OTOY Forums

I'm planning a new pc build.
Small design firm using Octane on a tight budget.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried using the onboard graphics of the ivybridge chips to run their displays while using a single GPU for rendering in Octane?
I'm reading up on this but I don't know if it is feasible or not.
I would want to run win7 x64, on a z77 board, with Rhino and Octane.
If the integrated GPU can run Rhino, which really doesn't take much at all.
Our CNC mill computer is using this card, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814125337 , and it runs Rhino fine.
It would also let us get the most out of the GTX card that we choose by not having it run the display.

Any thoughts on Ivybridge architecture being used this way?

I've read somewhere in this forum that it is possible to do this (run a monitor from cpu integrated graphics) while rendering on discrete card =)

Just believe you have to take into acount how big is Your screen is going to be and how consuming Your software is going to be that runs on CPU =)

The HD3000 on laptops with Optimus does the job fine, I assume it will work on desktops too.

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Roeland

I have a Z68 board with a SandyBridge processor, that also handles the graphics. Win7 64bit. The PCI cards are solely dedicated to Octane, and the whole setup works great, with the monitor connected to the motherboard. At least, Sketchup works fine. However, the maximum resolution that I can output from the CPU is limited to 1920x1200, this limit set by the motherboard - ASUS.
There's also Virtu, a piece of software that is able to switch to the GPU without changing cables. I haven't tried Virtu much but the idea is great.

I presume IvyBridge and Z77 should work similarly well but I would check on the resolution bottleneck first, in case you have a high-res 27" monitor.

From the IvyBridge lineup, I think the i5 3570K, i7 3770 and i7 3770K are the only ones that integrate the HD4000 graphics, which is the most powerful so far.

This is the route that I was going to go except the onboard graphics are limited to 1280 x 1024 which is no good for my 2560 x 1440 monitor. So I run my screens from one of my cards and use the other 2 for Octane.

How to know what is the limited resolution..?- i've never seen this on any board or procesor, but might missed something =)

The type of connection cable used can be a limitation. HDMI and single link DVI only support up to 1920x1200. For higher resolutions you need dual link DVI or DisplayPort.

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Roeland

How to know what is the limited resolution..?- i've never seen this on any board or procesor, but might missed something =)

You'll need to read the specifications of the motherboard carefully. For instance, I just took a quick look and the new ASUS Z77 range all seem to have a DisplayPort, which allows you to make full use of a 2560x1600 monitor.
The IvyBridge graphic options, both HD2500 and HD3000 give you that resolution I think.

Again, this only matters if your monitor is capable of that resolution.

Does anyone know how the Virtu MVP feature will affect octane.
I think Virtu allows you to switch between integrated graphics and discrete graphics without moving the cable, but I don't know if that would mess with octane.

theoretically an asus maximus gene mobo with a ib 3570k (hd4000) and a gtx580