POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.general : Does PoV-Ray 3.6 support multi-core processors? Server Time
9 May 2024 09:15:03 EDT (-0400)
  Does PoV-Ray 3.6 support multi-core processors? (Message 1 to 8 of 8)  
From: Jörg 'Yadgar' Bleimann
Subject: Does PoV-Ray 3.6 support multi-core processors?
Date: 26 Aug 2011 19:53:06
Message: <4e5831e2$1@news.povray.org>
High!

As for raytracing computers NEVER are fast enough, I currently toy with 
the idea of upgrading my prehistoric rattletrap (AMD Athlon 64 3500+) to 
a multicore system, preferably with an AMD Phenom II X6, i. e. a 
hexa-core CPU.

But obviously not all software supports using all cores - does PoV-Ray 
3.6 (I would not use 3.7 unless its final version is released, a friend 
experienced a bad crash with the current beta)? Are there differences 
between the Windows and Linux versions (I use Linux)?

See you in Khyberspace - www.khyberspace.de

Yadgar


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From: Alain
Subject: Re: Does PoV-Ray 3.6 support multi-core processors?
Date: 26 Aug 2011 20:24:48
Message: <4e583950@news.povray.org>

> High!
>
> As for raytracing computers NEVER are fast enough, I currently toy with
> the idea of upgrading my prehistoric rattletrap (AMD Athlon 64 3500+) to
> a multicore system, preferably with an AMD Phenom II X6, i. e. a
> hexa-core CPU.
>
> But obviously not all software supports using all cores - does PoV-Ray
> 3.6 (I would not use 3.7 unless its final version is released, a friend
> experienced a bad crash with the current beta)? Are there differences
> between the Windows and Linux versions (I use Linux)?
>
> See you in Khyberspace - www.khyberspace.de
>
> Yadgar

Version 3.6.1 don't support multiple cores. To use multiple cores, you 
need yo launch multiple instances and do partial renders that you stitch 
toggether afterward. In a radiosity scene, it will cause discontinuities 
when the various sub-renders meet.
It means that any scene will be loaded multiple times and redundently 
use your memory, possibly forcing additional swap file access.


Version 3.7 is in release candidate stage. It's very stable and will use 
all available cores.
Some advantages of 3.7 over 3.6.1:
Multi processor/core support. One instance will use all cores/processors 
installed.
MUCH beter radiosity code and many radiosity bugs eradicated.
Beter antialiasing and the ability of using antialiasing and focal blur 
at the same time.
Beter and faster focal blur support with optional bokeh mask.
Native support for high dynamic range both as imput for image_map and as 
an output file format.
Extremely beter resume capability: No artefacts when resuming a 
radiosity scene.

I realy think that you should completely skip the very aging version 
3.6.1 and jump straight to version 3.7 RC3.



Alain


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From: jmichae3
Subject: Re: Does PoV-Ray 3.6 support multi-core processors?
Date: 26 Aug 2011 20:30:01
Message: <web.4e58399ac63734ce379c87210@news.povray.org>
=?ISO-8859-1?Q?J=F6rg_=27Yadgar=27_Bleimann?= <yaz### [at] gmxde> wrote:
> High!
>
> As for raytracing computers NEVER are fast enough, I currently toy with
> the idea of upgrading my prehistoric rattletrap (AMD Athlon 64 3500+) to
> a multicore system, preferably with an AMD Phenom II X6, i. e. a
> hexa-core CPU.
>
> But obviously not all software supports using all cores - does PoV-Ray
> 3.6 (I would not use 3.7 unless its final version is released, a friend
> experienced a bad crash with the current beta)? Are there differences
> between the Windows and Linux versions (I use Linux)?
>
> See you in Khyberspace - www.khyberspace.de
>
> Yadgar

the intel i7-995x is the top processor on the passmark list.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
windows will think it has 12 cores if I am not mistaken (I have a hyperthreaded
pentium 4 and it is a 1 core with 2 threads, thinks it's a 2-proc box).  you
will want megapov since I hear that's the only one that supports
multithreading/multicores.


