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13GPUs in 1 box?

C

crazjayz

2[H]4U
Joined
Jul 31, 2005
Messages
2,093
So, I remember a couple months back, someone here was thinking of making a 100k ppd GPU crunching box. Well, it was determined that motherboards today don't have enough OptionROM (if I'm not mistaken) to run more than 8 GPU cores. Well, it seems as though the researchers at the University of Antwerp's Vision Lab found a way around this problem. Calling their system FASTRA II, it packs 6 GTX 295s and 1 GTX 275 for a total of 13 GPU cores.

Engadget link.
University of Antwerp's Vision Lab link.

All I can ask is how? Engadget mentions that the motherboard is an ASUS, so it's probably the ASUS Supercomputer. Does anyone have the hardware to test this out? Or is it just a one-off system?

EDIT: Upon watching their 7 minute video, it's sort of a one-off system. They contact ASUS to make a new BIOS that allows them to access more OpROM thus enabling the use of all the cards. Moreover, they mention that it also requires "linux kernel hacking" to get it to work.

Well, maybe ASUS will release said BIOS and someone can get something like this up and running at home.
 
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fastra-ii-12-14-09.jpg


They can afford 13 GPU's but they still like to use the old fashion vga cable instead of a dvi connector haha
 
yeah its a asus supercomputer P6T7 motherboard.. and its probably running a custom linux OS..

my guess is including the bandwidth limitations on all the pci-e lanes.. it would be on avg what 9k-12k per gpu? so lets go with the conservative numbers.. 9kx13 would be 117k PPD not including a cpu client..



tonyyy said:
They can afford 13 GPU's but they still like to use the old fashion vga cable instead of a dvi connector haha
Click to expand...


take a look at the monitor.. has to be one of the first LCD's ever made.. :p
 
I wish the Air Force had gone this route instead of buying a crapload of ps3s
 
From their site

Although the system is up and running, we are still experiencing software stability issues, probably caused by an incompatibility between the video drivers and the BIOS and Linux modifications we had to use. Check out the blog for more details on the current status of FASTRA II.
Click to expand...
 
nVidia drivers don't support more than 8 GPUs on any OS. I don't know how they plan on getting around that.
 
Impossible, not with those GPUs, not atfull blast, I've got 850 on just 2
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
Zero82z said:
nVidia drivers don't support more than 8 GPUs on any OS. I don't know how they plan on getting around that.
Click to expand...

The ASUS BIOS didn't support more then 6 GPU's but they got around that.... If they can have ASUS design a custom motherboard BIOS just for them, I believe they have the resources to get this done. In fact, i'm not sure what you are doubting seeing as how its already been done, this isn't just a proposal.
 
criccio said:
The ASUS BIOS didn't support more then 6 GPU's but they got around that.... If they can have ASUS design a custom motherboard BIOS just for them, I believe they have the resources to get this done. In fact, i'm not sure what you are doubting seeing as how its already been done, this isn't just a proposal.
Click to expand...
They said they have been issues getting it to work. And somehow I doubt that nVidia will be as accommodating as ASUS when it comes to writing custom drivers and BIOSes. But I wouldn't mind being proven wrong.
 
Zero82z said:
They said they have been issues getting it to work.
Click to expand...
I thought they said they got it to work but were having problems getting it stable. As most extreme overclockers know, stable and getting it to just work, these are two different things. :D
 
gkanakis said:
nVidia would not help at all. They want you to buy the Tesla cards!
Click to expand...

And even if you do that, they will say PNY is the mfgr. and PNY has the worst CS ever.

Feck PNY
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Did I mention that i dont like PNY?
 
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