Calling all V-Ray RT + GTX users

[markeades]

We are in need of new 3D studio Max 2014 workstations and seeing the progress GPU rendering is making with V-Ray RT, we are looking for recommendations from users in the architectural sphere as we all handle large floor plates.

 

We are initially thinking a GTX TITAN and a GTX 680 as the TITAN is the only card with its 6gb of ram which is capable of loading the scenes. The GTX 680 with 2gb of ram looks quite capable of handling the viewports and as its Direct X these days, there is absolutly no benefit in Quadro any more. If a single TITAN is capable of giving adequate RT performance then fine otherwise we can add a second TITAN later.

 

What we can't find is baseline information and examples on the loading on the CPU's and the number of Cores required. We have reviewed the costs and main manufacturers of workstations and of course all are selling workstations with Quadros and won't consider 'Gaming Cards' so it looks like we will have to get a made to measure system or re-sell some Quadro's !

Currently we have Dual Xeon workstations and a decent Quadro. Simple RT testing on this platform works but the single card makes max unuseably sluggish and across all 8 CPU cores it shows a continuous 50% loading while feeding the GPU the scenes.

We can't decide whether an Intel Core i7 3930X Unlocked (6 x 3.2 GHZ) would be quite adequate, an Intel i7 3770K - (4 x 3.5 GHZ) - Ivy Bridge which is far better priced all be it 2/3 the performance or do we need to be looking at 2x E5-2630 Intel Six-Core Xeon 2.3GHz 15MB Cache.

If we can go for i7 then there is a far greater choice of components and faster RAM, not to mention over-clocking where required.

 

Who of you have already made the move to RT, what have you based the workstations on and what are your experiences

 

As this will be in use for the next 4 years we need to make the right decision and our BOSS wants proof it is going to work as advertised otherwise its NO RT

 

ANYONE seen anything appropriate on YouTube to demonstrate V-Ray RT with Architecture ?

[Tommy L]

I use RT on a GTX (zotac 3gb) for product and vehicle stuff where you have to be very creative/abstract with lighting, I dont use it for arch-vis. I find DR (across 10 nodes) is quicker and more accurate. RT just gets finicky, maybe I dont have enough experience with it to be a good judge.

[Scott Schroeder]

RT is great for set up and light tweaks. Yet until they bring out Vray 3, it is just not production worthy compared to other renders like Octane or Corona (though corona is not GPU). The issue with GPU rendering is the tricks and work arounds you need to get that information onto the GPU can take some time even though it is all happening under the hood. The better optimized your scenes are, the fast your GPU rendering is going to be.

 

We just ordered a K6000 here at work, so I might revisit RT. Just not at the moment.

[Dimitris Tolios]

RT is great for set up and light tweaks. Yet until they bring out Vray 3, it is just not production worthy compared to other renders like Octane or Corona (though corona is not GPU). The issue with GPU rendering is the tricks and work arounds you need to get that information onto the GPU can take some time even though it is all happening under the hood. The better optimized your scenes are, the fast your GPU rendering is going to be.

 

We just ordered a K6000 here at work, so I might revisit RT. Just not at the moment.

 

K6000...lol...

Guess if 6GBs are not enough, soon 12GB won't be...don't get too wild

[rezk]

Here is a video from BOXX Technologies comparing RT performances of the GTX 780 and TITAN to the Tesla K20; this might be of some help to you:

 

 

Personally, I think that most quadro cards (save for the ultra-high-end stuff) would be excellent for viewport performance only and not much good for GPU rendering. For that you'll want the higher number of CUDA cores and high GPU base clocks that you'd find in a Tesla K20/K40 card or a high-end gaming GTX card such as the 780, 780Ti or TITAN.

 

I have even seen videos where people combine a Quadro (for viewports) with a GTX (for CUDA) in workstation builds, but I'm not sure how well that would work for certain specific applications.

 

Hope this helps and good luck.