Good solution for 5 GPUs? Ideally without weird mining gear.

[Invincible Sugar]

Budget (including currency): $2k USD

Country: USD

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Photoshop, Stable Diffusion, Premiere, WSA with ~8 apps (all low resource apps, not games), Chrome (typically 20-30 tabs across 8-12 full screen windows), Discord, MS Office, Garry's Mod and BeamNG.drive Drive. I generally have all these programs open at once, OR a game, not both.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): I'll reuse the 3080 TI I already own, and the two VisionTek Radeon 7750's I already own, with plans to buy two more 7750's for additional monitors. I need to buy a case, motherboard, CPU, RAM, and possibly a cooler if the CPU doesn't include one.

 

Hello, I currently use a Lenovo P5 docked with 3 eGPUs + dGPU/iGPU (it switches based on 3D demand automatically) for a total of 4 GPU's to put out to 20 monitors, plus 4 USB displaylink adapters for a grand total of 24 monitors. This is working fine for me, but I've had to send in the laptop for warranty repair because the demand of 3 eGPU's + ~20 USB devices and 3 display outs over the two TB4 ports has killed the TB4 controller. I bought the expensive extended warranty for 3 more years as, this may happen again, but long term maybe I should build a desktop to replace the function of this laptop. I've been using a laptop because laptops can be bought with built in 5G wireless internet, which my carrier treats as a "tablet", thus my PC can have cheap ($10/mo) unlimited data on its own connection. But now we have better home internet, so I am thinking a desktop might make more sense. I could always switch to my current laptop as needed if home internet is down or too slow. Move files to the laptop then go out in in town to send/upload them if needed.

 

I don't need a ton of PCIe bandwidth, I think. I mean, right now I use 3 GPUs including a 3080 TI on TB4 so... clearly my apps are not pushing these GPUs very hard. I just need lots of monitors really, and one good GPU for light gaming and SD. But a lot of motherboards I see only have 2-4 x16 slots, even though I don't need the bandwidth of x16 for anything, even the 3080 on x8 would be getting more than double what it gets now, I still need the cards to physically fit in the slots and the 3080 is dual slot sized, so if it covers another slot I can't use that one too... I don't know, I have eGPU enclosures already for my laptop, perhaps I could install the 3080 directly, and use PCIe TB4 cards to add 4 TB4 ports with 2 controllers, let each 7750 split one controller, again this would already be better than what the laptop can do now, splitting one TB4 controller with 3 GPUs, so every card would get more bandwidth than it does now, and they already work fine with no noticeable issues now. But if someone has an idea for a motherboard, maybe one that's taller than most to accommodate more cards with a modern high end CPU like a Intel Core i7-14700K, I would love to see it!

 

Thank you!

 

[cananythingrunsmoothly]

A good solution would be something like a treadripper in terms of pcie lanes and you can find them for not insanely expensive used (https://www.ebay.com/itm/156199272157?itmmeta=01HXTDYKXCB0JY2FW0ED3CH6C9&hash=item245e33bedd:g:mTcAAOSw~MpmOsGI&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4BNnHB9sbFhUOIQ%2BmsLgGtU72zNIW4bA3OmAl%2Fa7PGZDo4EU8EZiz3zeXPM5XW6GBAC2xHlfjrIkgXmUet5574Bzz7c1pSFNuuDWpAZpfg%2B6yzMHZ8o%2BNiO%2BKNvOFAuqlThOObun%2BTMoWCrSGM3rZRcBdKTcjvhyjLFdMFqRv7Yu0dVbjR8ufrzMeuPdj0h8jl5jPBb8hcwYXsVDdGmQXKRobCMbb%2BMTabm48u0bfOqRUqJXGUbULguzNlKLT06tbwCOJa86Qy5p0Bw4iYp83o%2Fdkw0J0v20v00%2FHxN%2BeJ47|tkp%3ABk9SR-6--s3uYw), (https://www.ebay.com/itm/115484035855?itmmeta=01HXTDYKXC3SM94J7P4H4VGW1F&hash=item1ae3628b0f:g:XusAAOSwKw1i64t9&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8CkU0G9wl%2BiK7EzMcL13%2F1MYYFzWJpDOe1rpP9YnI2iVAx0yOGv%2B%2FspaZU3ADsXAEe%2BH%2BS3aU34hj1uAIkFaPiFAwQ5V5%2FuQGo8Nq1TVc0dHcD4hqh%2FQSxvh8DyjRRvvd%2BSYymI93mGsnboiWfXCLmbmBrG24zrJNJ4N3ZgSYhv0Qkyo1f0eiogTwq0pRUJibChQ74WWQVuShJT%2BvlqWS3xHoEmaVG7B1KJ8GkLtNOdup1sCt0aolBTVncDDK0VPIN0M%2B6fbEWzw5EnJqjyi1AsbUKgPH1QCYEwIJ8ZrdUWkVLzyhLS3y90dYM07O90PHQ%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR-6--s3uYw)

