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Thanks Graham. 

 

Well what I read, you (and many others) are the expert in this.  A lot of time you've invested and appreciate yours and the others advice and suggestions.  And the examples of settings, it's going to help A LOT. 

 

 

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25 minutes ago, mtldesigns said:

Side comment: CA is the only thing I am running, bedsides OS and small misc background files.  I have moved all my other project folders off the C drive to Dropbox (smart move anyways), yet I am at 98% of using 224 GB.  The 1.81 TB is 100% available.  My ram is 16 GB, the video card is great, so the issue is C drive.  Will X10 program files load on D drive?  After I post this, will look on forum to see if it has been mentioned.

First to the space issue- Is your dropbox file located on your C drive? It still uses space on the machine. I have X8, 9 &10 installed with pretty healthy libraries each, along with a mess of programs and only using 108GB of my C drive. Everything else is on D. I left the primary Documents folder there to allow a few programs to install data there but everything else that lives there and all photos, music, downloads, whatever is on D.

Second CA works best off the C drive. With X10 libraries can now be moved elsewhere-cloud or another drive if needed.

I'd first see where the space is going, then install X10. Go over this thread, make some notes, then spend an hour with a file from X9 and see how it goes. While PBR has changed each beta iteration and the public requires a bit more finesse- I had decent PBRs up and running pretty quickly without the benefit of this thread to start- better than my lousy RTs anyway.

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4 hours ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

Just a special thanks to Mick for his input on this subject :)

 

None needed Graham...you more than do your share of helping others and running "experiments" and reporting back here for the Good of Us All.

 

I think your PC takes DDR4? I know I don't have any of that in "storage" but may have some DDR3 but I am not 100% sure , though a full 8GB Chip, preferably exactly the same as the existing one, if you can find it, would allow the Ram to run in Dual Channel mode , which is a bit quicker and of course the extra 8GB will help with multiple TAB or Windows open, as Win10 is likely using 6GB already, I'm not sure from a look online if it will accept 32GB Ram (2x16GB) though.

 

If you think a GTX 950 or 970 would help you PM me.

 

M.

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3 hours ago, DRAWZILLA said:

Thanks Graham, that's all good to know and very insightful. Even though i haven't had any problems, i am now changing my lights from 100 to 40 which is more than enough for me

 

Correct me if I am wrong Graham..... but Perry I think Graham's advice above is related to the number of lights actually turned on in his model ( ie recessed cans and light sources) not the default set which I suggested be set at 100 for PBR views , if you only have 12 or 22 or ? on there is no issue anyway , Graham regularly has models with 50-60 ACTIVE lights on.... or even more , 60 in the example above I believe.

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1 hour ago, mtldesigns said:

Side comment: CA is the only thing I am running, bedsides OS and small misc background files.  I have moved all my other project folders off the C drive to Dropbox (smart move anyways), yet I am at 98% of using 224 GB.  The 1.81 TB is 100% available.  My ram is 16 GB, the video card is great, so the issue is C drive.  Will X10 program files load on D drive?  After I post this, will look on forum to see if it has been mentioned.

 

 

If you haven't already done it move your Windows "Libraries" to your Data HDD , it is easy to do , I have been doing it since Win7 and have posted here on the Forums about doing it before , but if you can't find it , there are many good tutorials online , in particular on Ten Forums here :

 

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/74952-documents-folder-move-location-windows-10-a.html

 

at the bottom of the 1st post , see the Related tutorials on how to move Pics, Videos,Downloads etc Folders (libraries) too

 

 

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8 minutes ago, Kbird1 said:

 

None needed Graham...you more than do your share of helping others and running "experiments" and reporting back here for the Good of Us All.

 

I think your PC takes DDR4? I know I don't have any of that in "storage" but may have some DDR3 but I am not 100% sure , though a full 8GB Chip, preferably exactly the same as the existing one, if you can find it, would allow the Ram to run in Dual Channel mode , which is a bit quicker and of course the extra 8GB will help with multiple TAB or Windows open, as Win10 is likely using 6GB already, I'm not sure from a look online if it will accept 32GB Ram (2x16GB) though.

