Does a render node or dedicated Arnold render workstation require a gpu?

[rajitha.94]

I'm going to be exporting my project to that pc to render the final images on. Would that pc need a gpu? If so what would be recomeneded?

[Stephen.Blair · Accepted solution]

No GPU is required for rendering final images. The current Arnold is a CPU renderer.

[rajitha.94]

Hi, thanks, I am aware that Arnold is not a gpu renderer, but would I need a gpu to load the scenes. Will a 4gb gpu suffice just to load up the scene and render?

Thanks

[Stephen.Blair]

Load the scenes in what? A render node is for command-line rendering, scenes are loaded but there's no UI and nothing has to be displayed.

[rajitha.94]

Sorry, I should've been bit more clearer. I want the second pc to act as a render node, but also be able to use it as a normal pc, for example, I want to be able to export a maya project and load it into the pc to render from there leaving my main pc free. So in the case would I need a gpu?

[Stephen.Blair]

I think Maya needs a GPU, so yes, you'd need a GPU on that machine.

In Arnold itself, currently only the Optix Denoiser requires a GPU.