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Any way to use shared GPU memory to render?

Reality HackReality Hack Posts: 99
in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

When I render, my machine seems to use all my CPU, but just my dedicated GPU memory. It doesn't even seem to be using all of my memory. Is there any way to put the rest of my GPU to use? I mean, it's just sitting there.

Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • PerttiAPerttiA Posts: 10,024

    One of the (many) reasons one should not use Task Manager to monitor inner workings of the system.

    Your GPU has 8GB's of VRAM and that's all you can use.
    Out of that 8GB's Windows, DS, the scene and the necessary working space are taking about 4GB's. The rest is available for geometry and textures when rendering Iray

    GPU-Z is better in giving correct information
    https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/
     

  • Reality HackReality Hack Posts: 99

    Oh, I have GPU-Z. Unfortunately, what I don't have is the commensurate rocket surgery degree it takes to make any sense out of a literal panel of numbers in front of my face. And besides, from what you're saying, it wouldn't matter anyway.

  • NorthOf45NorthOf45 Posts: 5,489

    The GPU won't be used if there is not enough memory to fit the scene. From your screenshots, the CPU has taken the burden of rendering. In the GPU tab of Task Manager, click on the name of any one of the top 4 graphs (like Video Encode) and change it to CUDA. This will show how much, if any, of the GPU is being used for the render. It might blip a few iterations when you start, then fall back to zero if it can't handle the render. The only solution is to optimize the scene, either by removing or hiding objects you don't need, and/or using lower resolution materials (there are tools to do that, free and paid, or do it yourself). Texture bitmaps take the lion's share of the memory, so if you can reduce the size and number of textures needed, the GPU might be able to handle it.

  • Reality HackReality Hack Posts: 99

    Thanks. Yeah, it doesn't appear to be using the GPU at all. I have been doing relatively large scenes though.

    Okay, I just wanted to make sure my computer was grabbing the resources from where it could, and not over-taxing other areas, because it's begun freezing-up sporadically during the renders recently, and I don't remember that ever happening before. I'll work on reducing the scenes, and see if that maybe doesn't help. Thanks again.

  • AgitatedRiotAgitatedRiot Posts: 4,437

    Reality Hack said:

    Thanks. Yeah, it doesn't appear to be using the GPU at all. I have been doing relatively large scenes though.

    Okay, I just wanted to make sure my computer was grabbing the resources from where it could, and not over-taxing other areas, because it's begun freezing-up sporadically during the renders recently, and I don't remember that ever happening before. I'll work on reducing the scenes, and see if that maybe doesn't help. Thanks again. 

    The computer's sluggishness while rendering might be solved if you free up one of your four cores. Render Tab>Advance Cpu Load Limit set it to three instead of 4.

  • PadonePadone Posts: 3,700

    As I understand it cuda cores can only access dedicated vram, that's why shared vram is not used by iray. But it depends on the rendering engine, for example octane and cycles can use the shared vram for the textures but not for the geometry.

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