Graphic Cards - which do you use?

[KlausK]

Hi

Okay, I am in the process of building a new workstation.
The last component I need to buy is the - you guessed it - GPU
I am looking at Nvidia RTX 3060 upwards.
Prices have been coming down here in Europe in the last few weeks and availability is rather good these days as well.

I would really like to go with the best (Consumer) GPU out there, a RTX 3090 with 24GB RAM.
But I am waiting for prices to drop a little bit more. Over here I can buy 3090s from 1300 to 1500 CHF/Euro.
The models which are over 2000 CHF/Euro are not considered.

On the other hand the upcoming 40xx models are rumoured to be x-times fasterbetteretc and will arive presumably in October or November.

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3 scenarios:

- get a 3060 / 3070 with 12GB relatively cheap (350 - 550 CHF/Euro) and wait till next year when the 40xx are out and came down in price

- get a 3090 with 24GB and be happy for the next 5-7 years (that is the average lifespan of my workstation computer until software starts to be too far ahead)

- wait - for whatever

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This is not mainly targeted at Terragen, of course. I doubt, that we see GPU to be used in near future releases.

I am really having a hard time to decide - not because of lack of knowledge of the theory and specifications - but
because of not having first hand experience of how these GPUs behave in the Real World...
All the Games reviews are not helping much. My old 1070Ti with 8GB is choaking very quickly with todays workload of modern programs.

So, if anyone would like to share which GPU (Model and RAM Specs, please) they use and how it behaves with 3D and/or Video applications - that would be much appreciated.

CHeers, Klaus

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Specs of what I am building:

- AMD Ryzen 9 - 5950x
- Corsair Watercooler
- Gigabyte Aorus Master Mainboard
- 64GB GSkill NeoZ RAM
- 2 M2 1TB
- 2 SSD 2TB
- 1200W PSU

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[Kevin Kipper]

Hi KlausK,

I build a computer system last year and wanted the Nvidea RTX 3090 w/24GB of vram, but due to availability ended up with a 3080ti with 12GB of vram.  I'm not complaining, as the card has worked well with most 3D applications I use.  However, while recently working with the Windows version of Terragen's new export vdb feature, I ended up regretting that I didn't have the additional 12GB of memory the 3090 came with.  I was able to export vdb assets from Terragen that exceeded what my graphics card could load into its vram, so had to resort to rendering those assets via the CPU instead of the GPU.  In terms of recommendation, get the graphics card with the most vram you can.

[KlausK]

Hello Kevin,

since I am not on the latest version of TG, I did not know about how the vdb export feature uses the gpu this way.
Good advice. Thank you!
One more good reason to get a 3090 with 24GB.

CHeers, Klaus

[Kevin Kipper]

Hi KlausK,

I should clarify my statement.  The export vdb feature is not using the GPU; rather once the vdb asset has been created and loaded into another 3D application such as Blender, then you need to have enough vram on the graphics card to render/display the vdb asset.   Otherwise you'll have to let the CPU do all the "heavy lifting" which usually takes longer.  I hope that makes sense.

[KlausK]

I see, thx.

My evaluation process is almost done, I`ll be buying this week.
3 models to choose from left.

Cheers, Klaus

[zaxxon]

Hey Klaus, you probably have already made your choice by now, but I have purchased two cards over the last 7 months: an RTX 3060 12GB and most recently an RTX 3090 24GB.  Outside of the VDB export example Kevin noted, at this point in time neither of my cards experienced any benefit while running Terragen (hopefully the future will change that). I bought the cards to work with applications that rely upon GPU support for rendering real time/near real time 3D scenes. I've been using the NDunes Beta for the most part and was surprised at how well the lowly 3060 performed, the price was a good value and got me started. There always comes a time when you want more detail and more speed, then the extra 12GB is necessary. To state the obvious: more is better.  I've already hit the 'wall' on several projects even with the 24GB, so, as always, you learn to work within the limits. I found the comparisons on cards reviewed on the internet were almost always about Gaming, and the few rendering comparisons while helpful, were not conclusive. I would always go for the highest VRAM I could afford. For instance the RTX 3060ti only has 8GB VRAM, while the RTX 3060 has 12GB, yet most reviewers like the 3060ti better.  The RTX 3090 with 24GB as the prices have dropped is probably the best card on the market in my opinion.  Good luck and congratulations!

[KlausK]

@zaxxon Thx for your input! Very helpful, indeed.

But yes, I have ordered a GPU last Thursday. A Zotac 3090 Ti 24GB.
Over here in the shops prices jump up and down almost on daily basis - the biggest price difference I have seen was about 200.- CHF/EUROs!
This Zotac is actually quite "cheap" compared to all the other 3090 Ti GPU. 1580.- CHF/EUROs. The rest of the bunch is from 1750 up to 2xxx CHF/EURO.
Which I would not have paid, no way. (not that 1600.- isn`t already a price that my better half comments about with rolling eyes ...)

I had found a few videos on u_tube which showed off simulations on the GPU in Houdini with the new Karma XPU Renderer (which is what I am aiming at mainly)
using a 3090 or a 3090 Ti which had me convinced to go for a 3090 24GB and not less. As you said even 24GB is not enough in the long run but
to be able to iterate "low res" simulations on the GPU quickly is something I am really looing forward to.

Looking around on u_tube further led me to a guy who has done hardware overclocking mods for a long time and now very often talks about
pcb design and electronic parts used in that design. One video he uploaded was about the difference in build quality of a 3090 and a 3090 Ti -
which gave me a good feeling after the fact of already having ordered.

Since there is a close relation in performance between the CPU and the GPU I thought that waiting for the new 40xx GPUs would not be worth it
while buying a soon older generation of CPU, Mainboard, Chipset and PCIe.

So, in the end I think this build will make me happy for quite some time. Fingers crossed, hahaha. In a few weeks I`ll be wiser.

My Dual Xeon will be my "Renderfarm" and my Softimage XSI machine. It is more than capable for that.
I`ll pick up another RTX 3060 or so sometime when they sell out for this machine. Since XSI has no UI scaling I am going back to use it on a 1920x1280 monitor.
On the 4k display I bought a few months ago the display is too small for me.
New software can scale the UI properly.

CHeers, Klaus


 

[PabloMack]

Last year I bought an AMD 5950x as part of a gaming system because I couldn't get just a processor by itself. It was just as well because I didn't want to do the work of selecting components that might not work/fit together so I was happy just to get a package deal. It has a bunch of those gamer LEDs in the fans.  It came with an NVidia RTX 3070. I haven't done much of anything with it besides rendering some TG and LW. It has Windows 10 which I'm not too excited about because I like Windows 7 a lot better. The new system actually renders faster than my five Windows 7 systems and I'm glad that I have so many Windows 7 systems because they can now serve as spares.