3D Rendering on Apple Silicon, CPU&GPU

[Sapimati]

My 60 core M2 Ultra that just arrived gets 2878 points in Blender. Not too shabby.

Geekbench only gives me 206k, but again that's definitely very useable.

I think it's easy to get carried away staring at the 4090, but taking a step back, this is definitely a very capable machine for 3D graphics.

Which Geekbench version did you run? Apparently there are big differences in results among 5, 6 or 6.1

 

[Lone Deranger]

The 4090 set a new standard not just in performance but in power consumption. We've kind of started normalizing this trend towards ever increasing GPU power consumption, people can tell us yeah power consumption doesn't matter but at some point it will. A 300W CPU + 500W GPU is already half of what you can reasonably put on a single North American home breaker circuit.

It is getting to the point where we need to see power consumption and electricity cost included into benchmarks, if not price/purchase considerations.
I'm really curious what the annual electricity cost of something like a Ryzen 5900X+RTX 4090 workstation pulling 700-800Watt (not counting room A/C) is compared to something like an M2 Ultra Mac Studio in this day and age.

 

[jmho]

Which Geekbench version did you run? Apparently there are big differences in results among 5, 6 or 6.1

6.1

 

[Xiao_Xi]

My 60 core M2 Ultra that just arrived gets 2878 points in Blender. Not too shabby.

 

[dugbug]

The 4090 set a new standard not just in performance but in power consumption. We've kind of started normalizing this trend towards ever increasing GPU power consumption, people can tell us yeah power consumption doesn't matter but at some point it will. A 300W CPU + 500W GPU is already half of what you can reasonably put on a single North American home breaker circuit.

5090s will come with dryer plugs.

 

[Xiao_Xi]

And even if they were fake results, they should be returned by the search. What results is the chart based on??

Mystery solved.

The chart generation code was including results flagged as inaccurate when computing the averages for each GPU. This issue has been fixed and the M2 Ultra average score is now in line with the results available on the Geekbench Browser.

The individual M2 Ultra scores don't explain the M2 Ultra score in the Metal benchmark chart. / Geekbench / Discussion Area - Primate Labs Support

support.primatelabs.com

 

[Spybreakjj]

The 4090 set a new standard not just in performance but in power consumption. We've kind of started normalizing this trend towards ever increasing GPU power consumption, people can tell us yeah power consumption doesn't matter but at some point it will. A 300W CPU + 500W GPU is already half of what you can reasonably put on a single North American home breaker circuit.

While I agree that GPUs are using too much power these days, the 4090 is actually a LOT more efficient than the 3090 in perf/watt. While 3D rendering my 4090 pulled about 350W, which is almost the same as my 3090, and had double the performance.

I currently have power limited the 4090 to pull between 280-320W when rendering with a less than 3% drop in performance.

I doubt the next generation of Nvidia GPUs will be able to keep up the trend, but when talking about the 4090, for some reason Nvidia decided to let it pull way more power than it actually needs.

 

[diamond.g]

While I agree that GPUs are using too much power these days, the 4090 is actually a LOT more efficient than the 3090 in perf/watt. While 3D rendering my 4090 pulled about 350W, which is almost the same as my 3090, and had double the performance.

I currently have power limited the 4090 to pull between 280-320W when rendering with a less than 3% drop in performance.

I doubt the next generation of Nvidia GPUs will be able to keep up the trend, but when talking about the 4090, for some reason Nvidia decided to let it pull way more power than it actually needs.

Dynamic clocks are all the rage these days. From my understanding most 4090's should hit 3Ghz on air fairly easily. If I am not mistaken outside of thermal limitations the whole 40-series lineup is voltage limited anyways.

 

[senttoschool]

View attachment 2217525

Any benchmarks comparing Apple Silicon vs AMD GPUs vs Nvidia GPUs?

 

[Xiao_Xi]

Any benchmarks comparing Apple Silicon vs AMD GPUs vs Nvidia GPUs?

You can use the website that has the Blender scores.

Blender - Open Data

Blender Open Data is a platform to collect, display and query the results of hardware and software performance tests - provided by the public.

opendata.blender.org

For more comprehensive benchmarks, you can use Techgage as a reference. It does a lot of tests on Blender, but only for PC GPUs.

