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Profile Paul D. Buck

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Message 22690 - Posted: 19 May 2009, 10:19:40 UTC - in response to Message 22676.  

While folding I ran this for a while:



Now switched to:

What cards are those?

My best machine has a pair of GTX295 cards, second best has a pair o' GTX260s, and the third has one GTX280 and a 9800GT...

I don't yet have a MB that has 3 PCI-e slots ... though even if I did I am not sure I have the power to run much more than I have.... :)
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Profile uBronan
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Message 22701 - Posted: 19 May 2009, 13:54:44 UTC
Last modified: 19 May 2009, 14:11:29 UTC

Hehehehe read guys its simply impossible to run more then 4 cards the maker writes to use it in 3 way sli OR 4 way crossfire thats it.

The fact that it has 7 slots is simply not for 7 cards >.< those extra slots are to move to other slots if other parts or the case are in the way.

And i agree with Verstapp the pci bus seems to be the bottleneck with multi gpu boards i have seen only one system with 3 dualgpu double slots cards and believe me thats a cramped system ;)
Till today i have not seen any 4 way dualgpu double cards solutions build in a case :D
They run the whole shabang in the open air and that guy had also a freezer on his cpu since it ran at very high oc intel i7 920.

I am not sure if the 7 slots are all capable of running at 16x but probably some slots are 8x or less for compatibility reasons.

My current motherboard is also capable of running 4 cards but only at 8x speed not that it matters much if its 16x or 8x untill someone donates me a couple of GTX295 cards :D
But i wonder if it really matters i haven't seen any performance gain or seen any speed increase between 8x or 16x slotted machines, i really think the pci busses are the bottleneck. Has anyone info about test what speed is actually reached when using high performance cards. Or are we stuck with the theoretical speeds provided by the manufactors.

I have seen allready psu giving 1,5 Kw but its a big monster needing 2 x space of normal power supply i thought it was a Zippy.
Its new, its relative fast... my new bicycle
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Profile [KWSN]John Galt 007
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Message 22710 - Posted: 19 May 2009, 15:56:47 UTC - in response to Message 22701.  

Hehehehe read guys its simply impossible to run more then 4 cards the maker writes to use it in 3 way sli OR 4 way crossfire thats it.

The fact that it has 7 slots is simply not for 7 cards >.< those extra slots are to move to other slots if other parts or the case are in the way.

And i agree with Verstapp the pci bus seems to be the bottleneck with multi gpu boards i have seen only one system with 3 dualgpu double slots cards and believe me thats a cramped system ;)
Till today i have not seen any 4 way dualgpu double cards solutions build in a case :D
They run the whole shabang in the open air and that guy had also a freezer on his cpu since it ran at very high oc intel i7 920.

I am not sure if the 7 slots are all capable of running at 16x but probably some slots are 8x or less for compatibility reasons.

My current motherboard is also capable of running 4 cards but only at 8x speed not that it matters much if its 16x or 8x untill someone donates me a couple of GTX295 cards :D
But i wonder if it really matters i haven't seen any performance gain or seen any speed increase between 8x or 16x slotted machines, i really think the pci busses are the bottleneck. Has anyone info about test what speed is actually reached when using high performance cards. Or are we stuck with the theoretical speeds provided by the manufactors.

I have seen allready psu giving 1,5 Kw but its a big monster needing 2 x space of normal power supply i thought it was a Zippy.



GPUGrid Lab machine...




Motherboard:
MSI K9A2 Platinum / AMD 790 FX 4xPCI-E 16x
CPU:
9950 AMD Phenom X4 2.60Ghz, RAM 4Gb.
GPUs:
4x NVIDIA GTX 280

Power supply:
Thermaltake Toughpower 1500W, with 4 PCI-E 8-pin and 4 PCI-E 6 pin power cables.


So it is possible...
Click to help Seti City.




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Profile uBronan
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Message 22720 - Posted: 19 May 2009, 18:27:42 UTC
Last modified: 19 May 2009, 18:33:35 UTC

I will revise what i sayed, i have not seen in real live and working before my eyes a 4 x (295)dual gpu system in a case running.

The gpugrid machine is impressive but still runs 4 single gpu's not 4 (295) dual cpu cards.

The setup we saw was a new attempt to get the highest score at 3dmark which he did not succeed, untill now we could not determine if all 4 cards where single or duals.
Yhe only real working 295 setup i saw was a 3 card sli solution
Its new, its relative fast... my new bicycle
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Profile [KWSN]John Galt 007
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Message 22721 - Posted: 19 May 2009, 18:30:55 UTC

I think Vyper has a 4x GTX295 running at SETI...first person to get over 50k RAC and the top computer. But SETI has their weekly downtime, so I can't be sure that is what he is running.
Click to help Seti City.




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Message 22722 - Posted: 19 May 2009, 18:34:22 UTC
Last modified: 19 May 2009, 18:35:52 UTC

That would be awesome maybe you can get info on his setup ?
Me wish to have 4 x dual gpu, allthough i would cry when i get the yearly bill from the electra ;)
Its new, its relative fast... my new bicycle
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Biffa
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Message 22875 - Posted: 21 May 2009, 9:59:40 UTC

I think you are missing the point my friend.

You don't use SLI or Crossfire to crunch data like Folding@Home or Boinc, you use the cards as separate devices.

So when I had 4x9800GT's (top photo) you don't SLI them together, same with the 3 GTX260's I am using now, you don't SLI them you keep them separate.
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Profile borandi
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Message 22891 - Posted: 21 May 2009, 13:35:03 UTC
Last modified: 21 May 2009, 13:35:24 UTC

I posted a link to a videos about a 23GPU rack, using quad PCI-E cards, quite a while ago now. -_- Have a look in the cafe section

With the quad PCI-E double slot cards, you'll need a case with 8 PCI slots. Most have seven, so that bottom card might have to be a single slot solution (the Antec 1200 case has 8 points for this) if you plan it for a normal case.

The two main quad PCI-E boards are:

K9A2 Platinum (~£100)
Foxconn Destroyer

Again, with Quad PCI-E and X2 cards, you are looking at some serious power draw, and might be shelling out £200 for a decent PSU to power it (and with enough connectors).

There are quite a few tri PCI-E boards hitting the market, even with the i7 CPU series.
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