Threadripper for rendering with 4 GPUs

[Murmullos]

Hello everyone!

 

I want a PC for rendering, I was thinking about waiting for the next TR generation (or even for the 7nm 1 more year). But since I never had a computer like this before, I need some recommendations in order to clarify my ideas.

 

For the 1950x and a x399 mobo with 4x GTX 1080/1180, do you think using air coolings will be enough? 

The case will be a Corsair 740 (I already got this), so it will have 2x140mm in the bottom, 3x120mm in the front. To remove the air, 3x140mm (2 top 1 back).

 

About the RAM speed, I have read in the AMD website that the 1950x accepts up to 2667MHz in 4 channels. But I also read in some forums recommendations about using faster speeds. So, is it possible to use 4 slots @3200? 8 slots @3200?

Another question about the RAM, is it better 4 slots @3000 CL 14 or 3200 CL 16?

 

 

Thank you in advance for your help!

[Likwid]

4 minutes ago, Murmullos said:

Hello everyone!

 

I want a PC for rendering, I was thinking about waiting for the next TR generation (or even for the 7nm 1 more year). But since I never had a computer like this before, I need some recommendations in order to clarify my ideas.

 

For the 1950x and a x399 mobo with 4x GTX 1080/1180, do you think using air coolings will be enough? 

The case will be a Corsair 740 (I already got this), so it will have 2x140mm in the bottom, 3x120mm in the front. To remove the air, 3x140mm (2 top 1 back).

 

About the RAM speed, I have read in the AMD website that the 1950x accepts up to 2667MHz in 4 channels. But I also read in some forums recommendations about using faster speeds. So, is it possible to use 4 slots @3200? 8 slots @3200?

Another question about the RAM, is it better 4 slots @3000 CL 14 or 3200 CL 16?

 

 

Thank you in advance for your help!

If want to know about gtx 1180 you may as well wait for 2950x

[Murmullos]

1 minute ago, Likwid said:

If want to know about gtx 1180 you may as well wait for 2950x

Yep, waiting for the next TR generation is on my plans

[For Science!]

6 minutes ago, Murmullos said:

-Thank you in advance for your help!

I have a 1950X quad GPU (1080Ti) workstation for scientific calculations. On Air, the GPUs get super hot and are in throttling territory all the time, except for the bottom card. I require 128 GB of RAM, despite having a compatible kit, I have found overclocking stability to be very poor and still run at 2133 MHz. Using a kit that wasn't on the QVL, the RAM would not even be detected or the system would bootloop. Thankfully my programs are more latency dependent and actually run better with non-overclocked RAM. On water, everything is fine (except for the RAM overclockability).

 

 

 

 

[FStopDesigns]

2 minutes ago, Likwid said:

If want to know about gtx 1180 you may as well wait for 2950x

Sorry but that is a rather useless answer.

 

7 minutes ago, Murmullos said:

Hello everyone!

 

I want a PC for rendering, I was thinking about waiting for the next TR generation (or even for the 7nm 1 more year). But since I never had a computer like this before, I need some recommendations in order to clarify my ideas.

 

For the 1950x and a x399 mobo with 4x GTX 1080/1180, do you think using air coolings will be enough? 

The case will be a Corsair 740 (I already got this), so it will have 2x140mm in the bottom, 3x120mm in the front. To remove the air, 3x140mm (2 top 1 back).

 

About the RAM speed, I have read in the AMD website that the 1950x accepts up to 2667MHz in 4 channels. But I also read in some forums recommendations about using faster speeds. So, is it possible to use 4 slots @3200? 8 slots @3200?

Another question about the RAM, is it better 4 slots @3000 CL 14 or 3200 CL 16?

 

 

Thank you in advance for your help!

Are you sure you need that immense rendering power on your cpu and gpu? Depending on what you render and with which tool you may only need the gpu or cpu to be extremly powerful.

 

If you do decide to get 4 GPU's you'll need some pretty beefy air cooling since they will be really close to each other and "inhale" heat which ist "exhaled from the rest of the system. I wouldn't go with watercooling though as the maintenance needed is quite some work. I'm happy the rendermachines I attend to at work are air cooled as that allows for quick replacement and maintenance.

 

For the Ram i can't help you unfortunately

[Murmullos]

10 minutes ago, For Science! said:

I have a 1950X quad GPU (1080Ti) workstation for scientific calculations. On Air, the GPUs get super hot and are in throttling territory all the time, except for the bottom card. I require 128 GB of RAM, despite having a compatible kit, I have found overclocking stability to be very poor and still run at 2133 MHz. Using a kit that wasn't on the QVL, the RAM would not even be detected or the system would bootloop. Thankfully my programs are more latency dependent and actually run better with non-overclocked RAM. On water, everything is fine (except for the RAM overclockability).

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your experience and the pics 

 

I don't like that throttling in your picture

In my case, I might want to undervolt since I don't even need much bandwidth, but maybe in the future I'll use different programs, so the 64 lines are great (even better for that price). I think for now I just need the CUDAs and Threads (but I'm not an expert).

