RTX 2070 Super combined with GTX Titan X?

Talk about Hardware used for Deep Learning


Locked
User avatar
TrigFX
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:18 am
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 1 time

RTX 2070 Super combined with GTX Titan X?

Post by TrigFX »

Hi guys,

I'm a visual effects artist and currently running a Windows 10 Pro system off a Ryzen 3900X, with 128 GB RAM, SSD and NVme drives and an RTX 2070 Super (I'd have gone for the RTX 2080Ti, but my money had run out at this stage! Looking to upgrade later this year though...)

I'm fairly new to this game, having only started about 3 weeks ago, and have been reading every resource that I can find with regards to Facewswap in particular, and this is by far the best site and best info I have found yet - congrats on an awesome site!

I've been running various tests with various models with varying results - it's all a trial and error learning curve, and I'm loving it! I have a few questions though...

I have a spare GTX Titan X lying dormant at the moment - would my current set up benefit from me adding this to it, for machine learning? Or would the Titan X effectively bottleneck the set up?
Or would I be better off upgrading later?

I'm not concerned with extraction times or render times, cos they are fast on my system anyway. But I would like to run larger models and have faster training times....(wouldn't we all??)

As for the planned future upgrade, it is worth me getting another RTX 2070 Super? And if so, should I run it with an NVLink, or just seperate?
Or should I wait and upgrade to a single GPU set up only (say the RTX 2080 Ti - or whatever new GPUs NVidia unveil later this year)?

I've heard conflicting views about running dual GPUs, and one article says that a second GPU would benefit, whilst another says not...! One article says another seperate - even different - GPU would be good, if it has more VRAM - whilst another says if you go the dual GPU route, they should be linked....

So many conflicting articles, it's confusing...!

Any help or advice regarding this would be awesome - in particular with my currently possible RTX 2070 Super/ GTX Titan X combo...

Many thanks in advance!

User avatar
bryanlyon
Site Admin
Posts: 793
Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:49 am
Answers: 44
Location: San Francisco
Has thanked: 4 times
Been thanked: 218 times
Contact:

Re: RTX 2070 Super combined with GTX Titan X?

Post by bryanlyon »

Yes you can use two cards, the limitation is that two cards training at once will mean that the slower card AND the card with the least memory will both bottleneck you. In your case, the Titan X would be the slower card, and the 2070 super has the less RAM. There is an added problem where mixed generation cards can cause driver issues.

I'd say go ahead and throw in the Titan X, but consider running 2 trainings at once or instead of using them together at once. If it does give you driver issues, then just take it back out. Though an alternative is to run your OS off one card and then train off the other, that gives all the Vram to Faceswap to work with.

When using two matching cards, NVLink isn't required, but does help the cards communicate faster and provides a small bump to speed due to that.

User avatar
TrigFX
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:18 am
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: RTX 2070 Super combined with GTX Titan X?

Post by TrigFX »

Thanks for such a speedy and informative reply!

Yes, I had seen a comment about possible driver issues before - but if it is possible to hand the training off to the Titan X, that would be great! Is there an easy way to do that?

Or would I be better off adding my old machine to my home network (not got around to that yet!), and just handing the training off to that PC while I continue with other work in my my main (new) PC?

I get that the slower card would bottleneck the process if both were used, but if both cards are used, wouldn't there be SOME speed benefits, even if minimal? Or failing that, would the memory increase at least enable me to train larger models?
(Or have I got this all backwards...?!)

User avatar
bryanlyon
Site Admin
Posts: 793
Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:49 am
Answers: 44
Location: San Francisco
Has thanked: 4 times
Been thanked: 218 times
Contact:

Re: RTX 2070 Super combined with GTX Titan X?

Post by bryanlyon »

Sorry if I was confusing, any time you use 2 cards, the faster card has to wait after every cycle for the other card to finish. That's the bottleneck when you have two cards, yes it SHOULD be faster (though I've seen seriously mismatched cards lead to slower overall training than 1). The Titan X being an older card may be so much slower than the 2070 super that it isn't worth it. And if we do implement TensorCores, the Titan X doesn't have those, so would definitely be a bottleneck in the process.

Memory increase is not linear. Each card has to carry a copy of the model so just adding a second card doesn't get you more memory. In fact, since the multi GPU mode just sends the same amount of data to each card, it means that the extra ram of the Titan X would be unused when your training on both cards.

If the Titan X is in a working system, then I'd leave it there and yes, use it to train while you're doing other things on your main system.

User avatar
TrigFX
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:18 am
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: RTX 2070 Super combined with GTX Titan X?

Post by TrigFX »

Yes, that makes sense. Many thanks for that!

I think that when I get paid, I will upgrade to a second RTX 2070 Super for this system, and also use my other PC with the Titan X, so I can have two projects on the go at the same time...! This is addictive stuff!

Thanks for clarifying that. :-)

User avatar
torzdf
Posts: 2651
Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:53 am
Answers: 159
Has thanked: 129 times
Been thanked: 622 times

Re: RTX 2070 Super combined with GTX Titan X?

Post by torzdf »

If you go the 2nd PC route, then I would highly recommend installing Linux on your Faceswapping PC (Xubuntu 18.04 is my current recommendation) and running headless, that way you can dedicate all of the GPU RAM to training.

You can still set up a VNC Server to be able to connect to the desktop.

My word is final

User avatar
TrigFX
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:18 am
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: RTX 2070 Super combined with GTX Titan X?

Post by TrigFX »

Sounds like a good idea - with one minor snag: I am not at all tech savvy, and know next to nothing about coding...! I've worked at VFX studios that run off Linux, and have always struggled with it. Thankfully, most studios are Windows based these days...as my free time is limited anyway, I'll stick with Windows for now...I can always have a go at learning how to use it the next time I have a month or more off between contracts....

I tend to set stuff up the night before, then go to work for 12-14 hours a day anyway, and let it run for a day or two, so time is something I have plenty of training wise - whilst I am working, anyway!

But I will note it for future use. At the moment, this is still very much for personal use - birthday messages (trying to do one for my girlfriend's birthday, Friday next week - hence the need for speed right now - where I become Bruce Willis for a short time! She's a big fan of his - and I am bald too, with a similar face shape - if not quite the same body type...!! lol), using it to de-age friends and family, and doing fan films for my mates and the like - although the latter is someway down the line, for now. But ideas are forming....

But if it ever takes off on a professional level and I am suddenly hired for a VFX job working from home, using those techniques, I'll be sure I'm ready for it - and Linux ready! And I'll probably come back on here to pick your brains again, when that day comes...! ;-)

Locked