Discussion Compute requirement for Topaz video ai Starlight AI model require clould computing

igor_kavinski · Mar 6, 2025

Hulk said:
Despite our constant demand for more compute we have come a long way.

Part of me really wishes Apple would license x86 from Intel who would not let the deal go sour if the numbers involved are really good since they need any help they can get right now. x86 software and especially thousands of x86 games are not just gonna go away. They will be here even after two decades. Apple really needs to spend their money doing the RIGHT thing rather than trying to redefine the computing landscape. It didn't work while Jobs was alive and sure as hell not going to work now. They need to move out into the real world where the majority of the serious software runs on x86. We need more x86 competition. ARM has shown us what competition can do. There are phones out there that are kicking my i7-4770 office PC in the head!

Hulk · Mar 6, 2025

igor_kavinski said:
Part of me really wishes Apple would license x86 from Intel who would not let the deal go sour if the numbers involved are really good since they need any help they can get right now. x86 software and especially thousands of x86 games are not just gonna go away. They will be here even after two decades. Apple really needs to spend their money doing the RIGHT thing rather than trying to redefine the computing landscape. It didn't work while Jobs was alive and sure as hell not going to work now. They need to move out into the real world where the majority of the serious software runs on x86. We need more x86 competition. ARM has shown us what competition can do. There are phones out there that are kicking my i7-4770 office PC in the head!

Yes. At the very least put some pressure on MS to not force us to save files to "One Drive" even locally. I hate not having control. Oh yeah, and Edge too.

igor_kavinski · Mar 6, 2025

Hulk said:
Yes. At the very least put some pressure on MS to not force us to save files to "One Drive" even locally. I hate not having control. Oh yeah, and Edge too.

I think I have a solution to the Microsoft problem. Use Windows Server evaluation and every 178 days, do a re-arm to extend it another 179 days. And when that is up, just fresh install it again. Kinda bothersome but it's the closest thing to having a "serious" Windows installation with no crapware installed.

poke01 · Mar 6, 2025

igor_kavinski said:
Part of me really wishes Apple would license x86 from Intel who would not let the deal go sour if the numbers involved are really good since they need any help they can get right now. x86 software and especially thousands of x86 games are not just gonna go away. They will be here even after two decades. Apple really needs to spend their money doing the RIGHT thing rather than trying to redefine the computing landscape. It didn't work while Jobs was alive and sure as hell not going to work now. They need to move out into the real world where the majority of the serious software runs on x86. We need more x86 competition. ARM has shown us what competition can do. There are phones out there that are kicking my i7-4770 office PC in the head!

I mean they already redefined the laptop landscape since M1. I also want to see Apples take on x86 too but it’s impossible for Apple to get one. There’s a reason why Keller is working on RISC-V, no restrictions on the license.

Going back on topic. We are a long way off from running Topaz’s model on local desktops that is affordable.

adamge · Mar 7, 2025

igor_kavinski said:
I think I have a solution to the Microsoft problem. Use Windows Server evaluation and every 178 days, do a re-arm to extend it another 179 days. And when that is up, just fresh install it again. Kinda bothersome but it's the closest thing to having a "serious" Windows installation with no crapware installed.

Other than the licensing cost, Windows Server is the absolute perfect Windows. No crapware, no marketing. I'd love to use it at home and on my laptop. But, you know, licensing cost.

igor_kavinski · Mar 7, 2025

adamge said:
But, you know, licensing cost.

There are businesses using Oracle database without a license. As long as you can get away with it, I don't see a problem. After all, Microsoft created the monopoly, refuses to opensource their Win32/64 API and then forces bloatware on unsuspecting users.

igor_kavinski · Mar 16, 2025

Just saw this:

Hulk · Mar 16, 2025

igor_kavinski said:
Just saw this:

View attachment 120065

Good to know. Thanks Igor! Once they get in stock at MSRP I might get one.

igor_kavinski · Mar 17, 2025

Hulk said:
Good to know. Thanks Igor! Once they get in stock at MSRP I might get one.

