BricsCAD is using only CPU, not GPU

Phil

Hello everyone,

I have a HP Z240 Workstation with Nvidia Quadro P4000. I figured out that only the CPU is used for rendering. I installed the latest drivers but still the CPU is used.

What can I do that BricsCAD finally use the GPU?

Thank you for your help!

Phil

Edit: My BricsCAD version is Version 17.2.12 (x64) revision 49652

Tom Foster

Try checking RENDERUSINGHARDWARE

Phil

Hello Tom,

The parameter is on "1".

Tom Foster

Not sure which - try the other setting

Phil

"1" is prefer hardware.
I tried it anyway, but no changes.

Torsten Moses

Dear Phil,

try REDSDKINFO, see what it reports, can give a hint about the NVidia driver;
you might also send that REDSDKINFO output to our support system.

Sometimes, using an older driver did effectively help, especially for those "professional CAD" graphic cards (which is a kind of mystery anyway, such was valid 10...20 years ago - but actually it is much better to uase a fast, midrange...highend standard "Gamer" graphics card).

many greetings !

Hans De Backer

Please note that the GPU will only be used for visual styles other than 2dWireframe, that is: the 'rendered' visual styles

Michael Mayer

If you are talking about rendering a view (Raytracing)
AFAIK it is CPU only.
(And doesn't use all of my cores)

Theoretically REDSDK would offers more advanced Renderers with
global illumination and a real time solution for GPU.
Maybe in the future.

Tom Foster

@Torsten Moses said:
those "professional CAD" graphic cards ... was valid 10...20 years ago - but actually it is much better to uase a fast, midrange...highend standard "Gamer" graphics card

Have I edited that correctly? Do you really mean that for Brics we needn't buy a Quadro machine, instead a gamer machine with several x faster graphics for the same money?

Hans De Backer

Midrange cards will do absolutely fine, the bottleneck for dwg display operations is almost always at the CPU side, not the GPU, so there's no point in buying the fastest GPU on the planet.
Nor is there any benefit from buying a Quadro: yes, it can handle double precision coordinates vs single precision for most other cards, but this feature is not used.

Michael Mayer

Is there any recommendation for NVidia GTX/RTX Cards under Bricscad,
if we should install the newer Gaming Driver vs the Content Creator version ?

Hans De Backer

No recommendation for any specific cards.

Phil

Does that mean that my workstation actually is much overdesigned?
My boss bought it because I should draw our project in 3D so we have the option to make nice pictures for presentations or even videos.

So I started to draw everything in 3D and realized that BricsCAD became slower and slower...

Edit: The output from REDSDKINFO:

RedSDK version: 4.2 (build 4)
RenderUsingHardware: Hybrid hardware/software mode with preferred hardware rendering.
OpenGL window creation succeeded.
Operating system: Win_seven64
Desktop composition (Aero) is enabled.
Local GPU:
GPU information:
name: 'Unknown NVIDIA graphics adapter'
chipset: ''
class: 'HW_NVIDIA_GENERIC'
asicID: '0x1bb1'
vendorID: '0x10de'
recommended driver: unknown
Installed driver:
driver: 'NVIDIA Forceware 431.70'
dll version: ''
This driver is newer than all internal known revisions.
validation: 'Ok, newer'
Selected GPU (created for GPU check):
Chipset: HW_NVIDIA_G400
Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation ( IsNVidia )
OpenGL version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 431.70
Renderer: Quadro P4000/PCIe/SSE2

Tom Foster

@Hans De Backer said:

Quadro: yes, it can handle double precision coordinates vs single precision for most other cards, but this feature is not used.

Would that apply to Autocad too or is it part of Brics' cleverness?

Michael Mayer

If you make render nice images or films - by using 3DSMax -
it will profit from Quadro Cards with a special driver.
Most Autocad Apps are supported.
Same is true for Catia, Siemens NX and such Apps.

But the majority of typical CAD and 3D Apps don't make use
of Pro GPU features or special drivers.

For those Apps that are supported,
even older and or weaker pro GPU models make 3D Viewports
run smoothly.

In the past, many typical CAD features like full screen cross hair cursors,
panels over 3D Views and such things where not included in gaming
cards and drivers, so ran slower in Software by CPU.
While Pro Cards offered faster hardware acceleration in GPU and by
Drivers.
Nowadays, many of these features are needed for more complicated
games too, so went in Gaming GPU Hardware and Drivers also.

So as long you are not using such pro GPU supported Software,
Pro cards aren't very interesting because of their higher prices.

Hans De Backer

@Phil,
the CPU is more important, 3D modeling operations are executed on the CPU, not the GPU.
3D CAD is about creating, editing, sectioning, quantity calculation, etc... of models, not only displaying and walking through them.

Phil

@Michael Mayer said:

So as long you are not using such pro GPU supported Software,
Pro cards aren't very interesting because of their higher prices.

Better not tell my boss...

Tom Foster

For several years I had understood that Microstation had 'broken the iron rule' in not needing pro graphics cards, since it switchred from OpenGL to Direct3D, but that any CAD still using OpenGL would not have all the features supported except by pro graphics.

Michael Mayer

@Phil said:

Better not tell my boss...

It is not bad to buy a workstation with 24/7 support and all such things.
You often can configure Pro cards only.
Pro cards are often the only way to get more VRAM, if you need.
Maybe they have cherry picked chips, better VRMs and lower TDP, ...
They are tested with your workstation.

P4000 is (was) a 1000 $ card, is still Pascal architecture.
You just would have got a comparable GTX for 500 $ and maybe the same
performance in Bricscad.
But it would fly in ProEngineer and those Apps.
Gaming cards and Drivers are optimized for high frame rates in games.

@Tom Foster said:
For several years I had understood that Microstation had 'broken the iron rule' in not needing pro graphics cards, since it switchred from OpenGL to Direct3D, but that any CAD still using OpenGL would not have all the features supported except by pro graphics.

That was true at that time. 90ies to early 00's (?)
Yes, Microstation switched from OpenGL to full Windows only and DirectX.
DirectX was also the 3D Api for games, so all gaming GPUs and Drivers
supported DirectX standards, hence perfect for Microstation CAD usage.

OpenGL also improved over time.
And every recent gaming card supports newest OpenGL, DirectX and maybe
Vulkan and Metal. So it is fine if an CAD Apps uses OpenGL, without exotic
legacy OpenGL calls. And they recommend gaming cards as they test their
Software against mainstream gaming cards and not exotic Pro cards.

But if you use a Software like ProE, NX or some Autodesk Products,
likely a cheap P1000 will run circles around a GTX 1080TI in their
3D Viewport.

Phil

Thanks to all for the information.
Next time I will request a Xeon instead of i7.
I'm only working with BricsCAD, so that seems the better solution.

Michael Mayer

I would request an AMD Threadripper

Here is a nice Video that shows current state of Pro GPU
and Xeon vs mainstream CPU usefulness.
And that Pro GPUs may be great - if you use such supported 3D Apps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-90qEJAVkU