AMD radeon 7xxx series driver issues solved

[jovicajankovic]

Im planning to buy a new pc which should do a massive render work for me, i mainly do architectural stuff,such as modelling and than Vray rendering,Adobe PS and ofc AutoCad. And i want to do that the fastest it can. So Im standing in a crossroad and dont know where to go: should i take sapphine 7950 vapor x or some equal nVidia card(gtx 660ti or gtx 670).

Thats only my first question. Second question is about which CPU i should buy: intel i7 4770 or intel xeon E5.

Thanks in advance

[Dimitris Tolios]

Which issues with 79xx cards/drivers are you after?

 

*3DS - none real issue afaik

*ACAD - none real issue afaik

*Revit - none real issue afaik

*PS - none real issue afaik - if you have the newer Adobe CC with OpenCL acceleration, the 7950 probably beats the GTX Titan.

*VRay RT GPU: the only known issue, unsolved and won't be solved with drivers. It is bad OpenCL implementation on Chaosgroup's side probably. No other explanation it being the only OpenCL program/benchmark Radeons flop. Maybe with a newer RT version things will change...most likely that will take some time.

 

For a workstation that won't be running OpenCL accelerated stuff (other than VRay RT that doesn't work well with AMD) and OpenGL heavy workloads (i.e. Rhino, C4D, Maya - anything but 3DS/ACAD/Revit), the 7950 has no real advantage over a smaller, cooler running nVidia card.

Consumes more power and it is huge - harder to fit in smaller cases.

 

For certain stuff (OpenCL compute, coin mining etc) it is king for the price.

 

Xeon E5 vs. i7 - 4770K => i7 all the way...there is no way you can match the performance of a 4770K with any E5 Xeon for the average workflow.

Single threaded performance will simply be lacking too much with a E5*, and only the faster / very expensive 6 and 8 hyperthreaded models will make a difference when rendering. In general, Xeon systems worth it over i7s when you go all-out for workstations with 2x CPUs, and again you are focusing on multithreaded performance, as the 4770K will still beat the fastest Xeon available today, and that won't change with IB-E Xeons either. That's with overclocking out of the picture. A mildly clocked 4770K is simply the fastest CPU available for single threaded heavy workflows (i.e. 3DS/ACAD/Revit/Maya/Rhino/Sketchup and pretty much any modelling program before you hit the "render" button).

 

*lacking by comparison to the much faster 4770K...E5 won't be pathetically slow, just notably slower than the 4770K that is 2 generations ahead and packs a base frequency around 1GHz faster than most E5s and turboboosts to even further.

Edited August 9, 2013 by dtolios

[jovicajankovic]

Thanks. Now ive chosen which CPU ill take.

So, if i want to use Vray RT i should not take AMD card? Im doing architectural rendering,just like interior,exterior,etc... Which card u ll recommend to me?

[Dimitris Tolios]

The 7950 is a great card. But it runs hot (it is normal, I am not saying it as a negative as far as electronics or life expectancy), draws a lot of power etc. It has superior compute performance - but not for VRay RT - and superior OpenGL performance in comparison to any GeForce priced remotely close to it...especially now that retailers - at least in the US - are trying to unload all stock of 79xx cards, with the new generation around the corner. 7950s have been spoted below $200 new, which is a "steal".

 

GPU compute performance has nothing to do with renderings outside VRay RT GPU.

GPU OpenGL performance has nothing to do with 3DS/Revit/ACAD which don't use it.

 

So, yes, the 7950 utility smaller than most nVidia cards for the programs above, as its superior compute in OpenCL and viewport performance in OpenGL cannot be used. That doesn't mean that it cannot work or it won't work well in D3D/Nitrous viewports. It will do just fine.

 

It is just an uneeded powerhouse if you won't be gaming / mining / or at least doing OpenGL stuff where AMD cards excel at.

 

Vray RT "might work" with the 7950, but it is not nearly as fast as it should be. Defeats the perpose if it is not for using it either as an activeshade preview or a production rendering engine.