 

If you think a GTX 950 or 970 would help you PM me.

 

M.

 

I just checked and my system uses DDR4 dual channel and can handle 32GB in total. Having changed the page file over to my Optane drive has made a really big difference. The bottle neck now is definitely my GPU and this is being pushed on by the number of active lights I'm using in my scenes. Before upgrading my graphics card I will take a harder look at whether or not all of the lights I'm using are really necessary. PBR'ing treats lights differently than Ray Tracing so I need to exhaust that avenue before going the money route. Appreciate the offer though, many thanks.

 

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11 minutes ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

 

I just checked and my system uses DDR4 dual channel and can handle 32GB in total. Having changed the page file over to my Optane drive has made a really big difference. The bottle neck now is definitely my GPU and this is being pushed on by the number of active lights I'm using in my scenes. Before upgrading my graphics card I will take a harder look at whether or not all of the lights I'm using are really necessary. PBR'ing treats lights differently than Ray Tracing so I need to exhaust that avenue before going the money route. Appreciate the offer though, many thanks.

 

 

May help to put your Undo and Temp Folders on the Optane Drive too , I have mine on my 960 EVO NVME now instead of the Data Drive which helps abit too.  I point X10 to the same Folders too.

 

M.

2.thumb.JPG.5277d64fc6113c82da5a300693a3fdfb.JPG

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28 minutes ago, Kbird1 said:

 

May help to put your Undo and Temp Folders on the Optane Drive too , I have mine on my 960 EVO NVME now instead of the Data Drive which helps abit too.  I point X10 to the same Folders too.

 

M.

2.thumb.JPG.5277d64fc6113c82da5a300693a3fdfb.JPG

 Yes, I do have those on the Optane drive and it did make a difference. 

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Here are a series of 4 PBR's with differing backdrops. The scenes are identical except for the backdrop. It can be seen that the backdrops now have an impact on the interior, the effect is most prominent on the fridge and stove hood.

 

Forested Snow Cover

5a9b384b0f893_Untitled3_ForestedSnowCovercopy.thumb.png.8fb46e78dde9569214c3bc2d0dc6bc91.png

 

Pond & Park

5a9b387112996_Untitled4_PondandParkcopy.thumb.png.bb0f53581ac9169dc1c859d72ce9e1cb.png

 

City View 3

5a9b38913c21b_Untitled5_CityView3copy.thumb.png.5ea97cfb9bbd7054307a3bbc6bce6235.png

 

Dusk Overlook 

5a9b38b0431cb_Untitled6_DuskOverlookcopy.thumb.png.4d97cf944e13046fb6990dbf5726de89.png

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I had noticed this myself ,especially if the Backdrop has alot of greenery or the Sunset type ones , but I found you need to have one , I can't use my standard just Off White that I usually use in Standard Camera Views as it just goes mid grey and blots out the light.

 

M.

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4 minutes ago, Kbird1 said:

I had noticed this myself ,especially if the Backdrop has alot of greenery or the Sunset type ones , but I found you need to have one , I can't use my standard just Off White that I usually use in Standard Camera Views as it just goes mid grey and blots out the light.

 

M.

 I believe this is also applicable to a terrain and other objects placed around the exterior. Have you tried just checking the opaque glass option in the PBR DBX, not sure if the sun still reflects on the interior with this but might be worth a try.

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That's just a PBR camera view and not a RT Graham? 

 

I do like how the stainless looks for sure.  I could never get SS to look like in a RT.   

 

Sorry I missed the responses.. but it made it to mid 60's here, and sunny... had to go for a bike ride..  SPRINGS coming, yes!  Daylight savings next week too..  

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16 hours ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

 I believe this is also applicable to a terrain and other objects placed around the exterior. Have you tried just checking the opaque glass option in the PBR DBX, not sure if the sun still reflects on the interior with this but might be worth a try.

 

I actually hadn't noticed that Option ? I'll have to look again , however I have never really liked the way it "white's out" the Window in views ... it's "un-natural" looking.

