970 vs 980... How does the 3.5+.5gb thing effect non real-time applications

[Phith]

Hey!

So I have a 650ti, it's fine and dandy when it comes to games. It won't cut butter in terms of rendering intense 3D scenes though, mostly due to the 1GB VRAM. I am looking to buy a new GTX 900 series card, for their power efficiency, over a series with more VRAM.

I want the 980 ofcores, but I can buy other upgrades for my PC if I take a cheaper 970. Such as an SSD and maybe more RAM or new a keyboard and mouse. I don't need any of these other upgrades, they'd just be nice.


Well my question is, how will the 3.5gb or .5gb memory address thing effect ray-trace rendering? Do you think the 980 is the better option? (for a scene that is say.. 3.8GB)



Most of the time my monitors will be plugged into my 650ti, though I will occasionally want to play Arma 3 or, when it comes out, GTAV with higher settings and better frame rates. So a 2nd hand Tesla really isn't an option.

I live in Australia and 970's are $550~ and 980's $800+ probably more in stores which is where I'll be buying such an expensive thing.


ALSO I am thinking I should hold off on the purchase, as, if Nvidia is going to release a new GPU in this series they will do it soon. Which will most likely be higher-end then the 980 and lower it's price / put a few cheap ones (980's) on ebay. What do you think?

 

[EarthDog]

Can your ray trace rendering fill a 3.5GB buffer? That is the question...

 

[Phith]

Can your ray trace rendering fill a 3.5GB buffer? That is the question...

Heh.. Yes very easily. I do, among other things, photo-realistic scenes with 16000 pixel wide HDRs and 3-6k textures with normal, displacement and spectacular maps to go along with every texture. I can't do simple scenes on my GPU because of the VRAM only my CPU which uses system RAM.

Also I should of mentioned, I want to be able to do other things on my PC while rendering. If I render on my GPU everything is at 2-4 fps and if I render of my CPU everything takes 10 minutes. I could lower the amount of threads it uses but rendering on CPU is slow enough as is and would be more efficient for me to just use another GPU to do it's thing without disrupting my workflow.


Also a render farm is out of the question

 

[Toothless]

Smells like you need a Tesla+Quadro mix for what you do.

 

[xfia]

a 970 wont fair that well at 3.8gb and that is prob saying it nicely

I would rather have a second hand 780ti over a 970 myself or a 290x..

the simple answer is if your worried about it then don't spend your money on it

 

[Phith]

Smells like you need a Tesla+Quadro mix for what you do.

One can dream... $700 budget, if I take the 980 I'll have to stop eating for a week to pay for it out of my next paycheck. (i am willing to do it. don't test me)

a 970 wont fair that well at 3.8gb and that is prob saying it nicely

I would rather have a second hand 780ti over a 970 myself or a 290x..

the simple answer is if your worried about it then don't spend your money on it

I have looked at 780's but they are rare to find in 6GB configs, when I do see them they are $1000+

Guess it's an empty stomach for a week and a 980! Thanks that's what I wanted to know.

 

[Toothless]

Or go for a 290x with 8GB...

 

[the54thvoid]

I would rather have a second hand 780ti over a 970

Bad idea, the 780ti only has 3gb vram. Great for gaming but for OP's needs a Titan Black would be better but obviously way more expensive.
8 Gb 290X sounds good.

 

[Phith]

Or go for a 290x with 8GB...

Need CUDA though...

Bad idea, the 780ti only has 3gb vram. Great for gaming but for OP's needs a Titan Black would be better but obviously way more expensive.
8 Gb 290X sounds good.

A titan would be great but I can't wait even longer for a new GPU, took me long enough to get the cash I have saved up now.

Nice build BTW!

 

[BiggieShady]

displacement and spectacular maps

Specular maps are spectacular
To answer your question, I tested octane renderer and with only 200 MB of geometry (no textures at all) gpu memory controller load in afterburner was almost 70%. So I'd say yes, when the memory goes over 3.5 GB you'll feel it.

 

[Toothless]

Titan Z: The one GPU that you need to sell your family members for.

 

[newtekie1]

Are you in the US? If so, I say try a 970. Go to newegg and sign up for Premier($19.99 for 3 months), then buy a 970. If you don't like it or it doesn't do what you need, send it back at no charge and get the 980. And heck, if you are buying other stuff the Premier membership will probably nearly pay for itself in saved shipping costs.

 

[Phith]

Specular maps are spectacular
To answer your question, I tested octane renderer and with only 200 MB of geometry (no textures at all) gpu memory controller load in afterburner was almost 70%. So I'd say yes, when the memory goes over 3.5 GB you'll feel it.

oops lol

Titan Z: The one GPU that you need to sell your family members for.

I'd sell myself...

 

[xfia]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125727 should just get this!

 

[Toothless]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125727 should just get this!

Those tubes are just asking for hentai.

 

[the54thvoid]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125727 should just get this!

This contraption is hideous. I say this as a custom loop owner.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125727 should just get this!

I hope you're not serious.

 

[XSI]

if you do what you say on 650ti, 970 will be the huge upgrade. there are many tech nerds in this forum, they cant accept slower if there is better even if they cant afford it, you can starve to death with some advices. im regular guy with more simple solutions, budged minded. so dont buy anything in your life if it takes week of food 2 days...maybe. grab 970 you will love it. you could use
much more power I agree, but as I see it 970 is what you can afford.

 

[Phith]

if you do what you say on 650ti, 970 will be the huge upgrade. there are many tech nerds in this forum, they cant accept slower if there is better even if they cant afford it, you can starve to death with some advices. im regular guy with more simple solutions, budged minded. so dont buy anything in your life if it takes week of food 2 days...maybe. grab 970 you will love it. you could use
much more power I agree, but as I see it 970 is what you can afford.

I exaggerated that food thing a bit. I'll be fine. I'm going to get an Asus GTX 980 with a reference cooler as it is the cheapest I can find at a retail store near by at $740. If the blower fan is too noisy there is aftermarket cooling kits I can save up for. That would be nice because a GTX blower cooler would make a good desk ornament. PC MASTER RAC- REVENUE GENERATORS!

Thank you everyone! There is some cool people on this forum!

 

[xfia]

I would love to try out that asus matrix 980! if you get a reference there is those aio kits..

 

[MxPhenom 216]

I would love to try out that asus matrix 980! if you get a reference there is those aio kits..

F*** that. If you can spend that much on a single card, you can afford a full coverage water block and legitimate loop.

 

[OneMoar]

what software are you using because you don't necessarily need cuda, these days

 

[Phith]

what software are you using because you don't necessarily need cuda, these days

Blender, with it's cycles engine. It uses CUDA and can use OpenCL but it is very glitchy. I want to eventually get Octane Render. It is currently CUDA only but as their website said it will eventually have OpenCL support, when it "matures".

I'm set on nvidia despite their shotty business practices, I find that they're the best GPU manufacturer.

 

[Caring1]

.... they are the best GPU manufacturer.

That's your opinion only, and unnecessary in that post, we don't want to start a which is better war again.

 

[OneMoar]

you could go with a gtx 770 thats pretty much the only nvidia card in your budget with 4GB