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Render Workstation Single or Double GPU

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  • Workstations
  • Systems
Last response: in Systems
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May 2, 2014 5:08:49 PM

Hi Guys,

I’m a longtime reader, first time poster. Maybe someone can help me.

I’m in the process of buying a new workstation and have my eyes on an HP or Dell with Xeon 1650v2 processor. Building it myself is not an option due to time constraints. The graphics card to go with it would be a Nvidia K4000 (I need the 10 bit color). The software involved at present is 2D CAD, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, Blender/Cycles and MS Office. I have not decided on any particular 3D software for the future, 3Ds Max/Vray and Blender/Cycles are equally high on the list for arch viz.

I’m pretty sure the machine will do the job quite nicely but here is my question: In this configuration there would be only one graphics card installed and this card is supposed to do both - drive the monitor AND do the rendering.

I read in the Blender Wiki and on several forums that with a single GPU setup there is a chance of getting the error message ‘The open GL driver lost connection with the display driver’ (due to a windows timeout when the GPU is processing heavy render tasks).

The wiki suggests as band aid solution to decrease the resolution and reduce the tile size when rendering. Apparently there are also a registry hack and some changes in the Nvidia panel. How real or common is this error and is it true that the only real solution to the problem is to use separate graphics cards for display and rendering (or use a processor with integrated graphics plus GPU)? The confusing thing is that none of the advertised 3D workstations seems to be configured with 2 GPU’s. Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance.

More about : render workstation single double gpu

May 2, 2014 5:20:58 PM

A dual card setup is usually pretty good for when your editing or rendering and running either a single or multiple setup. Go for the dual card setup it'll come in handy when you need it.
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May 2, 2014 6:28:16 PM

Cycles is the only one that can select which gpu it renders on; the other software you listed just always uses the primary. Although vray and cycles can use multiple gpus when rendering. You should not run into that issue though. It's a rare bug or a hardware issue.
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May 7, 2014 11:39:27 PM

Thanks for your replies, I'll go with a single Quadro for starters, but keep the option for a second one if needed.
Thanks again for your help.
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