external graphics cards?

[tanuki]

Hi,
I'm currently running an imac, and am very interested in all the new GPU renderers coming to the market. Octane in particular has caught my eye
My imac does support changing graphics cards unfortunately, so i'm not very technical and was wondering if anyone know if it is possible to hook an additional graphics card to a mac (or pc) as an external device? like an external harddrive i suppose...
any ideas? I'm happy to pay for something like this to use octane, but buying a whole new computer? well...

[Thor]

http://www.refractivesoftware.com/forum ... f=6&t=1368



Thor.

[yahodahan]

hi tanuki,

Personally, as a hardware geek, I'd say the GPUX/external GPU thing is really really cool, but ultimately not your best solution (well, if money is an issue).

You could build a box for less than $200 and drop in whatever GPU you want, plus have the convenience of a real, working, computer that is completely upgradable in the future. Then again, that requires a bit of extra work/etc, whereas GPUX ought to be extremely easy to just add on.

Meh, just another option

[EricNV]

It will cost a bit more than $200 to build a complete computer for running Octane Render single processor version, let alone something capable of driving 1-2 GTX 480 GPUs. $200 may buy you a skeleton PC, but not enough power supply, space or cooling, probably not even a CPU, let alone GPUs for what is needed. However, the $200 skeleton PC + GPU-Xpander unit would provide all of the performance needed, for less than the price of a fully loaded new PC system configured with 1 GTX 480.

The iMac doesn't have an ExpressCard 34 socket, but if you have a laptop or MacBook Pro with ExpressCard 34/54 connection, this will work for GPU-Xpander with ExpressCard 34.

EricNV

[SurfingAlien]

Eric,
if we're talking about this one: http://www.cubixgpu.com/Solutions/Laptop, I saw some days ago it was sold at a little less than 1000$ with a single GTX260 0.9Gb (can't access the online store now). for that price i think you can get a complete and decent desktop solution, at least if you build it by yourself with selected components. 200$ is a little too low indeed.

the machine I'm planning to build is an i7 860 + 8Gb + MoBo + 260GTX 1.8Gb + PowerSupply = about 900$ (I already have the case, a sATA HD and even a win7 disk).

that said the cubix looks good and I'm glad there's an alternative solution... hopefully the prices will lower a bit in the next months (I'm not sure when/if it will be available here in Italy, and at what price. too many IT hardware and software have a 1:1 €/$ ratio, which is too bad )

thanks for the info BTW

[EricNV]

I agree, within the context of already having some components on hand (HDDs, OS, Case, etc.,.). Cubix isn't aiming this product at 'tinkerers' (is this actually a word??? ) However, I think the people that are using laptops or MacBook Pros, or who just aren't into building new PCs would definitely see a benefit.

Down the road, with the multiple GPU version of Octane Render, it definitely benefits those who want maximum GPUs / workstation. We're probably talking about commercial applications now, but I think you can see my point.

BTW - I'm a 'tinkerer' myself with several builds to my credit.
Eric

[tanuki]

thanks for the reply guys.
so it looks like the cubix is out of the picture too now, which just leaves me with 2 options....
1: build a new workstation or buy one.
2: grab a seat of octane while the getting's good, and shelve it until my mac is on it's last legs...

neither are very appealing. damn.
hardware always bites me in the a$$

[juan]

yep i agree is possible to build a cheaper workstation ( an amd one) cuz i think that 900$ with only a 260 isnt a great deal.And with that cash you can buy almost two fermi 480 (add 100 more) . and you can buy 2 fermi 470 gtx for 680$ and still have 280 to sapare in a cheap phenom 2 and maybe a mobo.

Pheraps would be nice if they sell the case only. (without the cards)

fermi 480 price:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

fermi 470 price:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

[havensole]

I built a system pretty much just for Octane, so I didn't go really high end on the components. THe big thing with an AMD system is to find a motherboard that will support at least 2 16x pcie slots. If you can find an AM2 (ddr2 ram) based board that will do that then go for it as RAM and such is much cheaper than the ddr3 based boards. There are some AM2 motherboards that will support AM3 processors and still use ddr2 RAM. Again the trouble will be finding one that supports at least 2 16x pcie slots. Tiger Direct has some decent deals and you wont pay the shipping and tax that you might at newegg. Bought my 2 gtx470's there as well. Granted the system I built for Octane only has a single pcie slot, but I am splitting my gtx470's between two systems now and am looking at a Cubix system just for the versatility of it in the long run. I can see having two of the pcie connector boards, one in each machine, and just taking the gpu's between my house and work.

[juan]

yep is hard to find an am2 4sli mobo, yet i found a sli one (2cards) here (supports am2 am2+ and am3, and is also a ddr2 solution):

and is dirt cheap $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813130265

and here is the sexyer and expensive asus formula (etc) that can hold up to 3 cards .

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131644


also here is a list with mobos capable of running 4 cards ( not all 16 but still )

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... rchInDesc=

i didnt knew about tigger direct being cheaper on taxes and shipping, i may have a look there, thanks for the tip.