PSU, MoBo and case for a 3 GPU configuration

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CoreOxide

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Hi,

I'm building a system that would act as both a gaming PC and a litecoin mining rig.
For this purpose, I'm going to build a 3-4 card configuration (not sure yet) and turn off mining on one of them for gaming, occasionally.

The cards would be R9 280x.

I only need one PCIe 3 X16 slot, as mining will even do with a X8 PCIe 2 BUS. There is also no real need for crossfire.

The CPU that will be used is i5 3570K (with OC) and the RAM is a 16GB kt of Ripjaws.

What PSU, MoBo and Case would you recommend for this setup?

Note that the case will be on it's side and not standing, and I will only have room for about 24cm height (for a lying case) and about 58cm length.

Thanks!
 
Solution
Rammy
x8 isn't a limitation on PCIe 3.0, it has way more bandwidth than you need. That's why even the best motherboards do (mainly) x8-x8-x8-x8
The problem comes when they have two PCIe 3.0 slots, which run at x8-x8 (very common) and often have a 3rd slot which is PCIe 2.0 and runs at x4 (the equivalent of PCIe3.0 x2) which may well cause you bandwidth issues.
This is the case with the Z77A-G45 (the last slot is PCIe2.0 and only runs at x4)
The Tomshardware review also bitches about poor documentation (tell me about it)
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z77-express-ivy-bridge-benchmark,3254-26.html

I'll be honest, I'm more of a general systems guy than a motherboard pro, and my real world experience of using multiple graphics cards is...
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Rammy

Rammy

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Your dimensions are very awkward to get a case with enough airflow to feed 4 graphics cards.
The obvious choice is the HAF XB, which is designed to be used that way around, but it is 330mm high.
Also, by length do you mean width or depth?
 
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CoreOxide

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Thanks Rammy,

To make things less confusing, lets say the case is standing :)
Max dimensions can be: width 24, depth 58 and hight is less important, but I'd say also about 60cm.

BTW, I don't mind ending up getting only 3 cards is case is such an issue with 4.
 
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Rammy

Rammy

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Yeah that's not too bad in terms of dimensions, but it probably will mean lying a case on it's side rather than having a properly orientated one. You'll probably want to buy some sort of rubber feet or something for it to sit on, whichever case you chose, or else it'll probably make a lot of noise.

If you want to get something as big as possible (not a bad idea really) then something like a Fracal Design ARC XL should fit into those criteria and is pretty cavernous.

For motherboards, despite you not needing Crossfire, you do basically need to look for motherboards that support 4 way crossfire. The reason for this is that the layout of most enthusiast motherboards is to leave gaps between slots, and usually only two PCIe x16. Having four x16 slots is pretty high end (you do need these, you just need them to be able to run in x8 mode)
Examples of this -
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP7
Asus P8Z77 WS
ASRock Z77 Extreme9
Asus Maximus V Extreme

As for PSU, this is pretty nasty. You are looking at somewhere in the 1200-1500W bracket, very specialist.
An XFX XXX1250, Seasonic X-1250, Antec HCP-1300 Platinum. There's not a massive selection.
 
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CoreOxide

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Hi Rammy,

Thanks for your recommendations. I looked into the models you suggested and found that a 4 card setup would be quite expensive. It's about 1.4 times more expensive because of the motherboard and PSU.

What if I get like a Gigabyte Z77X-D3H (or MSI Z77A-GD55) and a 1Kw PSU like SeaSonic 1050W Gold X-Series and Fracal Design ARC Mid 2 (The XL is not available in my area, have to ship it)?

I only care that the main PCIe won't share bus with the other ones.. The other two can share as the two secondary cards will only be used for mining (i think that 1 R9 280x should be enough for now).

BTW, will setting 3 cards have any load on the PCIe slots or southbridge? I heard people with mining rigs use PCIe risers to have an extra layer of protection...
 
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CoreOxide

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Hi Rammy,

Thanks for your recommendations. I looked into the models you suggested and found that a 4 card setup would be quite expensive. It's about 1.4 times more expensive because of the motherboard and PSU.

What if I get like a Gigabyte Z77X-D3H (or MSI Z77A-GD55) and a 1Kw PSU like SeaSonic 1050W Gold X-Series and Fracal Design ARC Mid 2 (The XL is not available in my area, have to ship it)?

I only care that the main PCIe won't share bus with the other ones.. The other two can share as the two secondary cards will only be used for mining (i think that 1 R9 280x should be enough for now).