Blender 3.5 Performance Deep-dive: GPU Rendering & Viewport...

Blender 3.5 brings a lot of polish and new features to the table, and naturally, we had to give it a thorough battering with a wide-range of GPUs. This time around, we've added a new Cycles and Eevee render project, a new viewport project, and also cover an interesting angle: shader compile times.

techgage.com

 

[bombardier10]

Many people think that when a graphics card has 400W in the specification, it still draws that much power.
Nothing more wrong.This is the peak maximum power consumption during intensive calculations.
Then it drops to 50 , 60W....
I tested a computer with i9-13900K and graphics Radeon RX 3900XT. During intensive testing, the wattmeter indicated a maximum of 450 watts for the whole computer. In the iddle it was already 30 maybe 40W.
So when we are talking about very expensive workstations it is not right to say that we will pay $10 more for electricity. Save $120 a year and you'll pay a few thousand dollars more for a Mac Pro or Mac Studio than for a PC.😀

 

[bcortens]

Many people think that when a graphics card has 400W in the specification, it still draws that much power.
Nothing more wrong.This is the peak maximum power consumption during intensive calculations.
Then it drops to 50 , 60W....
I tested a computer with i9-13900K and graphics Radeon RX 3900XT. During intensive testing, the wattmeter indicated a maximum of 450 watts for the whole computer. In the iddle it was already 30 maybe 40W.
So when we are talking about very expensive workstations it is not right to say that we will pay $10 more for electricity. Save $120 a year and you'll pay a few thousand dollars more for a Mac Pro or Mac Studio than for a PC.😀

The 4090, alone consumes over 400W when gaming Toms Hardware.

The problem I was raising is not that average load will be lower, but that despite some people here going on and on about how great Nvidia is, the 4090 is yet another leap in peak power consumption which will eventually hit a wall for home use. Given that the 13900k has something like 300W peak power you are getting to the point where a home user is going to want a dedicated electrical circuit just for the PC, which is ridiculous.

 

[Longplays]

The 4090, alone consumes over 400W when gaming Toms Hardware.

The problem I was raising is not that average load will be lower, but that despite some people here going on and on about how great Nvidia is, the 4090 is yet another leap in peak power consumption which will eventually hit a wall for home use. Given that the 13900k has something like 300W peak power you are getting to the point where a home user is going to want a dedicated electrical circuit just for the PC, which is ridiculous.

Not as ridiculous as the RGB lighting they've been putting inside and outside their PCs.

Reminds me of the 00s trend of putting lights under their cars.

 

[aytan]

The 4090, alone consumes over 400W when gaming Toms Hardware.

The problem I was raising is not that average load will be lower, but that despite some people here going on and on about how great Nvidia is, the 4090 is yet another leap in peak power consumption which will eventually hit a wall for home use. Given that the 13900k has something like 300W peak power you are getting to the point where a home user is going to want a dedicated electrical circuit just for the PC, which is ridiculous.

Also consider overnight renders, sometimes it works all day and night I m not comfortable with that. I get electricity from a single line for my PC but PSU cable get warm after 2 or 3 hours. I am not sure this is safe or not at home. Yes it is faster 2x or 3x times than my M1 Ultra but I never feel comfortable with a PC. I use it only for rendering and look after it most of the times. it is not high spec, it is a simple regular one 1.000 W PSU/4070 with i7 13700k. If I will add a second GPU it will be ok I know but still not feel comfortable. Maybe I feel horribly wrong. After using a Mac Studio and a PC side by side either one of them looks wrong. I think depends on user perspective both of them could be ok or wrong at the same time. This is how I feel and because of that I keep both of them for now.

 

[Xiao_Xi]

The 4090, alone consumes over 400W when gaming Toms Hardware.