 

Have you tried getting a bit more out of your 745 with MSI Afterburner or EVGA's Precision? (V5.) maybe even a modded Bios? I never had a 7 series card so not 100% sure on either , works well on the 900 Series though.

 

M.

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2 minutes ago, Kbird1 said:

 

I actually hadn't noticed that Option ? I'll have to look again , however I have never really liked the way it "white's out" the Window in views ... it's "un-natural" looking.

 

Have you tried getting a bit more out of your 745 with MSI Afterburner or EVGA's Precision? (V5.) maybe even a modded Bios? I never had a 7 series card so not 100% sure on either , works well on the 900 Series though.

 

M.

 

My mistake on the Opaque, it looks like it is only available in standard view. I just tried changing the backdrop to a white color and it seems to work ok, sun light still enters the room. If it's a color it has the same influence on the interior as a backdrop has.

 

Won't spend any time trying to squeeze any performance improvements out of my GTX 745. To make an impact I need at least 3 times the performance, a 1060 looks like the best option, 4 times the performance and it's power consumption is within my power supply limit.

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7 minutes ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

 

My mistake on the Opaque, it looks like it is only available in standard view. I just tried changing the backdrop to a white color and it seems to work ok, sun light still enters the room. If it's a color it has the same influence on the interior as a backdrop has.

 

Won't spend any time trying to squeeze any performance improvements out of my GTX 745. To make an impact I need at least 3 times the performance, a 1060 looks like the best option, 4 times the performance and it's power consumption is within my power supply limit.

Graham, take a look at comparisons of 980 and 1060. May be better where it counts, 989 Ti in particular, both cost more than the 1060 though. 

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3 minutes ago, MarkMc said:

Graham, take a look at comparisons of 980 and 1060. May be better where it counts, 989 Ti in particular, both cost more than the 1060 though. 

 

Thanks Mark. I really do not want to spend more than $500 and I have an issue with my power supply. The power supply for my Alienware X51 R3 is a separate brick power cord type and it can only handle 300 watts, no way to upgrade it. From my checking around I can't use a card that draws more than 120 watts which seems to limit me to a 1060. Compared to my existing card I should see somewhere between a 400% - 500% improvement. My calculations predict that this would bring my PBR generation time down to about 3 seconds, this I can easily live with.

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From what I have read the 970 and 1060 are about the same performance , especially at FHD res. (1920x1080) , not sure on you monitor though? , the 2nd hand 980ti I got last Summer was about 15%-20% faster depending on the Benchmark ( FFXIV or Valley) at higher Res. eg QHD which I have now I saw a bit more , which maybe also the 4GB vs 6GB of the 980Ti. ( the 1070ti the sent me under RMA is about 6-8% better than the 980ti but has a lesser Spec when it come to CUDA Cores , which doesn't effect Chief AFAIK but may other Rendering Engines like Thea which use CUDA Cores, I actually feel like I got downgraded as the 10 series cards are not bios moddable/fixable like the 9 series. Might be worth a look 2nd hand on Craiglist around Toronto .... try and get a card where the Warranty is transferable eg I know EVGA's is but Asus may not be, For that matter you maybe able to buy a 2nd hand Computer fairly cheap with a 970/980 in it already? Gamers like to upgrade :)

 

The maximum wattage you see spec'd  maybe not what it draws all day every day , and I don't think Chief is going to cause it to ever pull full load , it is worth check Reviews vs Nvidia published Specs , though they are a start  a 970 is about 140 w and a 980 165w I think , 980ti can add quite a bit though ( 225-250w) and require 2 Pcie PWR connectors :

 

https://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-970/specifications

 

 

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4 minutes ago, Kbird1 said:

From what I have read the 970 and 1060 are about the same performance , especially at FHD res. (1920x1080) , not sure on you monitor though? , the 2nd hand 980ti I got last Summer was about 15%-20% faster depending on the Benchmark ( FFXIV or Valley) at higher Res. eg QHD which I have now I saw a bit more , which maybe also the 4GB vs 6GB of the 980Ti. ( the 1070ti the sent me under RMA is about 6-8% better than the 980ti but has a lesser Spec when it come to CUDA Cores , which doesn't effect Chief AFAIK but may other Rendering Engines like Thea which use CUDA Cores, I actually feel like I got downgraded as the 10 series cards are not bios moddable/fixable like the 9 series. Might be worth a look 2nd hand on Craiglist around Toronto .... try and get a card where the Warranty is transferable eg I know EVGA's is but Asus may not be, For that matter you maybe able to buy a 2nd hand Computer fairly cheap with a 970/980 in it already? Gamers like to upgrade :)