 

I have a 1700 right now, with memories that should work at 3200, but the are only stable at 2999 even with the latest UEFI. So I guess you have similar memory speed problems here.

 

I guess what I'll do is using the air cooling system, and if I can't handle the temperatures well, buy a custom LR for 2 GPUs, and if this doesn't works, then another one for the other 2 GPUs. Does this make sense?

 

 

10 minutes ago, FStopDesigns said:

Are you sure you need that immense rendering power on your cpu and gpu? Depending on what you render and with which tool you may only need the gpu or cpu to be extremly powerful.

 

If you do decide to get 4 GPU's you'll need some pretty beefy air cooling since they will be really close to each other and "inhale" heat which ist "exhaled from the rest of the system. I wouldn't go with watercooling though as the maintenance needed is quite some work. I'm happy the rendermachines I attend to at work are air cooled as that allows for quick replacement and maintenance.

 

For the Ram i can't help you unfortunately

 

Thanks for your comment too.

 

I'm a freelancer (I'm not a Guru so I might be saying something goofy here) so I could change the program that I'm using, but for now Iray works fine for me, and using CPU+GPU for my renders is great. I'm using now a Ryzen 1700 with a GTX 1080 (and an external GTX 1030, but this doesn't improve much my rendering times haha).

 

My idea is, maybe in the future I'll swap the program, but I don't want to close any window here. But if this plan is going to burn money, that's not desirable for me so any recommendation will be appreciated.

 

I'm scared about using water cooling, specially because I never used it before, and if I'm going to spend a lot of money in my system... a leak could be horrible here. I don't know if the maintenance is hard or not, but if there is any risk behind the maintenance, I prefer to avoid it.

 

Can you recommend me some good (or beefy haha) air cooling brands/systems? Noctua is all I know.

[FStopDesigns]

I'm thinking it would be best to get a server case with powerful fans and set it up in a oom where you don't have to hear it. Ideally you'll have an AC in that room to keep the temperatures low.

If thats not possible and you don't mind the noise then you could get some Industrial fans with high rpm from noctua. They should be able to push enough air through you system. But that only my guess

[Murmullos]

2 minutes ago, FStopDesigns said:

I'm thinking it would be best to get a server case with powerful fans and set it up in a oom where you don't have to hear it. Ideally you'll have an AC in that room to keep the temperatures low.

If thats not possible and you don't mind the noise then you could get some Industrial fans with high rpm from noctua. They should be able to push enough air through you system. But that only my guess

Thanks again for your time and help  

 

I'll have a look about those industrial fans and server cases. I'm afraid the noise will be an issue since I live in an apartment (not only my gf won't be happy, but I'm also a noise hater), but maybe I can find something intermediate.

[For Science!]

5 minutes ago, Murmullos said:

-

Any graphics card in a quad layout is going to be in throttling with air. There is simply no wait to feed enough air and keep the exhaust in check in a 4-way configuration.

 

If you want to be on air and maintain decent temps without having to wear ear protection, I would guess that setting up a mining-rig-like system where you use PCIe extension risers (but more expensive 16x slot ones, instead of the mining 1x risers) and keep the cards separate.

 

3 minutes ago, FStopDesigns said:

-

I also deal with quad-1080 server 1U nodes in a temperature controlled room, with the normal server grade fans etc. However simply due to the packing, the cards will still run very hot (upwards of 70 degrees)

 

[aries757]

i would get water cooling

[Murmullos]

8 minutes ago, For Science! said:

Any graphics card in a quad layout is going to be in throttling with air. There is simply no wait to feed enough air and keep the exhaust in check in a 4-way configuration.

 

If you want to be on air and maintain decent temps without having to wear ear protection, I would guess that setting up a mining-rig-like system where you use PCIe extension risers (but more expensive 16x slot ones, instead of the mining 1x risers) and keep the cards separate.

 

I also deal with quad-1080 server 1U nodes in a temperature controlled room, with the normal server grade fans etc. However simply due to the packing, the cards will still run very hot (upwards of 70 degrees)

 

The external rig solution looks pretty good for me. Maybe having 2 GPU inside and 2 outside could make it, or 1 inside and 3 outside. Or even 2 inside 4 outside if I want to use all the PCIe slots.

 

I know is not the same by far, but my 1080 is working in full load at 55ºc, the fan works at 1860-70 RPM (49%). So I guess/hope using 2 GPUs won't damage much the numbers.

 

Thanks for your comment!

[Murmullos]

5 minutes ago, aries757 said:

i would get water cooling

Thanks for your comment too. Do you mean custom water cooling? or AIO?

 

I never used it before, if I finally use it, do you know which radiators size should I use?

[aries757]

On 5/11/2018 at 8:36 AM, Murmullos said:

Thanks for your comment too. Do you mean custom water cooling? or AIO?

 

I never used it before, if I finally use it, do you know which radiators size should I use?

im not sure, for me, i would use like some kickass aio that can support a few gpu's but idk if thats even available