Gpu system recommendations for 2022

[francomanko]

Hi,

so any recommendations for a Gpu setup with space for 1 display gpu and at least 2 nvlinked 3090 cards?

[Muhammed_Hamed]

Hey Adrian,

This is possible yes, with spacing between each GPU so that you keep your GPUs cool. Check out Asus Pro WRX80 SAGE
You will be able to install 3x 3090s, in the first, 4th and 7th PCIe slots respectively with spacing in-between

This motherboard supports Threadripper Pro CPUs like 3955WX Pro, 24-cores This one is more than enough to run 3x GPUs and much cheaper than the 32-core and 64-core varients
Still it is not a cheap setup at all

I'm running 2x 3090s + NV-link on 5950x and 128 GB of VRAM, CPU and Motherboard are a bit more affordable and much better single-threaded performance
In all cases you need a 4-slot NVlink, to have spacing between the 2 GPUs because these GPUs get very hot.

And generally speaking, 2 GPUs are more than enough in the case of 3090s.. You can use one during look-dev, then 2 for final rendering. This is what I do at least

About the GPUs themselves, try to find ROG Strix or MSI SuprimX, or MSI GamingX Trio.. these are some of the best 3090s out there, with good cooling and performance out of box
I talk about the differences between 3090s here

Best,
Muhammed

[francomanko]

Thanks for the reply, so what motherboard are you using with the ryzen 9 5950? The pro ace?

[Karol.Osinski]

I wonder if RTX 3090 Founders edition cards with their different cooling design could stay cool enough close to each other.

I have a single ASUS Strix edition inside very compact Lenovo P620 (barely fits) and it stays relatively cool (70 degrees), but that's another story.

[Muhammed_Hamed]

Thanks for the reply, so what motherboard are you using with the ryzen 9 5950? The pro ace?

It is a bit tricky, as most boards will have 3 PCIe slots.. first and second have 2 spacings between and last one is 4 spaces from first PCIe slot
This means you either have the cards stacked in the first and second slots(not great for thermals), with a 3-way NVlink bridge, or give up on NVlink to install in the first and third PCIe slots?(because a 5-slot NVlink doesn't exist)

The only 2 boards that will allow you to use 2 GPUs with 4-way NVlink are MSI X570 Godlike or Asus x570 Extreme
the Extreme I have on my own, works nicely and have a nice set of features although a bit expensive. I don't mind paying for an expensive board usually

X570 PRO ACE is a great board for running 3 cards at x8,x8,x8 (liquid cooled in this case or with Riser cables)
Other boards will run 3 cards in x8,x8 and x4 (with x4 shared with other devices, it should be fine for rendering)

Best,
Muhammed

[Muhammed_Hamed]

I wonder if RTX 3090 Founders edition cards with their different cooling design could stay cool enough close to each other.

I have a single ASUS Strix edition inside very compact Lenovo P620 (barely fits) and it stays relatively cool (70 degrees), but that's another story.

The 3090 FE has the biggest cooler and heaviest cooler of all 3090s, it is a great card. Although in a stacked configuration the card at the top will still get very hot (above 80)
Blower style cards will get hot as well, same for Hybrid cards.. it is near impossible to stack multiple GPUs on air at the moment while keeping the thermals down, 3090s have 350 watts TDP and some of them can get to 400+ or higher. This is a lot of heat
It was fine to stack GPUs in the past, even up to 4 blower cards in one machine. the cards used much lower TDP at the time, or you can say the 3090s get much much hotter

The Strix 3090 is one of the best 3090s now and by far the most expensive/rarest one, custom PCB, insane cooling and overclocking potential with 480 watts maximum TDP

Best,
Muhammed

[francomanko]

The only 2 boards that will allow you to use 2 GPUs with 4-way NVlink are MSI X570 Godlike or Asus x570 Extreme
the Extreme I have on my own, works nicely and have a nice set of features although a bit expensive. I don't mind paying for an expensive board usually

is that the Asus crosshair x570? And you are using 1 of the 3090 for display as well as rendering?

[Karol.Osinski]

The 3090 FE has the biggest cooler and heaviest cooler of all 3090s, it is a great card. Although in a stacked configuration the card at the top will still get very hot (above 80)
Blower style cards will get hot as well, same for Hybrid cards.. it is near impossible to stack multiple GPUs on air at the moment while keeping the thermals down, 3090s have 350 watts TDP and some of them can get to 400+ or higher. This is a lot of heat
It was fine to stack GPUs in the past, even up to 4 blower cards in one machine. the cards used much lower TDP at the time, or you can say the 3090s get much much hotter

The Strix 3090 is one of the best 3090s now and by far the most expensive/rarest one, custom PCB, insane cooling and overclocking potential with 480 watts maximum TDP

Best,
Muhammed

I was wrong, mine is ZOTAC :P But good to know about the Strix performance!!!

[Muhammed_Hamed]

is that the Asus crosshair x570? And you are using 1 of the 3090 for display as well as rendering?

There are 2 of these, both of them are great
Although only Crosshair extreme, has the needed spacing for a 4-way NVLink bridge

https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/ro...extreme-model/

Crosshair Dark Hero will equip 3-way bridge, without any spacing between the cards.. similar to every other board on this platform

Best,
Muhammed

[francomanko]

What about Gigabyte AMD Threadripper TRX40 designare with threadripper?

that looks like it can run a single Gp’s for display and 2 nvlinked 3090 with 4slot yeah? (2nd and 4th slots)

[Muhammed_Hamed]

I'm not a big fan of this board, cheapest TRX40 on Gigabyte's side
A descent Mobo will give you peace of mind, the Designare was a disaster for the last generation Threadrippers

And to answer your question, no .. 3 3090s are not possible, this third card needs to be dual-slot to fit
Only Asus Pro WRX80 SAGE could do 3x 3-slot GPUs without Riser cables

Best,
Muhammed

[francomanko]

Thanks for info

[GLASS-CANVAS]

I'm not a big fan of this board, cheapest TRX40 on Gigabyte's side
A descent Mobo will give you peace of mind, the Designare was a disaster for the last generation Threadrippers

It may seem unfair to tarnish an entire company over a few duff products, but I generally avoid anything Gigabyte outright; they've released far too many broken products recently for my liking. Search YouTube for faulty Gigabyte power supplies to see what I mean. The impression I get is that just don't seem to care about putting out reliable hardware.

[Muhammed_Hamed]

2021 has been a rough year for Gigabyte. I hope they would learn from what happened and focus on the future
Not only power supplies and cheap motherboards, their GPUs have been a disaster as well. Their Gigabyte Vision and Gigabyte Gaming OC cards have some of the worst thermal performance and failure rates
Their Aorus line-up is pretty solid and their Vision-D boards for creators are great. These products should be standard of Gigabyte quality honestly

[dimension3plus]

Hey Muhammed, Why did you choose the 5990x instead of a Intel® Core™ i9-12900KF ? Is the i9 not better for single core? I mean working with 3ds max is mostly single core in my experience.
My hardware seller currently only has 3 different RTX 3090 on stock, which do you think is the best choice for a 2 GPU system? ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3090 Trinity OC, Palit GeForce RTX 3090 GamingPro 24G or MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Ventus 3X 24G OC