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Author Topic: New PC system and scaling of performance  (Read 2097 times)

c-r-o-n-o-s

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New PC system and scaling of performance
« on: May 04, 2021, 03:42:12 PM »
Hello.

It's about a new computer system for our work.
Which computer configuration is "good" is asked every few months.
I now simply trust the site https://www.pugetsystems.com, among others.


Two things.

1.)
We have an offer for a very expensive (5 digit) workstation (with AMD TR 3970X processor, 256GB Ram and Quatro RTX6000 graphics card).
However, some of our projects can easily be divided into chunks.
If we would buy 3 single "super" computers for the same price of this workstation, we would "really" be 3 times faster, right?
(11900k, 128GB Ram, RTX3070/3080)

2.)
Does Metashape really scale that badly to larger computer systems?
Putget suggests so.

An 8CORE Intel 11900k is faster than a Threadripper system?
An RTX3070 is only 5% slower than an RTX3090?

You'd think Metashape would be good at dividing into tasks and distributing them across CPU cores.

Alexey Pasumansky

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Re: New PC system and scaling of performance
« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2021, 04:23:38 PM »
Hello c-r-o-n-o-s,

Which tests you are referring to (are they related to Metashape 1.7 version)?
I suggest to check the timing in the detailed table for the steps that you are interested in (for example, if you are not interested in building mesh from the dense cloud, then the complete processing time, which includes this step is not relevant for your needs).


As for the distributing tasks among several computers, it may be more effective to use network processing solution, as it allows to process the project as a whole, without splitting into several chunks. However, please note that you will need individual Metashape license for each node, if they are supposed to be working in parallel (no matter - as a part of network processing, or in a regular GUI mode).
The possible performance gain depends on the project size, processing batch to be completed and parameters used. For some tasks (like image matching or depth maps generation), the performance boost could be almost 3x (comparing three identical machines to the single computer with the same specifications).
Best regards,
Alexey Pasumansky,
Agisoft LLC

c-r-o-n-o-s

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Re: New PC system and scaling of performance
« Reply #2 on: May 04, 2021, 05:40:07 PM »
Thank you for the answer.

One limiting factor could be our network.
I mean that the speed also depends a lot on the network speed.  :o

Alexey Pasumansky

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Re: New PC system and scaling of performance
« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2021, 07:02:31 PM »
Hello c-r-o-n-o-s,

For the network processing it is recommended to have at least 1 GBit connection between the nodes and shared network storage.
Best regards,
Alexey Pasumansky,
Agisoft LLC

cyrilp

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Re: New PC system and scaling of performance
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2021, 05:32:18 PM »
the problem with puget is that they use a very small model project : 439 photos at 18 megapixels each

My project use between 2000 and 3000 photos at 60 megapixels each... I would love to see the benchmark results with this kind of project.

Wondering if using a 256mb ram Threadripper system would be a lot faster than my 128mb 5950x system ? what do you think Alexey ?

one issue on such projects is the video memory: i have two pc, one with 3080 and the other with the 3090. Very often the 3080 can't handle the projects because of it's smaller memory.

Alexey Pasumansky

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Re: New PC system and scaling of performance
« Reply #5 on: June 02, 2021, 07:52:33 PM »
Hello cyrilp,

Which Threadripper model you are considering?

As for the video memory issues, which steps you are referring to and whether they are still observed in 1.7.3 release version?
Best regards,
Alexey Pasumansky,
Agisoft LLC