OTOY Forums

Can this be done .. you use 1 GPU for the windows desktop and leave the three big GPUs alone for daily use ... and while rendering with octane it uses the 3 big ones only for octane (to maximize VRAM) .... does this even work for games (i.e. the games just use the three big GPUs when needed?=. I'm not sure how to do that with the Nvidia driver properly.

Yes, thats how I have my computer set up. I use a 750 Ti for my display and my 2 780 for octane. However, I haven't found a way to choose the GPUs for games like you can do in octane. For gaming I use my second disply which is connected to one of my 780. If you find a tool that lets you do that, let me know pls

How do you tell windows which GPU to use for the desktop etc?

I think that it s about the way you order your card on your motherboard . . .
slot 1 : small card
slot 2 : monster card
slot 3 : monster card
....

I don't know if i'm doing it correctyl, but it works, nonetheless. I have 1x quaddro 4000k for my desktop and 2x gtx 780 6gb for my rendering. I wipe out all the drivers, then install the full nvidia suite of drivers and software for the quaddro. Thene I restart and install the driver only. Like i said, i'm not sure if that's correct, but it works for me. Also, in the nvidia control panel you can select how the cards are used. whether its "graphics and computing" or "graphics only" so I just select the "graphics only" option for my quaddro just to be safe.

I think which GPU is used by Windows depends on which GPU is connected to your display. If you want to be safe just connect your small card to your display and leave the others unconnected, then windows will use your small card.

That's right - connect your monitor to the gpu you want to use and in octane settings unmark/untick this gpu for rendering and tick the rest of gpus.

Would you recommend this? Sometimes I can work while the 780tis render, sometimes not really. Do you people run such a setup with a small GPU for desktop etc, does it give you a good advantage?

Actually I run this setup http://render.otoy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=42540

but you may have all powerful cards (get them if you can afford), and the one you use for a system also use for rendering with priority set to medium or low to get better responsiveness.