its bloody lovely but imagine trying to find and power up 7 single slot gpus that are decent folders cheers spunky
Or even 4* GTX 295's, 2 PSU's or one very big one (1500W?) not sure if there would be enough 6+8 supply lines. Still wouldn't mind being able to afford one though!
I did a little research on that myself and I couldn't find a 1500W (or above) with 4x 6pin and 4x 8pin. I'd be interested if anyone knows of one.
According to a guy on the nvidia forums Thermaltake ToughPower 1500W: 4 x 6-pin + 4 x 8-pin P, 12V rails total 120 Amp’s Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1250W: 6 x 6-pin + 3 x 8-pin, You have to combine two 6-pin to one 8-pin, 12V rail total power 128 Amp’s; Enermax Revolution 1250 EGT: 8 x 6+2-pin PCI-E, 6 rails a’ 30 Amp.
I'm using one of these to drive a K9A2 system with 4*9800GX2 cards, and it is barely warm to the touch (which may just be the warm ambient air), and quieter than my Corsair 1000w. If I were to go into "crazy configuration land (population: you)" and try to run 7*GTX295 cards, I would be thinking about two of the Enemax PSUs, but maybe the 1250 + 1050. Of course, efficiency and quietness pale into insignificance next to the 9800GX2s, but its comforting that at least one component is not being pushed to its limits.
Now I'm confused! Christopher, you tried to find a PSU with 4x6pin and 4x8pin but decided it would have to be 2 PSU's. Then saspro flags up the Enermax Revolution 1250 with 8x 6+2. And you're already using this? Yep, I'm confused. Chuckle. Anyway, thanks saspro. I'll do a little more research to see how the rails are arranged on those.
7 GTX 295, holy poo. How many GTX 295s in SLI can the board support, still 'only' 2? Does anybody remember the University of Antwerp's quad 9800GX2 set-up, those guys must be salivating at the thought of 7 GTX 295s.
Only 2 in SLI, but SLI isn't enabled for folding. But anyway, you can still only fit 4x GTX295 on this board, it being a double slot card. (Or pay a fortune for bus extenders, I suppose.)
Sorry, JackOfAll, if I didn't make myself clear. Yes, the enermax has 4*6+8 pins, and as I say, runs 4*9800GX2 fine. I don't know from experience if it would power 4*GTX295. But the machine I had in mind when deciding on 2 PSU, was the hypothetical 7*GTX295
Ah, true, silly me got carried away. Maybe if Nvidia ever releases a single PCB GTX 295, uber folders might be able to slot in 7 of them
Well, a single PCB version of the GTX295 is meant to be on the way, but still a double slot width card as far as I'm aware.
Flexible riser 'cards' for PCIe are quite affordable. Can I mention the supplier? just google for "flexible riser card PCIe"
Might just get away with it for folding. But it'd not sit well with my own rule of trying to run PSU's at 60-80% max of their rated capacity.
Hmmn, whilst on the subject of multiple farms. Check out how Atlas deals with having to update clients http://www.maximumpc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=931366#931366 Looks like an idea.
Single slot, water cooled GTX285 cards exist (BFG, possibly others), but my pocket isn't deep enough for four, let alone seven. But they make me drool ...
Yeah, I liked it. I do have a USB stick with the 8 virgin GPU folders in place, and 8 icons with suitable properties, which I use for initial setups. So far I've not had to upgrade a client ...