Netstor GPU expander experience

Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:48 pm

Nice build, Dan! =) like those enclosures - pricy but well worth if You don't want a render, but simple expansion box =)

Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:54 am

how fast is that box comparing to amfeltec cluster related to transfer rate?

Fri Aug 21, 2015 8:40 am

Thanks for posting those pics Dan, and answering the questions. I want one.

Now I'm going down a wormhole of looking at the components required to build something like this myself, to see if it would be worth it. I'm looking at PCIe backplanes etc.. so my next question may not be for you but for Glimpse or some of the hardware ninjas. Sorry if this hijacks the thread a bit.

What components would building something like this require? I'm looking at things like this:
http://www.trentonsystems.com/backplane ... -backplane

Fri Aug 21, 2015 8:46 am

glimpse wrote:Nice build, Dan! =) like those enclosures - pricy but well worth if You don't want a render, but simple expansion box =)

Thanks Tom and big thumbs up for all your support within the community. The blog you wrote with Sebastian made me crave for more render power. Next mission is going to be a WC case but that's at least half a year away

Sat Aug 22, 2015 8:36 pm

not to thread jack, but since its coming up again. I built this from http://amfeltec.com/ with 4 780ti and a 1600w Gold rated GPU. for less than the cost of the netstor enclosure.

its not the prettiest, and I did have an issue with the first one that arrived, but the current one has ran for the last 8 days without a break.

Sat Aug 22, 2015 10:49 pm

rfox wrote:how fast is that box comparing to amfeltec cluster related to transfer rate?

in theory, this one has x16lanes, amfeltec is "only" x4? (as far as I remember...google up exact theoretical maximum) -
How does that translate in reality, well.. You can feel for big scenes, & You will feel even more with out of the core rendering,
but if You end up doing simple test, You probably would not feel too much of a difference anyway..
for some user closed box is just slimly bit more appealing, because of kids, cats or stupid friends =DDD
(my cat would gladly cut a wire or two if I would leave Amfeltecs monster on the table...)

xcaseyx wrote: its not the prettiest, and I did have an issue with the first one that arrived, but the current one has ran for the last 8 days without a break.

man, it's a sick piece with those triple fan equipped cards!!! thanks for sharing =) what You get on air i terms of Octane bench with those cards? have You got any OC? tweeted fan speeds or everything runs at default speeds?

Sun Aug 23, 2015 7:14 pm

the hottest they've gotten while rendering for 9 days is about 62c. the GPU's inside my PC case go up to like 83c, so they stay super cool by comparison.

Sun Aug 23, 2015 8:49 pm

just found this thread and would like to add my experience: i'm using the netstor expander (GPU turbobox 255A) as well here and i'm having a good experience, too. after not being able to use all the slots directly under OSX because of the GPU limitations of newer OS versions, i finally connected it to my old HP Z600 workstation to use all the 4 internal slots (right now with 3x780 + 1x980ti cards). the HP machine is just used as a network render slave for CPU (it has a nice dual hexacore CPU setup) and GPU. works like a charm, and i can use the internal Z600 slot for an extra geforce 980 card, which is consuming not too much power for the 600 W supply of the Z600. my mac worstation internally has a 980ti (flashed by macvidcards), which with 6G of RAM is powerful enough for the onboard GPU use within octane + complex opengl scenes in lightwave, modo or formz.

cheers

markus

Mon Aug 24, 2015 11:23 am

xcaseyx wrote:the hottest they've gotten while rendering for 9 days is about 62c. the GPU's inside my PC case go up to like 83c, so they stay super cool by comparison.

That's a pretty cool rig and nice how low the temperatures stay. How much his the whole rig? I didn't find this when researching different options...

3dworks wrote:ust found this thread and would like to add my experience: i'm using the netstor expander (GPU turbobox 255A) as well here and i'm having a good experience, too. after not being able to use all the slots directly under OSX because of the GPU limitations of newer OS versions, i finally connected it to my old HP Z600 workstation to use all the 4 internal slots (right now with 3x780 + 1x980ti cards). the HP machine is just used as a network render slave for CPU (it has a nice dual hexacore CPU setup) and GPU. works like a charm, and i can use the internal Z600 slot for an extra geforce 980 card, which is consuming not too much power for the 600 W supply of the Z600. my mac worstation internally has a 980ti (flashed by macvidcards), which with 6G of RAM is powerful enough for the onboard GPU use within octane + complex opengl scenes in lightwave, modo or formz.

Thanks for sharing Markus. Good to see I am not the only one out there using this case

Do you have similar temperatures like I do?

Mon Aug 24, 2015 12:46 pm

about temperatures, i don't know. i'm totally confident that the internal protection will care about too high temperatures. the case ventilation never went up to an audible noise level until now. the card fans are rather quiet as well, so all seems within a certain margin. but i am not using overclocked cards, just standard versions. and yes, it's a nice heating in the winter, but a pain if you have to render animations in the summer heat