 

The maximum wattage you see spec'd  maybe not what it draws all day every day , and I don't think Chief is going to cause it to ever pull full load , it is worth check Reviews vs Nvidia published Specs , though they are a start  a 970 is about 140 w and a 980 165w I think , 980ti can add quite a bit though ( 225-250w) and require 2 Pcie PWR connectors :

 

https://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-970/specifications

 

 

 

Thanks Mick. I would rather play on the safe side concerning power draw, especially with only 300 available watts. If I take the plunge, which I will likely do tomorrow, I will purchase new from a retailer so if I'm not happy I can return it and get my money back.

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20 minutes ago, Electromen said:

My MacPro has dual AMD D500 video cards with 3GB of VRAM on each one.

CA only recognizes one card.  It would be nice to take advantage of both cards.

I believe CA is not the only one. 

When the iMac pro came out it was tested against the MacPro and found that its video card performed better than the dual video card, mostly because the 2nd video card wouldn't kick in for several tests. 

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32 minutes ago, Electromen said:

My MacPro has dual AMD D500 video cards with 3GB of VRAM on each one.

CA only recognizes one card.  It would be nice to take advantage of both cards.

 

That has always been so as Chief doesn't recognize SLI or Crossfire , as I found out the hard way, way back when I had Dual GTX 470s, I then went eventually to the single 970 for that reason as I am not a Gamer.

 

M.

 

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1 hour ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

 

Thanks Mick. I would rather play on the safe side concerning power draw, especially with only 300 available watts. If I take the plunge, which I will likely do tomorrow, I will purchase new from a retailer so if I'm not happy I can return it and get my money back.

 

Did you find a Retailer with a 1060 instock ? grab it while you can then ....just be careful where you buy then cos some places won't allow you to return it ....cos you don't like it... unless defective.... exchange it perhaps?

 

M.

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4 minutes ago, Kbird1 said:

 

Did you find a Retailer with a 1060 instock ? grab it while you can then ....just be careful where you buy then cos some places won't allow you to return it ....cos you don't like it... unless defective.... exchange it perhaps?

 

M.

They have them at Canada Computers, just a few clicks away. I've bought a fair number of items from them over the years and they have a good return policy. Their pricing is typically better than most and will also price match. The other advantage is that they have people that know what they are talking about, not like Best Buy where they don't have a clue.

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9 minutes ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

They have them at Canada Computers, just a few clicks away

 

That's great , if a bit pricey I imagine . Canada Computers has bought out alot off NCIX Stores who went under in Nov. . I think Memory Express got the rest of NCIX Store's.

 

I can recommend EVGA for their RMA's , theWarehouse is in California but it is usually only 3 days with UPS if there is an issue. I've found I can get them to give me a UPS waybill for the return too :)

 

M.

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2 minutes ago, Kbird1 said:

 

That's great , if a bit pricey I imagine . Canada Computers has bought out alot off NCIX Stores who went under in Nov. . I think Memory Express got the rest of NCIX Store's.

 

I can recommend EVGA for their RMA's , theWarehouse is in California but it is usually only 3 days with UPS if there is an issue. I've found I can get them to give me a UPS waybill for the return too :)

 

M.

 This looks like the one I'll purchase. $489.00 

 

EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 SC Gaming ACX 6GB (06G-P4-6163-KR)
1607 Mhz Base/ 1835 MHz Boost, 8008 Mhz Memory
PCI-E 3.0 16x, DVI-D, HDMI 2.0, 3x DP

 

They have 4 stores within a 20 minute drive and 8 units on the shelf. One store has an open box one with 10% off, that would almost cover the tax.

 

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