BTW, will setting 3 cards have any load on the PCIe slots or southbridge? I heard people with mining rigs use PCIe risers to have an extra layer of protection...
 
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CoreOxide

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So the Hardware list is getting smaller. I'm down to those 3 PSUs:
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W
Corsair HX1050W Silver
SeaSonic 1050W Gold X-Series
The only silver rating here belongs to the Corsair one, don't really know how much does that matter..

As a motherboard goes, it's down to MSI Z77A-G45 and MSI Z77A-GD55. As said, I only need one PCIe 3 X16 slot. I saw a lot of Gigabyte motherboard that share the bandwidth between PCIe slots 1 and 2, and those 2 MSI models do not. I'm not really sure what's the difference between them. Can you advice?

Case is bit of a mystery yet... do you think that a mid-tower case will do here? of will the bottom GPU interfere with the PSU fan?
 
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Rammy

Rammy

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Motherboards - As far as I know every motherboard divides bandwidth one way or another, even the super high end ones.
The Z77A-G45 works in x8-x8-x4 (had to google that, MSI specs are rubbish).
Z77A-GD55 seems to work in x8-x8-x2 (again, google mess)

Trying to find a board that will run x8-x8-x8 is an absolute nightmare. Two graphics cards is really easy. Three+Four, very complicated as it requires a bit of a reworking of conventional motherboard design.
The cheapest one I can find is the ECS Golden Z77H2-AX, and even it is $240 and apparently, out of stock.
The only others I can find that really do what you want are the ones I already mentioned. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that a setup of this nature is both challenging and outrageously expensive.

Cases
I think you have some slightly unusual criteria, which does cut down your selection somewhat. One of the reasons I suggested the Arc XL is because it also supports the slightly larger E-ATX boards, as well as just having plenty of room to move. Also, there aren't all that many cases that are entirely flat on one side, it's very common these days to have vents, curves and recesses in the side panels, not ideal if you want to lean it over.
PSU fan should never be a concern in a modern case as you install them pointing down, the side facing the graphics cards should just be a flat sheet of metal.
There will be other suitable cases, but that one definitely jumped out at me as a good pick for your situation. NZXT
Source 530 or Switch 810 might fit the bill, as might the Corsair 330R, Bitfenix Shinobi XL, just check the dimensions first. I'd definitely be inclined to go as big as you can fit.

PSU
All three of those are pretty decent, though I kinda have issues with Thermaltake as PSU brand (80% of their stuff is junk).
If it were me, I'd get the Seasonic X 1050 or XFX XXX 1050. Under the case they are near to identical (both made by Seasonic and both have a 5 year warranty). Often the XFX is cheaper so it's a pretty easy winner.
 
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CoreOxide

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PSU - will go with Seasonic 1050W.

Case - will go with Arc XL (will have to get it shipped. If you say it's the first thing that jumped out then I'll trust your initial instincts). I really hope it will fit in nicely, as it's 23.2 cm, and I have 24 cm sharp - I have a shelf-like space for it so it has to fit. It's open from all directions, so horizontal airflow will be available.

Motherboards - Are you sure there are no model that will give me something like X16-X4-X4 even? If not, then I'll go with the Z77A-G45.
 
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Rammy

Rammy

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x8 isn't a limitation on PCIe 3.0, it has way more bandwidth than you need. That's why even the best motherboards do (mainly) x8-x8-x8-x8
The problem comes when they have two PCIe 3.0 slots, which run at x8-x8 (very common) and often have a 3rd slot which is PCIe 2.0 and runs at x4 (the equivalent of PCIe3.0 x2) which may well cause you bandwidth issues.
This is the case with the Z77A-G45 (the last slot is PCIe2.0 and only runs at x4)
The Tomshardware review also bitches about poor documentation (tell me about it)
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z77-express-ivy-bridge-benchmark,3254-26.html

I'll be honest, I'm more of a general systems guy than a motherboard pro, and my real world experience of using multiple graphics cards is limited in both time and scope (2 cards) so I'm probably not the greatest guy to be covering this topic, but it would appear I'm the only one who responded thus far.

I reckon the ARC XL is a pretty safe bet. I'm not sure how well it'll work in horizontal mode, as it's not really designed for that, but it should have enough ventilation so you can get it working fine. To cover an earlier question about slot loads, I wasn't going to bring it up as I simply don't have the experience to comment. However, if you are using a motherboard horizontally then there is no shear force loading, it shouldn't be a problem.
 
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