Bender and GPU Question

Hi ppattybhat ,

I'm not familiar with your Wacom MSP, so I Googled it.

Not very helpful, but I get what you are saying in your questions.

1) When using Blender, is it correct to have  Wacom’s GPU turned on? 

For example, I understand Cycles gives me an opportunity to turn on GPU. But since it’s already turned on, ….does this still matter?  Should I still turn it on /off?

For general use, (modelling, sculpting, animating, etc.) No.

For rendering or using the viewport shading, Yes. Unless you are using Cycles with CPU selected as the render device.

Turning on the GPU via Wacom's settings, You are basically powering it on for use.

If you are rendering with Cycles and wish to render with the CPU, then it is OK to turn it off via Wacom.

If you want to render with Cycles and the GPU, both, Wacom and Blender's render settings for the GPU need to be turned on.

what happens in Eevee , with the Wacom GPU turned on? Anything? 

Eevee only uses the GPU for rendering, which is why there is no option to switch to CPU in the Blender render settings.

The Wacom GPU settings will need to be on for rendering with Eevee.

Here's what Blender.org has on rendering with Eevee:

Being a rasterization engine, Eevee only uses the power of the GPU to render. There is no plan to support CPU (software) rendering as it would be very inefficient. CPU power is still needed to handle high scene complexity as the geometry must be prepared by the CPU before rendering each frame.

I have not worked with Sculpting yet, but when I do, with Wacom’s GPU on, does Blender give me a choice to turn  it on? Does it matter? 

Whist sculpting, Blender will be using the CPU not the GPU. It doesn't matter if you have the GPU on via the Wacom settings or not.

CPU stands for Central Processing Unit

GPU stands for Graphics Processing Unit

It maybe useful to think of CPU as Computational or Calculation, essentially everything you do on a computer is a process of mathematical calculation (computational).

The CPU can do what the GPU does, the GPU can't do what the CPU does, Due to the large and broad instruction set of the CPU v GPU.

The GPU is designed to process data at a hugely superior speed, however the instruction set is specific to certain tasks, i.e. Graphics processing.

Is it OK to keep Wacom’s GPU on,…… since I keep the Wacom plugged in? I would rather keep it plugged in anyway.

Yes, if you intend to use the Wacom at home/office.

The Wacom is designed for digital artists to use on location, therefore the need for battery power is vital.

Having the option to turn of the GPU via Wacom settings is a power saving option essentially.

The rendering of completed work, I would suggest would ideally be done when the artist returns home and plugged in.

Hope this helps!

I may have over detailed some answers, however I think it helps to understand CPU's and GPU's functionality to really get an understanding of the settings and make the right choice.