New PC graphics card decision

#1

Hey there,
sitting in Germany on a budget of around 2500€ I have to decide components for a new C4D-Redshift-machine.
I was thinking about:
AMD Ryzen 7 3700 or 3800
MSI 570 Mainboard
64 to 128 GB DDR4 3000
Powersupply around 750W
And either 2x 2070 Super or 1x 2080Ti

so what do you thing about the config in general and the two possibilites for the graphics card(s) in particular?
Thank you very much!
kws

#2

https://geizhals.de/?cat=WL-1471173

Something like this. You need a larger psu for dual gpu setup. I would vote for dual 2070 Supers. Go for the 3900X imo, even if you have to stretch your budget a bit.

#3

thank you very much for the reply and for the geizhals-list. Looks great.

#4

You’re welcome. You could pick a cheaper chassis and a slightly cheaper motherboard to shave off some €, but a 2500€ build should have good quality parts overall.

#5

Hey, I went to a local it-solutions-provider with my desired specs (because we need quick support and replacements when working on urgent projects). Those guys just told me that a Ryzen could not handle two 2070s to their full potential because it provides only 16 PCIe-lanes and this is the amount already a single 2070 would need. So he told me to switch to a Threadripper or reduce the config to just one graphics card.

Do you guys now about that stuff? What do you think?
Thx!
kws

#6

They are not well informed about these things. First of all, with two gpus on a X570 motherboard, each gpu would get x8 pcie lanes, which is more than enough for any possible scenario. Furthermore, X570 motherboards are equipped with pcie gen 4.0, which provides (theoretically) double the bandwidth that the previous generation motherboards had.
x8 pcie gen 4.0 = ~ x16 gen 3.0, and 99% of current gpus (including the 2070’s) use pcie 3.0.
You would be OK with even 3 gpus on a X570 motherboard with a x8/x4/x4 configuration (but don’t tell them that, they will freak out …).

Do a little research, if you want. Search “x8 vs x16 pcie” and read relatively new articles about this. You’ll understand what’s going on with pcie bandwidth and if a modern gpu driving a monitor of up to 4K really needs full x16 lanes to perform well.

#7

Thank you very much, father! I’ll go and find a current article about PCIe lanes and then go smartypants on the it-solutions guys :wink:

#8

One more thing that is not so clear to me: Do I need SLI or NVLink for using dual GPUs for Redshift or Octane?

EDIT: My potential config: https://www.alternate.de/html/configurator/builder/loadSharedConfiguration.html?kind=pcBuilder&id=484f44a515fd718a545c47de3c93b158

#9

Some comments on your build:

  1. The cpu cooler is not adequate. The cpu will run too hot for the system to handle, and you might see throttling quite often. Pick a top air-cooler or an AIO for this cpu.
  2. The specific motherboard does have a 2nd pcie 4.0/3.0 slot, but it supports x4 mode from the chipset (see specs). I wouldn’t pick it for a dual gpu setup. I now see that the motherboard I picked in my list here wasn’t the right one, and I may have caused a confusion. I’m sorry. You’ll need something like this https://geizhals.de/asus-prime-x570-pro-90mb11b0-m0eay0-a2079094.html?hloc=at&hloc=de
  3. Not a good choice for a monitor. 28" 4K TN panel wouldn’t be the best choice for the budget. See a 27" 1440p IPS panel monitor for this use. This one would be better https://www.alternate.de/Dell/P2720D-LED-Monitor/html/product/1614560?

As for your question, sli has no meaning. Nvlink bridge might be super useful for gpu rendering if (and when) the specific software starts supporting this configuration. I’m not an Octane or Redshift expert, but from what I’ve read about nvlink, all the top gpu renderers will, at some point, start to implement this feature, enabling users to add up Vram and use it as a larger pool for rendering tasks. You should address this question to Redshift/Octane specific forums, and see what’s new.

#10

Wow. Again thank you very much for the detailed information and the suggestions!