10 GPU open rig (inexpensive)

[gabrielefx]

what about the noise?

[prehabitat]

Put it in a cupboard?

[Kandori07]

Hey I finally got to do some initial tests.



Got my 780, 780ti and an old nonpowered ATX? video card working (using for display) all together nicely.

The temperature doesn't go over 60-63.. which is good I think (on 60-70% fan speed). The noise is barely noticeable.

I'm using 3 1xto16x powered usb cables. Even the main display is off of the 1xto16x riser since I can't put any cards directly to the MB due to the design
of my acrylic frame. The frame cost me around $40, so for the price it does a nice job of holding my cards/mb/psu(I can put two) well.

The load speed on 1xto16 riser card is quite okay for light scenes, however for heavy scenes with 1-2 million polygons it take a long time to load. I counted up to 80 seconds to load
a heavy scene...I don't know how to view the memory consumption on maya plug-in (on standalone it shows.. but I can't find it on maya plug). I don't remember it taking that long when I had my first 780 on the mb before I did this open rig.

Since I'm using a separate non Nvidia card for display.. even when rendering with high priority on both cards, I can still work fine on my main display window. But if I crank up the render window size too big, it creates a lag on my main display.

So, this is what I'm going to experiment next on this low end open rig. I'm going to mainly use 780tis. on my current MB (I didn't get the one with 6 slots yet) I have two 16x slots, 1 4x slot and a 1x slot. I'm going to get the Four way 4x to 16 splitter. and on that I'm going to put 4 780tis. I can test how the loading times compare to the 1x riser. hopefully it'll be 4 times faster than my 1x. If the load speed is okay on that splitter, I'm going to get 1 more splitter and plug it into my other 16x slot. that way I can have 8 GPUS at 4x speed. if my motherboard allows it, I'm going to get a 4xto 16 riser and plug my main display card on that.. that way I can work without lag while rendering with 8 GPUS. I might have to get a different motherboard so that I can try using 10 GPUs..


This could be a great low cost GPU open rig for me to fool around and if all works, then I'll make another one with 980Tis and use that for heavier scenes.

[Kandori07]

my motherboard (x79 deluxe) is too small to accomodate my cards atm (770, titan x, 980 ti), one of them is always sandwiched in between the two others and over heats at 100 degrees, making octane stop the render...

i want to get the splitter, open up my case and split everything on this thing: http://amfeltec.com/products/gpu-oriented-cluster/

eventually, i would get another 980 ti to add to the external rig

joeybooth,

If you get an open frame (like the one I got) you'll get almost 3 inches between the GPUs and at full load I haven't seen it go over 63 degrees. From what I heard that GPU cluster from Amfeltec cost quite a bit and it's only 1x speed.. and fits 4 gpus. The frame I got fits 6 GPUs and if you get the Four way 4x to 16x splitter you can get 4x speeds on your cards for faster transfer speed.
Even if you decided that 1x is okay, then get the 1x to 16x usb risers and you can easily put together a 6GPU rig since the cables are pretty long (50cm). You can just use your current case and plug the riser usb cables to your motherboard and use the frame to place your 6 GPUS right by the case. go to http://www.bitcoinware.net and buy the MB, the risers and even their custom aluminum frame and test them out. I"m dying to try out the Four 4xto16x splitter and see the transfer speed increase... If they do, I'm going to build two 6GPU open rig with 980tis and render with 12 GPUS.

[smicha]

my motherboard (x79 deluxe) is too small to accomodate my cards atm (770, titan x, 980 ti), one of them is always sandwiched in between the two others and over heats at 100 degrees, making octane stop the render...

i want to get the splitter, open up my case and split everything on this thing: http://amfeltec.com/products/gpu-oriented-cluster/

eventually, i would get another 980 ti to add to the external rig

joeybooth,

If you get an open frame (like the one I got) you'll get almost 3 inches between the GPUs and at full load I haven't seen it go over 63 degrees. From what I heard that GPU cluster from Amfeltec cost quite a bit and it's only 1x speed.. and fits 4 gpus. The frame I got fits 6 GPUs and if you get the Four way 4x to 16x splitter you can get 4x speeds on your cards for faster transfer speed.
Even if you decided that 1x is okay, then get the 1x to 16x usb risers and you can easily put together a 6GPU rig since the cables are pretty long (50cm). You can just use your current case and plug the riser usb cables to your motherboard and use the frame to place your 6 GPUS right by the case. go to http://www.bitcoinware.net and buy the MB, the risers and even their custom aluminum frame and test them out. I"m dying to try out the Four 4xto16x splitter and see the transfer speed increase... If they do, I'm going to build two 6GPU open rig with 980tis and render with 12 GPUS.

Exceeding 10 gpu limit - windows/hardware/IO space - seems to be the hardest thing for now. 10 is max what we (the community) managed.

[Aselert]

More than 8 GPU on Windows? Really????

Because I've tried 8 GPU and it was not possible with my mobo (even if it has 8 PCI slot), then 7 GPU was the "limit" for me.
But I tried with Riser without power. Maybe with power riser, it's possible...

[Seekerfinder]

Hey guys,
Does anybody know what Windows 10's 'native' limit (without I/O space modifications) for amount of GPU's is yet?

Seeker

[glimpse]

what about the noise?

if You want to deal with noise new triple fan ASUS STRIX or Gigabyte WINDFORCE
- perfect for open rigs & what of the most silent & best performing cards on air =)

[karanis]

Perfect post, perfect rig.
Thank you and congratulations.
I`m redesigning my new rig by your help.

A small advice / comment : Use Linux !!!

This rig can even help M$ Windooze or OSX users via render slave mode by Linux

[philliplakis]

Exceeding 10 gpu limit - windows/hardware/IO space - seems to be the hardest thing for now. 10 is max what we (the community) managed.

Hey Smicha

Do you have the specs of that machine? or the post? I'm thinking of building a new one...
Im running into issues with my machine where it won't boot with more than 5 cards if i install the 6 it won't boot....