Only one x16 slot...

[adiarc]

Hi everybody,

There is just one x16 slot on my motherboard which my current graphics card is using. Does this mean that if I get a newer card (which all seem to be meant for x16 slot) I can only replace the old one or can I use the other available slots too (x1, 1x2, x4), as I understood from some other thread that this is possible... What do you suggest?

[Jaberwocky]

If you have a 2nd full width slot but it runs for eample at only x4 speed then yes you can use a 2nd card in it.If it is only running at 1x speed then you may be able to get aay with it but it would probably be better to upgrade your motherboard.

Hope that helps.

[adiarc]

Thanks for your reply. No there is just one full width slot so I guess I can only replace the old card. My computer is less than a year old so I don't think I'm gonna make big changes yet. Didn't know when I bought it that I might be using Octane. Otherwise I wouldn't need a faster graphics card.

[areyal]

You can run a vga for octane very well in your 4x slot.
Some 4x slots are opened at the end in order to be able to put a 16x card. If it is not you can cut the end of the slot.

Other posibility is to buy a riser for 4x and cut the riser, so that you don't need to touch the motherboard. I've done this with even a 1x slot and it works fine (running a gt430 wich is not very powerful, with a gtx card i think you should go to the 4x but i believe it would work in 1x too.
The pci speed is only related to how fast is a scene loaded into vram. With a 800mb scene in 1x it is fast so it isn't a problem.

A problem with risers is that they make the vga boards wider, so you will have problems fitting them into the case.

[Jaberwocky]

Thanks for your reply. No there is just one full width slot so I guess I can only replace the old card. My computer is less than a year old so I don't think I'm gonna make big changes yet. Didn't know when I bought it that I might be using Octane. Otherwise I wouldn't need a faster graphics card.

Actually thinking about it laterally there is the GTX590.

It has 2 x 580 GPU's on board and 2 sets of 1.5GB memory.Not sure but with just the one x 16 PCIE slot you could run the 2 GPU's one as display and one for rendering if Octane see's them as 2 GPU's when you plug the card in.

[areyal]

Actually thinking about it laterally there is the GTX590.

It has 2 x 580 GPU's on board and 2 sets of 1.5GB memory.Not sure but with just the one x 16 PCIE slot you could run the 2 GPU's one as display and one for rendering if Octane see's them as 2 GPU's when you plug the card in.

Wow, that really is a great idea, Jaberwocky. That could make me to change my plans, I will search the forum to see if the 590 is seen as two GPUs

[adiarc]

Thanks both for your ideas, areyal and Jaberwocky. The problem with GTX590 is price . Riser sounds interesting. I was thinking about getting some newer GTX card for the current x16 full width slot and a riser for my old GTS240. Can you suggest a specific riser on the market?

[Jaberwocky]

For people who do not have enough PCIE x 16 slots in their motherboard you could try this site

http://www.orbitmicro.com/global/arc1-0 ... -8227.html

They do a number of X1 / x4 / x8 to x16 PCIE converter riser cards.Of course the resultant speed will still be the original X1/x4/x8 speed.

If you also need to move the cards around in the case to for clearance for airflow you could try these X16 Ribbon riser cards.You could in fact also combine the two so that you convert the slot to X16 and move the card to another part of the case if it does not need to be lugged in to a Monitor.IE for Octane Rendering .

See

http://bestofferbuy.com/Flexible-Ribbon ... aign=gbase

hope that helps

[areyal]

I think the point is a flexible riser.

Here you have two pictures of my system.

I use a GT 430 in the 1x PCIe for octane and a GTS8800 with two monitor in the 16x

I plan to substitute the 8800 with a stronger nvidia GPU (either upcoming kepler or 560 Ti, deppending on when finally arrives kepler).

Then I could have 1 or 2 monitor to 16xGPU and 1 monitor to 1xGPU.
I would use 16x as regular gpu and, when i want to use octane, put the octane interface in the 1xGPU monitor (and deactivate the other monitors) and use the 16xGPU for processing with octane.

By now I'm using the 1xGPU for octane, because it is fermi, better than the 8800, and it is really good when I let octane processing in background and still use the computer.

I used an eBay 1x pcie riser for 4-5€

The card GT430 is LOW PROFILE (ASUS model). That was a luck, because the riser make it wider, and if you want to be able to insert it in the case slot you will need to use the low profile.

This is not the best system, but it is enough to use Octane very well, and the cheapest I could find since I didn't want to change my 1 year old system. I think it is one of the best way to make your money worth, because you can use the power of the 16xGPU(fermi or whatever) for 3D interfaces and for Octane

[adiarc]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your help. I will see about the riser setup, sounds like a ribbon riser is what I'm going to need. I'm still wondering how to install the card with a flexible riser to make the card not move around too much...