I should have some updates soon, we had some definite hiccups with regards to obtaining GPUs.
There are BIOS options to turn off the LEDs (although there aren't too many to begin with). I do indeed wish there was a second vertical mount, currently the GPU on the vertical mount is the coolest and the card that is back-to-back with the bottom slot card is still getting really hot (and loud). But It's definitely an improvement over a normal quad layout.
It's that time again to upgrade our office workstations! For Science!
We have been having a great experience using these quad-GPU machines + Threadripper for our scientific calculations (structural biology, for those curious). It is of course very rare to see quad-GPU machines for gaming nowadays so I thought it is good for some documentation for those crazy enough to stumble across these kind of ideas. We have to use NVIDIA cards since our programs are only CUDA compatible, and we can't use Tensor cores, RT cores, or double precision, and so the GeForce GTX series are still the most ideal. We also have a relatively steep memory capacity requirement and so need at least 11 GB VRAM - this favors 1080 Tis over 2080's.
Since the release of the second generation Threadripper, we wanted to roll out these quad-GPU machines further in our group but also try to make some improvements. Mainly in the department of GPU thermals and as a byproduct, noise (custom watercooling all the machines would be ideal, but is not an option for now). Before rolling out on a massive purchase, we first assembled one machine as a proof of principle using the specs below. Notably we use a riser cable to bring the 2nd GPU out into the vertical slot of the View 37, this means that only 1 graphics card is choked as opposed to 3 cards being choked in a standard layout. Also, we opted for a QVL certified kit of memory since getting 128 GB of memory to work on the first generation was a bit of a nightmare that I didn't want to re-live.
Going to the View 37 Case also reduced the footprint of our workstation from the cube that is the 740D while also allowing for the vertical GPU mount that helps in thermals (and noise) in this very peculiar scenario.
Assembled Prototype:
CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty X399 Professional Gaming
Memory: G. SKILL Flare X (for AMD) F4-2400C15Q2-128GFX (128 GB, 2400 MHz, CL15)
CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-U14S TR4 SP3 in Push-Pull
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Turbo 11G in Quad Layout
PSU: Corsair AX1600i
Case: Thermaltake View 37 Riiing Edition
Fans: Fractal Design Venturi HP-14 PWM 140 mm
Extra: Thermaltake TT Premium PCI-E 3.0 Extender 300 mm
Storage: 500 GB + 1 TB SATA SSD
I was largely pleased with this build and decided to proceed with the other builds with some minor adjustments. Getting hold of 1080Tis are getting more difficult for everybody, and so we'll see what we end up with. CPU cooler wise, I could obtain the Dark Rock Pro TR4 for a similar price, and so went with them since the performance is similar while subjectively is more appealing to the eye.
Finalized Specs (build in progress....):
CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X (mostly) or 2990WX
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty X399 Professional Gaming
Memory: G. SKILL Flare X (for AMD) F4-2400C15Q2-128GFX (128 GB, 2400 MHz, CL15)
CPU Cooling: Dark Rock Pro TR4 in Push-Push-Pull
GPU: ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Turbo 11G in Quad Layout
PSU: Corsair AX1600i
Case: Thermaltake View 37 Riiing Edition
Fans: Fractal Design Venturi HP-14 PWM 140 mm (some machines receive stock Riiing fans)
Extra: Thermaltake TT Premium PCI-E 3.0 Extender 300 mm
Storage: 500 GB + 1 TB SATA SSD
