Best GPU for sims and live rendering in Octane

[DanTTTD]

Hi team,


I'm looking to upgrade my system, and am currently deciding which way to go with regards GPU.


The goal is to run Octane renderer with smooth live rendering previews (I am also considering Arnold for the same purpose, though i know this runs off CPU instead). I am also wanting to improve general workspace speed (not TOO concerned about final render times) of C4D, After Effects, and Realflow, as a secondary goal. As well as have quicker simulations for TurbulenceFD (which I currently have to run on my CPU because my Quadro only handles very short/simple sims due to the small amount of RAM).

I currently have:

dual CPU Dell Precision T7500 (x2 hexacore CPU 3.5GHz)

96GB RAM

Quadro 4000

128 SSD for OS

256 SSD for working projects and caches

1TB HDD for archiving and scratch discs.


I have a dual hexacore CPU (Intel(R) Xeon(R) X5690 3.47 GHz x2), but rendering previews is still fairly slow. The notion of a live, interactive renderer with Octane is what I'm after, and am prepeared to purchase a Titan X if this achieves this.



I am torn between the following GPUs:

GTX750ti (possibly getting 2 of these and hooking them up as an SLI bridge?)

GTX 980ti

GTX 1080

or (my current favourite option) the GTX Titan X



Since Octane is a GPU renderer, then I'm guessing that the Titan X would be the best for this. But is it overkill? I want smooth live interactive rendering. But will I get anything close to this with a 750ti? I also want to use the GPU for TurbulenceFD sims, and the RAM on the Titan X will, I assume, be the best for this also.



My question is which GPU to go for. And what can I get away with getting? My secondary question is what would be the best configuration of my 2 GPUs? I want to keep my Quadro 4000, and use one of the GPUs above as well. So which way round should I install them? i.e. Should I have the Quadro as my main, primary GPU, run all software and display ports from this, and use the Titan X (or other of the above listed choices) as a secondary card, specifically to run Octane, and calculate TurbulenceFD sims, and hopefully work on other simulations and rendering in the background? Or should I set the Titan X as my primary card to drive viewports and software, and use my Quadro 4000 to run secondary things in the background like TurbulenceFD sims? Is it possible to use once GPU to run C4D, and a different one to run After Effects? Is it also possibile to use one card (the Quadro) to run C4D viewport, and then use the Titan X to run Octane, or doesn't it work like that?


Basically, is a Titan X overkill? Will i be able to run Octane sufficiently, with a medium complex scene, as interactive renderer with a GTX 750Ti (4GB version)?



For example, a current scene I'm working on has:

10 objects

1260743 Quads

36104 triangles

my render settings:

1920 x 1080

Physical renderer: motion blur on (4 subdivs), depth of field on, sampler adaptive, quality automatic (shading error threshold: 4%). If I render a single image preview in my viewport (or to the render previewer), it takes 36 secs. I know that's not super long, but it's too long for my needs, and I just want quicker - well, fully interactive is what I'm after, so instant, real-time would be great.

Or is it best to just use Arnold renderer with my current setup and render from the CPU? The thing is, I am dubious about this option as the viewport in C4D currently lags when any project gets up to medium complexity. So I'm guessing the Quadro is bottlenecking it? And the CPU is working too hard on every process.

I am thinking of getting a 2nd hand Titan X, installing it as the secondary GPU specifically for Octane and TurbulenceFD rendering and simulations respectively.

I would then be looking to replace my Quadro 4000 with a FirePro W5000, or even a W7000, for my main GPU. This is because it benchmark tests way better than all of the Quadros with Maya. Do you think this is good idea? To go from the Quadro 4000 to the Firepro W5000?
Will it have any detrimental efefcts in C4D or After Effects (as After Effects uses OpenGL, which is nVidia-based as far as i understand)?

Does C4D like FirePros? Will it conflict with my Titan X? And how will affect After Effects? I am presuming it will run all of the other softwares fine because they don't depend hugely on GPUs?..

Any advice is greatly appreciated as I can't seem to decide a way to go with this, and there are too many equivocal benchmarks out there, which can only help to a certain degree when my question is so specific and fairly complicated (for me).

Thanks for your time.

 

[Hlsgsz]

That would be the GTX 1080
It has more compute muscle than teh Titan X.
You can get as many as your motherboards can support.

 

[DanTTTD]

Hmmm. Thanks Hlsgsz. But I am looking for a more nuanced answer. In particular:

Do you mean replace my Quadro with the 1080? Or use it as a secondary GPU? Is it overkill for my needs? Will a 750Ti do a decent enough job? And are there any drawbacks to replacing my Quadro 4000 with the W5000 FirePro (i.e. After Effects liking OpenGL, which AMD doesn't support?). According to Autodesk, the W5000 FirePro outperforms nVidia cards (Quadro & GeForce). So a simple 'get the 1080' answer is not addressing all of my questions.

Thank you for taking the time to reply though.

Any other advice folks?

 

[Hlsgsz]

I would also ask on some specialised forums if i were you.

 

[DanTTTD]

Ok. Do you recommend any? I thought this WAS a specialised site...?

 

[Hlsgsz]

This is a general it/technology forum. You need an answer from someone that actually uses Octane. WHile you may encounter someone here, i'm sure you'll get a faster answer here:
https://render.otoy.com/forum/

 

[DanTTTD]

Ok. Thanks Hlsgsz.