- Jul 20, 2020
- 1,756
- 3,807
I think many artists share the need but many work around it by lowering the number of characters / objects in a scene - how much bigger would certain games' scenes be (and more specifically how many extra characters would they be able to put into scenes and / or how much more detail could be added to animations and the like) if they had the hardware and by extension the freedom to not be limited; like I mentioned, I totally understand why early developers that are still working on building up support run what they can get their hands on - as you noted, the 4090 is significantly cheaper than an RTX Ada 6000 in upfront costs - like something around 4-5x the cost differential or thereabouts (rough estimate) so that is significant, and the 4090 can be stacked in NVLink as well, but some logistical challenges exist, there. The 4090 models are generally larger, physically, than a Quadro card due to the insane power requirements they have larger coolers on them. And due to the power requirements when under load, they put off significantly more heat which has to go somewhere. It'd be much easier to put 3-4 Quadro cards in a rig, than 4090s when considering space, heat, and power delivery requirements. Furthermore I know some countries have exorbitant costs for electricity - the 4090 uses 50% more power than an RTX Ada 6000.While the need for VRAM is understandable in Ocean's case, virtually no other artist shares that need. The complexity put into the work makes different solutions suitable for different developers.
The 4xxx series has adaptability advantages that the A6000 does not, and by adaptability, I mean that they are fast, cheap, and with enough VRAM for most of them (even in a proper configuration they can generate full 4090s rigs).
Everyone knows what they need and how to use it.
Just some items to consider - ultimately people can do whatever they want; I don't want it to come across like I'm saying they can't do what they choose to, just putting my views on it out there.