Which workstation for 3x 3-slot GPUs?

Posted by Zyj@reddit | LocalLLaMA | View on Reddit | 12 comments

Are there any workstations you can buy (for example HP, Lenovo, …) that can be equipped with three 3-slot GPUs? Buying two A6000 is so bloody expensive that looking for an alternative really seems worthwhile.

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12 Comments

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nighthawk2019@reddit

[https://www.hp.com/us-en/workstations/z6-a.html](https://www.hp.com/us-en/workstations/z6-a.html)

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stefan_evm@reddit

Can the HP Z6 G5 A handle RX 7900 XTX? If yes, three or only two?

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AstroZombie138@reddit

Someone earlier today posted some pics where they were using a mining rig chassis and PCI extension cables. If the cables are reasonably short is there any problem with this type of setup?

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kryptkpr@reddit

15-20cm cables are fine, make sure they're the PCIe4 kind For 30-50cm runs, bare SFF8611/SFF8654/MCIO extensions work (depending on your bandwidth and generational requirements). For 50cm+ best go with MCIO or SFF8654 with host retimers.

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lolzinventor@reddit

I use 20 cm 16x cables, resulting in a couple of self correctable error reports per day when training. The pros use PCIe re-timers which condition the signals but for small home rigs sort cables seem fine.

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SubjectHealthy2409@reddit

I used Risers for my eth mining rig, 6x gpus on normal consumer motherboard, maybe check that

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sTrollZ@reddit

Without risers? Probably a X299 board with a 10920x or so. The WU8 from gigabyte and the X299 SAGE from Asus comes to mind.

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sTrollZ@reddit

Without risers? Probably a X299 board with a 10920x or so. The WU8 from gigabyte and the X299 SAGE from Asus comes to mind.

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Fickle_Conclusion857@reddit

HP Workstation Z8 G4

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Wooden-Potential2226@reddit

Maybe deshroud and use eg supermicro X9drg mobo (3x 2-slot)? Msi 3090 ventus deshrouds well…

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libbyt91@reddit

Here is my recent build... ASUS TUF Gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 OC Edition GPUs (3) $3,000 Intel Xeon W5-3435X Processor $1,565 ASUS Pro WS W790 SAGE SE Motherboard $1,232 Kingston Fury Renegade Pro 128GB (4 x 32GB) ECC DDR5 6400 $900 Corsair MP700 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 x4 NVMe 2.0 M.2 SSD (2) $600 Seasonic PRIME PX-1600, 1600W PSU $544 Corsair MP600 CORE XT M.2 2280 4TB PCI-Express 4.0 x4 3D SSD $245 Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2 Server Edition PC Case $160 Noctua NF-A14 PWM Premium Quiet Fans (3 front, 3 top) $144 Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM Premium Quiet Fans (3 side, 1 back) $136 Noctua NH-D9 DX-4677 4U, Premium CPU Cooler $120 SilverStone Technology RC07 PCI Express 4.0 x16 Riser Card $58 MSI AX1800 WiFi 6 Dual-Band USB Adapter $50 ASHATA PCIe 4.0 X16 Riser Cable $33 Cable Matters 2-Pack 3-Way 4-Pin PWM Fan Splitter (2) $27 3/4 inch aluminum spacers (4) $6 1.25 inch 6-32 machine screws (4) $4 TOTAL: $8,824 This huge Asus motherboard has several PCIe x16 slots (7). The Enthoo Pro 2 server case is large enough to stack 3 RTX 3090s with the help of a riser card, riser cable and a few screws. This allows a full slot and a half between the cards. The side fan mount that comes with the Enthoo Pro 2 pushes up nicely against the two lower GPUs for efficient cooling. Despite having 10 fans, I hardly notice the thing at idle. At full stress test (all GPUs at 100%), it gives off a mid-level beehive sound but definitely not bad. Inference is usually much quieter as the cards are no where near 100%. Note: I posted this a few months ago so the prices may have changed a bit.

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FullstackSensei@reddit

Doubt you'll find any. I know I couldn't when I searched for something similar. The problem stems from the ATX formfactor making a provision for 7 slots only. EATX increases the width of the motherboard, but doesn't change the height. While workstation chassis from HP, Dell, and Lenovo use custom form factor motherboards, I've yet to see one that makes space for 3-slot wide cards. The reason is probably because all workstation cards stick to 2-slot wide max. If you need 9 slots, you'll have to look at SSI-MEB motherboards. Those are few and not always advertised as such. I have a supermicro X10DRX, which supermicro advertises as "custom" on their spec page, but it fits into SSI-MEB compativle cases with only a couple of screw holes not lining up. Downside of this motherboard is that you get x8 slots only (all 10 of them), at PCIe 3.0 speeds.