PCI express expansion - DIY possible?

[schodt]

Hi guys!

I'm in the process of constructing a little octane render-farm for the office. Lately I've been looking a bit into how to hook up more than 4 GTX's to my working station (something like 7 or even 8 cards at the same time). So far my research has led me to that the only viableway to do this would be to buy a Netstor or Cubix expander box. The price point on those boxes are a little too steep for my budget though. So I'm wondering - are any of you familiar with any DIY options in this area, where it would be possible to make several PCI express connections available from one PCI express port on the motherboard?

Looking forward to hear your ideas !

[dionysiusmarquis]

Just a thought: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=236633.0

[RobSteady]

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dopa ... -harbinger

[acc24ex]

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=59 ... r&_sacat=0



http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-e-express-1 ... 338be1078d

this last one is PCIe 1x to 4 PCIe 1x - the speed obviously 1x.. but this seems like a viable option - because of the cryptocurrency mining community, bitcoin, dogecoin.. didn't try any of these - apart from some riser ribbons.. - could work I guess, and it could be the cheapest solution

[RobSteady]

So if I want to build a 4 gpu-system I have to either experiment with a custom setup with risers and all or buy a 4x PCIe board and watercool the cards?
There's no "plug and play" system at the moment where I can just use 4 cards with standard cooling?

[mib2berlin]

It is but really expensive:

http://www.titanuscomputers.com/Titanus ... p/x525.htm

Cheers, mib.

[riggles]

So if I want to build a 4 gpu-system I have to either experiment with a custom setup with risers and all or buy a 4x PCIe board and watercool the cards?
There's no "plug and play" system at the moment where I can just use 4 cards with standard cooling?

It seems 4-way can be used with air cooling, it's just that the temperatures will be considerably higher and cause overclocked cards to throttle down when they reach thermal limits. So there are some X79 boards that can handle that.

Like mib said above, prebuilt workstations with 4 GPUs are quite pricey. The Supermicro server he linked to can be bought as a barebones chassis (includes case, motherboard, and redundant power supplies) for $1,600. Then you but your own components and build it, and I'm guessing you cold save yourself as much as $2K.

[UnCommonGrafx]

I have one of those dopamine cases coming my way. I have an msi Z87 mpower board. Any suggestions on riser/expander pieces that might help with such a setup?

Great thread. Thanks for the info.

[RobSteady]

It seems 4-way can be used with air cooling, it's just that the temperatures will be considerably higher

That's exactly my concern; putting four ~600€ cards with 4mm space together and let them render for like 8 hours a day in hot summer...
A real market niche, especially with the growing gpu-rendering industry.

I have one of those dopamine cases coming my way.

Cool. Are they shipping yet?
Do you want to use it as a workstation or render node?

[heavypoly]

I have one of those dopamine cases coming my way. I have an msi Z87 mpower board. Any suggestions on riser/expander pieces that might help with such a setup?

Great thread. Thanks for the info.

I just got some unpowered risers from ebay, sitting the cards ontop of the case ( seems like powered ones can cause fires), working good so far.