If I bought a CRAY super computer will CA be faster?

[Gary Doski]

Line settings = 2, 5, 20

Same here, 2, 5, 20 and 10 for the squiggle frequency?

I like to see Ed's machines results too.

[PhoenixConstruction]

Here are my settings. I can't believe that you're getting better numbers than I am . Guess I lost my King of the Hill status :Sly:

Your Radeons in crossfire must have something to do with it. My CPU is ripping fast (4.22 GHz), so I don't think that would be it.

BTW Gary, the i7 975 is only 4 cores, not 8 like you have listed (you might be thinking 8 threads, which is double the cores).

[Gary Doski]

I have the exact same settings as you. I also have some other stuff running as you can see on the task bar at the top. My home page in Fire Fox has 27 pages (tabs) open. Not sure how much this stuff uses in resources?

You can see that Chief is using all cores while running the final view (normally it sits around 1-5%). The ATI cards are 1 Gb each.

I am glad it is working so well, but it doesn't seem like this should squash your machine by such a large margin? I would think yours would be faster.

Same plan, same camera, same setting, unexpected results? So, what does all this tell us about what may be the best setup to run Chief? Maybe Doug or someone can shed some light on it for us. I think there may be things (settings) we may be missing.

This is great info for all of us. Especially for those who want to buy or build a new machine.

[PhoenixConstruction]

OK, this is the skinny from what I've been able to determine by watching the CPU performance (like you posted);

The CPU is in full mode for the water color & line drawing (any techniques for that matter). When it comes to the final view with shadows, that's all on the Graphics card(s).

That's why I'm faster on the one, but slower on the other (you have two cards).

I may put a 2nd card in and see how my times on the final view changes.



[EDIT]

OK, I also ran a GPU Meter at the same time as the CPU monitor - When the CPU is working while in the "Water Color" & "Line Drawing", the Graphics Card (GPU) is working at 0%. When the "Final View with Shadows" ("smoothing") is working, the CPU is at 0, and my GPU is working at 99%, so it's confirmed.

[marty]

Hi all

I am just back from my holidays weathering summer storms in the South Pacific so I thought I would add my numbers to the pot

Render = between 1-2 seconds
Raytrace = 13.85 seconds
Water color with line drawing on top = 12 seconds.
Add shadows = additional 8 minutes 31 seconds.

[dshall]

Hi all

I am just back from my holidays weathering summer storms in the South Pacific so I thought I would add my numbers to the pot

Render = between 1-2 seconds
Raytrace = 13.85 seconds
Water color with line drawing on top = 12 seconds.
Add shadows = additional 8 minutes 31 seconds.

My times

Render = between 1-2 seconds
Line drawing =6 seconds
Raytrace = 20-39 seconds (the 640x840 or whatever the size it... small)
Water color with line drawing on top = 23 seconds.
Add shadows = additional 9 minutes 10 seconds. (oh so sad!)

done on 30" monitor

[PhoenixConstruction]

My times

Render = between 1-2 seconds
Line drawing =6 seconds
Raytrace = 20-39 seconds (the 640x840 or whatever the size it... small)
Water color with line drawing on top = 23 seconds.
Add shadows = additional 9 minutes 10 seconds. (oh so sad!)

done on 30" monitor

Can you be more specific than 20 to 39 seconds? or are those two separate times? (on the Raytrace)

[Doug Park]

Uncheck "Aggressive Cache Flushing". This really slows down NVIDIA cards and is there only for compatibility with certain low end cards to work around driver issues. I think we have switched the default to off but it was on by default.

[Doug Park]

On some cards turning off "Hardware Edge Smoothing" can make a big difference.

[Gary Doski]

Hey Doug, Thanks for the pointers.

Unchecking "Aggressive Cache Flushing" only shaved off 2-3 seconds, But the "Hardware Edge Smoothing" saved a good chunk! I'll leave them both unchecked.

My New Times.

Render = too small to worry about
Water colors w/Line drawing = 22.42 seconds
with shadow = 54.50 seconds
Raytrace = 38.76 seconds

One of the very annoying things going through this, is the drawing is redrawing itself constantly. It seems that any movement of your mouse triggers a redraw? You have to hit esc. a bunch of times. Anyone else seeing this?

[dshall]

Can you be more specific than 20 to 39 seconds? or are those two separate times? (on the Raytrace)

Yep, two separate times, depending how I started timing... I guess.... I have very little complaints about the times with the exception of the water color with shadows, and I use the "crappy" raytrace in lieu of the watercolor, which works just fine for me.

[Gary Doski]

Preferences/Render, top half of the dbx.

[Joe Carrick]

On some cards turning off "Hardware Edge Smoothing" can make a big difference.

Hopefully I'll never need to do that - I can't stand the appearance with it off.

ps: I'm using an NVidea 560M with 3GB Ram and my performance is excellent.

[Gary Doski]

Hopefully I'll never need to do that - I can't stand the appearance with it off.

ps: I'm using an NVidea 560M with 3GB Ram and my performance is excellent.

Hmmm, it makes no difference on my machine at all?

[CARMELHILL]

I'll try these Watercolor tests tomorrow when I get to the office and update my times.