 

My question is what the hell are you doing that needs individual GPUs and not just like a couple 4080s, and also 20 moniters

[Invincible Sugar]

Just now, cananythingrunsmoothly said:

A good solution would be something like a treadripper in terms of pcie lanes and you can find them for not insanely expensive used (https://www.ebay.com/itm/156199272157?itmmeta=01HXTDYKXCB0JY2FW0ED3CH6C9&hash=item245e33bedd:g:mTcAAOSw~MpmOsGI&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4BNnHB9sbFhUOIQ%2BmsLgGtU72zNIW4bA3OmAl%2Fa7PGZDo4EU8EZiz3zeXPM5XW6GBAC2xHlfjrIkgXmUet5574Bzz7c1pSFNuuDWpAZpfg%2B6yzMHZ8o%2BNiO%2BKNvOFAuqlThOObun%2BTMoWCrSGM3rZRcBdKTcjvhyjLFdMFqRv7Yu0dVbjR8ufrzMeuPdj0h8jl5jPBb8hcwYXsVDdGmQXKRobCMbb%2BMTabm48u0bfOqRUqJXGUbULguzNlKLT06tbwCOJa86Qy5p0Bw4iYp83o%2Fdkw0J0v20v00%2FHxN%2BeJ47|tkp%3ABk9SR-6--s3uYw), (https://www.ebay.com/itm/115484035855?itmmeta=01HXTDYKXC3SM94J7P4H4VGW1F&hash=item1ae3628b0f:g:XusAAOSwKw1i64t9&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8CkU0G9wl%2BiK7EzMcL13%2F1MYYFzWJpDOe1rpP9YnI2iVAx0yOGv%2B%2FspaZU3ADsXAEe%2BH%2BS3aU34hj1uAIkFaPiFAwQ5V5%2FuQGo8Nq1TVc0dHcD4hqh%2FQSxvh8DyjRRvvd%2BSYymI93mGsnboiWfXCLmbmBrG24zrJNJ4N3ZgSYhv0Qkyo1f0eiogTwq0pRUJibChQ74WWQVuShJT%2BvlqWS3xHoEmaVG7B1KJ8GkLtNOdup1sCt0aolBTVncDDK0VPIN0M%2B6fbEWzw5EnJqjyi1AsbUKgPH1QCYEwIJ8ZrdUWkVLzyhLS3y90dYM07O90PHQ%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR-6--s3uYw)

 

My question is what the hell are you doing that needs individual GPUs and not just like a couple 4080s, and also 20 moniters

Yeah, I am open to AMD as well but I don't need all the PCIe lanes really, as it is my current setup works fine with 4 lanes across 3 cards, so 16 or 20 lanes across 5 is a huge upgrade already.

 

I use this PC for content creation, I like having my tools (Photostop, Premiere, etc.) open at the same time as my social media accounts, Discord (I usually have multiple channels open at once for moderation), email inbox, model sheets of characters, scripts (story scripts not coding scripts), my web builder, online tools (soybomb, Novel AI image gen, ChatGPT), office programs, I like having everything open at once. For me, and the different workflows I have tried over the years, I've found my best productivity comes from having one huge desktop split across many monitors and keeping everything open at once, vs alt+tab or split screening apps.

 

I further increase usable screen space by making my uppermost row of monitors vertical and using them to display huge, full screen android apps with WSA, so the things I use that already work better in WSA than native Windows equiliants, those can have their big text and UI on these top screens furthest from my view, where I can still use them easily.

[8tg]

I think you are using the wrong tool for the job and the right tool is expensive.

