Instructions for 4x GPU PC build

Sat Nov 05, 2016 9:59 am

the xeon 2620v4 has clock of 2.1 ghz, which is not that high for single core applications, right?
Like loading a scene in OctaneRender?

Sat Nov 05, 2016 11:41 am

rappet wrote:the xeon 2620v4 has clock of 2.1 ghz, which is not that high for single core applications, right?
Like loading a scene in OctaneRender?

It has 3ghz boost clock. 2x2630 are great cpus in dual xeon setup. If I were to choose between any i7 and xeons I'd go with xeons. 2667W has 16 cores and higher clock rate. So plenty of choice there and far better stability than on x99.

Sat Nov 05, 2016 12:01 pm

smicha wrote:I am running 7 gpus on the rack series and v4 - yes update bios.

PSU - 1600W is enough for 7x1080, so 1200W is ok. But if you can afford get 1600W titanium.

nice thanks; yeah 1600 tit. better efficency, 10 years warranty, i agree it's still the better route.

Sat Nov 05, 2016 1:13 pm

Eeks. Now perhaps Mike has too much info!

I was under the impression he wanted to get his best bang for buck (pound) he can, while building an Octane workstation within a certain budget, and it seems to me that X99 w/ 5930k would be best for this... no? If folks are not also compositing 4k in Nuke etc, in addition to Octane shite, dual Xeons are way overkill, are they not? (I've owned three dual-processor workstations, over the years, so I know their power, but of course this was before GPU rendering...)

Also smicha, you mention a single-stick 32gb RAM before... Does this not disable quad-channel? I thought you needed four or eight sticks to have quad.

Sat Nov 05, 2016 1:23 pm

Correct thus the mobo supports dual channel ddr4 - see the screenshot.

Costs - asrockrack approx 320 EUR net, 2620v4 - 370 EUR net
X99: asrock x99 e ws 420EUR net, 6850k - 540EUR net, 5930k - 510 EUR net

Sat Nov 05, 2016 1:34 pm

Okay pal. You are the boss. I think I mentioned before that I take your recommendations as gospel, and your knowledge is second to none in these matters.

Mike, get whatever smicha says, if it is within budget.

Sat Nov 05, 2016 1:44 pm

FrankPooleFloating wrote:Okay pal. You are the boss. I think I mentioned before that I take your recommendations as gospel, and your knowledge is second to none, in these matters. Mike, get whatever smicha says, if it is within budget.

Frank,

thanks for kind words. Just to make it clear - I am not saying x99 is worse in any case than xeons - x99 will have definitely higher clocks on lower #cores. So to get faster xeons (clocks) we must invest pretty heavy money to xeons. Although from my last experience 2x2630 were ridiculously fast (as 2x2640 for 7x1080). The only drawback of xeons (but also for 6950x) is Adobe AE, were multi threading is not well optimized.

Aside - X99 have more features, M.2 more USB 3.0 (easily solved by getting an extra USB hub)... but as for stability ... Xeons with ECC is great choice. My last 2 builds on xeons never ever failed, always booted and Asrock support is second to none (and Supermicro after Tutor although I have no experience with it yet

)

BTW cinebench score for 2x2630 2400, 2x2640 is 2700, i7 6950x - 2200.

And last remark - I strongly don't recommend OC on DDR. A base clock 2133, 2400 - gives most stable machines. There is almost no benefit of crazy fast ram...

Sat Nov 05, 2016 3:53 pm

Yeah, that ECC is some magical shit. My previous ws, a Dual Opteron with ECC, like never, ever crashed...

So smicha, what are the best 120mm and 140mm case fans these days, in your wonderful opinion? And also would you personally replace stock fans on EVGA Hybrids, if you were building a hybrid beast?

Sat Nov 05, 2016 4:25 pm

FrankPooleFloating wrote:Yeah, that ECC is some magical shit. My previous ws, a Dual Opteron with ECC, like never, ever crashed...

So smicha, what are the best 120mm and 140mm case fans these days, in your wonderful opinion? And also would you personally replace stock fans on EVGA Hybrids, if you were building a hybrid beast?

The quietest fan I've ever had is Be Quiet silent wings 3 series - price is crazy but in terms of acoustics nothing is even close. And I am not talking about level of noise itself but its "quality" - I mean how pleasant it is to my ears. EK Vardar 2200RPM (currently on them) have very unpleasant hum at 800-1000RPMs (I'll dump them soon for silent wings 3). But still a great price/value performer is Noiseblocker PL2. Very important is a radiator, its FPI density, over which a fan is mounted. PL2 sounds different on low 8-10 FPI Coolgate than on AC Airplex. My personal choice is to get lower FPI but more of rad surface than high FPI that requires high static pressure fans. And last thing - my recent builds with 7 gpus and 12 cooling unts (3x480 rads) never required more than 1000-1100RPM so PL2 as well as http://www.bequiet.com/en/casefans/722 are fantastic. But if you want to have some extra RPMs http://www.bequiet.com/en/casefans/724 may be handy. PL2 is around 10EUR net, while Be quiet 17EUR net.

Sat Nov 05, 2016 6:56 pm

Wow thanks guys this is some great info!

I've been away for work a few days so haven't managed to jump on this thread yet, so sorry for the late response.

I personally thought the Xeons wouldn't really benefit me in anyway given the slower clock speeds, still unsure that it's the best route. How would they perform CPU rendering, which I will have to do if the project requires it.

Thanks again guys!