Revit / Autocad + Nvidia Drivers

[a_paynter]

Hi there,

this is general request for comparative information from anyone who regularly uses the above mentioned software - Revit and/or Autocad - that also uses a GPU with Nvidia drivers.

Simply put, if you use either Revit or Autocad with any of the following Nvidia drivers installed (studio or game ready):

466.77
471.11
471.41
471.68
471.96

and you have a diagnostic program such as GPU-Z or MSI Afterburner, can you please tell me how your GPU clock is behaving while either of these programs is open and running?

Is your GPU clocking up to load levels while they are open and being used?

Any and all information regarding this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

[RDAOU]

@a_paynter 

Sorry, I lost your previous post...in the future you do not need to re-post the same. You can simply tag someone to send them a ping and get their attention 🙂

See below youtube...MSI Afterburn

GPU - Nvidia Quadro RTX 4000 (Notebook)

Driver: 471.68

Version: NVIDIA RTX Enterprise Production Branch Driver

CPU - Intel Core i7-9850 

RAM 2x16 3000MHz

Windows 10 Enterprise

Test Model    : Revit 2022 Sample file rac_basic sample project

Settings        : Hardware Graphic acceleration enabled / anti-aliasing  / All view navigated in realistic mode

Monday I can check for you on my workstation at the head office. That one is running on an AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990 and an RTX 3090 ...not sure which driver version is installed though.

[a_paynter]

hey man,

thanks for replying, no need to apologise. I just thought i'd repurpose the post as a more general request for info to try and get a larger sample of data.

So from what i see there, your cards base clock is 1005MHz and boost is 1545MHz.

In a standard 3D view - realistic materials - just navigating around, it was boosting up past the base clock to boost levels.

This is more or less the behaviour i have also observed with my card.

With older drivers - 466.47 being the last one - navigating around a 3D view never took the card past the base clock - mine being 1544MHz

With newer drivers - such as the same one you have installed here - it takes the card up to boost / load levels.

I also just installed the exact same driver you have there (471.68 studio) on my office machine (GTX1080) and again, just navigating around a standard 3D view - even an empty one with no geometry at all - took the card up to boost levels.

This feels very much like a driver bug to me. I also made a post on Toms Hardware to try and get more data, but so far the only response ive got was someone deriding us for not using Authorised Quadro cards with Autodesk products. This feels a bit incorrect, as we've been using GTX cards for years in virtually all our office machines and never had an upclocking issue like this before.

The fact that rolling back the drivers seems to eliminate the problem also runs counter to that assessment.

That, and that it only seems to affect Revit and Autocad and not other products like 3DS Max.

Im currently using the newest game ready driver on my 1080Ti at home, and the upclocking issue does not occur with Revit, but DOES occur with Autocad.

Strange, right?

Thanks again for getting back to me man, and for making that video, it was very informative.

[RDAOU]

@a_paynter 

I do not see any issues there...As long as the GPU usage is low and no throttling, registering spikes near base clock is perfectly normal...especially with the new Realistic Mode Real time rendering introduced in 2021 and 2022. From where I see, it as an improvement and rendering + navigation in realistic mode are way better than before. Not saying it is perfect...Autodesk still has a long way to go in this area but it is definitely better than before

The difference between the new drivers and the previous one is the DX12 Ultimate. In Revit, if you are running 2021 or 2022 using Direct3D acceleration of the GPU + Simplify graphics during navigation in RM, those spike will show whenever the app pauses or stop. Un-check simplify graphics and you will find the reading @ boost clock the whole time throughout the navigation (as if you are gaming)...Otherwise, switch to consistent colors and you will notice the drop in the GPU Clock speed registered

As for GTX vs RTX/Quadro... the base/boost clock the GTX 1080 ti which you are using is 1480/1580Mhz... Very small margin compared to the RTX/Quadro series. I am not sure how that may effect the performance in single core software like Revit.

Something you should check...If you navigate same sample model in 2020 or earlier using same driver 471.68 it should behave as you are expecting with GPU clock not exceeding 400Mhz. Back then Real time rendering was not a feature in Revit.

[a_paynter]

hey man, thanks for getting back to me - and thanks for the tips

at the moment we're only using 2020, still holding off on moving up to 2022 while a few projects are still in motion.

i did install 2022 on my home machine to try and test out the gpu clock there with some of the newer drivers, and it still shot up to 1900+ there while using it. I'll have to check out the simplify graphics switch and see what the story is there and if it has any effect.

the GPU clock bug im seeing is very curious though. Like i said, im using 471.96 at home right now and it works exactly as it should / always has with Revit - base clocks, never more - however if i try and use Autocad it jumps back up to those load levels.

Is DX12 that new? Ive only been seeing this upclocking bug since the June 10 driver release from this year.

Im using your driver (471.68 studio) in the office at the moment, and while it did appear to have the upclocking bug at first, it appears to have somehow stabilised to normal levels after using it for an extended period of time.

[RDAOU]

1900+ ?? Are those GPU's overclocked?
I have recorded a 2020 trial for you, I will upload once back to the office ... clock speed with the same settings averaged 650 (never higher than 800)

Can you capture a screencast to share?

[a_paynter]

Never, i stay well clear of any overclocking.

That is fairly normal if under load - gaming or rendering - but of course it's very out of the ordinary for using Revit or Autocad.

That's what led me down this rabbit hole, i installed new drivers back in July (the exact driver escapes me, but it was post 466.47) started using Revit and then i could hear my GPU fans winding up like i was playing a round of Battlefield.

Since then it's be a cavalcade of odd GPU behaviour - the strangest being the upclocking just when having my extra monitors turned on - 471.41 maybe? Nothing to do with any autodesk products at all, just very odd behaviour  on the part of the GPU. Having the extra screens turned should never take it above base levels, its just never happened before, not in 3-4 years of using multiple screens.