Motherboard support

[Stania Klegr]

Hi, I have a (probably dumb) question. I am wanting to build a new PC for rendering, and was wondering how many GPUs (1070/1060's) you can put in a single motherboard( ASUS ROG STRIX Z270F for example) Can I use all 3 PCIe slots if I don't care about SLI or gaming? and would you lose M.2 support or GPU performance if I did that (if it would even work)?  Thanks  : )

[TheProfessionalAmateurs]

the bandwidth of a full sized pcie slot is called 16x. a cpu can only have so much bandwidth to the pcie slots, intel z270 being 16x. you can put a total of 2 nvidia gpu's in the motherboard, (running at 8x bandwidth each which will not be a bottleneck) along with a m.2 ssd, since the intel z170, and z270 chipsets include a chip, which adds an additional 20 pcie lanes for storage, like an ssd.

[Stania Klegr]

+TheProfesionalAmatures Thanks, So if I want more than 2 Nvidia GPUs I would need something like the ASUS ROG Rampage V Edition 10? so probably better off getting 2 separate computers?

[NicholasNicholasNicholas]

31 minutes ago, Stania Klegr said:

+TheProfesionalAmatures Thanks, So if I want more than 2 Nvidia GPUs I would need something like the ASUS ROG Rampage V Edition 10? so probably better off getting 2 separate computers?

 

in order to get more than 2 cards in sli you need AT LEAST an i7 6800k (or older gen equivalent) however you can put 4 cards in crossfire so long as you have enough pcie ports that are at least x4. the 480 beats the 1060 anyways

[Stania Klegr]

1 hour ago, Nickathom said:

in order to get more than 2 cards in sli you need AT LEAST an i7 6800k (or older gen equivalent) however you can put 4 cards in crossfire so long as you have enough pcie ports that are at least x4. the 480 beats the 1060 anyways

 

Thanks, I am needing them for cycles rendering in blender so AMD is not really a very good option for me but I don't need SLI as I'm not planning to do any gaming. Any advice on the best way to run lots of GPUs for cheap?

[NicholasNicholasNicholas]

3 hours ago, Stania Klegr said:

Thanks, I am needing them for cycles rendering in blender so AMD is not really a very good option for me but I don't need SLI as I'm not planning to do any gaming. Any advice on the best way to run lots of GPUs for cheap?

 

get a cheap 3rd or 2nd gen cpu and a good mobo. a good 3rd gen will only be around 15% slower than a 6th gen chip

[Stania Klegr]

3 hours ago, Nickathom said:

get a cheap 3rd or 2nd gen cpu and a good mobo. a good 3rd gen will only be around 15% slower than a 6th gen chip

Thanks  : )