You need two NVS 810’s and a primary GPU.

that will do 20 displays

 

NVS 810’s are only around $250, that leaves you with a $1500 fairly normal build otherwise.

[Invincible Sugar]

Just now, 8tg said:

I think you are using the wrong tool for the job and the right tool is expensive.

You need two NVS 810’s and a primary GPU.

that will do 20 displays

 

NVS 810’s are only around $250, that leaves you with a $1500 fairly normal build otherwise.

Oh I had no idea! I would love to simplify things by keeping entirely to one GPU brand and not mixing, but I already own two VisionTek Radeon 7750's I suppose I could sell them... I might go with 3 NVS 810's just for fun, they're cheap enough used, I could add even more monitors down the road as I develop more uses for the PC and want more desktop space. With 3 of these plus the 3080 I can support my current 24 monitors without the iGPU (if the build even has a iGPU) and still have room to add 4 more in the future.

 

Thank you!

[Somerandomtechyboi]

im genuinely curious as to what your setup looks like cause 24 monitors is just insane

 

7 minutes ago, 8tg said:

I think you are using the wrong tool for the job and the right tool is expensive.

You need two NVS 810’s and a primary GPU.

that will do 20 displays

 

NVS 810’s are only around $250, that leaves you with a $1500 fairly normal build otherwise.

had no idea a gpu like that existed, looks like 2 gtx 750s stuck together and 8 mini dp

 

1 minute ago, Invincible Sugar said:

Oh I had no idea! I would love to simplify things by keeping entirely to one GPU brand and not mixing, but I already own two VisionTek Radeon 7750's I suppose I could sell them... I might go with 3 NVS 810's just for fun, they're cheap enough used, I could add even more monitors down the road as I develop more uses for the PC and want more desktop space. With 3 of these plus the 3080 I can support my current 24 monitors without the iGPU (if the build even has a iGPU) and still have room to add 4 more in the future.

 

Thank you!

and holy crap you are still thinking of extra monitors? that poor desk =p

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/tZ4Vz6

heres the build that i came up with based on a 7900 and yes you can totally fit a 7950x in

 

if you go for only 2 nvs 810 then id prefer the proart b650 creator cause it can give extra pcie lanes to the nvs gpus

 

for whatever reason its only the really cheap boards that come with 4 slots and 3 of which actually at a good position where they wont block your 3080ti

[8tg]

12 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

had no idea a gpu like that existed, looks like 2 gtx 750s stuck together and 8 mini dp

Pretty much, you can actually get multiple of them to work in 4 way SLI with 2 nvs 810’s and some specific drivers using differntSLIauto, and its genuinely an option I considered, but opted for much more lame 2 way 750ti sli for my endeavors in differentSLIauto shenanigans 

 

[Invincible Sugar]

11 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/tZ4Vz6

heres the build that i came up with based on a 7900 and yes you can totally fit a 7950x in

This is the build I'm toying with right now, based on 4 GPUs (I won't need 5 if I use these 8 DP cards): https://pcpartpicker.com/user/invinciblesugar/saved/#view=8hW7CJ

 

I like that your AMD option is cheaper, though once I add the GPUs and other stuff, it may only be $400 or so difference, for that, is the AMD performance worth it? I'm thinking more about CPU power for future AI tasks (since no desktop CPUs right now have AI hardware, CPU's can also run local AI tasks but less efficiently), plus the fact I might have a few dozen programs all running at once... but my GPUs are not doing heavy computation most of the time, I don't need to max out the PCI lanes. 

 

12 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

im genuinely curious as to what your setup looks like cause 24 monitors is just insane

I've attached a video, it's hard to take one photo with all in the shot. I do have multiple PC's at my desk, but with these 8 DP cards I could put all monitors on this one PC...

 

 

 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

1 hour ago, Invincible Sugar said:

This is the build I'm toying with right now, based on 4 GPUs (I won't need 5 if I use these 8 DP cards): https://pcpartpicker.com/user/invinciblesugar/saved/#view=8hW7CJ

 

I like that your AMD option is cheaper, though once I add the GPUs and other stuff, it may only be $400 or so difference, for that, is the AMD performance worth it? I'm thinking more about CPU power for future AI tasks (since no desktop CPUs right now have AI hardware, CPU's can also run local AI tasks but less efficiently), plus the fact I might have a few dozen programs all running at once... but my GPUs are not doing heavy computation most of the time, I don't need to max out the PCI lanes. 

