High Core CPUs for DAZ?

Azure Thessian

Hi guys

I've unorthodox question (a bit) I never found an answer.

I'm interested how useful are HCC (32c+) for DAZ, but not for rendering purposes per se - I'm doing all rendering on GPU - but for loading lots of geometry data into memory and actually starting the render. BTW: I'm aware of fundamental limitations of Winblows for 64 threads without using Windows Server which is ridiculously expensive because of licensing per core and I'm not fluent in Linux to consider switch on a short notice because there is 0 guarantees all Win programs will work.

In scenes with like 20-25 characters and tons of geometry, smoothing, Sub-D and stuff it takes ages for DAZ to open scene or initiate render on old 24-core 3960x Threadripper and movement of viewport is extremely slow with CPU often pegged at 100% for dozens of seconds after every viewport move (e.g. moving camera after loading scene so all eyes are pointed at camera bug). When I click render nothing happen and then after couple minutes CPU is instantly pegged to 100% for like 60 seconds. Will getting new 7970/7975wx 32 core or even step above, 64 core, allow for geometry or viewport to be more responsive?

Thanks for the input in advance. :)

Gordig

I would expect not, both because a lot of DS's processes are inherently single-threaded, and because DS is not that well optimized for viewport performance. Hopefully the long-fabled DS5 will dramatically improve viewport performance, but for now I wouldn't recommend upgrading to a 32- or 64-core CPU if that's the main reason you want one. There are, however, scene optimization measures you could take, like reducing subD and disabling smoothing on objects that don't need them, removing normal maps, using simplified textures, etc. MattyManx's Resource Saver Shader series and utilities like Scene Optimizer are a good place to start as they automate the process somewhat.

Azure Thessian

Thank you.

Indeed most processes are single threaded, but certainly loading geometry is not limited to 1-thread, because it can use all visible cores just fine. I know I'm a bit RAM limited (64) not GPU (3090), but at this stage I don't want to invest -equivalent of- 400$ in RAM upgrade given I want to switch whole platform. My primary need are PCIe lanes because I pegged TRX40 to full and exploring if 32 core CPU will be worth it, because price jump from 24 to 32 is rather steep on WRX90 platform, but for now waiting anyway til next year because refresh is coming, so its pointless to get it now and regret like 6 moths later. ;)

Yes, even if my DAZ usage is relatively short (5-ish years) I realized that Viewport operations are terribly slow compared to every other 3D program I've ever used or tested. Sadly I'm not holding my breath for DS5. I want to be wrong, but my guess it'll be another subscription ridden cancer on the internet and that's the line I'll never cross. I've no issues with stand-alone licenses, but subscriptions are no go area for me.