Author Topic: 10 Gigabit Ethernet Performance  (Read 9929 times)

2018-07-29, 00:31:36

Dalton Watts

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Hello guys,

So, I was thinking about buying another dual socket workstation and connect it directly to my other dual Xeon workstation via 10gbe PCI cards so I could further improve speed.

What performance should I expect from this sort of setup? Will the slave computer react swiftly (as in participating in the rendering) just like the main one when dealing with interactive rendering, for instance?

If so, what PCI cards would you recommend? ASUS XG-C100C maybe? Thanks!

2018-08-01, 23:35:51
Reply #1

Dalton Watts

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Anyone...? :)

How does Corona handle this type of setup regarding interactive rendering?

Also, will the slave participate in the "rendering initial pass" as quickly as the main workstation when starting a production render?
« Last Edit: 2018-08-01, 23:44:10 by Dalton Watts »

2018-08-02, 12:36:08
Reply #2

maru

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Hi, here are some answers:
1) Corona does not support any kind of interactive rendering + distributed rendering combo. One of the main reasons for this is that we want to keep IR as smooth as possible, and using DR with it would introduce lags. On the other hands we know that some other renderers offer this, so it might be added in the future (however no specific plans for now, so definitely distant future).
2) DR is not instant, especially with heavy scenes. The scene has to be sent to the node computers, 3ds max has to start, it takes some time. With an extremely simple scene I am guessing that you can get multiple computers working on the same image in a few seconds (10 maybe?). In heavier scenes it can be much slower, depending for example on the amount of assets that have to be sent to the node PCs. (not that the assets will be sent from the master to the nodes only in case it's necessary)

Other than that I cannot really tell you how specific hardware with specific bandwidth will behave as I do not have experience with this. Maybe someone else can share their findings.
Marcin Miodek | chaos-corona.com
3D Support Team Lead - Corona | contact us

2018-08-02, 21:10:49
Reply #3

Dalton Watts

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Thank you for your clear answer, Marcin!

Anybody with direct experience with a similar kind of setup would be great to hear. Here I am thinking I can connect the upcoming Threadripper 2990X with my dual 2696 v3 setup and gather 10k+ cinebench power under one roof (kind of...) over 10gbe.

Do you know if vray IPR works in tandem with DR?

2018-08-23, 17:54:46
Reply #4

Juraj

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I've been running 10GBE setup for 2 years now. It's drastic improvement, and imho absolute must for Distributed.

With 1GB, distributed would regularly completely stop because all those large .exr files being sent are simply too big. This happens if you have more then 1 node and render something like 8k renders.
Making the intervals too long or amount of pixels being send lower invalidates the usability of distributed so I never opted for this.

DR is still too slow to start, I don't know why this is. The scenes on slaves always take like 10 times the time during the "pre-pass" stages than they do on workstation. I always check task manager and see that the damn slave is using 1-core for like 2 minutes before it moves to other part of prepass before finally starting to render.
I basically gave up on using DR for test renders, it's uselessly slow so I only use it for finals. I don't have 5 minutes before it starts sending passes, which is what it usually takes.
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2018-08-24, 16:06:51
Reply #5

Dalton Watts

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That was precisely my fears Juraj! Thanks for chipping in!

I reckon that my actual setup is ideal for dealing with IR. With the recent addition of "denoise during render" on new daily builds I can't even justify buying a new GTX 1080Ti because, to me, Corona Denoiser is pretty close to "real time" feedback. I guess I'll just have to wait until CPU technology doubles the performance :) Or maybe GPU will catch on quicker.

2018-08-24, 16:16:31
Reply #6

Juraj

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Early next week I will complete the build of 32core 2990WX for Veronika and then slap on some heavy GPU, either 1080ti which can now be bought for 500 Euros, or maybe wait for the overpriced 2080/2080ti. I am really interested how fast will this make previews with the nVidia Optix denoiser during interactive, I have high hopes it will be quite responsive.

Anyway, 10GBE is great improvement for other workstations tasks, like saving 3dsMax scenes onto fileserver, loading assets from Connecter, multiple users accessing the fileserver. If you have filserver with SSDs, 10GBE is absolute must.

I didn't answer the last question, but the Asus (Made by Aquantia) is fine card as long as you adjust one setting which I never remember from head (Under IP6 settings). The Intel is superior though, but you need to order it from China to get good price.
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2018-08-24, 17:13:45
Reply #7

arqrenderz

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We bought the asus 10 gigabit cards, and we found that the aquantia drivers works wonders :) ! Really cheap card and running perfect !

2018-08-24, 17:49:27
Reply #8

Juraj

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From my testing, Intel card maintained full speed on all three standards Cat 5E/6/6A across 20 meters cable (No reason to test Cat7 as it is fake standard for audio).
Asus/Aquantia required Cat 6A to maintain full top speed on that length and I didn't even get it to 10GBE at all on Cat 5E.

If you don't want to upgrade all your cabling, I would strongly recommend the Intel cards. The price is identical (100 +/- euros), just you need to wait two weeks to get it from Hong-Kong mostly.
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2018-08-24, 18:37:51
Reply #9

Dalton Watts

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What GTX 1080 Ti would you buy if you chose that route, Juraj? I've heard good things about the EVGA GTX 1080 Ti SC2 11Gb.

I assume 500€ is without tax, right?

2018-08-24, 18:55:06
Reply #10

Juraj

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Absolutely any, I do not care :- ). None of their differences are interesting to me, not even Blower vs Dual/Tripple fan. I might google if it perhaps doesn't have excessive coil whining, but that would be it.

I would just take the cheapest. 500 Euro is with Vat, but second-hand. I don't see the brand new ones being heavily discounted yet, if they even will be.
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2018-08-25, 15:12:05
Reply #11

arqrenderz

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Juraj, were do you find the Intel cards at. $100? Thx

2018-08-25, 15:23:00
Reply #12

Juraj

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I myself buy everything from ebay for buyer's protection, but if you're adventurous you can get it cheaper by more direct means, i.e Alieexpress,etc.

119 Euros, free shipping. https://www.ebay.de/itm/OEM-Intel-X540-T110-Gigabit-10GBe-10Gbit-Dual-Port-Converged-Server-Adapter-PCIe/142201958859?hash=item211be5b1cb:g:TKsAAOSwcUBYRX1R

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2018-08-25, 20:02:40
Reply #13

arqrenderz

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thx jurag!
Im waiting on your veredict of the threadripper 2, bsod , memory compatibility and so, i kind of need a new workstation or render node...

2018-08-25, 20:14:25
Reply #14

Juraj

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I wanted to build it this weekend but I am still waiting for the MSI board :- (.

I ordered from single shop in Europe which claimed to have sample sooner but looks like they blatantly lied to me and they will ship it on 30th August like everyone else.
So next weekend it will be (I hope!)

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