Hi, I'm looking for Advice for upgrading my computer for faster IRay rendering. Rather than buying an entire new computer is it possible to upgrade? If it is what would it take?

The advice I got in Sept 2015 was: GTX 980 Ti 4 gigs dedicated RAM Is that still the best option?

Also, if that is the upgrade i go with do I have to reinstall the entire os?

Cheerio lululee

Here are my computer specs Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2320 CPU@3.00GHz Memory 16.0 GB NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450

A 4gb with enough CUDA cores (1500 or more) card would be the recommended minimum for rendering in iray. I have a 980gtx with 4gb and so far haven't ran out of memory for my scene. If you render larger scenes then you will need to go with a card with more memory. The 980TI has 6gb of ram and the Titan X has 12gb. You wouldn't need to build a new computer to use iray; you would need to make sure the motherboard can use the new card (probably it can), the computer has a big enough power supply to handle the card, and the case is big enough for the new card to fit.

You can use cards in the 700 series as well, but he newer cards do better with power consumption so if you have enough power, you can run your current card as the main video card and then dedicate the new one for iray renders only. That's my setup so I can watch videos and web surf on my 580gtx while the renders run on the 980.

Male_M3dia, Thanks so much for the valuable info. I should be fine with the 980 Ti. Cheerio lululee

Male_M3dia, Is it difficult to set this up? Cheerio lululee "you can run your current card as the main video card and then dedicate the new one for iray renders only. That's my setup so I can watch videos and web surf on my 580gtx while the renders run on the 980. "

I have run up against that 4GB limit with my card... using just a Genesis 3 figure and some weighty clothing (vendors using lots of big maps and normal maps and all that jazz). I need a Titan of some kind...

As to whether or not it is difficult...how comfortable are you opening up the PC and adding a card? If you can do that, you've got the hard part covered. You might want to go in there and see if you can fit two video cards....and have enough power to run them both. Some of those cards are big. I've got some older cards I would love to stick in my machine just to be able to use the main one for Iray, but there's no room.

And no, you would not need to re-install your OS.

For Video Cards a minimum of 4GB is recommended because, in general, it is enough to handle 3-4 dressed figures with hair and an environment. 2GB cards may or may not handle 1 figure with clothing and hair (roughly 50/50).

Having said that, I have, personally, run out of RAM on a K6000 (12GB of Ram) with one figure clothing and hair because I pushed the limits on tessellation for displacement.

IMHO, the best bang for your buck is the GTX 980Ti, because it is roughly $630 compared to the Titan X at $1050 (Roughly) or the M6000 (($4000-$5000) is generally faster than the M6000 and only 3% slower than the Titan-X.

lululee posted at 9:55AM Thu, 31 December 2015 - #4246196

Male_M3dia, Is it difficult to set this up? Cheerio lululee "you can run your current card as the main video card and then dedicate the new one for iray renders only. That's my setup so I can watch videos and web surf on my 580gtx while the renders run on the 980. "

Put your old card into the slot closest to the CPU and plug your monitors into it. Put your new card into a second PCI-E slot (Preferably PCI-E 3 slot) and you are set. (Presuming you have enough power cables from your power supply and enough PCI-E lanes.) No configuration really required, except to choose what cards to use for rendering in DS.

I have a custom PC I had built three years ago. I have the Nvidia GeForce 680 GTX with 4 Gigs of dedicated RAM. I also have 64 gigs of RAM, Windows Pro 7 with latest update and I splurged on a 40 inch monitor. I have had no problems at all since installing Daz Studio 4.8. I think just upgrade your RAM - Daz recommends 64 gigs, and get the 4 Gig Nvidia graphics card. That should be plenty.

If the textures are too big you can resize them in Gimp or Photoshop, or you can composite render. Just render things in pieces in iray and then layer them together in photo editor of your choice. Lululee it depends on how much you want to spend and how many pcie ports you have. I have 2 Nvidia 780's gtx with 6gb of video ram which I got from newegg and later amazon. You should not pay over $400 us dollars for them otherwise save you money and buy a titan x with 12gb of video ram.

Something to consider is the new pascal cards that are due for release this year (only speculation at the moment but apparently half way through the year). They are apparently going to be mighty compared to the 900 series currently available, in terms of vram, efficiency and power.

Having said that, I just upgraded my and my partners as we didn't fancy the wait, but it's something to bare in mind.

I'll probably get one of the newer cards as well. I'll have to see if i can upgrade my machine so i can pop two more cards in my machine. Time becomes a factor when you're doing promos ;)

drifterlee posted at 7:55AM Mon, 18 January 2016 - #4248783

I have a custom PC I had built three years ago. I have the Nvidia GeForce 680 GTX with 4 Gigs of dedicated RAM. I also have 64 gigs of RAM, Windows Pro 7 with latest update and I splurged on a 40 inch monitor. I have had no problems at all since installing Daz Studio 4.8. I think just upgrade your RAM - Daz recommends 64 gigs, and get the 4 Gig Nvidia graphics card. That should be plenty.

Where did you see Daz 3D recommending 64 gigs of Ram? I don't recall a recommend list with more than 16 on the system requirements spec sheet. :)