Apologies. Someone called that guy out on his 50% claim so I decided to look and found: https://community.topazlabs.com/t/amd-radeon-9070-xt/88289/12

So it's only one test where there is that much lead. Otherwise it's almost similar, except for Rhea and RXL which are significant regressions. The benchmark may also be affected by the presence of an X3D CPU.

igor_kavinski · Mar 17, 2025

There's also another comparison there using the same version:

Seems the 16X Slowmo improvement is real and the RHEA/RX regressions are gone but then he has a single CCD X3D so maybe that's a factor?

fastandfurious6 · Mar 17, 2025

anecdotal but any before-after video I saw caused motion sickness. looks unnatural

the 'move to cloud' is them admitting defeat i.e. they don't know how to make the software more efficient i.e. they don't know what they're doing

almost all current AI driven projects are Weak AI, i.e. trying to brute force results with extreme amounts of compute

too much effort and waste for meaningless "progress"

soresu · Mar 18, 2025

igor_kavinski said:
You are definitely this

View attachment 119015

than this:

View attachment 119016

Bruh that isn't even a compliment, that Hulk was more like Big Green Lebowski than the Professor Hulk from the comics 😆

THE DUDE!!

I was straight up waiting for him to start in with the nihilistic stuff from that movie.

Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn in TRON Legacy was giving the same energy, given he actually did play Lebowski it only made it worse 😅

soresu · Mar 18, 2025

poke01 said:
I also want to see Apples take on x86 too but it’s impossible for Apple to get one

It's not that it's impossible.

It's just that even if it became possible in the future* they still wouldn't touch it.

They and their software partners have invested way too much in shifting away from x86 to ARM at this point.

The whiplash it would cause developers in trying to force them back to x86 might even be enough for them to just abandon the platform entirely.

Apple have a good thing going with their MacOS ecosystem monopoly - but not that good.

*If say Intel sold the remaining x86 IP rights to AMD, and the latter in turn opened licensing to bolster the ISA ecosystem against ARM (which IMHO may become necessary in the near future regardless of Intel giving up or not - the new x86 coop thing between them seems like a possible prelude to that).

Hulk · Mar 18, 2025

fastandfurious6 said:
anecdotal but any before-after video I saw caused motion sickness. looks unnatural

the 'move to cloud' is them admitting defeat i.e. they don't know how to make the software more efficient i.e. they don't know what they're doing

almost all current AI driven projects are Weak AI, i.e. trying to brute force results with extreme amounts of compute

too much effort and waste for meaningless "progress"

I agree with this. I have been messing around with Topaz Video AI for a year and a half and have never produced a video with it that was better than the source. Sure some aspects might have been a little better, but others so much worse that the sum of the parts was worse.

Topaz Photo AI on the other hand has been quite useful when applied with care.

Video AI not ready for prime time unfortunately. I bought the product and supported the "project."

CakeMonster · Mar 18, 2025

I've tried Topaz. I'm just fascinated with AI and the possibilities in upscaling/interpolation, but yeah I kind of agree its not really ready for anything except playing around. Lots of people love to play around though. My most successful attempts have been 1080p input sources that are excellent quality already (crisp, good bitrate, bright) upscaled 2x to 4K with Gaia, the result look quite decent and very little artifacts with what to me looks like a tiny bit of grain by default. Interpolation of 30fps sources are 'ok' with the heaviest model, but it really needs 60 input to scale really good IMO. Less than 30 does not look good, but I bet AI that understands context could improve this in the future.

Hulk · Mar 18, 2025

CakeMonster said:
I've tried Topaz. I'm just fascinated with AI and the possibilities in upscaling/interpolation, but yeah I kind of agree its not really ready for anything except playing around. Lots of people love to play around though. My most successful attempts have been 1080p input sources that are excellent quality upscaled to 4K with Gaia, the result look quite decent and very little artifacts with what to me looks like a tiny bit of grain by default. Interpolation of 30fps sources are 'ok' with the heaviest model, but it really needs 60 input to scale really good IMO. Less than 30 does not look good, but I bet AI that understands context could improve this in the future.

Yes, I have noticed that if you start with good 1080p video upscaling is pretty good. I guess for me good or excellent 1080p is good enough to leave alone. There is a "character" to the original video I often find I like that is removed with Topaz, everything gets cleaner but somehow "harder" and less real.

You've got me thinking about this again. Maybe I'll fool around with some good quality video if I have time. My first instinct with Video AI was to go to my worst video. Either super 8 or old VHS or even early DV. The results were not good.

AnitaPeterson · Mar 20, 2025

You might find this interesting: https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/ds9-redefined-2-0-the-ultimate-ds9-upscale-project.317855/

Discussion Compute requirement for Topaz video ai Starlight AI model require clould computing

igor_kavinski

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Hulk

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igor_kavinski

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poke01

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adamge

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igor_kavinski

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igor_kavinski

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Hulk

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igor_kavinski

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igor_kavinski

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fastandfurious6

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soresu

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soresu

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Hulk

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CakeMonster

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Hulk

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AnitaPeterson

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