I have to upgrade my old GPU (nvidia GTX 560) in order to continue using new versions of Blender. I wanted the Geforce GTX 1060. But since I am using Windows, I am hesitating. I have heard there are huge differences in rendering times for common nvidia cards under Windows 8/10 and Linux (heared that on Pablo Vazquez YT stream and on Behind The Pixelary). I am currently on Win7, but in the future I might have to migrate to Win10 and I want the GPU to be fully supported also on the new OS. So I am thinking of switching to AMD. Most likely RX 580.
I have searched through some benchmarks like the one here on BA and it seems there are differences in rendertimes between Win10 an Linux (ie on GTX 1070), but not huge.
I am doing mostly arch viz. No animations, no huge models. Just static images. Interior and exterior. I guess I will stick mostly to EEVEE, when the 2.80 is out. My PC is like 6 years old but works still fine (Win7, 8GB RAM, GTX 560, i5-2500). I will upgrade also the rest of the PC, but later.
What are your thoughts, any experinece using 1060 or 580 on Win10? Thanks a lot for your comments.
So AMD RX 580 is faster then GTX 1060 (3GB version) but probably closer with GTX 1060 (6GB version). Based on blender benchmarks provided by Blender team themselves (RX 580 vs GTX 1060 3GB version) http://download.blender.org/institute/benchmark/latest_snapshot.html
If you decide for the GTX side, make sure you get the GTX 1060 6GB over the 1060 3GB as these are completely different GPU’s . the 6GB version has more shaders and faster core…
I currently have 4 x AMD RX 480s (slightly lower clocked RX 580), and don’t have any issues running under WIndows 10
Hi, thanks for the comments. I have seen these benchmarks on blender.org but since the good support of AMD cards and OpenCL is relatively new (if i am not mistaken), I just think twice before I purchase something.
Anyway the thing about Nvidia GTX cards and their allegedly different performance under Linux and Win10 surprises me. I used to be all for Nvidia, but this issue dos not look OK to me. Thanks again for your replies.
OpenCL support for AMD is here for a few years, so not that new. The main thing that is relatively new (more then a year now) is that Blender team was able to tap into more rendering horsepower of the AMD Gpu’s making them shine against Nvidia cards.
Personally, I moved from a GTX 750ti to a GTX1050 ti SC from EVGA. That particular card does not require additional power connectors, runs happliy on my 500W psu alongside an i5-4570 an SSD, dvd drive and 1TB hard disk. Only cost me about 140 pounds (UK), which is great. I’ve tried overclocking it and can shave a couple of seconds off each frame, I now also tend to render in a 2.91 build with hybrid GPU/CPU and am seeing great bang for buck in that situation. In one instance, a difference of 11.36:99, (11 mins 37secs), for std build, run in 2.91 with the hybrid and o/c’d GPU, that went down to 10:32.37 (10 mins 37 secs). Those figures are a good 30% better than on my old GPU as well. for sure the 1060 is better still, but make sure your system has a PSU capable of handling it, including any added required power connectors. That was the main reason I opted for the EVGA 1050.
Hi Colkai, my PSU is Seasonic 620W, so I think I should be fine. What OS are you running, if I may ask?
I’m running 64-bit Windows 8.1, PC has 16GB of ram. The EVGA card is a 4GB card as well, so not too shabby.
OK, thanks for the info.