Redshift and AMD GPU support…status update please!

[Patrick Fritsch]

I’m in need of a new Workstation so all this has brought on problems as it’s hard to even get an NVidia GPU…but I can get a AMD Radeon Pro W6600 at a decent price but would like to know if Redshift will ever work with it. From the Redshift site they said like a year ago that AMD support is coming but no updates as of today? If Vectorworks is integrating this I am hoping they would have a clear roadmap from Maxon? Any insights appreciated.

[zoomer]

For now Redshift is only working in CPU only Mode with AMD GPUs.

Also no Denoising which is also bound to Nvidia GPUs.

 

If you really want Redshift, it is safer to go with Nvidia.

I am not sure if or when AMD GPUs will get (full ?) Redshift Support.

And from my experience Nvidia is overall less problematic and reliable

on PC.

AMD is more for addicted like me 🙂

[Patrick Fritsch]

Well I just ordered a bunch of parts for a new PC system including an AMD Radeon Pro W6600 so I'm hoping Vectorworks and AMD will assist in the development for future GPU support. Here is from my communication with Maxon Redshift team direct explaining why AMD on MAC is supported quicker;

Email Quote;

From: Netinho Da Costa (Maxon Support)

Nov 12, 2021, 2:49 AM PST

Hi Patrick Fritsch,

I'm sorry for that. 
For PC it's currently under development, we don't have a specific ETA for that yet.
With macOS AMD support, for example, we had some help from apple developers. That's why that was finished a bit sooner.

Netinho

Cinema 4D | Redshift | Red Giant
Maxon Support will soon be removing some incoming email channels. Make sure to bookmark our support portal to create tickets.

[trashcan]

Thanks for the update here., was just testing redshift on my Mac w/ Radeon Pro Vega 20 4 GB and it's brutally slow. Now I know why! How is it with the new M1?

[Patrick Fritsch]

@trashcanyou can check out Redshift benchmarks here https://www.cgdirector.com/redshift-benchmark-results/

[trashcan]

So basically it's terrible using Macs. No benchmarks yet with the M1 max or pro it seems. 

[Patrick Fritsch]

Yup!, the future of VW Redshift rendering crap on Macs...despite VW proclaiming at the Summit that VW 2022 performs great on M1, I'm assuming they are talking strictly about 3D Modeling and/or CPU efficiencies.

Mr. VW if your reading this, please invest in PC and AMD development at risk of upsetting a BIG user base!

[M5d]

You'd expect Apple's assistance with supporting AMD cards on macOS would aid somewhat in supporting AMD on the PC. @trashcan, I've been watching in the Redshift forum for M1 Max results, as noted in the link above, Redshift "isn't as mature" on mac / metal yet and there appears to be a couple secondary issues with the way their Vultures Benchmark works on the new chips, nonetheless there's an M1 Max result posted for Vultures; currently it measures about 5% better than a single MPX W5700X in the Mac Pro. Whether that's objectively good or bad in a laptop, I don't know . . .    

 

 

 

 

Maxon's comments . . .

 

 

 

 

 

[trashcan]

@M5d so it performs basically on par with the GTX 1080 (?) That's kind of a bummer. But better than the PRO VEGA that's in my laptop 😞 Though Panos' breakdown on things is certainly encouraging. Curious how the benchmark results change when you can modify the block size.

 

I keep my eyes on Geekbench, I've found their results to be informative about how a computer performs in general - and I can compare it to the many machines I've logged. 

 

 

VS one of the zippiest windows BOXX machines I've ever used:

 

 

That's incredibly encouraging for general performance. 

 

@Patrick Fritsch I'd love to get some clarity about what they meant by that. VWX 20 + 21 performed great on my 2013 Mac Pro (unless you had to do heavy renders). I don't necessarily see a big need for big improvements on modeling/cpu stuff. Unless you count the performance in VWX 2022! So buggy and sluggish and it's a CPU vampire (on a Mac anyway). Since upgrading to 2022 I've got that Command+S going every few actions. It reminds me of when I first started learning Final Cut in the early 00s. I'm scared that VWX optimization is focused more on M1s now than all the Mac intel machines. 

 

I suppose there's always the: work on a Mac, render on a PC workflow ... Or just switch to PC ... 

[M5d]

I don’t expect Maxon will include the M1s in the Vultures chart until they have the block size optimised in the benchmark for these chips. Unfortunately there are software optimisation caveats, particularly with the graphics in the M1s, for most types of testing available at the moment.

 

Less officially, a video posted in another thread suggested that increasing the bucket size yielded an improvement of about 25% in an alternate render. If that’s real and consistent, the M1 Max would be positioned at about 7.30 on the Vultures chart above. Treat that with caution however, it’s a single result mentioned at around the ninth minute in the video below.

 

 

 

Edited November 20, 2021 by M5d

[Patrick Fritsch]

Maybe VW should just ditch their Family product Redshift for AMD Radeon ProRender....https://architosh.com/2021/11/amd-supports-hip-based-rendering-for-blender-3-0/

 

Using GPU & CPU to it's max!

Many plug-ins available already here https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/radeon-prorender ....but not for VW unfortunately

More AMD ProRender info here: https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/radeon-prorender

 

I'm fine to use Redshift...but you gotta make it work with AMD on PC 

[trashcan]

I don’t think redshift should be abandoned, but it is useless for Mac and AMD users 🤢

 

@Patrick Fritsch I think your idea is a good one!!

[M5d]

If I'm understanding the HIP article correctly, AMD is providing the means for ending the proprietary, CUDA, divide between the platforms. Which, presumably, will solve this  problem for developers, like Redshift, from a single code base into the future?