optimize video Card

[damstraversaz]

Hi
As first a musician, I know nothing about video card for visual or vj, and have a few question about it.
I'm using magic with a windows 7 laptop ( 64 bits, I7, 8 go ram, Nvidia gtx 765m with 2go of memory). The video card is not the most powerful of the market , but seems to be enough powerful for my use.
after some tests, I must admit I don't really know what could be the best setting on my system. I'm using often resolume , and there is no settings to change. generally gpu with resolume is near 25 % with very big projects, 5% with small projects . But with magic there is a lot of possibilities ! here is an exemple with the same project, 1280x760 resolution, monitoring with gpu-z. with Nvidia card, you have to active the "triple buffering" and vsync feature from the control panel, magic will control it directly

1 without double buffering and vertical sync.
pro :it gives a very impressive frame rate (990 fps) , a "nice" visual. using with spout ( send to resolume, same resolution) I have a very high frame rate in resolume output. the trails module is grerat with this setting.
cons : a very high gpu use : 80 %. Could it be an issue for the Gpu to work hard like this during long time ? Some scenes will not works as expected with the trails module ( for exemple scrolling pitch from the project)
screnshot :

839431without2xbufferingwithvsyncsmall.png (150.05 KiB) Viewed 8865 times

2 with double duffering and vertical syn
Pro: a very low gpu use, maybe perfect for long time use ? : 6%. Fps is 60 , according to your display. some scenes works like they should ( for exemple scrolling pitch), and all scenes with the trails module will works.
cons : there is some big difference if your using the trails module with blur, it looks ...different, like the manual says. When I'm using spout ( send to resolume) the fps of the output is 30 fps ( 60 fps without spout) so your final output seems to be 50% of the refresh rate of your display device . Could it be an issue ? I must admit 30 fps with a resolution of 1280X760 looks good and fluid in my opinion , but I'm really not an expert.
screenshot:

667125with2xbufferingandvsyncsmall.png (143.26 KiB) Viewed 8865 times

according to the manual,
" Disable double buffering (Windows only)
Some Windows graphics cards can operate more efficiently if double buffering is disabled — frame rate can be increased, and processor usage can actually be decreased. This is generally recommended.
With my graphic card, This is exactly the opposite

I just find a little strange to have setting with very low gpu , a full compatibility with all scenes, but a frame rate of 30fps if you are using the spout sender, and another with a very high gpu use, a very high framerate, but with a limited compatibility . So maybe i need to configure my video card ? actually , from the nvidia panel, general setting is "performance", and I just active 3xbuffering and vsyc for the magic exe.

So if you have some tips with nvidia card, I'm very interested !

[blackdot]

i think magic is more like a game engine. and with games, the gpu load is usually maxed out, i dont think there's any harm in that, as they are made for that. they shouldnt overheat of course, but with adequate cooling, they wont.

this may just be my opinion, but i think vsync is always a must, so you can avoid tearing (horizontal lines that move up or down the image because the gpu is producing more images, than the monitor can display). as most monitors do 60hz, refreshing the screen 60 times per second, i'd go with a desired magic performance of 60fps (vsync capps the fps in this case at 60, because my monitor only does 60hz). Also, and this is important with magic: the lower the fps, the bigger the delay between the realtime audio inputs and when they are seen in the magic output. Regarding this, the fps should of course be as high as possible, but i found 60fps quite sufficient.

I dont know about tripple and double buffering and those things .

[damstraversaz]

thanks, your feedback is really useful for me ! the only disadvantage I really find with double buffering and vsync is with spout, as the magic output goes to 30 fps , the spout receiver will be at 30 fps too, but maybe there is something to do with this ( magic update, spout 2) . without double buffering and vsync, magic output with spout have a very high fps ( for exemple 700 fps).

[Magic]

If you are using Magic and Spout and Resolume all at the same time, it could cause your fps to be lower. It depends upon what kind of graphics card you have, and how complicated your projects in Magic and Resolume are.

But, if the only difference between when you get 30fps and when you get 700fps is that double buffering is disabled, I'm not really sure what the problem could be. There shouldn't be that much of a difference. If you get 700fps without double buffering, you should definitely get 60fps with double buffering (and vsync). It might be a Spout issue; Spout is a brand new technology so unfortunately it doesn't work perfectly yet. I've been working closely with the Spout developers to get it working as well as possible.

Have you tried updating your Nvidia drivers recently? I know they were working on some things in the last couple months which help Spout work better.

[damstraversaz]

I'm agree, I'm not sure what could be optimize. I'm using the last driver, I find the cause of the 60 to 30 fps drop :
in the nvidia control panel, using performance mode solve the issue with spout , with quality mode, the fps are divided by 2.

to sum up, with the same project, in performance mode:

1 Magic without double buffering and with vsync actived ( although I'm thinkg vsync will not work without double buffering with this nvidia card)
FPS: 990. gpu : 80 % . cpu for magic : max 2%
with spout sender 1280x720 to resolume:
fps according to resolume : 90

2 magic with double bufferin and with vsync
FPS: 60 , gpu 6%, cpu for magic : 12%
with spout sender 1280x720 to resolume:
fps according to resolume: 90 fps

so it works with a nice fps. You have to chose between a incredible low cpu use without double duffering but a high Gpu use or a moderate cpu use with double buffering but with a low Gpu use.

thanks for the answers !

[Magic]

using performance mode solve the issue with spout , with quality mode, the fps are divided by 2.

That's interesting. I think quality mode enables antialiasing, which you don't really need with Magic. But that's probably why it goes slower. Personally, I always use the advanced GPU control panel rather than the preview.

I'm thinkg vsync will not work without double buffering with this nvidia card

That's true. For most video cards, vsync has no effect when double buffering is disabled.

so it works with a nice fps. You have to chose between a incredible low cpu use without double duffering but a high Gpu use or a moderate cpu use with double buffering but with a low Gpu use.

I wouldn't worry too much about high GPU use. As blackdot said, game engines are designed to run at 100% GPU usage, and the GPU is built to handle it.

For many users, double buffering is probably the most convenient solution. Having the frame rate locked to 60 will provide consistent results with all the modules, such as Trails and other ones that are time-dependent. The only reason I added the option to disable double buffering is that it uses less CPU, and also that it's a tiny bit more responsive since the fps can be higher. But most people won't notice the difference.

Just as an example, on one of my computers, I have a nicer GPU (GTX 650), but an older CPU (Core 2 Duo). Disabling double buffering on that machine works better since the CPU can't handle as much.

[damstraversaz]

It could be very interesting to know which settings you recommend for nvidia Gpu control panel, I must admit I understand just a few of the options, and I'm sure some other users are like me, that'es really technical !

[blackdot]

It could be very interesting to know which settings you recommend for nvidia Gpu control panel, I must admit I understand just a few of the options, and I'm sure some other users are like me, that'es really technical !

i have my nvidia settings on default. many values are "application controlled" which i think is fine. i only make specitic settings there in rare cases when you want to override what an application is doing (eg. force vsync) or sth like that.

[Magic]

Yeah, I actually don't tweak my settings too much. In fact, the only thing I do is set "Power management mode" to "Prefer maximum performance".

[damstraversaz]

thanks a lot for the tips !