I have a core i5, 8Gb of RAM, SSD and a Nvidia GTX660Ti 2Gb.
I have some lag when previewing my scenes and I want improve that and also get better render times in cycles.
I know cuda cores are important for cycles but it’s not clear if that’s the most important thing. Is GPU RAM also important to take into account?
With a budget of ~350$ what graphics card should i but to change my 660Ti? It was already suggested to me the GTX1060, the 780i and the 970 so I’m full of doubts…
I really appreciate any advice about this. Thanks!
Hi, may it is possible to use 2 cards on your mainboard.
I use the card with higher VRAM for display and use the other card during preview/setup and set both for final render.
Keep an eye of your power supply too if it support two cards.
My time with Blender 2.78
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3Ghz
GPU: Nvidia GTX 660Ti 2GB
OS: Windows 10 Home 64bit
Time: 2 min 15 seconds (GPU - CUDA)
Time: 8 min 2 sec (CPU)
My motherboard supports 2 cards but I would like more to have only one that was good because I don’t use the computer only for Blender, but also gaming (ocasionally but…)
Hi.
When you render with GPU the machine turns unresponsive/slow and you most often can not use the PC while rendering. So it’s good to have an extra card to only handle the display. Besides your current card has good render times. If your scene does not exceed 2GB of VRAM you can use it in conjunction with the new card you buy.
About GTX 1060, blender master now has a patch that improves the performance of Pascal cards, so you stay tuned to the new results that users post in this thread:
Edit:
Regarding the lag you notice in rendered view. Do you mean the lag immediately after switching to rendered view and before you see any image?. That may be due to CPU I guess, but it should not be much time anyway with the CPU you have.
My objective is still to have only one card, the GTX970 or GTX780Ti as suggested but I’m interested in trying to have the dual card scenario and maybe change my mind.
I know it supports SLI but I don’t know if it supports two different cards. So, can I have in that motherboard, my GTX660Ti and the GTX970/GTX780Ti? If yes, I can then choose which card is used for the render preview and the one that is used for display right? And use both for render or If I want, only one?
I know it’s not directly related but, for games for example, in tha scenario, I can also choose which card to use?
Again, thanks for the support of you all.
EDIT: btw, the test with the BMW scene was made without making changes, so the scale used was 50% (hope it was like this). About the lag, it’s in the render preview, so in the 3D view but more noticeable in more detailed scenes.
Have enabled ‘SLI’ is not recommended for render.
Your motherboard supports both cards, note that these cards occupy the space of two slots on the motherboard. As ‘mib2berlin’ had recommended, you find out whether your PSU (power supply) has the Watt and connectors needed for the two cards.
If you want to work on the PC while render, then configure the new card only in Blender (GPU compute devices), and the GTX660Ti to handle the display.
If what you want is to have fast render times using the two cards, you set the two cards in Blender, and the one with more VRAM (the new card) to handle the display.
Edit:
I do not know what kind of scenes you’re used to working in Blender. But the amount of VRAM is important to keep in mind when buying a graphics card for Cycles.
I have just bought a 4Gb GTX680 to replace my 2Gb 670GTX. The performance difference is negligible, but the extra 2GB makes a world of difference for GPU rendering. No longer do I have to reduce image quality in textures, render in parts etc. I can do a more complete render in one go.
Hi. “Handle the display” part is not configured from Blender. You turn off the machine, and you connect the monitor/display cable to the 660Ti. Then in Compute Device options in Blender you choose the 1060 (I guess there in Compute Device, the 660Ti should be shown with a label at the end: “(Display)”)
Thanks YAFU. It’s confusing the fact that it shows “Display” at the end of the card (for me it shows that on both).
In my case, I have the GTX1060 connected to my monitors because I want to use it also for gaming. So in this case, the GTX1060 will be always used for the display right? I can choose in Blender the 660Ti to render.
In any circumstances you can use with Cycles one of the cards separately, or both. If you were concerned about the lag that occurs on the computer while render, then you must configure for Cycles the card that is not connected to the display.
I’m not sure about why the two cards are shown as Display on your machine.