GPUs consume less power when rendering. For instance:

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 16GB Review [Content Creation, Rendering, & Power Draw]

Nvidia's newly released powerhouse of a GPU, the RTX 4080 brings solid performance to content creation workloads at moderate power-draw. Our review goes in-depth.

www.cgdirector.com

 

[diamond.g]

Also consider overnight renders, sometimes it works all day and night I m not comfortable with that. I get electricity from a single line for my PC but PSU cable get warm after 2 or 3 hours. I am not sure this is safe or not at home. Yes it is faster 2x or 3x times than my M1 Ultra but I never feel comfortable with a PC. I use it only for rendering and look after it most of the times. it is not high spec, it is a simple regular one 1.000 W PSU/4070 with i7 13700k. If I will add a second GPU it will be ok I know but still not feel comfortable. Maybe I feel horribly wrong. After using a Mac Studio and a PC side by side either one of them looks wrong. I think depends on user perspective both of them could be ok or wrong at the same time. This is how I feel and because of that I keep both of them for now.

If your PC Power cable is getting warm, you are using too small of a cable for your power supply, or it isn't plugged in all the way to either the wall or the PC. You should check your outlet, it shouldn't be warm or hot.

 

[aytan]

If your PC Power cable is getting warm, you are using too small of a cable for your power supply, or it isn't plugged in all the way to either the wall or the PC. You should check your outlet, it shouldn't be warm or hot.

Sure , it is the PSU cable which comes along Asus ROG Aura 1.000 W PSU. It connects from a single outlet from the wall. So I am not sure what is the issue with it.

 

[dmr727]

Sure , it is the PSU cable which comes along Asus ROG Aura 1.000 W PSU. It connects from a single outlet from the wall. So I am not sure what is the issue with it.

I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with it - I've found that stock cords, while probably safe, will get a little warm (not hot!) if you're genuinely putting close to 1000 Wh through them. A beefier cord might put your mind at ease a bit.

 

[aytan]

I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with it - I've found that stock cords, while probably safe, will get a little warm (not hot!) if you're genuinely putting close to 1000 Wh through them. A beefier cord might put your mind at ease a bit.

Maybe I should do that, thanks for your advice 👍

 

[dmr727]

Maybe I should do that, thanks for your advice 👍

I used to be into vintage Silicon Graphics hardware - it was easy to start asking a lot of various electrical bits you'd previously take for granted. To the point where I installed 3-phase 220 in the garage just to support my habit. 😛

 

[Boil]

I used to be into vintage Silicon Graphics hardware - it was easy to start asking a lot of various electrical bits you'd previously take for granted. To the point where I installed 3-phase 220 in the garage just to support my habit. 😛

That fridge-sized Onyx ain't gonna run off regular 110V wall power...!

 

[dmr727]

That fridge-sized Onyx ain't gonna run off regular 110V wall power...!

Onyx2 IR3, baby! Sigh...I miss those days. Still have my Power Indigo2, though - it's more spouse friendly. 😉

 

[avkills]

Maybe I should do that, thanks for your advice 👍

Try to get a 12/3 power cable, that will help.

 

[mi7chy]

Also consider overnight renders, sometimes it works all day and night I m not comfortable with that. I get electricity from a single line for my PC but PSU cable get warm after 2 or 3 hours. I am not sure this is safe or not at home. Yes it is faster 2x or 3x times than my M1 Ultra but I never feel comfortable with a PC. I use it only for rendering and look after it most of the times. it is not high spec, it is a simple regular one 1.000 W PSU/4070 with i7 13700k. If I will add a second GPU it will be ok I know but still not feel comfortable. Maybe I feel horribly wrong. After using a Mac Studio and a PC side by side either one of them looks wrong. I think depends on user perspective both of them could be ok or wrong at the same time. This is how I feel and because of that I keep both of them for now.

Heat is a byproduct of resistance. To reduce resistance use thick gauge wire and short cable fit to required length. Look at the printing on your existing power cable to find out the AWG gauge so if it's, for example, 18AWG (thinner gauge) try 14AWG (thicker gauge).

https://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-Computer-IEC-320-C13-P007-006/dp/B0027JRMD0

 

[aytan]

Heat is a byproduct of resistance. To reduce resistance use thick gauge wire and short cable fit to required length. Look at the printing on your existing power cable to find out the AWG gauge so if it's, for example, 18AWG (thinner gauge) try 14AWG (thicker gauge).

https://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-Computer-IEC-320-C13-P007-006/dp/B0027JRMD0

I m going to check AWG gauge, thanks a lot