How to use/exploit :) 8GB ram?

[Crayox13]

I just upgraded to 8GB. As I read, in system settings, one can increase raycaster parameters which increases memory usage but speeds up the renders.

Also, dynamic memory limit, when I had 4 GB I tried higher values than 400MB, and it was ok, until 3000 or 2500 when I noticed my hdd was working alot, which gave me the impression that a lot of data is being transferred back and forth hdd-RAM, so that had a negative impact on render times. Since I'm rendering large exteriors with a lot of data, I would really like to use this 8GB.

So, can someone explain raycast params to me, or advise me how to set them when I have 8GB, please.

Thank you

[vlado]

Do you have a 64-bit operating system/V-Ray build?

Best regards,
Vlado

[Crayox13]

Yep, everything 64, MAX, Vista, vray. It's been for 2 years now, but now I have 8 GB of RAM instead of 4GB, so I'm thinking if I can use this to make my renders faster.

[vlado]

Does Windows report 8 GB as physically available?

Best regards,
Vlado

[Crayox13]

Of course Vista Ult 64.

I want to know how do I set vrays settings to use it better. Like if I have a scene that would maybe fill 3 GB, and I increase tree depth, memory limit, etc. so that scene takes up to 6GB and renders faster. If I understand the engine correctly. Maybe I don't.

I feel these settings should be explained somewhere in detail so one could maybe use them better? Spot3d is kinda vague about them.

[vlado]

Beyond a certain point, things will not get any faster; going through 6 GB of data is going to be slower than going through 3 GB of data, if all other conditions are the same.

The dynamic memory limit will help if you have displacement, fur, proxies or you use the "Dynamic" geometry type, but for other scenes, it will not have any effect.

All in all, you just need to make sure V-Ray has enough RAM when it needs it; there is no need to force it to you all the RAM that you have.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Crayox13]

I see. I usually have both, vrayfur and displacement.

I recently, as you may know, started to experiment with vrayfur for grass, and it worked after tweaking. So generally, shouldn't I increase the dynamic value from 400MB?

Are there any circumstances that one would change those tree settings, I mean they ARE there sorry, it's bugging me that I've never touched them . And spot3d says this

Max tree depth - the maximum depth of the tree. Larger values will cause V-Ray to take more memory, but the rendering will be faster - up to some critical point.

Maybe this should be considered - vray having some calculator for each scene that would calculate these system settings for fastest performance, based on the scene and system itself (amount of RAM).

[mike_kennedy]

We keep our Dynamic Limit at 2048 Megs since we have 8 gigs, tree depth I think we keep at 70

[Morbid Angel]

getting a little sidetracked here, but can you shed some light as to how vista is for an operating system?

recently I am faced with a reformatting dilemma and I am considering vista, after being xp user for many years.

[voltron7]

Tests

I am running Vista64Ultimate and am enjoying the ability to do more complex scenes without crashing. I did a few quick tests using fur in a WIP. I can post 4 results if anyone is interested. I did the tests based on comments in this thread and just some random values, too. Overall, in my test scene, using 2048 dyn mem limit worked "best."

Edit: I used to be on xp64 pro with 4GB (now using 8BG vista ultimate)

[vlado]

I am interested

Best regards,
Vlado

[Crayox13]

Vista 64 ult is just fine with me. I also used XP 64 before. Switched due to some XP related problems. Some are gone, some remain (so they turned out to be hardware problems).

But what about my question? Where could be find more details about setting Raycaster params Vlado? I would really prefer an educated "guess" than a trial one. I mean, there must be a reason those options are there.

mike_kennedy why did you reduce tree value? Default is 70.

[Morne]

getting a little sidetracked here, but can you shed some light as to how vista is for an operating system?

recently I am faced with a reformatting dilemma and I am considering vista, after being xp user for many years.

Running Vista 64bit Ultimate also with no problems and happy with it.

[Donald2B]

I too am running Vista 64-bit Ultimate and loving every minute of it. I just makes my machine appear to run faster. I actually prefer working in Vista over XP now.

[voltron7]

Here are some tests I mentioned for anyone interested...not sure what conclusions to make...test done one one machine, no DR









Edit: sorry the last one was a duplicate!