Question to those with xpanders...
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I like my X-Pander box, but I think that future versions should be made with some more centimeters in height, because some powerful graphic cards like GTX480 built by some companies have big cooling pipes, and may not fit in the current box dimensions.
French Blender user - CPU : intel Quad QX9650 at 3GHz - 8GB of RAM - Windows 7 Pro 64 bits. Display GPU : GeForce GTX 480 (2 Samsung 2443BW-1920x1600 monitors). External GPUs : two EVGA GTX 580 3GB in a Cubix GPU-Xpander Pro 2. NVidia Driver : 368.22.
One of the items on Cubix's "to-do" list is a next-gen deskside unit, and we'll be taking a look at height and width specs.
First thing is to finish development of, and begin production on the 19" rackmount Xpanders, and "XpanderBlade" (workstation with lots of PCIe slots).
EricNV
First thing is to finish development of, and begin production on the 19" rackmount Xpanders, and "XpanderBlade" (workstation with lots of PCIe slots).
EricNV
Hi Eric, if you come to read this, I wanted to tell you my experience with the Cubix box.
I can confirm that the new generation shoud be improved in term of dimensions and air flow :
I have finally saved enough money and purchased two ASUS GTX 480 cards. I have installed them yesterday evening in my Cubix box. Previously, I had only one GTX 260, purchased with the Cubix.
The first thing I have seen when installing the two cards was that there are only few milimeters between the two cards, and measures through EVGA precision (I may install ASUS smart doctor instead asap, but some problems have been reported with it on Win7) confirmed my fears : One card is warmer than the other, and the two GPU are very hot ! The temperature of the less cooled cards reached quickly 101 degrees (I believe that the absolute limit is 102 °C!), and I had to be very fast to set the airfans to 100 % of their speed, instead of 38% in auto mode !
After some minutes of rendering with Octane, with GPU Airfans at 100%, the temperature of the cards is 73°C and 83°C with an ambient temperature of 23°C in the room, so you may think of what it could be in middle of summer with 35°C ambient !
The cubix box would require more room between the two cards : one centimeter more, or the width of a single empty slot, at least, and maybe a Peltier cell behind the input airfan to refresh the airflow.
At 100%, I think that the GPU air fan motors will have a shorter life, and they make as much noise as an airplane !
I will no more be able to render at night, even with the door closed between the bedroom and my working room !
Best regards,
Philippe.
I can confirm that the new generation shoud be improved in term of dimensions and air flow :
I have finally saved enough money and purchased two ASUS GTX 480 cards. I have installed them yesterday evening in my Cubix box. Previously, I had only one GTX 260, purchased with the Cubix.
The first thing I have seen when installing the two cards was that there are only few milimeters between the two cards, and measures through EVGA precision (I may install ASUS smart doctor instead asap, but some problems have been reported with it on Win7) confirmed my fears : One card is warmer than the other, and the two GPU are very hot ! The temperature of the less cooled cards reached quickly 101 degrees (I believe that the absolute limit is 102 °C!), and I had to be very fast to set the airfans to 100 % of their speed, instead of 38% in auto mode !
After some minutes of rendering with Octane, with GPU Airfans at 100%, the temperature of the cards is 73°C and 83°C with an ambient temperature of 23°C in the room, so you may think of what it could be in middle of summer with 35°C ambient !
The cubix box would require more room between the two cards : one centimeter more, or the width of a single empty slot, at least, and maybe a Peltier cell behind the input airfan to refresh the airflow.
At 100%, I think that the GPU air fan motors will have a shorter life, and they make as much noise as an airplane !
I will no more be able to render at night, even with the door closed between the bedroom and my working room !
Best regards,
Philippe.
Last edited by ROUBAL on Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
French Blender user - CPU : intel Quad QX9650 at 3GHz - 8GB of RAM - Windows 7 Pro 64 bits. Display GPU : GeForce GTX 480 (2 Samsung 2443BW-1920x1600 monitors). External GPUs : two EVGA GTX 580 3GB in a Cubix GPU-Xpander Pro 2. NVidia Driver : 368.22.
Hi Eric, Thank you. I have been contacted today by E-mail by Cubix.
In a first time I had kept the EVGA precision software installed for my previous EVGA GTX 260 purchased with the Cubix, and discovered that ASUS SmartDoctor was provided with the ASUS cards. I installed it but it doesn't work with Windows 7 (Confirmed on several forums).
So I have downloaded the most recent 2.0 EVGA Precision release and using the Smart cooling feature and default control curve for the fans in auto mode, I get the following temperatures :
On continous rendering with Octane, I get 73°C on one card and 78-79°C on the second card with Airfan speed alternating 70% and 80% with not too much noise. So, a difference of 5-6 degrees between the two cards.
IMHO, this difference can be explained easily by the fact that one card is exposed to the hot airflow of the other one or receive less cool air due to the other card that is very close to its heatsink.
The Ambient temperature of the room is 24°C.
Do you think that these values are OK ?
In a first time I had kept the EVGA precision software installed for my previous EVGA GTX 260 purchased with the Cubix, and discovered that ASUS SmartDoctor was provided with the ASUS cards. I installed it but it doesn't work with Windows 7 (Confirmed on several forums).
So I have downloaded the most recent 2.0 EVGA Precision release and using the Smart cooling feature and default control curve for the fans in auto mode, I get the following temperatures :
On continous rendering with Octane, I get 73°C on one card and 78-79°C on the second card with Airfan speed alternating 70% and 80% with not too much noise. So, a difference of 5-6 degrees between the two cards.
IMHO, this difference can be explained easily by the fact that one card is exposed to the hot airflow of the other one or receive less cool air due to the other card that is very close to its heatsink.
The Ambient temperature of the room is 24°C.
Do you think that these values are OK ?
French Blender user - CPU : intel Quad QX9650 at 3GHz - 8GB of RAM - Windows 7 Pro 64 bits. Display GPU : GeForce GTX 480 (2 Samsung 2443BW-1920x1600 monitors). External GPUs : two EVGA GTX 580 3GB in a Cubix GPU-Xpander Pro 2. NVidia Driver : 368.22.
I have seen that some room is needed on the cables side because the power supply needs to exhaust its hot air upward, but maybe some space could be taken on the cables side in order to leave at least one centimeter between the two GPU for air circulation. Maybe some holes could be drilled in the circuit board supporting the cards if necessary (I have not seen if there is some space between circuits strips.)
Currently there is no more than 5 mm from the surface of the printed circuit board of one card and the casing of the other one, this means around 3 mm only from electronic components to casing. It is very few, and even if some air can blow through the heatsinks due to the main airfan of the Cubix, I fear that the airfan of one of the GPUs is almost totally obstructed by the other card.
Currently there is no more than 5 mm from the surface of the printed circuit board of one card and the casing of the other one, this means around 3 mm only from electronic components to casing. It is very few, and even if some air can blow through the heatsinks due to the main airfan of the Cubix, I fear that the airfan of one of the GPUs is almost totally obstructed by the other card.
French Blender user - CPU : intel Quad QX9650 at 3GHz - 8GB of RAM - Windows 7 Pro 64 bits. Display GPU : GeForce GTX 480 (2 Samsung 2443BW-1920x1600 monitors). External GPUs : two EVGA GTX 580 3GB in a Cubix GPU-Xpander Pro 2. NVidia Driver : 368.22.