Best motherboard to suite 2 GTX 480

[rehan]

Hi,
I am on mac, but getting a PC assembled just for Octane render. Will you suggest which motherboard will be best to suite the GTX 480? I am also planning to use, may be 2 GTX 480 in near future, so what would be your recommend for this?

[Storen]

Look at these:

MSI H55-GD65 with 2 PCIe 2.0 x16 (single at x16 or dual at x8/x8 mode)

Intel Core i5-750 overclocked to 3.2-3.5GHz

CORSAIR XMS3 8GB DDR3 1600 8-8-8-24

COOLMAX CUQ-1350B 1350W

If you need extra power you can add second PSU with this adapter (use separate wall outlet):

Lian Li Dual Power Supply Adapter Cable

Noctua NH-D14

Antec VSK-2000 - excellent air flow
or
Corsair Obsidian Series 700D CC700D - recommended for liquid cooling

[PeterCGS]

I've just ordered a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7.. I will arrive tomorrow I hope, so I will give you a thumbs up and down pretty soon..

The reason I bought it.. I just got my two GTX 480, and found out my mobo didn't support SLI

If your super rich.. Look at EVGA´s 4 way SLI though! I don't know how the performance drops when sharing the PCIe bus, but 4 x 480 sounds nice

[Storen]

The price difference between systems based on X58 and H55 North Bridge is significant while the performance using Octane will be similar. Personally I wouldn't go with X58 build for it. Besides Octane doesn't work in SLI mode. If you have to build system with 4x480s I think I would rather use ASUS P7P55 WS SuperComputer - the space between the PCIex16 slots is enough for fitting 4 double wide cards, bur of course powering and cooling properly 4 of these monster cards will be challenging.

[rehan]

Thanks guys, this is helping me a lot to steer my R&D in the right direction....would appreciate more input on this as I am new to Win platform and always been on Mac since I started my career....I am looking for a good investment, don't want to buy something that gets outdated in 6 months and plus, looking for flexible expandability in future, in terms of putting more GTX 480 (may be through the external box I saw on the competition CUBIX GPU X)....will really appreciate your more and more feedback on this....Thanks once again to all..

[scarecrow2k6]

You might wanna check this out:

Evga x58 Classified (4 gpu)

or if you wanna go crazy and show off then

EVGA's W555 (7 gpus, not available yet)

I don't get why people use Macs...sigh

[Storen]

scarecrow2k6 I'll have to disappoint you. You can not fit 4 GTX480 on EVGA x58 Classified.

And EVGA's W555 is designed for single wide cards. I am certain you know that GTX480 is double wide. Also the fact that supports huge amount of memory and second CPU is of no importance for Octane rendering. Overall, my humble opinion is that EVGA's W555 would be terrible choice for Octane station.

About CUBIX GPU X. I don't know... The lack of airflow worries me. With the stock fan and heatsink in full load GTX480 runs at about 100 degrees Celsius. With that thing and 2 GTX480s in it, you seriously risk to burn your home/office. Also I couldn't find any information about the power supply unit that comes with it. It should be 1000W or more, but I doubt it. I am under the impression that CUBIX GPU X is not made to be used with GTX480. It should be fine with some of the old GeGorce models tho.

[EricNV]

The Cubix product in the picture is not the new "GPU-X" box, but another product for a different industry. In fact, the spacing between the multiple PCI Express x 16 slots will be greater, not narrower, than most motherboards. The Cubix GPU box will have plenty of both airflow and power supply capacity.

Eric

[Storen]

These are good news! Now lets hope the new "GPU-X" will cost less than fully build PC with 4 GPU slots.

[rehan]

Hi Guys,

Things gets more confusing, the more I get into it!!

One more question, will the Quadro Fx card will be better or GTX480? I am thinking of getting HP z400 workstation if getting it assemble seems to be bit risky. Still open to your suggestions....Looking forward for your reply...