 

I've attached a video, it's hard to take one photo with all in the shot. I do have multiple PC's at my desk, but with these 8 DP cards I could put all monitors on this one PC...

 

 

 

am5 allows you to upgrade the cpu without doing a mobo or ram upgrade

 

and holy crap you are literally the hacker they portray in movies/tv in real life with that kinda monitor setup its literally stacks of monitors around you and why the hell are there multiple discords explorer and even a taskmanager open?

 

though its definitely nice to have extra screens since i myself usually dual weild phones sometimes even using 3 but only for trading shenanigans, maybe ill get my other phone working then ill have 4 phones =p

[TylerD321]

8 hours ago, Invincible Sugar said:

This is the build I'm toying with right now, based on 4 GPUs (I won't need 5 if I use these 8 DP cards): https://pcpartpicker.com/user/invinciblesugar/saved/#view=8hW7CJ

 

I like that your AMD option is cheaper, though once I add the GPUs and other stuff, it may only be $400 or so difference, for that, is the AMD performance worth it? I'm thinking more about CPU power for future AI tasks (since no desktop CPUs right now have AI hardware, CPU's can also run local AI tasks but less efficiently), plus the fact I might have a few dozen programs all running at once... but my GPUs are not doing heavy computation most of the time, I don't need to max out the PCI lanes. 

 

I've attached a video, it's hard to take one photo with all in the shot. I do have multiple PC's at my desk, but with these 8 DP cards I could put all monitors on this one PC...

 

 

 

Holy crap, would it be cheaper just to get the Apple Vision Pro haha

[loony979]

Warlock's Command Center Level Unlocked. Omg man here most of us sitting in front of a single screen & yeah ive never seen a gpu look like this as well. However im glad they do, as that's incredible. Electricity cost must be going of tho wow man what a vid. That looks super Neat tho i must admit.

[Invincible Sugar]

15 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

am5 allows you to upgrade the cpu without doing a mobo or ram upgrade

Mmm, that's interesting. I am curious to see what the 15th gen Intel CPUs deliver with the hyped up NPU, but I think it's really cool that some AMD CPUs have like, proper iGPUs that could maybe do more than just output more screens for me, they might be useful for rendering video, folding at home, etc. to free up my 3080 for Stable Diffusion. Plus some of them have more PCIe lanes. But then, the Intel 12th gen CPU in my laptop now, with the big little cores, works really well for WSA with my Android apps on the lower power cores and my main tasks on the big cores, I am not sure how power efficient the AMD option would be when you have many large cores but no small cores.

 

15 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

and holy crap you are literally the hacker they portray in movies/tv in real life with that kinda monitor setup its literally stacks of monitors around you and why the hell are there multiple discords explorer and even a taskmanager open?

 

though its definitely nice to have extra screens since i myself usually dual weild phones sometimes even using 3 but only for trading shenanigans, maybe ill get my other phone working then ill have 4 phones =p

I love it so much. I have even more monitors above not in the shot, I couldn't fit it all in one. Those are my vertical monitors I use for WSA apps.

 

Did you ever try the LG V60 DS? That thing is pretty cool!

 

9 hours ago, TylerD321 said:

Holy crap, would it be cheaper just to get the Apple Vision Pro haha

I might get more eye strain that way, though. :c

 

8 hours ago, loony979 said:

Warlock's Command Center Level Unlocked. Omg man here most of us sitting in front of a single screen & yeah ive never seen a gpu look like this as well. However im glad they do, as that's incredible. Electricity cost must be going of tho wow man what a vid. That looks super Neat tho i must admit.

Right now using the laptop as my main PC power draw is reasonable. With this desktop, it would be higher. But currently when I run all 26 monitors, with my Lenovo P5, M1 Mac mini, Surface Pro X and S24 Ultra all docked and powering screens, with 3 eGPUs, at max load playing games while rendering video on the Mac and monitoring stuff on my other screens, the most power I ever see drawn is 740 watts according to my UPS. For more casual use of all 4 systems it's more like 450 watts.

