Inexpensive video card with GPU support?

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1

Hello,

I’m on ubuntu 16.10 with a Core Duo at 2x3GHz, 4GB RAM.
I’m an occasional blender user, doing quite simple animations. I’d like to speed up the rendering process a bit, but as I use it only every few months, it’s not worth spending a lot of money on it.

So I’d be grateful for a hint on an inexpensive video card with GPU rendering support, which can be obtained for a few Euros second hand. My motherboard supports AGP and PCI-e 1x only, two monitor ports would be appreciated. So it can rather be a low-end device.

Or is there a database, wiki or online list on that issue I could not find yet?

Cheers,Wolf

2

Hi. Could you specify the exact model of your CPU and motherboard?. And an estimate budget of what you can spend.
Also you run the benchmark with BMW27.blend scene and share the time you get with CPU (set tiles size under Render tab > Performance to X=32 and Y=32):
https://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?239480-2-7x-Cycles-benchmark-(Updated-BMW)

3

Hello, thanks for your attention - greatly appreciated!

My rendering time on blender 2.78a:
21:06:13 (21min 06 sec) - both CPUs, GPU not available. (I put the result into the table here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dElkM3l6VTdRQjhTRWhpVS1hZmV3OGc6MQ)
System monitor shows both CPUs constantly at 100%

My System:
ubuntu 16.10, 64bit
Intel Core2 Duo CPU E6850 2x 3.00GHz
4GB RAM
Motherboard:
FUJITSU SIEMENS: MS-7504VP-PV
video card:
nvidia G98 [GeForce G 100]

Budget… - well…
As I’m not working so much with blender, something like 20€ would be allright. Does really not have to be some high-end toy… (-;

Cheers,Wolf

4

Hi, I bought a GT 630 2 GB used for 30€ a few month ago and a GTX 670 2GB for 90€ on Ebay private.
The GT 630 or 640 is minimum for GPU render, they are a bit faster than your CPU but limited by 2 GB.
My mid class GTX 760 was 300€ new and it need 02:25.00 minutes for the BMW27.
Maybe you can find a user with GT cards in the BMW thread to compare time.
A 20 € card make no sense.

Cheers, mib
EDIT: Are you use the BMW27.blend with 400 Samples?
My i5 3770K need 06:44.23, should be much faster than a Core2Duo.

5

I downloaded the BMW on the link provided. My result is 21:06:13 - so I was way slower than yours.
GT 630 looks good - but my guess is that it’s not available with PCIe x1 - thats what my motherboard allows. So I guess I need something really low-endish.

Grüße aus dem Berliner Westend,
Wolf

6

Hi, PCie 2.0 is backward compatible to 1.0, should be not a problem.
Keep in mind you need at least a Cuda Compute Capability 2.0 for Cycles.

I meant my i5 is a quad core and 3-4 generations later than Core2Duo, should be more than 3,5 times faster but is not important for your question.

Gruss aus Steglitz, mib o/

7

I agree with mib2berlin about a 20 € card make no sense.
You try to buy the best you can get for your budget. That should have at least 2GB of vRAM, but better if you get something with a bit more memory. The general rule in nvidia nomenclature, for example GT(X) ABC (Ti):
X: GTX is better than GT. GT is really low end graphics card.
A: The higher that number, the more new technology/family is the graphics card.
BC: Within the same family (equal number of A), the greater the number BC, better the card.
Ti: taking into account the same GT(X) ABC model, if it has a Ti means an improvement over the same model without Ti.

Anyway even a GT card could give better times than the ones you get with CPU. I can not find results from the GT 630, but there are some from the GT 730:
https://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?239480-2-7x-Cycles-benchmark-(Updated-BMW)/page109
Here one with GTX 750:
https://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?239480-2-7x-Cycles-benchmark-(Updated-BMW)&p=2973545&viewfull=1#post2973545
And here one with GTX 750 Ti:
https://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?239480-2-7x-Cycles-benchmark-(Updated-BMW)&p=3063560&viewfull=1#post3063560

Before buying the card, you see what you can get and you ask here again about which one is the best.

8

Thanks a lot for all your wisdom - I’m really grateful!

Still I’m not certain about that one thing:
The motherboard looks like this:


As far as I can understand, it has got a PCIe x1 slot. I read in wikipedia, that PCIe x4, x8 or higher cards can work there, but its not really certain. There are open slots, which allow cards with a higher number of lanes, but this one does not.

I found this article:


which seems to confirm this.

Hm. Do you have better information?

