Speed Difference: Cycles under 32bit Win7 vs. 64bit Linux

Artwork Blender Tests
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just finished rendering the scene under a fully HD installed linux … 64-bit Ubuntu (11.10) Studio with XFCE
Same render time as running off Live dvd: 1hr 36min
:smiley:

EDIT: I added a link in my original post to download my .blend if anyone’s interested. Personally, I’m interested if anyone has any advice on how to optimize the scene for more efficient rendering. QUITE new to Cycles, so I’d just end up poking around, not sure what’ll do what, enlessly testing …
:cool:

here’s the link again if u don’t wanna scroll back to the top:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2011/12/21/3241664/Test%20Duplivert%20Cycles%20Linux%2002.blend

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5min20sec GTX460 ubuntu 64bits

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Is that GPU?? Damn! but I needz to get me a new gfx card!! … it’s in the pipeline :wink:
also, was that only to 520 passes or the full 1000 ?

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Bao2, that was rude, man! :wink:

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5min21sec gtx 570 win7 64bits hmmm… I need to get me a new linux partition!!!

was that only to 520 passes or the full 1000

I’m guessing it was, it’s almost the same as what I got, and I checked it was 1000 passes

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LOL
And yes, was 1000 passes.

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LOLZ
just an eye-opener for me. I look forward to the day I can use GPU rendering. Hopefully within the next month or so.

Any tips on optimizing the scene?

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@artao: was your time with gpu or cpu (really bad time!), i tested the scene with windows 7 x64 blender svn 43876:
CPU i5 2500 -> 30:29 minutes (while surfing the internet)
GPU GF 8600 -> 1:03:10 minutes

i’ll try it in linux ubunto 11.10 using vmware (if Allah wishes) and report, :slight_smile:

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CPU. My GPU is incapable, mere ATI x600. I plan on replacing it ASAP with an NVidia card, prolly a GTX series.

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CPU.
what is your cpu

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Hi, guys. I did the test for the sake of single gpu vs multi-gpu comparison:

Ubuntu 64 bits

1 x GTX580: 00:04:05,35
2 x GTX580: 00:02:58,07

Results are pretty much in line with what I have seen so far: around 30% less time in most cases with 2 GPUs, can get to be 40% less time in certain situations.

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@bat3a I’m afraid that cuda don´t work on virtual machines.
I tested this with virtualbox.

Cheers, mib.

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Yes, that was my motivation to render the scene.
But from 5min20sec I only achieved 5min01sec changing the bounces to 8 I think it was but it affects render quality.
Another thing I tried was using planes instead those spheres and also make the planes emit only with one side but I was
surprised it had no effect in rendertime (only 2 seconds faster).

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Kinda expected that much. Even if you could get CUDA support in a VM, I bet you would find all kinds of issues.

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I said in my post, ATI x600 256M PCIe … :stuck_out_tongue:

@Bao2: thx. interesting. how about reducing the noise, especially in the caustics regions and the shadows?

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I said in my post, ATI x600 256M PCIe … :stuck_out_tongue:

your CPU not GPU, either amd or intel or maybe ARM :smiley:

i finished testing in ubunto 11.10 x64 using vmware, svn 43924:
CPU -> 27:47 mintues

there are about ~3 minutes different from win 7x64 and i don’t think it used the CPU effessently because of the virtual box, did’nt test the gpu because of not installing the drivers on ubunto.

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oh geez, sorry XD … how the heck did i misread that. heh
Intel Pentium D dual 3.4Ghz, 3G DDR2 RAM (EDIT: i’m not sure about the N/S bridges, i think the cache is 2M … could look that stuff up … Got the machine off craigslist … It’s a Dell Optiplex GX 620 tower)(it was a gift from my parents – not quite what i woulda bought for myself, but it’s HELLA better than my other desktop; now relegated to media server/game machine)

EDIT: try a linux Live distro maybe, instead of VM? … i tried like 8 distros before I finally decided to install Ubuntu Studio (which currently has no Live .iso, but the next version will)

EDIT EDIT: SAY!! Could someone who went the full 1000 passes please put up an image so I can see how the noise settles out without waiting three hours for it to render myself? :wink: :cool:
EDIT EDIT EDIT: Heck!! if it’s only taking 5 min. to go 1000 passes, howz it look at 2000? How many does it take for the noise to be GONE??

EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT: Today I’ll find me an 64-bit OpenMP SSE3 build on Graphical – if one’s there … Wondering what speed difference an ‘optimized’ build would have … … any recommendations on a 64-bit build for Linux? Eventually I’m sure I’ll be comfortable enuf with Linux again to compile it FOR my system – best optimization, yes?
… for now tho i’ll rely on builds by others …
:spin: :ba:
:eek:

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Arch Linux I think would be beyond me atm.
I moved to linux just over a year ago now, I used Linux Mint for about a month or two before moving to Arch. The Beginners guide is very useful and if you are computer literate, which I am sure you are, you will be able to follow this with ease and have it up and running in a couple of hours and you learn a lot more than if you were to install Ubuntu, Mint or Fedora etc… Also pacman is one of the best and most intuitive package managers I have ver used :slight_smile:

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You should be able to compile on your current install quite handily if you install gcc and all of Blenders dependencies from the ppas.

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Fish build is my weapon of choice: Optimized 64 bit and OpenMP enabled. :wink: