[Bf-cycles] Interesting way of using Cycles on nVidia Optimus platform

Thomas Dinges blender at dingto.org
Fri Jan 13 20:10:37 CET 2012


Hi Brecht,

I have a laptop with an Core i7 (with HD 3000 GPU) and a Geforce GT540M.
Both chips can be accessed via the nvidia Optimus technology (you can 
select with which gpu a program should run).

Normally I just start Blender with the Geforce and also render with that 
of course.
The issue is, that the UI does lag when it's rendering. Anyway, that is 
normal as explained in the Cycles wiki.

So I thought I start Blender with the HD 3000 Intel GPU, but render on 
the Geforce. And yes, I can set the nvidia GPU in the Blender User 
Preferences, even when the application is launched with the Intel GPU.

It works fine with a Background Render. So I am now able to let it 
render in Blender with the Geforce, but have my Intel GPU draw the UI, 
which makes it possible to press buttons and zoom the image while it's 
rendering without any slowdown, that's amazing!

It gives an Unknown CUDA Error though when trying a 3D View render, but 
I suppose that's because of the scene beeing stored inside the Intel GPU 
RAM.

Maybe it helps other people, so I thought I write it here. :)

Thanks Brecht!

Best regards,
Thomas

-- 
Thomas Dinges
Blender Developer, Artist and Musician

www.dingto.org



More information about the Bf-cycles mailing list