Maya Viewport performance - cpu or gpu?

[marpie24]

Hi,

I'm planning to upgrade my PC and I am wondering whether viewport performance depends on cpu, on gpu or on both. My Maya needs are limited exclusively to animation hence by viewport performance I mean playback speed and smooth work with advanced/complex rigs. This brings me to the question if I should focus my upgrade more on cpu or gpu?

Thanks for help.

[mspeer]

Hi!

"...viewport performance depends on cpu, on gpu or on both"

Both.

You should not focus on cpu or gpu. The one with lower priority will limit your overall performance.

[sean.heasley · Accepted solution]

Hi @marpie24

While both are important cpu is a little bit more important in your situation as well as RAM especially if you plan to render out your animations.

While editing meshes in your viewport, GPU power can be very important, however when rendering Maya uses CPU and RAM power.

I would still recommend a decent dedicated GPU but if you plan to solely animate like you said then don't hesitate to put a bit more money towards your cpu and RAM.

Hope this helps!

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if my post fully solves your issue, or reply with additional details if the problem persists.

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[joaoalexdias]

I'm in the same situation, I use maya for animation and I'm planning to upgrade my workstation, so I need a fast viewport handling a lot of geometry and complex rigs.

I wanted to know more about the cpu that are better for it, for example, I read that for rendering maya need processors with a lot of cores, but in the viewport maya uses single core and take advantage of the clock speed, so if that's right I'll need a 7700k or the new 8700k with less cores and higher clock speed, and wouldn't get advantage buying those extremely expensive chips with a lot of cores, is that right?

Another question that I wanted to ask is if the viewport 2.0 take advantage of more power GPU cards also helping on the fps speed of the viewport?

Thanks for the support!

[sean.heasley]

Hi @joaoalexdias

A more powerful CPU will help the viewport but it pulls mostly from GPU power, CPU power/cores would be more beneficial towards complex renderings.

As for your second question, yes Viewport 2.0 takes advantage of recent powerful GPUs. If you are at a loss as to what kind of GPU to get I highly recommend you check out our certified hardware and system requirements for 2018!

You can find our certified hardware list here!

You can find our certified system requirements here!

Please let me know if this helps or if you need any more assistance!

If one or more of these posts helped answer your question, please click Accept as Solution on the posts that helped you so others in the community can find them easily.

Kudos are greatly appreciated. Everyone likes a thumbs up!

[joaoalexdias]

T

hanks @sean.heasley,

was kind of vage but I get the point, I'm trying to know the best balance cost/performance that I can get suited for my work especially because the budget is low and I want to get the most of it!

For example does the extra money  between I7-7700k, a I7-8700k or even an I9, compensate in terms of productivity, same goes for the graphics card, having in mind a GTX1060, 1070 or 1080(ti or not).

 Thanks again!

[mspeer]

Hi!

I doubt you will see any difference in performance between those products under "normal" conditions.

What is "for my work"?

[joaoalexdias]

---

@mspeerwrote:

Hi!

I doubt you will see any difference in performance between those products under "normal" conditions.

What is "for my work"?

---

My work is character animation, and the ideal for me is having real time fps on viewport (24>) on more dense geometry and complex rigs.

So, for example if I use a I7-8700k, I will not have much diference between a gtx1060 and gtx1080, on viewport fps?

thanks for the answer!

[sean.heasley]

Hi @joaoalexdias

For your specific example of the 1060 vs the 1080 there won't be that much of a performance difference. While the 1080 is a bit more powerful, the difference is minimal enough that it wouldn't be noticeable in Maya.

Simplest terms, for your type of work you want a decent i7 or better processor and a decent GPU like a 1060 or better but you won't need any super expensive top of the line hardware.

Please let me know if this information helps or if you need any more assistance!

If one or more of these posts helped answer your question, please click Accept as Solution on the posts that helped you so others in the community can find them easily.

Kudos are greatly appreciated. Everyone likes a thumbs up!

[joaoalexdias]

Thanks @sean.heasley

Was the answer that I needed!

I think I'll go for the I7-8700k, 32G ram and GTX1070.

Just one more quick question, do you think that the new amd ryzen processors and MB are reliable for working long hours on animation?