 

6 hours ago, TheDarkCanuck said:

Would it not be cheaper and easier to replace these with wide monitors in portrait orientation + window workspaces? I guess you'd need to do the math and see what the total pixels outputting vs. what the card(s) can handle. It's an interesting problem you have here. I hate to imagine all those pcie lanes consumed just to output to monitors. 

 

The most pcie slots I have seen on retail boards are in the WS series (expensive) or proart creator from asus. I guess there are also some gigabyte UC boards that have quite a few pcie slots as well. 

I've tried power toys fancy zone, I've tried better utilizing task view, split screening apps doesn't work well for me, I have many websites I like to use in Chrome fullscreen to reduce UI of the browser taking up space, I just think it looks nicer. Also, for my own organization, I just find it more efficient to keep activates on their own monitor. Rather than split up one larger monitor for multiple tasks.

[LogicalDrm]

To answer your question about 5G connectivity made in here https://linustechtips.com/topic/1570285-26-monitors-5g-cellular-128-gb-ram-i7-14700k-4-gpus/ (please don't make multiple threads about same thing), there are some 5G networking cards. None PCIe from my quick glance. None from reputable and well known brands. And none that I would get with good faith. Thats said, https://www.exvist.com/products/5g-lte-usb-dongle-w-quectel-rm500q-series-fibocom-fm160-iot-m2m-optimized-module-industrial-ngff-to-usb3.0-adapter-sim-card-slot-type-c-dc5v-input this looks like it might do the job. 

 

Though overall it sounds (from the other threads description) like:

Quote

Good question! The way my cell plan is set up, I get unlimited data BUT a 15 GB/month limit on hotspots. From my research, I found that plugging an LTE modem into a router like you suggest would cause my PC to use that hotspot data. So yes, it would work, but only until I use up those 15 GB, which is fairly quick in my case. With my setup, I get unlimited data on my PC, just as if I had put the SIM straight into a phone or Surface Go.

It sounds like you are trying to do something hard way. If you would get 5G modem from start (My current is TP-Link Deco X50, you can see my journey with 5G 1, 2, 3, 4), that might be enough. The connection is, for the ISPs look point like using phone or network adapter directly. But you can connect your PC with ethernet or Wifi to modem. But I'm in country with better ISPs overall and better regulation to made sure they do deliver.

 

The problem with 5G adapters is same as with 5G modems. The technology is still very new to mainstream (about 5 years) and coverage even here in the land of mobile phones is not as well covering as 4G (which is at 98%). So there's very little reason for major players to bring in something they can't sell in masses. Laptops with SIM slots are only used by businesses. Most home users will be fine with ISP offered device and the wifi it shares.

[Invincible Sugar]

7 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

please don't make multiple threads about same thing

Sorry about that.

 

7 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

There are some 5G networking cards. None PCIe from my quick glance. None from reputable and well known brands. And none that I would get with good faith. Thats said, https://www.exvist.com/products/5g-lte-usb-dongle-w-quectel-rm500q-series-fibocom-fm160-iot-m2m-optimized-module-industrial-ngff-to-usb3.0-adapter-sim-card-slot-type-c-dc5v-input this looks like it might do the job.

That's an external USB device, it won't work. I need an internal PCIe modem for my use to fall within T-Mobile ToS and to receive unlimited data.

 

The reason I have my eyes on this particular PCIe chip is because it's the same one in my 5G Lenovo laptop, so I know it works. But I don't know if the board adapting it to M.2 (M key) will work, in my laptop the SIM is in a tray in the body of the laptop, this M.2 modem doesn't include a SIM tray, it needs to be provided separately, but will the M.2 card see/work with the SIM installed on the M.2 adapter board? That's not the same configuration my laptop uses.

 

My laptop has eSIM as well, I could work with just eSIM but does the M.2 modem include eSIM too? Or is that also external somewhere in my laptop? I don't know.

 

7 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

It sounds like you are trying to do something hard way. If you would get 5G modem from start (My current is TP-Link Deco X50, you can see my journey with 5G 1, 2, 3, 4), that might be enough. The connection is, for the ISPs look point like using phone or network adapter directly. But you can connect your PC with ethernet or Wifi to modem. But I'm in country with better ISPs overall and better regulation to made sure they do deliver.

I am happy to investigate other options, I don't want to do this the hard way. But I need the method to be within ToS because I use enough data, 2-3 TB a month on this $10 unlimited plan, that I do get audited occasionally.