Does Freecad use GPU?

[thomas-neemann]

...why you are comparing file load time to measure GPU? ...

it no longer corresponds to the original question, a separate topic would probably make sense. here I have compared loading times as well as calculation times, these are typical problem cases from practice

[Laurie Hartley]

Just to step back a little fellas, when the original poster asked the question "does FreeCAD use the GPU" the reason I joined in was I rightly or wrongly (only he can say) thought he was asking a question about the system resources required to run FreeCAD. Perhaps he was thinking about buying a new computer - once again only he can say.

I am just an average computer user - but my experience is that based on what I have seen with my own eyes there is not much difference between my two computers despite the age difference. Some of that might be down to the Linux operating systems? MX 19 on the Thinkpad and Antix on the Dell. By the way I have been using MX for about two years (left windows got fed up waiting for it to boot up and do system updates ) but I have been very impressed with Antix.

So if you are an ordinary Joe like me and don't do gaming I would say get the best CPU, Pcle SSD and if you are using the FEM workbench, as much RAM as you can afford.

Regardless of all this I revisited this matter by following this process on both the Thinkpad & Dell
(Which I have to say I think was pretty high spec when it was bought) as ChrisB suggested:-

Boot computer up
Turn internet access off
Loaded FreeCAD
Loaded my largest file
Turned turntable view on.

Thinkpad Details
Hard Drive - PCle M.2 SSD https://www.notebookcheck.net/Samsung-S ... 947.0.html
Computer Boot Time - 1min:17secs
FreeCAD load time - 20.63 seconds (weekly build appimage)
File Load time - 3.35 seconds
Turntable View On - CPU usage 13.63%
System Details

Code: Select all

$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Kernel: 5.14.0-3mx-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 
           Distro: MX-19.4_ahs_x64 patito feo March 31  2021 base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 20NFA00PAU v: ThinkPad E595 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: LENOVO model: 20NFA00PAU serial: <filter> UEFI: LENOVO v: R11ET40W (1.20 ) 
           date: 11/17/2020 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 42.7 Wh (100.0%) condition: 42.7/45.7 Wh (93.4%) volts: 11.5 
           min: 11.1 model: Celxpert 5B10W138 status: Full 
CPU:       Info: Quad Core model: AMD Ryzen 7 3700U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx bits: 64 
           type: MT MCP arch: Zen rev: 1 cache: L2: 2 MiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 36731 
           Speed: 1224 MHz min/max: 1400/2300 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1224 
           2: 1224 3: 1224 4: 1223 5: 1224 6: 1224 7: 1236 8: 1354 
Graphics:  Device-1: AMD Picasso vendor: Lenovo ThinkPad E595 driver: amdgpu v: kernel 
           bus-ID: 05:00.0 
           Device-2: IMC Networks type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 3-2:3 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.10 driver: loaded: amdgpu resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: 
           renderer: AMD Radeon Vega 10 Graphics (RAVEN DRM 3.42.0 5.14.0-3mx-amd64 LLVM 11.0.1) 
           v: 4.6 Mesa 20.3.4 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: AMD Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio vendor: Lenovo ThinkPad E595 
           driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 05:00.1 
           Device-2: AMD Raven/Raven2/FireFlight/Renoir Audio Processor 
           vendor: Lenovo ThinkPad E595 driver: snd_pci_acp3x v: kernel bus-ID: 05:00.5 
           Device-3: AMD Family 17h HD Audio vendor: Lenovo ThinkPad E595 driver: snd_hda_intel 
           v: kernel bus-ID: 05:00.6 
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.14.0-3mx-amd64 running: yes 
           Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 12.2 running: yes 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
           vendor: Lenovo ThinkPad E595 driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Realtek RTL8822BE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi adapter 
           vendor: Lenovo ThinkPad E595 driver: rtw_8822be v: N/A port: 2000 bus-ID: 04:00.0 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-1: virbr0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-2: virbr0-nic state: down mac: <filter> 
Bluetooth: Device-1: Realtek type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 3-1:2 
           Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 2.1 lmp-v: 4.2 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 535.03 GiB used: 232.83 GiB (43.5%) 
           ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 vendor: SanDisk model: SD64G size: 58.09 GiB 
           ID-2: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: MZVLB512HBJQ-000L7 size: 476.94 GiB 
           temp: 35.9 C 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 466.21 GiB used: 232.83 GiB (49.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 
           ID-2: /boot/efi size: 252 MiB used: 258 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 
Swap:      ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 63.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 63.0 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): fan-1: 0 
Info:      Processes: 255 Uptime: 26m Memory: 29.27 GiB used: 1.47 GiB (5.0%) Init: SysVinit 
           runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 Packages: 2831 Shell: Bash v: 5.0.3 inxi: 3.3.06 

Dell Details
Hard Drive 5200RPM https://www.hdsentinel.com/storageinfo_ ... WD3200BPVT
Computer Boot Time - 1min:32secs
FreeCAD load time - 22.23 seconds (weekly build appimage)
File Load time - 4.35 seconds
Turntable View On - CPU usage 50%
System Details

