I have a GeForce 7300 GS graphics card in my Ubuntu machine, I am running Ubuntu Studio 16.04 with Blender 2.77.
The machine has an AMD 4.6GHz 4 core processor, but render times are around 7 minutes per frame, I know I have not shown the model, but it can be found here:
I have loaded Nvidia Driver, nvidia-cuda-toolkit, nvidia-modprobe, but I do not see the option for CUDA rendering in User Prefs => System - I just get Compute Device = “None”. That is what I was advised to do on an Ubuntu forum and various other places.
I have obviously missed something, can anyone tell me what and how I put it right please? I am told that render times will be MUCH faster with GPU rendering, but I cannot get Blender to see my GPU and the full animation of my project is 4900 frames, so at 7 minutes per frame, this is one mother of a long time to spend in the pub waiting for it to render. :yes:
Not all gpus are equal. Some are old and weak and lack of features, and then others are more recent and more powerful. Gpu rendering is not a magick bullet. It’s not cheap. Most laptop gpus are not capable at all to compete with any cpu. For Nvidia cards, one should look only on GTX cards and not older than 700 series.
The GTX 770 is a rebranded and slightly overclocked GTX 680 - so that’s a rather old design by now.
2 GB VRAM are about the bare minimum these days: Better go for at least 4 GB.
It is not a performance issue, when your scene not fit in to the 4 GB you cant render at all.
Take a look at your memory footprint on heavy scenes, add 3-400 MB for the system itself and your get an overview what you need.
You get it in germany for 220 British Pound or cheaper.
Thought PC parts are cheaper in GB than in germany.
If I like a shop and they have good service I am willing to pay more but not to much.
With everyone going crazy after the GTX 1080 there should be people selling their GTX 980s or GTX 980Ti. GPU VRAM amount depends–If I remember correctly more VRAM doesn’t mean a more powerful GPU.
For example, the R9 390 has 8GB of VRAM and the GTX 980Ti has 6GB of VRAM but the 980Ti is more powerful because the GPU itself is more powerful allowing it to process more data negating the need for more RAM.
270 pounds is right around the price of a GTX 970, bit on the high end though but this varies depending on the manufacturer–which one is it?
I’ll throw out another option. Even chopping it out into 2-5 second runs, you’re looking at a lot of rendering time tying up your computer. Not everything needs to be done yourself - look into online render farms for the actual production work. You can get better, faster results without the hassles.
I generally do all the production work on my MacBook Pro and then transfer the file to my server (Ubuntu Studio 16.04, blah blah) to do the rendering, so my normal workhorse is not tied up, it would be nice to have this machine do the rendering a lot faster though, so I will pursue this as I refine the model, but the option of a render farm for the final version with full sample rate, no compression, etc. etc. is appealing!
Thanks for the heads-up.
Cheers, Clock.
EDIT:
I’ll report on the manufacturer once I have been to the shop to see it.
OK, I went to the shop, it’s an MSI GTX970. I have to leave my machine with them because I also need a new power supply and an extra fan put in the case, although it is a heat dissipating aluminium case! They have also upped the RAM and put a 6-core processor in it, not that it needed this, but they had the bits sitting in the shop having broken up another machine that someone had fried the mother board.
Haha, you start asking with a 7300GS and end with complete new power system.
This system will kick you in da …
Btw. you can check start two instances of Blender and render some frames on the CPU and some on the GPU at the same time.
Man is this thing like s*** off a shovel for speed. 37 seconds to do a 1920 x 1080 at 300 cycles render as opposed to 7 minutes on my MacBook - eeeeeeeek, thanks for the advice chaps.
37 seconds to do a 1920 x 1080 at 300 cycles render as opposed to 7 minutes on my MacBook - eeeeeeeek, thanks for the advice chaps.