How is VS X3 optimized for i7 processors?

[Oatmeal]

I understand how CUDA support can improve performance. My question is how is VS X3 optimized for i7 processors? What hardware features is VS taking advantage of? Hyperthreading? Something else?

NVIDIA® CUDA™ GPU acceleration and Intel® Core™ i7 CPU optimization

[Ken Berry]

I suspect you might need to contact Corel about that -- unless Abiel, who is the only person who works for Corel and who visits the forums, knows something about it. The rest of us are not Corel employees, but users who volunteer their time here to help others,

Perhaps other i7 owners might be able to chip in as well. All I know is that a lot of i7 owners have some troubles rendering with X3, and disabling byperthreading in the BIOS seems to correct this. But I wouldn't exactly call that "optimising" it for i7 processors, would you?

[Oatmeal]

you're right Ken, that does not sound optimized.

I thought I'd take a shot and see if one of the "users" knew the answer to that question. Corel hasn't been too quick to reply to any questions and I can't find any information about it on their web site, the pdf manual or the online manual.

[erdna]

I posted a simular question about Cuda a couple of months ago (nov 17). Abiel "from Corel" suggested to test it myself...

[gaardmand]

I'm looking for a fast graphic card, but before I buy any, I too wanted to know about CUDA use in X3.
Will the X3 software automatically detect a CUDA graphic card or do I have to press a button in X3.
Witch card could You recomend - for GPU hardware rendering in X3 ?

Thanks

[Ken Berry]

There is certainly no magic button to press. But otherwise, I have no idea whether or not X3 supports CUDA either fully or partially, though tend to suspect it does not.

[libbya]

I believe the CUDA support only kicks in while rendering. To turn it on you have to enable hardware acceleration in one of the preferences (I cannot remember where, I can check when I go home) and it will automatically use a CUDA card if you have one. I have only a meager 9800GT but it made a noticable improvement in render times than when I had hardware acceleration turned off.

As for the i7 issue, I have no idea as I do not have an i7 to test it with.

As far as video cards go, I suggest either a gtx 460 or ctx 560. The 560 is about $50 more, but it is also much more powerful.