memory for RAM.  If "Standby" memory gets to be about about twice what's "in use" from DAZ and iRay-- I save and reboot.  DAZ Studio gets unstable and can crash DS 4.12 in 4.20.  OS is Windows 10

  • QuasarQuasar Posts: 650

    I went to look at the Memory graphs and found the Resource Monitor that shows the Standby and In Use memory. I'll keep an eye in that too. Thanks.

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,202

    ..I often use the Resoruce Monitor when it seems like things are bogging down

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