Blender 2.70 GPU render in Ubuntu 13.10 (Saucy) with GTX 750ti

This is how I got Blender 2.70 to render with Cycles GPU (CUDA) with an Nvidia GTX 750ti in Ubuntu 13.10 (Saucy Salamander) amd64. I hope the new drivers (with less bugs) will be ready when Trusty gets released.

Test environment

UbuntuStudio 13.10 amd64 (3.11.+ kernel)
Blender 2.70 64 bits
Graphics processor: GEForce GTX 750 ti
Nvidia driver version 334.21 (xorg-edgers ppa)
CPU: Core i7 4770

Installation

1. Install x-edgers ppa 334.21 nvidia driver from https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa

2. The patch buildfix_kernel_3.12.patch failed in nvida-334-uvm above, so I modified the deb file and removed the patch and instructions associated with it. Download and install the following deb file http://www.mediafire.com/download/eluzj8umso9ym20/nvidia-334-uvm-nopatch.deb

Warning: Installing this deb may cause your system to throw up three error notifications associated with nvidia-uvm on startup. I just cancel all the dialog boxes.





3. Download Jucyfruit's precompiled cuda kernel for linux at http://martijnberger.nl/file/2.70_sm50.tar.gz . (see in context http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?327909-Cycles-NVidia-MAXWELL-Benchmarks&p=2602924&viewfull=1#post2602924)

Copy the X86_64/kernel_sm_50.cubin to blender-2.70-linux-glibc211-x86_64/2.70/scripts/addons/cycles/lib/


4. Open a terminal and run blender as root one time (nvidia-uvm seems to need this). Use "sudo blender".

Verify by using "ls /dev/nvidia"; (or use 'lsmod | grep nvidia')
"/dev/nvidia-uvm" should be listed.


Note: It appears that this needs to be done over again every time the computer is rebooted. There seems to be a solution here https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/699610/334-21-driver-returns-999-on-cuinit-cuda-/?offset=6  ; but I have not tried it.

My GPU Render benchmarks

BMW1M-MikePan.blend - 1:11.63
cycles_cornell_bench_27.blend - 2:59.52

Compare your results with these http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?331149-The-new-Cyles-GPU-2-70-Benchmark&highlight=cycles+benchmark