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From: Thorsten Froehlich
Subject: Re: Does PoV-Ray 3.6 support multi-core processors?
Date: 27 Aug 2011 01:33:43
Message: <4e5881b7@news.povray.org>

> High!
>
> As for raytracing computers NEVER are fast enough, I currently toy with the
> idea of upgrading my prehistoric rattletrap (AMD Athlon 64 3500+) to a
> multicore system, preferably with an AMD Phenom II X6, i. e. a hexa-core CPU.
>
> But obviously not all software supports using all cores - does PoV-Ray 3.6
> (I would not use 3.7 unless its final version is released, a friend
> experienced a bad crash with the current beta)? Are there differences
> between the Windows and Linux versions (I use Linux)?

You should go with POV-Ray 3.7 nonetheless. If your friend experienced "a 
bad crash", I assume his system crashed while he was using POV-Ray. This is 
indeed possible if his system is not cooled according to CPU vendor 
specifications as POV-Ray 3.7 will use all cores and is ideally suited to 
bring your systems to its thermal limits. POV-Ray, just like any other 
application that would use all available processing capabilities can also 
cause instability of a poorly cooled system, but in the end that is a 
hardware problem, not a software problem.

	Thorsten


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From: Thorsten Froehlich
Subject: Re: Does PoV-Ray 3.6 support multi-core processors?
Date: 27 Aug 2011 01:52:45
Message: <4e58862d$1@news.povray.org>
On 27.08.11 02:29, jmichae3 wrote:
> will want megapov since I hear that's the only one that supports
> multithreading/multicores.

That is complete nonsense. You cannot have heard this anywhere, as nobody 
who has just a bit of clue would say so. The only version available that 
supports multicore processors is POV-Ray 3.7, which is currently a fairly 
stable release candidate version and available from povray.org for download.

	Thorsten, POV-Team


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From: Thomas de Groot
Subject: Re: Does PoV-Ray 3.6 support multi-core processors?
Date: 27 Aug 2011 03:08:40
Message: <4e5897f8$1@news.povray.org>

> High!
>
> As for raytracing computers NEVER are fast enough, I currently toy with
> the idea of upgrading my prehistoric rattletrap (AMD Athlon 64 3500+) to
> a multicore system, preferably with an AMD Phenom II X6, i. e. a
> hexa-core CPU.
>

No need to be afraid of a software induced crash. Version 3.7 has been 
very stable for a long while now. I never had a crash, even with my old 
dual core. I have upgraded recently to an Intel i7 machine and POV uses 
8 threads, which is a fantastic gain of render time for me after *just* 
two threads before (which was already a nice gain of render time 
compared to the single thread of version 3.6 and my even older 
machines... ;-)  ).

Thomas


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From: Jörg 'Yadgar' Bleimann
Subject: Re: Does PoV-Ray 3.6 support multi-core processors?
Date: 27 Aug 2011 07:03:53
Message: <4e58cf19@news.povray.org>
High!

On 27.08.2011 07:52, Thorsten Froehlich wrote:

> The only version
> available that supports multicore processors is POV-Ray 3.7, which is
> currently a fairly stable release candidate version and available from
> povray.org for download.

But I will have to compile it on my own for Debian Linux?

See you in Khyberspace!

Yadgar


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From: jhu
Subject: Re: Does PoV-Ray 3.6 support multi-core processors?
Date: 27 Aug 2011 11:35:00
Message: <web.4e590d90c63734ce3b47249a0@news.povray.org>
=?ISO-8859-1?Q?J=F6rg_=27Yadgar=27_Bleimann?= <yaz### [at] gmxde> wrote:
> High!
>
> On 27.08.2011 07:52, Thorsten Froehlich wrote:
>
> > The only version
> > available that supports multicore processors is POV-Ray 3.7, which is
> > currently a fairly stable release candidate version and available from
> > povray.org for download.
>
> But I will have to compile it on my own for Debian Linux?
>
> See you in Khyberspace!
>
> Yadgar

You should always be compiling your own binaries under Debian (or any other
unix-like system). The official binaries run, but tend to be suboptimal on
current processors.


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