Cheers,Wolf

9

Oh sorry. You’re right. It is not possible to use these cards in PCIe x1

Edit:
I can not find the specs on your motherboard, I’m not sure what that black slot is, seems a PCie for graphics cards.

10

Oh man, this slot is to short, argh.

Mib

11

The black slot seems to be a PCIex16, which means it could (in theory) hold one of the cards you mentioned. Unfortunately, it seems that this mobo doesn’t support more than 2Gb RAM (and quite slow RAM, at it).
If you can stretch your budget a bit, I’d go for a GTX750Ti. They’re small and cool, and quite powerful for their price.

12

It’s really hard to find information about that motherboard, but apparently someone here is using a PCIe card on that motherboard:

So investigate about that black slot that appears in some images.

13

Thanks for your tremendous patience!

I guess you are right and I told bullshit.
This is my present video card:

upload.jpg2048×1536 638 KB

And this looks very much like a PCIe x16 - doesn’t it?

My system holds 4GB of RAM. Think, this may be not too bad to begin with.
So things boil down that I can easily look for any reasonable card and don’t have to care for mobo limitations.

Thank you guys - you made my day!

Cheers,Wolf

14

Yes, it is:
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-g100/specifications

15

Your page says it is “CUDA” - but does not say which version. At the moment, I cannot select “GPU” in user prefs.

16

v1.1

Just one more thing. Of those cards had been mentioned, the same model can come with different amounts of vRAM. So you keep in mind that when you buy the card and choose one model with 2GB of vRAM.

17

with that old thing you might not even get the full performance of any card, and what about your power supply? does it have the right plugs? is it powerful enough to run modern hardware?

new cards use atleast one of these usually.

SATPCIEXADAP.C.jpg600×600 15.1 KB

18

True, you have to take into account the requirements of the PSU. But not overclocked versions of the mentioned models consume very little power and do not need 6 pin connector:

Overclocked versions need more power, and they usually come with an adapter like the one shown in the third photo here:

Minimum true 300W PSU is required.

Anyway, it’s difficult to predict what might happen when you mix an old component like that motherboard and some new component like those graphics cards.

Edit:
Another thing to keep in mind is that these cards occupy Dual Slot space, so you will not be able to use the PCI slot that is next to PCIe (probably you were not using it anyway)

19

Hello, took some time, but now I’m owner of a 1GB GT 630, cost was 23€ incl. shipping.

Rendering time für BMW27now is half - 10:19.69.
With my animation, I’m now down to about 1/3. So I’m quite happy with the result.

When I first inserted the card, I was amazed that GPU temperature was around 80° when close to idle; when playing a movie or rendering, temperature went up to 110°, within 2’ the screen went dark. Pulled the card out again and saw that the heat sink was attached at the wrong side of the board. - Can you imagine? - I guess, the seller bought it second-hand as well, had trouble and did not notice the reason.

Anyway - I’d like to say thank you to all supporters; my initial goal of a considerable improvement for little money was fully accomplished.

Cheers,Wolf

20

I am sorry to revive this old question…

but since it is relevant as I am building a new computer for myself that will cost around 2500 € only for the case without screens oor anything I need to ask… will this cut the mustard :slight_smile:

this is the entire configuration I consider for use with blender and unity… as well as being my main programming computer that needs to run SQL in the background for testing purposes… oh and I like to play a game every now and then :slight_smile:

GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC 4G grafische kaart
(DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort)

currently priced at € 227,90€

Configuration
€ 2.300,90*
» Overview
MotherBoard
ASUS PRIME X399-A, socket TR4 moederbord RAID, Gb-LAN, Sound, E-ATX
1 x € 334,-*
Processor
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1900X, 3,8 GHz socket TR4 processor
1 x € 379,-*
Processorcooler
Fractal Design Celsius S36 water cooling Zwart
1 x € 129,90*
Memeory
Corsair 16 GB DDR4-3000 Kit werkgeheugen Zwart, CMK16GX4M2B3000C15, Vengeance LPX, XMP
1 x € 187,90*
Video Card
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC 4G grafische kaart DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort
1 x € 227,90*
Casing
NZXT Phantom 820 big tower behuizing Wit, USB 3.0, Window-kit
1 x € 199,90*
Allimentation
Seasonic PRIME SNOW Silent, 750 Watt voeding 750W
1 x € 209,90*
Hard Disk SSD
Kingston SSDNow KC400, 512 GB SSD SATA 600, SKC400S37/512G
1 x € 194,90*
Hard Disks
WD Black, 1 TB Harde schijf SATA 600, WD10JPLX, AF
4 x € 71,90*
Besturingssystemen
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64bit software dutch (would prefer english)
1 x € 149,90*