Motherboard fit for 4 GPUs (1080+980ti)

Generic forum to discuss Octane Render, post ideas and suggest improvements.
Forum rules
Please add your OS and Hardware Configuration in your signature, it makes it easier for us to help you analyze problems. Example: Win 7 64 | Geforce GTX680 | i7 3770 | 16GB
Post Reply
User avatar (Default)
ThomasA3D
Licensed Customer
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Apr 23, 2016 11:32 pm
Location: Denmark
Contact:
Contact ThomasA3D

Diehard Mac user - but complete PC-builder noob here ;)
I have looked through several forum threads but haven't found the answer yet and I hope some of you can help me out.
I have an EVGA GTX 980 ti Hybrid (water cooled) card now, but want to build a new workstation with this card + three 1080s when they come out.
I have an guy helping me select components and build it, but he doesn't have experience with multi GPU systems and since I am going to spend quite a few $$$ I would like to avoid mistakes :)

So my question is which motherboard would be good for this configuration?
Is a card with 5PCi-Express slots (like the MSI Z97 Power AC) be used or do I need another with more slots so I can leave some empty for better airflow or is there anything else I need to consider?
Budget is not a major concern since I will be using it professionally 40-60 hours pr week so even though I dont want to spend more money than I have to, it is more important that it works...
Sorry if this has been answered a million times before but Im completely new to this PC-build-thingy - Ive spent the last 15 years just selecting a Mac and clicking BUY :)
Top
User avatar
smicha
Licensed Customer
Posts: 3151
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2011 4:13 pm
Location: Warsaw, Poland

What is your cpu?
3090, Titan, Quadro, Xeon Scalable Supermicro, 768GB RAM; Sketchup Pro, Classical Architecture.
Custom alloy powder coated laser cut cases, Autodesk metal-sheet 3D modelling.
build-log http://render.otoy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=42540
Top
User avatar (Default)
ThomasA3D
Licensed Customer
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Apr 23, 2016 11:32 pm
Location: Denmark
Contact:
Contact ThomasA3D

That will have to be decided.
I would like a 4GHz CPU (since many operations in C4D are single threaded I’d rather have high clock speed than many cores), but as I understand it it has to have enough lanes for all GPUs
Top
User avatar
smicha
Licensed Customer
Posts: 3151
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2011 4:13 pm
Location: Warsaw, Poland

So you don't have any components yet, except the hybrid card?
3090, Titan, Quadro, Xeon Scalable Supermicro, 768GB RAM; Sketchup Pro, Classical Architecture.
Custom alloy powder coated laser cut cases, Autodesk metal-sheet 3D modelling.
build-log http://render.otoy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=42540
Top
User avatar (Default)
ThomasA3D
Licensed Customer
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Apr 23, 2016 11:32 pm
Location: Denmark
Contact:
Contact ThomasA3D

Thats (almost) right.
I have a PC with the hybrid card, but I will put in the original card, take out the HDD, sell that machine and build a new one.

I already have and will use the 980ti + Harddisk
The rest is new
3*1080
64GB RAM
suitable motherboard
suitable CPU
suitable PU
and all the other things.
But the main component is the motherboard and the four GPUs - the rest should fit around that...
Top
User avatar
smicha
Licensed Customer
Posts: 3151
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2011 4:13 pm
Location: Warsaw, Poland

All is about your budget. You may go with cheaper gigabyte
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... id=5332#ov
and 5930k - it must be 40 pcie lane cpu for this board.

1200W is enough but let's wait and see how 1080 will be power hungry - I think 100-150W in Octane.

With 4 gpus there will be hot but before going with watercooling on all of them let's wait and see temps under full stress on 1080.

Lately I built massive machines on Auss X99 E WS mobo but after what I've experienced I cannot recommend this board. I don't say it's bad for 4 GPUs, but it's not that good for 7. Only this year I RMAed 2 of them. The only advantage of it is full pcie x16 on 4 gpus, but you'll live with x8, especially Octane is not optimized yet for better bandwith on 6 or more cored cpus.
3090, Titan, Quadro, Xeon Scalable Supermicro, 768GB RAM; Sketchup Pro, Classical Architecture.
Custom alloy powder coated laser cut cases, Autodesk metal-sheet 3D modelling.
build-log http://render.otoy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=42540
Top
User avatar (Default)
voon
Licensed Customer
Posts: 527
Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2013 6:37 pm

I'd go with X99 or if older X79. The ASUS WS-E boards etc, if you need fast bustransfer (x16). Those boards have PLX switches to grant more PCI lanes (4*16x,aka 64 lanes) to the slots, than the CPU has (40). But you usually don't require that bus speed for rendering I think. Even games do not profit much by gping from 8x to 16x.
Top
Post Reply

Return to “General Discussion”