MacPro: More RAM or GPU

[Shawn Miller]

[Walter Soyka] “Maybe. But I think you’re being generous and I wonder if they’re just, you know, wrong. Here’s the text in question:

New levels of computational performance with AMD Graphics Core Next (GCN) GPU architecture
Take advantage of exceptional performance in intensive non-3D tasks such as effects processing and video rendering, without having to buy a second board. AMD FirePro cards based on the latest GCN GPU architecture use a 28nm design and deliver increased compute performance to handle such advanced effects and are the perfect match for the new physics tools in CINEMA 4D R14. This makes the effects of aerodynamic forces, springs and breaks look more authentic than ever. In the case of soft shadows, not only memory utilization increases but also the GPU is required to perform more complex calculations to add realism to your scene. The AMD FirePro W5000 offers over 1.2 TFLOPS of single-precision performance and packs the performance of a super computer into a single slot.”

(sigh)… I think you’re right, this is incorrect and misleading. It’s one thing to tout the compute power of AMD’s GPUs, and then talk about rendering and effects in the next paragraph… letting the reader draw the conclusion that one has something to do with the other (bad enough), but this is just untruthful. Thanks for pointing it out, Walter.

Shawn

[Scott Williams]

I put in a query to Maxon to get some clarity. See if they answer me.

[Scott Williams]

Here’s what I got back from Maxon support.

Hi Scott,

I hate to say this, but don’t believe what you read on that fireprographics link.

Trust me when I say that CINEMA 4D currently does not take advantage of GPU rendering, whether it’s with an AMD Firepro card, or any other graphics card.
If you have one of two 3rd-party renderers, Octane render or Iray, then you can utilize this card for GPU rendering. However the renderer that comes built in with CINEMA 4D can not take advantage of the Firepro cards. This is not going to improve your Global Illumination render times.

For C4D purposes, the graphics card is only used to display the 3D viewport. So for fast animation playback, heavy scenes, and quick viewport rendering you will want a good graphics card. However it’s not required to run C4D. You can run the application with Use OpenGL turned off in your preferences to rely on the motherboard’s RAM and processors to generate the viewport display.

You’ll only see benefit from the Firepro card while rendering in the viewport (provided the graphics drivers are stable), because it is a high-end professional card. C4D uses the OpenGL capability of the card here, and does not use the GPU processing. For the cost, you may be better off getting a high-end gaming card for C4D use, since it’s the OpenGL capabilities C4D needs most from a graphics card.

I hope this helps clear up the confusion. Please let us know if you need any further assistance.

Regards,
MAXON Technical Support
(csc)

[Walter Soyka]

Thanks for writing back with the MAXON response.

Unfortunately, I think there may be an error in their response, too. Both Octane and iray (third party renderers) require NVIDIA CUDA, so they won’t run on AMD FirePros.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Scott Williams]

Thanks Walter.

I just saw that same point referenced on the Tom’s Hardware site contrasting the quadro and fire pro cards. Half of learning about a system appears to be learning which information sources are trustworthy.

[Walter Soyka]

[Scott Williams] “Half of learning about a system appears to be learning which information sources are trustworthy.”

Not the ones trying to sell you something 🙂

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events