[sean.heasley]

Hi @joaoalexdias

I haven't worked with them personally so I can't say how well they would run.

However I personally also haven't had many good experiences with AMD on my personal computer so I tend to avoid them when I can.

[mspeer]

Hi!

What is "dense geometry", please give me numbers?

[joaoalexdias]

---

@mspeerwrote:

Hi!

What is "dense geometry", please give me numbers?

---

For me is like having 2-3 feature animation rigged character medium poly with around 50.000 faces and could run a viewport at near 20-24 fps, ideally! 🙂 Would be great that I could have half!

Thanks!

[mspeer]

Hi!

With a total poly count lower than 1 000 000 faces it's absolutely irrelevant what of the named graphic cards you choose, the limiting factor for your system is the CPU and the named CPUs are all on the same level.

[joaoalexdias]

---

@mspeerwrote:

Hi!

With a total poly count lower than 1 000 000 faces it's absolutely irrelevant what of the named graphic cards you choose, the limiting factor for your system is the CPU and the named CPUs are all on the same level.

---

Hi @mspeer, 

Thanks for your help!

That's the think, I have a low entry workstation with 5 years, I7-4770k, 16G ram DDR3, Quadro k2000D and regular SSD,  last year I both a clevo laptop with an I7-7700HQ, 16G ram DDR4, GTX1060 ssd mv2, I though that I was going to have a huge diference in the viewport speed, but the reality was that some scenes I was getting +7-8 fps, and with the amount of updates that the GTX drivers have, I think now I'm having less framerate than the workstation!

And I also know that the I7-7700HQ is inferior than I7-4770K.

So you're saying that I wouldn't get much difference from my current workstation on the viewport fps comparing with the i7-8700k or 7700K and GTX1070?

Can you give some advice on what cpu/gpu that I can get?

Thanks

[mspeer]

Hi!

The raw performance increase from a 4770 to an 8700 may not be worth the price you have to pay for an new system.

However the overall System performance based on new technology for every aspect of a system will you give indeed a speed improvement, but not as much as as you might expect.

I can't recommend an update for your current system if it still works.

If you need more cores,, more RAM or anything else that cannot be easily done with your current system, then you should consider a new system.

(If you really want to buy something new you may start with a new GPU, which can easily be tested with your old workstation, or be added to a new system later.)

[joaoalexdias]

That makes totally sense!

Indeed my workstation is working fine, after all this time I only overclocked the cpu last week, and not much, to 4.2Ghz 🙂

In that way I could save some money and later on buy a system based on an I9-7900X.

It's also a wise choice to wait a few months, having in mind the actual current competition between intel and AMD, the benchmarks are pretty awesome on the Ryzen and so much cheaper, the big question is that they are reliable to work long hours on cg.

Thanks again @mspeer

[joaoalexdias]

Hi Guys!

One last question, because I saw a good deal on a GTX1060 6G, has I said in a previous post, I have a laptop from last year, I7-7700HQ, GTX1060 6G, 16G Ram DDR4 2400, and working on the same scene, same Maya version, same prefs, the viewport fps is the same than my 5 years workstation with an I7-4770k, 16G ram ddr3 1600, and Quadro K2000D.

I know that my workstation cpu is way better than the laptop one, and also a GTX on a workstation performs better than a laptop, but will it worth the spending money on a GTX1060 6G will I notice some improvement, or should I go for a GTX1070, or even a Quadro P2000 (I eventually play Overwatch).

I've read a bunch of posts mentioning that a GTX1060 6G is great for a 3D workstation, but has I said I really dont notice any difference on my laptop!!

Thanks!

[mspeer]

Hi!

"With a total poly count lower than 1 000 000 faces it's absolutely irrelevant..."

[Anonymous]

Since upgrading to Maya 2020 very often the program freezes and then I have to end it from the ctrl+alt+delete window, this happens when I use the UV editor and move UV'S. Pretty surprised how weak it is since I have only one model, and yes it is a high res human face but it should not crash this often. Would like to know for UV editing which is preferred to dedicate the CPU or the GPU, and also explain how to do it and where the settings are located. Also please explain not a general answer. Thank you.