Issues with innacurate VRAM usage and capacity on a 6GB video card.
sthoutsz
Posts: 0
Hey. I've tried searching around here and on other forums on this topic but I haven't yet been able to find something specific to what I'm trying to work out here. I've got a 6GB 1660 Super, Ryzen 3600, 32GB RAM and work off of an SSD, for future reference.
My issue is I've been trying to pinpoint exactly how much and in what way I can manage the VRAM that DAZ uses so that I know for a fact what I can work with. I know that Windows reserves some of it and the monitor uses some, too, but I should still have somewhere around 5GB available. And yet, unless the log file is lying or not accurately displaying every relevant piece of information (or maybe I'm not reading it correctly), I can rarely if ever go past 2GB of total VRAM there (as detailed in the log file), which seems very weird to me. The render starts and times out and I get the "no worker to render with" error log. Also, from time to time, even the Viewport Preview Iray fails and gets stuck in a "Preparing Scene" loop forever. I don't use heavy or extremely detailed textures/HDRIs/lights and I know about Scene Optimizer, since I'm very aware of the 6GB limitation. The only thing related to that could be some sort of corrupted/unoptimized textures that flood everything but it happens regardless of that. I have the files installed manually and use them through the Content Library panel but I don't think there could be any issue there.
Right now I've got DAZ idle in the background with nothing loaded and GPU-Z says that around 3GB of memory is being used. The Performance Tab in Task Manager is also widely unhelpful as well. In DAZ' Advanced Settings, the CPU boxes in both Photo Real and Interactive mode are unchecked, as is CPU fallback. After quickly rendering a default G3F model, no lights, the usage is only a few hundred MB more on top of those 3GB and the log file says the total was somehwere around 200 MB. I've fit quite a few G3 models, all clothed and with hair, with relatively medium sized environments in the past (but when not actively aware of much of the technical aspects of DAZ, in regards to rendering) and that seemed accurate from what I've gathered in general, but lately things have been acting very strangely. I wonder if I've accidentally changed some setting somewhere or maybe I'm just not looking in the right place.
I'd appreciate any advice.
Thanks in advance.
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Comments
The OS takes some, DS takes some and some is used by the scene when you load it.
When you are rendering in Iray, VRAM is needed for geometry, textures and 'Working Space'. Working space needs 1-1.75GB's for the rendering to go through at 'normal' speed
GTX card use some VRAM also for the missing RTX functions to be done in software - How much, I don't know as I don't have a GTX card.
I have an 8GB RTX 2070 Super and made the attached test for another thread a while back to see how the RAM and VRAM were used.
Case a) Just one lightweight G8 figure with lightweight clothing and hair
Case b) Four similar G8 figures with architecture
Case c and d) Started increasing SubD on the figures to see at which point the rendering would drop to CPU
If you look at Case C, the total usage of VRAM was 7.8 GB's, while DS log was reporting the Geometry+Textures+Working Space to use 5.7GB's, which would translate into 3.7GB's on a 6GB card and if the required space for Working Space is deducted, there would be some 2.7GB's available for the geometry and textures on a 6GB RTX, less than that on a 6GB GTX.
So effectively, I only have around 3GB of 'real' VRAM to work with, more or less. That's...worse than I hoped and worse than I feared.
Now is not a good time for buying new video cards, regardless of what you use them for.
Still. I was generally advised 6GB would be enough for learning the ropes as a beginner, but as it turns out, that couldn't be further from the truth.
Damn, DAZ is not the kind of software to use half-heartedly, I suppose.
Anyway. Thanks for the clarification.
What version of DS are you running? As a point of comparison, I'm running 4.12 on a Dell laptop with a 6Gb 1660, and with DS running in the background GPU-Z shows 1.35 Gb VRAM in use, and I can render scenes with 3-5 clothed G3 and/or G8 figures entirely on the GPU. I suppose that RTX emulation could account for some of the difference if you're running DS 4.15, but I woudn't expect it double VRAM usage.
Have you updated your graphics driver recently? Since you said that this started recently and you've successfully rendered scenes with multiple figures in the past, maybe a driver update screwed the pooch?
Appreciate your input.
Yes, that could be a likely issue as well; I have thought about that.
I always run the latest versions of everything, since about 99% time it's always more beneficial in regards to general software compatibility, but that severely faulty 1% should always be taken into account, I suppose.
Right now, DAZ is 4.15 and I have the latest Nvidia and Windows updates.
However, if I'm not mistaken, I think laptop GPUs are a little different from 'regular' ones, so perhaps it requires a little less juice or something (as you've pointed out, though, double VRAM seems a little too much still). But don't quote me on that, I don't really know what I'm talking about.
Hopefully, there's a good samaritan around here with a similar setup that can either confirm or contradict my findings, so I could know for sure the problem lies with me, which would more accurately define my ongoing throubleshooting.
I've still a novice but hav had similar issues. So take what I say with a grain of salt...
I've rendered a scene with 5 G8 characters, draw dome, and a building prior to my issues. Now I have trouble fitting two characters on screen.
Sometimes I feel Daz gets bugged or corrupted, the more complex or how much you work the scene. However, I noticed one little thing that solved my issue: Sub-D level.
I checked for my G8 female and it was (?) when I was having VRAM issues. I changed it to 3 or 4 and was able to render. I also decided the change her top and my scene wouldn't render when it did before with a different top. Found out the new top was way more detailed than the other, even though it didn't seem it would be.
Lastly, get scene optimizer. It is a game changer; especially for novices.
*Double post*