Nvidia GRID K1 or Nvidia Quadro P1000: Which is better for my particular server?

[Mega2]

I've got a IBM/Lenovo x3850 x5 server with  PCIe 2.0x16 slots, each built for DDR3 RAM (only on account of it being an old server).

 

I need to install a graphics card for programs I'm running on a ProxMox VM such as SolidWorks (which needs a Win10 VM) and Blender/COMSOL (which run best under Linux). This will require a GPU passthrough (VT-d is enabled for PCIe slots) and graphics acceleration.

 

I'll be doing some pretty extensive simulation in these programs (fluid simulations, large assemblies).

 

I'll list out some of the facts about each graphics card I'm considering:

 

Nvidia GRID K1:

 

16 GB of DDR 3 RAM

Four Kepler-based GPUs

128-bit

Made in 2013

GPU Blender Benchmark render time: 584 seconds*

 

Nvidia Quadro P1000:

 

4 GB of DDR5 RAM

Four 640 CUDA core Pascal GPU

128-bit

Make in 2017

GPU Blender Benchmark render time: 114 seconds*

 

* = these figures come from a workstation that was built for DDR5 RAM, my server is built for DDR3 RAM, hence my concern about whether or not the P1000 will truly have an edge over the other in my server.

 

Ultimately, which one would be best for my purposes? Thank you.

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 minutes ago, Mega2 said:

 PCIe 2.0x16 slots, each built for DDR3 RAM

The ddr3 of your server doesn't affect gpu performance

 

4 minutes ago, Mega2 said:

Nvidia GRID K1:

 

16 GB of DDR 3 RAM

Four Kepler-based GPUs

128-bit

Made in 2013

GPU Blender Benchmark render time: 584 seconds*

One thing to note with these cards is thats likely a result of a single gpu on the card, so you can use multiple at once, but your programs have to support multiple gpus

 

If this is just for blender get a gtx card, cheaper and much faster. Whats your budget, neither of those are good buys for just blender rendering.

[jaslion]

Just get a rtx card? Like a 2060 easily beats those cards.

 

Your ram does not matter here. It has nothing to do with your gpu.

[Mega2]

28 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Just get a rtx card? Like a 2060 easily beats those cards.

 

Your ram does not matter here. It has nothing to do with your gpu.

Thanks, how can I tell if my x3850 x5 server will work with a RTX card?

[Mega2]

46 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

The ddr3 of your server doesn't affect gpu performance

 

One thing to note with these cards is thats likely a result of a single gpu on the card, so you can use multiple at once, but your programs have to support multiple gpus

 

If this is just for blender get a gtx card, cheaper and much faster. Whats your budget, neither of those are good buys for just blender rendering.

Thank you again for your help. How can I figure out if my IBM/Lenovo x3850 x5 server will work with a given GTX card?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Mega2 said:

Thank you again for your help. How can I figure out if my IBM/Lenovo x3850 x5 server will work with a given GTX card?

It should work work assuming its a normal pcie slot, and a pcie gpu. If your worried buy from a seller with a good return policy

[Mega2]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

It should work work assuming its a normal pcie slot, and a pcie gpu. If your worried buy from a seller with a good return policy

It looks like COMSOL only supports Quadro and Grid GPUs. Of the two I mentioned, which would work best? Thank you.

[jaslion]

3 minutes ago, Mega2 said:

It looks like COMSOL only supports Quadro and Grid GPUs. Of the two I mentioned, which would work best? Thank you.

Cosmol works with rtx? People have been having amazing performance with those cards.

 

Yeah the card will work as long as you have a pcie 8 pin power cable

 

Both the quadro and grid suck today as literal budget gpu's beat them.

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Mega2 said:

It looks like COMSOL only supports Quadro and Grid GPUs. Of the two I mentioned, which would work best? Thank you.

From a quick google, COMSOL doesn't seem to use gpu for compute, just display, so it doesn't seem to affect calculation times. And it doesn't seem to be locked to quadros, they justed tested quadros, a geoforce card is probably the better option.

 

Whats your budget?

[Mega2]

14 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

From a quick google, COMSOL doesn't seem to use gpu for compute, just display, so it doesn't seem to affect calculation times. And it doesn't seem to be locked to quadros, they justed tested quadros, a geoforce card is probably the better option.

 

Whats your budget?

Thanks for the advice. I thought it had something to do with the fact that individual drivers needed to be developed for the particular graphics card to work, which is why I only used what was on their site.

 

My budget for a graphics card is about 200$USD.

[Mega2]

16 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Cosmol works with rtx? People have been having amazing performance with those cards.

 

Yeah the card will work as long as you have a pcie 8 pin power cable

 

Both the quadro and grid suck today as literal budget gpu's beat them.

Gotcha. Do you have any recommendations for a <200$USD GPU with the 8-pin power slot.

[Electronics Wizardy]

33 minutes ago, Mega2 said:

Thanks for the advice. I thought it had something to do with the fact that individual drivers needed to be developed for the particular graphics card to work, which is why I only used what was on their site.

 

My budget for a graphics card is about 200$USD.

Id try to get something like a 1650 super then, or hunt for used cards.

[Mega2]

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id try to get something like a 1650 super then, or hunt for used cards.

Thanks, would this card work?: https://www.ebay.com/itm/114662631773?ul_noapp=true

[Electronics Wizardy]

11 minutes ago, Mega2 said:

Thanks, would this card work?: https://www.ebay.com/itm/114662631773?ul_noapp=true

Yea that should work fine, make sure the slot has enough power. I know some of those old servers aren't made for gpus, so there might be issues, but they normally work.

[Mega2]

6 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Yea that should work fine, make sure the slot has enough power. I know some of those old servers aren't made for gpus, so there might be issues, but they normally work.

I know it works for an Nvidia GRID k1 graphics card with 4 GPUs. Given that, is it correct to assume that it should also work with a GTX card?

 

On a second note, I did find out that my PCIe slot can only supply 25 W. Would I then be able to hook the auxiliary power cord on the graphics card to an external power supply? I've got a fixed-voltage power supply that I can use to supply up to 100 W DC.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, Mega2 said:

Given that, is it correct to assume that it should also work with a GTX card?

It should, but since its not on the approved hardware its not garanteed, you gonna hve to try it to find out.

 

1 hour ago, Mega2 said:

On a second note, I did find out that my PCIe slot can only supply 25 W. Would I then be able to hook the auxiliary power cord on the graphics card to an external power supply? I've got a fixed-voltage power supply that I can use to supply up to 100 W DC.

Im gonna guess its gonna work fine, and the server was made before gpus in servers was really a thing, but might have issues, can't really find out if anyone else has tried.

[jaslion]

6 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

It should, but since its not on the approved hardware its not garanteed, you gonna hve to try it to find out.

 

Im gonna guess its gonna work fine, and the server was made before gpus in servers was really a thing, but might have issues, can't really find out if anyone else has tried.

As far as I can find the pcie slot does 75w.

[Mega2]

2 hours ago, jaslion said:

As far as I can find the pcie slot does 75w.

Thanks, where did you find this number from?

[jaslion]

4 hours ago, Mega2 said:

Thanks, where did you find this number from?

Google

[Mega2]

9 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Google

Each server has a particular power output. The x3850 x5, for example, has 25 W.