Code: Select all

$ inxi -Fxz
System:
  Kernel: 5.10.57-antix.1-amd64-smp x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 
  Desktop: IceWM 2.9.5 Distro: antiX-21_x64-full Grup Yorum 31 October 2021 
  base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) 
Machine:
  Type: Portable System: Dell product: XPS M1530 v: N/A serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Dell model: 0R387D serial: <filter> BIOS: Dell v: A09 
  date: 07/14/2008 
Battery:
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse charge: Normal 
  status: Discharging 
  Device-2: hidpp_battery_1 model: Logitech Wireless Keyboard charge: Normal 
  status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Info: Dual Core model: Intel Core2 Duo T9300 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: Penryn rev: 6 cache: L2: 6 MiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 9973 
  Speed: 1268 MHz min/max: 800/2501 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 
  1: 1268 2: 1287 
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA G84M [GeForce 8600M GT] vendor: Dell driver: nvidia 
  v: 340.108 bus-ID: 01:00.0 
  Device-2: OmniVision OV2640 Webcam type: USB driver: uvcvideo 
  bus-ID: 1-1:2 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: loaded: nvidia 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa resolution: 1440x900~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: GeForce 8600M GT/PCIe/SSE2 v: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 340.108 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 82801H HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.57-antix.1-amd64-smp running: yes 
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: no 
Network:
  Device-1: Marvell 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet vendor: Dell driver: sky2 
  v: 1.30 port: de00 bus-ID: 09:00.0 
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Intel PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network 
  driver: iwl4965 v: in-tree: port: de00 bus-ID: 0b:00.0 
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 
  bus-ID: 7-2.1:3 
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 1.2 
  lmp-v: 2.0 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 305.59 GiB used: 45.41 GiB (14.9%) 
  ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 model: 0000 size: 7.5 GiB 
  ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD3200BPVT-00JJ5T0 
  size: 298.09 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 288.04 GiB used: 45.41 GiB (15.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 4.37 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) 
  dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 48.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 3080 fan-2: 0 fan-3: 0 
Info:
  Processes: 142 Uptime: 2h 11m Memory: 2.92 GiB used: 952.9 MiB (31.9%) 
  Init: SysVinit runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 Packages: 1837 
  Shell: Bash v: 5.1.4 inxi: 3.3.06 

[a3bksll47]

My file load time is abysmal:

0.18 FreeCAD load time 6.9 secs.
file load time 146 secs. (file size 3.2 MB)
ThinkPad P52, i7-8850H, SSD, Windows 10
16 GB RAM
Quadro P2000

[chrisb]

0.18 FreeCAD load time 6.9 secs.
file load time 146 secs. (file size 3.2 MB)

Which file? The freecad-heini-1 blister mentioned above?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ly7m7juexi42a ... fcstd?dl=0

[a3bksll47]

No, my own work sample.

[chrisb]

Before I ordered my new laptop I went to the store and tested FreeCAD with some average models of mine. This was not really due to performance but rather to see if the OpenGL stuff worked properly. If you are in doubt, I can recommend such procedure.

[xsuper9988]

Does Freecad use or can take advantage of a good GPU on Linux?

No, it does't use the GPU.

Does Freecad use or can take advantage of a good GPU on "Windows"?
Is it the same result on Windows?

[wmayer]

Does Freecad use or can take advantage of a good GPU on "Windows"?
Is it the same result on Windows?

FreeCAD itself doesn't use the GPU directly on any OS. Only the graphic driver -- if supported -- for rendering will do.

[xsuper9988]

FreeCAD itself doesn't use the GPU directly on any OS. Only the graphic driver -- if supported -- for rendering will do.

OK
Thank you very much

[murshade]

Does Freecad use or can take advantage of a good GPU on "Windows"?
Is it the same result on Windows?

FreeCAD itself doesn't use the GPU directly on any OS. Only the graphic driver -- if supported -- for rendering will do.

AKA the answer is yes.

FreeCAD is designed to use GPUs because it uses the graphics library OpenGL. OpenGL is even smart enough to split the 3D rendering of FreeCAD across multiple GPUs if you have purchased appropriate cards. (i.e. Quadro cards, etc). You would need some pretty complicated and detailed models to warrant that, and is really only useful when doing operations like rotating, moving, etc.

Anything which isn't related to 3D/Graphics obviously isn't going to use the GPU. i.e. Loading a model from a disk is a disk/cpu problem not a GPU problem.

I wanted to know how well the GPU was taken advantage of in FreeCAD, so I setup a test rig with two derelict Nvidia P4 GPUs in a windows 10 computer (As a virtual computer under VMware ESXi with GPUs in passthrough) and it worked flawlessly. I was surprised and impressed to see that the 3D graphics GPU load was always split perfectly evenly across the two P4 cards (thanks to OpenGL magic). I would expect that a normal workstation configuration with one, two or more GPUs would work just as well.