<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">I should quickly just chip in two quick points from practical experience that can save people some headache with this:<div>- the reason you lose displays when changing up GPUs is a mechanism in many BIOSes that simply assumes that when you add a GPU (or more), you will want to start using that GPU as your main for your display. It thus disables built-in GPU and transfers output to (one of) your NVIDIA cards. It will do this every time you make a change in most cases (Windows ignores this, but you'll have a blank screen until it loads). This is by design and not an "error"</div><div>- SLI performance is terrible (and should be avoided). If you want to see some fun graphs on exactly *how* terrible, take a look at this: <a href="http://www.systemagnostic.com/faqs/my-gtx-590gtx-690-or-sli-setup-isnt-performing-whats-going-on/">http://www.systemagnostic.com/faqs/my-gtx-590gtx-690-or-sli-setup-isnt-performing-whats-going-on/</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>OJ <br><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">--<br>Ole Jakob Skjelten</div><div><a href="mailto:skjelten@wegelin.ch">olesk@pvv.org</a></div><div>+41 79 832 2976</div><div><br></div></div></span></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
</div>
<br><div><div>On 25. feb. 2013, at 16:45, Impossible 3D <<a href="mailto:impossible3d.media@gmail.com">impossible3d.media@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">Oh Hi Andrew!<br><br>Kinda weird that you didn't see the whole post (I suspect gmail as the <br>culprit but let me know if you get another truncated reply!). Well, let <br>me add a bit more information for anyone interested in how this "lag" <br>was solved but also the new surprising feature(s) that will become <br>available.<br><br>So, as Brecht said at the end of his post, what did the trick (until <br>real GPU resource control can be added, of course) is adding a second <br>GFX board on the motherboard, so 2nd nvidia GPU (I've tried an identical <br>model AND a different, slightly older one, and they both react <br>differently but still very good), and NOT even in SLI mode; they should <br>still be detected properly in nvidia-settings and Ubuntu, mind you, I <br>wouldn't know about AMD and/or Windows); I was actually very surprised <br>on how easy it was, having had so many problems in the past with SLI <br>mode, and hours of playing with the /etc/X11/Xorg.conf file with only <br>mitigated results. Just put it in, the NVIDIA drivers will do the rest. <br>Also, word of advice, some motherboards don't like it if you put 2 GFX <br>cards (you may lose all your displays when booting), so you may have to <br>switch your display cables to the other GFX card (I've found that those <br>PCI express slots closest to the CPU would be primary for display <br>detection)...<br><br>Anyways, after booting Ubuntu, in Blender (at least in 2.66, I don't <br>know how long the feature has been there), there's a nice little option <br>that will appear in the User Prefs - System tab - CUDA options called <br>(well, depending on your GPUs of course): "GeForce 560GTX (2X)" -- <br>notice the 2X will appear IF they are identical -- so it will send jobs <br>to both GPUs at the same time, effectively cutting in half the renders <br>-- proof of that is that I see two render tiles at the same time instead <br>of only one -- (although the lag I was mentioning originally in my post <br>(desktop, mouse,etc) comes back of course, since both GPUs get occupied; <br>But, the VERY -VERY- nice thing is that you can easily switch back and <br>forth in the same prefs panel from two GPUs to only one GPU (or the <br>other) and thus the desktop naturally comes back and, low and behold, no <br>more lag (so, heavy viewport modeling, the OS display in general, and <br>even "compiz" effects, all while rendering), all controllable on a click <br>of a button in Blender, so you can turn it on and off without <br>rebooting/changing GPU options. It's just a really REALLY great feature <br>to have in our workflow.<br><br>You see, you can go from heavy modeling to heavy rendering and/or both <br>at the same time depending of needs!<br>My only hope is that this feature never gets removed!<br><br>Best regards,<br>Martin Levasseur<br><br>Impossible 3D<br><a href="http://www.impossible3d.com">http://www.impossible3d.com</a><br><br><br>Original reply was:<br>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>Hi there,<br><br>Problem solved!<br>Thank you Brecht. It worked.. it's amazingly smooth and it's possible to <br>select which GPU to use for rendering in the System Preferences tab. I <br>didn't know, but the feature was already there!<br><br>Amazing !!!<br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>Hi,<br><br>On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 9:20 PM, Impossible 3D<br><impossible3d.media@gmail.com> wrote:<br><br><blockquote type="cite">I was wondering if someone knew if resources capping was available in<br>the nvidia driver and if Blender could maybe get control over it which<br>would allow such a feature (I was putting forward a suggestion that a<br>textbox option besides the "GPU compute" option that would allow for a<br>maximum percent value to be entered and thus would allow some sort of<br>control by the user, for example during the day it would render frames<br>at 60-80% GPU (and hopefully, the computer would stop lagging), and at<br>night or when afk for a long time, it would go back at 100% GPU). It may<br>not even need this level of granularity in case it's a pain to<br>implement, even a low/medium/high/unrestricted selector would be most<br>welcome.<br></blockquote><br>We could do better here but it's fairly complicated. The way a GPU<br>works is that once you send it a job, it can't do anything else until<br>that job is finished, it's not possible to do 80% rendering and 20%<br>drawing simultaneously. The problem is that if you send it too small a<br>job it will not work efficiently, if you send it too large of a job it<br>will not be able to redraw the screen until it's done.<br><br>Using smaller tile sizes will give you smaller jobs and so more<br>responsive UI. We could have an extra option here to also do nothing<br>after each job, I think this would lower the heat but not necessarily<br>make the UI much more responsive.<br><br>But the only way to get really smooth interaction is to use separate<br>GPU's for rendering and display, as most GPU render engines recommend.<br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Bf-cycles mailing list<br>Bf-cycles@blender.org<br>http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-cycles<br></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>