Topic: My main office/gaming rig had a PSU die today. (Read 11807 times)

Hilton · « **on:** February 22, 2015, 05:12:53 am »

One of my PSU's died in my main rig today. Thankfully it died gracefully without killing anything.

I'd just booted into windows and the the system did a hard shutdown.
Well it's been pushed hard for more than 2 years doing plenty of re-encodes and multi-screen gaming!

I've managed to keep the system going off the remaining one, just...
I cant overclock the GPUs with just a single PSU and I've managed to use every modular connector on the PSU.

I think I'll get a couple of the Corsair AX1500i as you cant get the Maxrevo anymore.

The Platimax looks very similar but I don't like mixing PSUs.

Im done with the multi-rail thang too, it was fiddly even with 2 PSU to get the rails balanced and not trigger overloads.

Corsair have done a good job, I wont even bother re-sleaving these and they have the right combo of connectors.

I cant believe the competing EVGA 1600W P2 only has 4 molex connectors.
Not much good for watercooling systems, otherwise it would have been a nice choice too.

PS. For those that didn't know my system was drawing 1400W from one PSU and 1200W from the other under full load with voltage modded quad SLI 3GB GTX580s and a 4.8Ghz i7 4960X with 27 fans, 4 pumps and 4 radiators. Probably lucky it lasted that long.

JimH · « **Reply #1 on:** February 22, 2015, 07:18:57 am »

That must dim your neighbors' lights when you turn it on. Wow.

6233638 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 22, 2015, 11:18:37 am »

Seems like it would be cheaper to replace the GPUs with a pair of 980's. (or Titan 2's if you wait a couple of weeks)
You'd reduce power consumption by about 600-700W (some sites say each card would save you 50W, others say 100W) have higher performance, and have better SLI scaling.

27 fans though? I understand that having more fans in the system keeps things quieter, but does that really scale well when you're comparing 27 fans compared to a regular system with say 6?

mwillems · « **Reply #3 on:** February 22, 2015, 01:09:27 pm »

Volume scales logarithmically, so 27 fans are only 6.5dB louder than 6 fans running at the same speed, so if he can reduce fan speeds significantly he's probably still well ahead. Some fans drop 10dB or 12dB when spun at slower speeds.

jmone · « **Reply #4 on:** February 25, 2015, 12:29:31 am »

While you are at it, you might as well upgrade to a real fan

Hilton · « **Reply #5 on:** February 25, 2015, 06:46:15 am »

Quote from: JimH on February 22, 2015, 07:18:57 am

That must dim your neighbors' lights when you turn it on. Wow.

Haha yes the light in my office does dim a little when I load it up.

Quote from: 6233638 on February 22, 2015, 11:18:37 am

Seems like it would be cheaper to replace the GPUs with a pair of 980's. (or Titan 2's if you wait a couple of weeks)
You'd reduce power consumption by about 600-700W (some sites say each card would save you 50W, others say 100W) have higher performance, and have better SLI scaling.

27 fans though? I understand that having more fans in the system keeps things quieter, but does that really scale well when you're comparing 27 fans compared to a regular system with say 6?

Where's the fun in that?

It has 4 radiators for water cooling. 3 of them cool the GPUs which are each dissipating 350W+ each (1400W+) and 1 radiator cools the CPU. Each radiator has 6 fans (3 each side push/pull) and a shroud each side to balance the pressure and maximise cooling efficiency to keep it quiet. Air cooling couldn't cope with that kind of heat. I'm still getting minimum 60FPS even in the most demanding games across the 3 monitors at 6048x1080 resolution, so no real need to change GPUs yet. They are 3GB ones too.

I was going to replace them with Nvidia's next refresh though, and then I'll probably be able to run off one PSU anyway.

The system noise at idle is 35db @1m with the fans at 800RPM.
I have a pretty complex fan controller, the Aquaero 5XT which ramps the fans up or down based on water temp.
Needless to say the system is actually quieter than a normal desktop with normal light work and browsing and at full load only get to 46dbA @ 1m. So its better than a couple of video cards with fans screaming at 4000rpm, let alone 4.

I have the below on my G19 keyboard display for monitoring and as you can see the fans don't even get to the full 2000rpm at full load.

