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Visualize only utilizing 35% GPU - Another User

Question asked by Jesse Farmer on Dec 29, 2017
Latest reply on Feb 4, 2018 by David Goetsch

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Has anyone identified a particular driver version for GeForce cards that fixes the "under-utilization" issue? I have two different rigs with this same issue. One machine has a single GTX 1060 and my other machine has two GTX 760's. For the second machine the issue is even worse, only one 760 is utilized up to 40% ish while the second 760 simply sits idle.

The dual GTX 760 rig does NOT have the SLI bridge connected. Both of my machines have a brand new Win 10 Pro install and are using the latest drivers (388.71). I am running Solidworks/Visualize-Pro 2017 SP 3.0 on both machines.

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Chris Cunningham Dec 29, 2017 11:28 AM
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Jesse Farmer Have you tried filling out this page with your computer specs?

Graphics Card Drivers | Hardware & System Requirements | SOLIDWORKS
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- Jesse Farmer @ Chris Cunningham on Dec 29, 2017 11:51 AM
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  Chris - Yes I have seen that page however as we all know in the Visualization community that GeForce driver references will not show up in that list. This brings us to the elephant in the room... from the Bunkspeed days we all knew that GeForce cards were the best bang for your buck. Now that Dassault has purchased Bunkspeed (after a few change of hands) and has herded the tool (now called Visualize) into the Solidworks suite... now all of the sudden that same technology (Iray) is only certified for the Quadro line of graphics cards. Hmmm.
  
  Which brings us full circle back to the mentioned list, it is not helpful for a portion (maybe large portion?) of the Visualize user base.
  
  Back on topic - Any GeForce users out there with any helpful tips/tricks?
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  - Dan Pihlaja @ Jesse Farmer on Dec 29, 2017 12:01 PM
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    Hrmm...
    Doesn't really make sense why they won't list GeForce cards since they are officially supported.
    
    Also:
    Visualize 2017-2018 & GeForce Users: What Nvidia driver version are you using ?
    will nvidia geforce card supports SWX Visualize...??
    https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/SOLIDWORKS-Visualize-2017-GeForce-GPU-Performance-Comparison-896/
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Scott Ellery Dec 29, 2017 2:37 PM
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388.71 is probably going to be too new , even though the Geforce is not shown on SOLIDWORKS page most of the Drivers approved for visualize use are the 375.63 or 377.71 drivers so if the equivalent is available for the Geforce (and it is) I would give them a try first.

also the driver downgrade seemed to have worked here as well : Visualize only utilizing 35% GPU
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David Goetsch Dec 29, 2017 4:35 PM
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I'm running two GeForce GTX 1080 TI's in the latest Windows Pro 1709 with Nvidia Driver 388.71 released 12-20-2017.
No issues here with utilization. I'm hitting pretty close to 100% on both cards. Visualize is running strong and stable here.

Just based on observation of this forum it seems the Quadro users have more issues with drivers than the Geforce users. I've installed the last 6-8 Geforce drivers on the day they were released with no issues. I've never had to rollback a driver to get Visualize to work. Like I say just an observation.
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Jesse Farmer Jan 4, 2018 11:11 AM
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Dave - I am envious of your experiences with the latest drivers!

I have tried the suggested drivers above (and others) to no avail. Note that my Win 10 Pro version is 1709, build 16299.64.
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Jesse Farmer Feb 4, 2018 12:28 AM
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Update on this situation:
It appears the culprit to my issue is the Windows 10 Task Manager, which now includes system GPU details. The problem is, at least on the machines I tested, that the Task Manager metrics aren't accurate for GPU activity. When I run GPU-Z side by side with Task Manager then I can easily see via GPU-Z that the GPU loading is indeed 100%, for both GPUs in my dual card machine. Same for my single card machine. Thanks everyone and and I appreciate your input.

Is there a thread on this site for Visualize benchmark results? I have my own however I want to compare apples to apples. I am not interested in the Solidworks benchmark utility, I am looking for the scenario where Visualize users are comparing the same default file and output resolutions and passes. Something like 1969Camaro... rendered at 1920x1080 for 2000 passes... blah blah blah.
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- Dan Pihlaja @ Jesse Farmer on Feb 4, 2018 6:39 AM
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  Jesse Farmer wrote:
  
  Is there a thread on this site for Visualize benchmark results? I have my own however I want to compare apples to apples. I am not interested in the Solidworks benchmark utility, I am looking for the scenario where Visualize users are comparing the same default file and output resolutions and passes. Something like 1969Camaro... rendered at 1920x1080 for 2000 passes... blah blah blah.
  
  That would be a question for Brian Hillner .
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  - Alan Sweetenham @ Dan Pihlaja on Feb 4, 2018 4:27 PM
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    Actually there are already benchmarks and a test scene on the SOLIDWORKS website, wasn't announced as far as i recall just appeared a few months back but has been updated well SOLIDWORKS | Hardware & System Requirements | SOLIDWORKS
    
    Cheers
    Alan
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Kristjan Tikka Feb 4, 2018 8:03 PM
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How should I set up graphics card?
SLI or not?
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- David Goetsch @ Kristjan Tikka on Feb 4, 2018 8:52 PM
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  If you game and want to setup both cards with SLI it probably won't, maybe won't, cause any issues. But if you don't game then just forget about SLI. All you have to do is install both cards and Visualize will utilize all the CUDA cores on both cards. You will have 7,168 CUDA Cores for Visualize. It will cut your render times in half. Instead of a 1 Hour render it will complete in 30 minutes.
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Visualize only utilizing 35% GPU - Another User

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