I have a problem with using my RTX 2070 Super for rendering in Houdini. I'm using MX Linux 23 with the nvidia driver version 525.125.06 and I'm checking the usage with nvidia-smi.

I tried the view port karma preview and the render to disk with the karma node set to XPU. But there is no GPU usage, it stays under 10% usage. When I move around in the view port or start a smoke sim with open-cl the usage increases up to 40%.

The necessary packages should all be installed because in Blender when I render on the GPU the usage goes up 99%.


I really hope someone can help me solve the problem, so I can finally stop using windows.

Linux Mint user here, and I get 100% usage with my RTX 3080 when rendering with XPU, what do you use to monitor GPU usage, here I use the NVidia Control panel!

rootsandstones
I tried the view port karma preview and the render to disk with the karma node set to XPU. But there is no GPU usage

What do you see in the top right of the viewport?
Something similar to this?
https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/solaris/karma_xpu.html#viewport [www.sidefx.com]

Can you see the "Optix" entry there?
If so, what % is it showing? It indicates how much of the rendering is being contributed to by the GPU vs the CPU. Something over 80% is what I'd expect.

brians

rootsandstones
I tried the view port karma preview and the render to disk with the karma node set to XPU. But there is no GPU usage

What do you see in the top right of the viewport?
Something similar to this?
https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/solaris/karma_xpu.html#viewport [www.sidefx.com]

Can you see the "Optix" entry there?

No I can't see Optix there.

rootsandstones
No I can't see Optix there.

Ah, ok.
Then CUDA/Optix is failing to initialize.
Try rendering offline using the "karma" command but with a high verbosity level. You might get some more information about why XPU cannot initialize the Optix device.

Or you could wait for H20 and try again (it has better error reporting about failed devices)
But be warned it requires 535 driver minimum :/

brians
But be warned it requires 535 driver minimum :/

Well, this is an unpleasant surprise.
535 wasn't even uploaded to Debian Experimental repository yet, and it will probably take half a year for this, or a newer version, to even reach Unstable. Are you sure this is not a typo?

ajz3d

brians
But be warned it requires 535 driver minimum :/

Well, this is an unpleasant surprise.
535 wasn't even uploaded to Debian Experimental repository yet, and it will probably take half a year for this, or a newer version, to even reach Unstable. Are you sure this is not a typo?

535 is already pretty old. The current driver is version 545

jsmack

ajz3d

brians
But be warned it requires 535 driver minimum :/

Well, this is an unpleasant surprise.
535 wasn't even uploaded to Debian Experimental repository yet, and it will probably take half a year for this, or a newer version, to even reach Unstable. Are you sure this is not a typo?

535 is already pretty old. The current driver is version 545

For Linux 535 is the newest one on nvidia.com

rootsandstones

jsmack

ajz3d

brians
But be warned it requires 535 driver minimum :/

Well, this is an unpleasant surprise.
535 wasn't even uploaded to Debian Experimental repository yet, and it will probably take half a year for this, or a newer version, to even reach Unstable. Are you sure this is not a typo?

535 is already pretty old. The current driver is version 545

For Linux 535 is the newest one on nvidia.com

545.29.02 was released Oct 31st

rootsandstones
For Linux 535 is the newest one on nvidia.com

Did you search for under "New Feature Branch"? https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/214100/en-us/ [www.nvidia.com]

brians

rootsandstones
No I can't see Optix there.

Ah, ok.
Then CUDA/Optix is failing to initialize.
Try rendering offline using the "karma" command but with a high verbosity level. You might get some more information about why XPU cannot initialize the Optix device.

Or you could wait for H20 and try again (it has better error reporting about failed devices)
But be warned it requires 535 driver minimum :/

I started Houdini in the terminal and got this error when I started rendering.

jsmack
535 is already pretty old. The current driver is version 545

Can a hardware driver that was released just about four months ago be called "old"?
After such a short time, I would think twice before even calling it "stable".

@rootsandstones the output of running hgpuinfo -cin your terminal with houdini_setup sourced might help diagnose the issue.

edward
hgpuinfo -c

Anything out of the ordinary?

ajz3d
Can a hardware driver that was released just about four months ago be called "old"?

They come out almost every month, so yes? There is no stable with drivers, only bleeding edge and obsolete

Well, H20 is out now too so out with old and in with new!

@rootsandstones that seems ok, so I'm out of ideas.