11-13-2013, 12:22 AM
Sorry for the late reply here, don't check this forum very often.
Yes, we have connected 8 graphics cards to one machine using two PCIe slots and two of those splitters linked in the first post.
We have done this with first with Nvidia (gtx580) and then with ATI (HD 7970) cards.
To achieve this we used a frame to hold the cards and two 1200W power supplies to power four cards each, plus a 1500W supply for the motherboard. The big power supply on the motherboard was needed for the Nvidia cards, but is not needed for the ATI cards. We just changed the main PC to one with a 1200W supply, which is proving to be sufficient power wise (for some reason the Nvidia cards pulled more power through the motherboard vs the dedicated power supplies than the ATI cards do). The PC is in a tower case and sits next to the frame with its side cover off. The cables from the splitters/motherboard to the graphics card frame just hang in the air between the frame and case. The dedicated power supplies have the motherboard control cables shorted using a small insulated wire to simulate the "On" signal from the motherboard, and the onboard power switch on the power supplies is used to turn them on/off. You need to power up the graphics cards via the dedicated power supplies before turning on the PC. There is copious electrical tape used for insulation, including on the small boards that sit in the middle of the splitter cables - it looks dodgy as Hell, but its functional.
The frame holding the cards has its own cooling - a pedestal fan attached to the frame. This has been relatively stable for over a year, although we are now having GPU overheating issues as the newer PC with upgraded motherboard that I added yesterday is pushing the GPU utilization slightly higher than the last one, which is apparently just over the threshold of what it can handle. I'm confident I can get this sorted - perhaps by upgrading the fan or by moving some things around to improve airflow.
Im running Ubuntu Linux 12.04 for the OS. Driver wise you just need to run aticonfig to configure the use of all cards for ATI. Nvidia just worked. Very simple.
I posted some performance stats elsewhere on this forum (check my post history) if you are interested. Feel free to ask me if you have more questions.
Yes, we have connected 8 graphics cards to one machine using two PCIe slots and two of those splitters linked in the first post.
We have done this with first with Nvidia (gtx580) and then with ATI (HD 7970) cards.
To achieve this we used a frame to hold the cards and two 1200W power supplies to power four cards each, plus a 1500W supply for the motherboard. The big power supply on the motherboard was needed for the Nvidia cards, but is not needed for the ATI cards. We just changed the main PC to one with a 1200W supply, which is proving to be sufficient power wise (for some reason the Nvidia cards pulled more power through the motherboard vs the dedicated power supplies than the ATI cards do). The PC is in a tower case and sits next to the frame with its side cover off. The cables from the splitters/motherboard to the graphics card frame just hang in the air between the frame and case. The dedicated power supplies have the motherboard control cables shorted using a small insulated wire to simulate the "On" signal from the motherboard, and the onboard power switch on the power supplies is used to turn them on/off. You need to power up the graphics cards via the dedicated power supplies before turning on the PC. There is copious electrical tape used for insulation, including on the small boards that sit in the middle of the splitter cables - it looks dodgy as Hell, but its functional.
The frame holding the cards has its own cooling - a pedestal fan attached to the frame. This has been relatively stable for over a year, although we are now having GPU overheating issues as the newer PC with upgraded motherboard that I added yesterday is pushing the GPU utilization slightly higher than the last one, which is apparently just over the threshold of what it can handle. I'm confident I can get this sorted - perhaps by upgrading the fan or by moving some things around to improve airflow.
Im running Ubuntu Linux 12.04 for the OS. Driver wise you just need to run aticonfig to configure the use of all cards for ATI. Nvidia just worked. Very simple.
I posted some performance stats elsewhere on this forum (check my post history) if you are interested. Feel free to ask me if you have more questions.