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Hi all,

I've just tried octane in it's demo version and I'm really impressed.

After some test, my GTS 8800 320mb (MSI OC) seems to work in Octane at least 3 times faster than my CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 at 2.5 GHz

So I'm planning to upgrade and I have a budget of 200€.
I was thinking on Gainward GTX 460 GS 2GB (200€). Then I saw 560 (aprox. 20% faster), but the version of 2GB is rated at 350€. For a little more than 200€ I can find a cheap PALIT GTX 560 with 1 GB

SO:
¿Gainward GTX 460 2GB or Palit GTX 560 1GB?

I've read a lot in this forum and I don´t know if I would have enough with 1 GB and, if so, if it is worth 560 over 460.
I'll be rendering mainly architectural buildings and environment.
I've read that to take advantage of 2GB VRAM the RAM should be of 8 GB. That is not my case (I've 4 GB) and I am happy with my equipment by now. It is enough for the scenes I build, but id like to add vegetation for example.

I would appreciate your advice, thank you very much


I forgotted: when I increase the image resolution in demo version, half the image is not rendered and appears as vertical or horizontal lines. I supposed it is due to the poor 320 mb ram, but I don't know. Thank you.

--
CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 (2.5 Ghz) / RAM 4 GB DDR2 / HD 2x500GB 7.200rpm / PSU 500W / VGA MSI Geforce 8800 GTS 320mb OC
SO Windows 7 64bit

Hi,
In the demo version the resolution is limited. It produces those bars otherwise - a convenient bug actually I understand

Architectural renders typically use a fair amount of textures and you may be rendering at a large resolution too, throw in some vegetation etc and I think you would be pleased you had a 2gb card.
If your choice had been between 1.5gb and 2gb the lesser could be ok however I think 1gb would prove limiting. BTW keep the 8800 for displaying the Windows UI while Octane renders on the GTX...
I remember someone else here was disappointed to have to use billboard trees because their vram was too limited. Even 2gb might be limiting for medium duty scenes...it depends on how demanding your own needs are.
Can you provide us an example of your present work to judge if 2gb would cope with it?
I would think you could find another 4gb or ram for 75 euro?? if you needed it (and perhaps you can get by without this for a fair while), whereas if you bought the 1gb card and found it wasnt enough you would need to spend again either 200 or 350 euro + 75.
I cant really offer definitive advice though because I dont do archviz renders.
Perhaps someone who does can offer some recommendation based on their practical experience.
Hope this helps.

Thank you, Pixelrush

It's very interesting your point of view.
I'm pleased to known that I can start using Octane now (I was thinking the problem of the resolution was for my VGA)

I suppose then the best is to go for the 2 Gb card.

Is it really necessary two VGAs? My power supply will melt if I connect my 8800 (60W idle- 120W load) + GTX 460 (160 w)

I've thought I could buy a cheaper GT430 (96 CUDA cores-50 W max.) or G210 (30w) for the UI, BUT: I only have 1PCI-e 1x free... I suspect I will have to increase my budget...

Can a card for the UI go in a 1x PCI? that would be great...

A second card for display is not strictly needed, but the GUI responsiveness without it is very laggy on high resolution renders with pathtracing. So it's recommend.

My experience with Gainward GTX 460 GS 2GB is that 1GB would be too limited, but I was never able (or needed) to fill the whole 2GB.

Also with only 4GB of system ram, you won't be able to fully use your 2GB, because currently voxelization eats a lot of RAM. So, if you go for a 2GB, you'll have to buy those additional 4GB of system RAM. If Octane supported instances (which should, sometime in the future), a card with 1GB would probably be a good option even for archviz, but currently is a little too low.

Well, that clarifies a lot.

Thank you both, I have now the solution nearer