Tom In Arizona wrote:
I noticed that DXO PureRaw requires a video card with at least 8GB of VRAM. I'm wondering what brand and specs. you all are using with a Windows system. Do you find that 8GB of VRAM is sufficient, or do you think more is necessary for better results.
I can't speak re PureRaw but... I'm still using a GTX 1660 Super with only 6GB and Photolab 8 does not complain, even though DxO lists 8GB as the minimum for a GTX card (see below). While it does take ~20 odd seconds per image to process when using DeepPrime XD/XD2s, it's not an issue since I only use PL for occasional high ISO images which I export as dngs so I can finish them in C1.
Microsoft® Windows®
Minimum system configuration:
• Intel® Core™ or AMD Ryzen™ with 4 cores
• 8 GB RAM
• 4 GB available disk space
• 1280 x 768 display
• Microsoft® Windows® 10 version 21H2 or 11 version 21H2 (64-bit)
• For DeepPRIME, DeepPRIME XD and DeepPRIME XD2s:
o Nvidia RTX with 4GB of VRAM with the latest drivers
o Nvidia GTX with 8GB of VRAM with the latest drivers
o AMD Radeon RX6000 series with 4GB of VRAM with the latest drivers
o Intel ARC with 8GB of VRAM with the latest drivers
Thanks very much Howard. Your reply is very helpful. My current card only has 2GB VRAM, so I'll definitely need to upgrade. Your workflow sounds very much like mine including going out of and back into C1. For occasional use like that, I'm assuming that the 8GB recommendation should be all I need.
Tom In Arizona wrote:
I noticed that DXO PureRaw requires a video card with at least 8GB of VRAM. I'm wondering what brand and specs. you all are using with a Windows system. Do you find that 8GB of VRAM is sufficient, or do you think more is necessary for better results.
Tom
I don't know why they say that, but it might just be that cards with 8GB of VRAM are more likely to be newer and will therefore work better so they just say 8GB to be safe. Older cards can not take advantage of the hardware acceleration in the same way, but it definitely does not need 8GB to function. 8GB is however the absolute bare minimum you want for many other tasks, such as gaming or video editing.
While running diagnostics alongside a large PureRAW batch (hundreds of images), I have never seen VRAM utilization go above about 4.5GB, and there is 11GB available for it to use in my case.
I am using a 5950X with a 3080Ti and Z9 HE* RAWs process in 4-7 seconds per image.
Thanks very much for the additional information CanadaMark, especially your real-world VRAM utilization statistics. It helps me budget how much money I'll need to spend on a new board.