4 GTX690'S

F

F3RR3T

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Nov 9, 2008
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am aware that i cant run 4 gtx690s on SLI but i can run two.

my question is i do alot of 3d rendering and would like to start folding again. The extra two gtx690's would still give me a leaps and bounds advantage in rendering and folding correct?
 
I would wait for the next generation line of cards as it's not too far from here right now.
 
F3RR3T said:
am aware that i cant run 4 gtx690s on SLI but i can run two.

my question is i do alot of 3d rendering and would like to start folding again. The extra two gtx690's would still give me a leaps and bounds advantage in rendering and folding correct?
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If you are going to throw around that kind of cash for folding, I'd built a separate second rig with that in mind and just game off a rig with two 690's in it. Otherwise the heat can quickly become a problem. Not to mention the power draw.
 
if your doing any kind of rendering FirePro or Quadro is the only way to go, for folding yea regular GPUs are fine.
 
ReaperTech said:
if your doing any kind of rendering FirePro or Quadro is the only way to go, for folding yea regular GPUs are fine.
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Good point. And if you are going to drop the cash on four GTX 690's, you can afford one high end Quadro at least.
 
I guess my comment does not apply to this. For the type of folding he's doing, I'm sure he'd want less power consumption and heat, so the next generation should have a smaller nanometer process and he'd get more points out of it, no? Unless he's indifferent about it, then my comment is invalid. :p
 
Meh, if you want to start folding now, just get the 690's now; there is always new tech right around the block. I also agree on getting a high end Quadro as it's designed specifically for that so you'll get a better performance/watt than a general purpose 690. If you are going to game though, consider just getting a 670. If you really want 4x 690's, you pretty much should be building 2 computers or at least a custom rack/case and PCI-E risers.
 
FrostBite said:
Meh, if you want to start folding now, just get the 690's now; there is always new tech right around the block. I also agree on getting a high end Quadro as it's designed specifically for that so you'll get a better performance/watt than a general purpose 690. If you are going to game though, consider just getting a 670. If you really want 4x 690's, you pretty much should be building 2 computers or at least a custom rack/case and PCI-E risers.
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+1 for >1 computer for >3xGTX690's.

With the way the coolers are set up, you could fit four, but three of them would be intaking from the back (and extremely hot!) side of the next card. With three you could do it (need a case with eight, preferably nine slots), but you'd still have to be extra careful with the cooling. Given that the second system would need almost nothing (maybe not even a monitor), the price difference for a second system over building a system for three or four cards won't be much.
 
will look into the quadros. not concerned about heat as its all a water rig. ill consider another rig. just not wanting two have two rigs on the desk and thats the only place for them
 
F3RR3T said:
will look into the quadros. not concerned about heat as its all a water rig. ill consider another rig. just not wanting two have two rigs on the desk and thats the only place for them
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If you want to conserve foot print and are prepared to shell out even more for all-water, then shoving four GTX690's in a box shouldn't be a problem :). I just wanted to emphasize that a second box would only be slightly more expensive overall, and definitely easier.
 
The second box doesn't even need to be in the same room. It can sit in a separate room or in the closet, using remote management software.
 
Looks like you got money to burn. I would get two 690s and then make another rendering box full of quadros.

Can you write this off or this is just personal stuff?
 
P4rD0nM3 said:
Looks like you got money to burn. I would get two 690s and then make another rendering box full of quadros.

Can you write this off or this is just personal stuff?
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Just personal/business only thing I can do.is write off as a business expense.
 
This is probably a repeat of what's been said above already, but here it goes.

If you go for four GTX 690s at $999 each, for $4000 you can purchase either of the two for 3D rendering:
If you want to still fold and do 3D rendering, then the following should work with two boxes:
Now, what's great here is that you can still remain within a budget of $4000, which I assume is your budget given you can buy four GTX 690s. The best option I see above is one computer with a GTX 690 and another computer dedicated for rendering using two FirePro W8000 workstation cards. Going for two Quadro 5000 means going close to $500 over budget.

The nice thing though is that many if not all 3D rendering programs can have their work rendered remotely. In other words, you can do the work on your main computer with the GTX 690 and send the render job to your render box over the network.

Now, I'm not sure what your budget would be to make a second computer, but it is something to consider.
 
Mr. Stryker said:
I would wait for the next generation line of cards as it's not too far from here right now.
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Wasn't there a pretty recent post where someone explained that the next iteration of gpu's weren't coming out till q1/q2 of next year? So like, at least 4-5 months from now?
 
ReaperTech said:
if your doing any kind of rendering FirePro or Quadro is the only way to go, for folding yea regular GPUs are fine.
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I'm no genius with this but I'm pretty sure it depends on the application. I'd do your research first as to what supports what.

Edit: Good idea I read on another forum:
"Go to the software manufacturers website they will have a qualified hardware list...

Pick the best graphics card you can afford from the list and use the driver they recommend.

This is the only way to do it as the cards/drivers on these lists have been extensively tested."
 
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JayJapanB said:
I'm no genius with this but I'm pretty sure it depends on the application. I'd do your research first as to what supports what.

Edit: Good idea I read on another forum:
"Go to the software manufacturers website they will have a qualified hardware list...

Pick the best graphics card you can afford from the list and use the driver they recommend.

This is the only way to do it as the cards/drivers on these lists have been extensively tested."
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i agree
 
Let me get with my designer and see if he feels the need for a seperate box for rendering his volume isnt that great.
 
What are you actually rendering?
Are you using Maya, 3D Max, Zbrush, Mudbox?
Cause the final rendering is all CPU based the GPU will not help you there, will help speed up viewports and make high poly modelling smoother experience, so i would rather get 8 core or more i7's for rendering
 
gamingarena23 said:
What are you actually rendering?
Are you using Maya, 3D Max, Zbrush, Mudbox?
Cause the final rendering is all CPU based the GPU will not help you there, will help speed up viewports and make high poly modelling smoother experience, so i would rather get 8 core or more i7's for rendering
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Yes. You will need some decent hardware for high high poly stuff (a 580 would be good and cheap), but the difference between a "professional" card and a GeForce isn't really there, especially for the massive price difference. Be aware that some 3d programs won't use SLI, only a single card, so that might not do anything for you.

But rendering still is still mostly done via CPU, so dual Xeons (be careful which ones if you want to overclock them) would be better than SLI cards. Some renders work via nodes, so you could get a few i7 boxes and some cables and farm it.
 
if your planning to do ANY professional work get a Quadro or FirePro card seriously

got a W5000 and a 7970 the W5000 is 315% faster in Autodesk Maya and on average is 140% faster across the board
 
Would a Tesla card play into any of this? Is it good for folding/rendering or only for specialized compute applications?
 
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