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Can this Dell Configuration with a GTX 745 Handle Iray Rendering?

tristanthorne1997tristanthorne1997 Posts: 241
in New Users

I have a PC with a GTX 970 that works well with DAZ and iRay. I am thinking of getting a second, less expensive PC for my office, and was wondering if the config below using a GTX 745 will work as well as one using a 970. How much slower are renders with the 745 vs. a 970, all other components being equal?

Processor & Memory: 

  • Intel® Core i7-6700 Processor 3.4GHz
  • 32GB DDR4 2133MHz RAM

Drives:

  • 1TB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
  • DVD-RW (Writes to DVD/CD

Graphics & Video:

  • 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745 Graphics

Comments

  • vwranglervwrangler Posts: 4,903

    If you do relatively simple, basic scenes, then you should be fine. If your scenes ever go above 4GB in memory size, then no, it won't, as I can tell you from experience. I have a computer with a 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745 -- that particular card is an OEM card offered only through Dell and HP, at the moment. Other specs for my system are substantially the same, with insignificant differences.

    The problem, with Studio, is the combination of only 4GB RAM with only 384 cores in the 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745 means that the graphics card gets overloaded very quickly and has to offload the work to the CPU. Also, unless you have a second graphics card/chip in that system, you're not going to be able to do much, if anything, while it renders.

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    edited December 2015
    vwrangler said:

     Also, unless you have a second graphics card/chip in that system, you're not going to be able to do much, if anything, while it renders.

    And will have less than 4 GB available to begin with...as the job of running your monitor will consume between 250 MB and 1.5 GB of your graphics memory. (generally in the 250-400 MB range, unless you have ALL the Windows eyecandy turned on).

    Post edited by mjc1016 on
  • tristanthorne1997tristanthorne1997 Posts: 241

    Thank you both. I don't mind if I can't multitask while rendering....I just use a KVM switch to use my laptop for work while it renders. But I was just wanting to make sure the PC itself wouldn't actually crash. One would think that it would be ok with an i7 and 32GB RAM....right? Opinions?

    This system is only $799 right now at Costco. Is there a system out there for $799 that could run DAZ 4.8 better if this one can't?

    Thanks for any additional comments or advice!

  • vwranglervwrangler Posts: 4,903
    tristanthorne1997 said:

    Thank you both. I don't mind if I can't multitask while rendering....I just use a KVM switch to use my laptop for work while it renders. But I was just wanting to make sure the PC itself wouldn't actually crash. One would think that it would be ok with an i7 and 32GB RAM....right? Opinions?

    This system is only $799 right now at Costco. Is there a system out there for $799 that could run DAZ 4.8 better if this one can't?

    Thanks for any additional comments or advice!

     

    As long as you don't actually plan to use it for anything else while it renders, you should be OK. I'd set Studio to just use the CPU by default for Iray renders (and did) because Iray will offload to the CPU anyway when it gets pushed beyond memory or core capacity. As I understand it, Iray won't split the difference; it runs out of capacity on the graphics card and pushes all of the processing onto the CPU. If you're rendering anything more than a single character with relatively uncomplicated hair and clothing, you might as well start there. CPU rendering takes longer, but if you don't need speed, that should be fine.

  • tristanthorne1997tristanthorne1997 Posts: 241

    Excellent. Thank you, vwrangler!

  • heinzerbrew_f94794efffheinzerbrew_f94794efff Posts: 235
    vwrangler said:

    If you do relatively simple, basic scenes, then you should be fine. If your scenes ever go above 4GB in memory size, then no, it won't, as I can tell you from experience. I have a computer with a 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745 -- that particular card is an OEM card offered only through Dell and HP, at the moment. Other specs for my system are substantially the same, with insignificant differences.

    The problem, with Studio, is the combination of only 4GB RAM with only 384 cores in the 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745 means that the graphics card gets overloaded very quickly and has to offload the work to the CPU. Also, unless you have a second graphics card/chip in that system, you're not going to be able to do much, if anything, while it renders.

    How can you determine how much vram a scene uses/needs? I don't know if 2 gb is enough for my scenes or if I have to buy a card with 4.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 102,813
    heinzerbrew_f94794efff said:
    vwrangler said:

    If you do relatively simple, basic scenes, then you should be fine. If your scenes ever go above 4GB in memory size, then no, it won't, as I can tell you from experience. I have a computer with a 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745 -- that particular card is an OEM card offered only through Dell and HP, at the moment. Other specs for my system are substantially the same, with insignificant differences.

    The problem, with Studio, is the combination of only 4GB RAM with only 384 cores in the 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745 means that the graphics card gets overloaded very quickly and has to offload the work to the CPU. Also, unless you have a second graphics card/chip in that system, you're not going to be able to do much, if anything, while it renders.

    How can you determine how much vram a scene uses/needs? I don't know if 2 gb is enough for my scenes or if I have to buy a card with 4.

    Unfortunately there isn't a way to gauge the RAM requirement in advance.

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