DS seems to not use my NVIDIA graphics card
yuyu.atem
Posts: 371
Hi, I am not sure if it's normal but when I make a render in DS, it seems that it can't use my NVIDIA graphic card, only my Intel card. Indeed, when I uncheck the CPU in the render settings to make DS to use only my GPU with my NVIDIA card, the render stops in a fraction of a second, without having rendered anything:
From what I understood, the render should be much faster if I could use my NVIDIA card and its GPU, so I am quite frustrated that it doesn't work... 
I checked back the CPU in the render settings, I started a render and I oppened the task manager to try to understand what is happenning, and I notice that, even when I am making a render, the NVIDIA card seems to be not used at all, except the temperature is a bit elevated (42°C instead of 38°C):
After some researchs, I also used this command on the terminal to check if CUDA is correcly installed on my computer:
From what I understand, CUDA seems to be correctly installed, but I am not an expert at all...
Do you know what is the problem, please?
Thank you in advance!
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Comments
try updating your drivers. Your on 512.78 and it's a bit old, also your CUDA driver version is a generation back. if you're getting your gpu drivers from Windows update they can be outdated the moment you install
Nvidia Studio Driver current version is 572.16. Download from Nvidia.com and do a clean install.
Iray requires at least 537.13 - some of the recent drivers have caused issues so I would not grab the latest (but be aware that older drivers have a potential security issue, including the ones you currently use so staying close to the minimum version won't actually worsen your position).
Ah, ok, thank you very much!
By the "minimum version", you mean the 537.13 version, is it that?
Which king of security issue do you mean? Is it highly dangerous? If there is an issue, will I see it immediately?
Thank you in advance!
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2504035/security-flaws-found-in-all-nvidia-geforce-gpus-update-drivers-asap.html
Thank you very much! Indeed, it's scary!
I am using a Norton 360 antivirus, do you know if it can compensate the risk?
Could you also tell me which drivers and which kind of issues, in order I can choose the best version, please?
Furthermore, on the GeForce Experience app, I find only the 572.16 version for downloading, is it normal?
Thank you in advance!
One of my cards is a 20 series Quadro, it works fine with the latest version 572.16. So you can first of all try with this version. Better be Studio version.
If the version doesn't work well, try version 561.09. Search the driver in here : https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/
Ah, ok, thank you very much! If it doesn't work well, would I see it quickly, or is it possible that there is an issue that I don't notice?
The problems haven't been system or scene breaking, so you can always roll back later if you do run into problems.
Yes, if it doesn't work well, when previewing / rendering your scene, you may see for instance: the progress bar (lower-right corner) is continuously progressing but nothing rendered in Viewport, wrong rendered results, even DS crash, etc. Then try the older version drivers.
Falling back to CPU is not a driver issue but just a fact of running out of VRAM. You have to further optimize your scene.
Ah, ok, thank you very much!
Have I also to update CUDA? Will it be update automatically with the driver? (Sorry, I know nothing about all of that so maybe my questions are completely idiot...)
No, you only need to update the driver. DO not install CUDA SDK or any CUDA related software.
Thank you very much! Could you tell me if it could be a problem if I would upgrade CUDA, please? In fact, I just started to learn AI yesterday at the university, and my teacher told me today that apparently, I would need to upgrade CUDA if I want to use my GPU to speed up calculations...
Could it create issues for DS or other 3D creation?
Thank you in advance!
Some folks ever reported issue related to the cases in which both Nvidia driver + CUDA SDK / Toolkit installed, like GPU failed to render, DS crash, etc. with different series of cards.
If you do have need of CUDA toolkit, you can install then test. See if they both work well...
Ah, ok, thank you very much! Since my AI lectures will be only one week by mounth, maybe I could upgrade CUDA just for the lecture weeks, and come back to my former version after each week? In this case, how can I know if I would have to come back to the 11.6.0, 11.6.1 or 11.6.2 CUDA version? I know that I have currently a 11.6 version, but I am not sure which one exactly...
latest Cuda version is 12.8.. If you install latest driver, just update Cuda to the 12.8.
Oh yes, but I mean, if this version causes issues needing to come back to a former version, which one would I have to install?
It's hard to tell... but you should first of all update Nvidia driver then test if it works with your current Cuda version. If there's no issue at all, note your current Cuda version number.
Then after you upgrade Cuda to latest version but find it won't work well, you certainly should roll back to the noted Cuda version ~~
Ah, ok, thank you very much!
Hi! I forgot to ask: is it normal that it is not written "studio", only "WHQL", when I click on "View"?
Thank you in advance!
Pilote NVIDIA Studio just means NSD (NVIDIA Studio Driver )
Ah, ok, thank you very much!