At idle

Under load

Quote from: mwillems on February 22, 2015, 01:09:27 pm

Volume scales logarithmically, so 27 fans are only 6.5dB louder than 6 fans running at the same speed, so if he can reduce fan speeds significantly he's probably still well ahead. Some fans drop 10dB or 12dB when spun at slower speeds.

Yep its quiet.

Quote from: jmone on February 25, 2015, 12:29:31 am

While you are at it, you might as well upgrade to a real fan

Nahhh now you just being silly... I'll settle for an aquarium chiller under the house.

JimH · « **Reply #6 on:** February 25, 2015, 06:56:02 am »

Holy crap.

6233638 · « **Reply #7 on:** February 25, 2015, 08:12:04 am »

Very nice.

<notices the rudders> Now it makes sense. Flight sim rigs always seem to be the ones with amazing watercooling setups and things like quad SLI or triple 4K monitors etc.

Matt · « **Reply #8 on:** February 25, 2015, 08:33:37 am »

We all stood around and marveled at this.

Are you launching a man to Mars?

Hilton · « **Reply #9 on:** February 25, 2015, 07:27:49 pm »

Quote from: Matt on February 25, 2015, 08:33:37 am

We all stood around and marveled at this.

Are you launching a man to Mars?

I wish

Yes its all a bit of overkill, but the challenge and satisfaction of building it was worth it.
All that cabling you see was hand made by me from rolls of wire. I crimped, sleeved and rewired, every single individual cable including the PSU cables.
I also upgraded the gauge of the wire to help prevent voltage drop. I managed to burnout/melt a couple of 24pin sockets with the system at full load last year. (easily replaced)

In 2012/13 when I first built it I got the system into the top 5 globally for 3dmark 11 so It's certainly not your every day system, but it works reliably and quiet. (it was the fastest 24/7 system at the time, all the other systems above me on 3dmark were benched with temporary liquid nitrogen cooling.)
Apart from the PSU and replacing a 24pin socket I haven't had to touch it.

Before

After

Here's a couple photo galleries of the build and components and below that the final evolution as it is today.

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=AC351A555A34C7F2&id=AC351A555A34C7F2%21296

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=AC351A555A34C7F2&id=AC351A555A34C7F2%21103

The final build as it stands today
https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=AC351A555A34C7F2&id=AC351A555A34C7F2%21878

Arindelle · « **Reply #10 on:** March 19, 2015, 11:35:21 am »

OMG !!

I take it you didn't build this to play world of warcraft!

Hendrik · « **Reply #11 on:** March 19, 2015, 02:52:19 pm »

He mentioned that earlier, Quad-SLI GTX580. A bit dated by now, i guess!

Arindelle · « **Reply #12 on:** March 20, 2015, 11:17:38 am »

Quote from: Hendrik on March 19, 2015, 02:52:19 pm

He mentioned that earlier, Quad-SLI GTX580. A bit dated by now, i guess!

oops sorry was blown away by the pics ... thanks

BryanC · « **Reply #13 on:** March 27, 2015, 11:48:45 am »

I feel you right now Hilton.

I'm building a GPU-accelerated workstation (dual Xeon 2697v3's with 3x GTX980's) and was using a Coolmax 1600W PSU. I've spent the better part of a month diagnosing hardware instabilities and I think I finally narrowed it down to the PSU. Sent it in and awaiting word from the manufacturer about its testing. Does this sound like a PSU problem to you or a mobo issue (using a Supermicro X10DRi)?

1. Can run all 28 cores at once if the fan switch on the PSU is set to max but not when it is set at dynamic/automatic (computer shuts down when I engage all cores)
2. Can boot with both processors and 2 GPUs but not with both processors and 3 GPUs
3. When I have both CPUs installed and 2 GPUs running, I can only get 14 cores (doesn't matter if they are on CPU1 or CPU2) going with the GPUs. When I bump up to 15 cores, the computer shuts down.
4. Nothing really in dmesg or the journal of note (hard truncation)

There are two options I can think of: bad PSU or maybe the mobo is unable to provide enough power through PCIe to the 3 GPUs? The GTX980s and new Xeons are very efficient though. I doubt a mobo manufacturer is releasing bad dual-CPU hardware without sufficient testing. I can imagine that the PSU was perhaps poorly tested? Who knows.

Hendrik · « **Reply #14 on:** March 27, 2015, 12:03:02 pm »

That Server Board doesn't have any extra power connectors other than the 24pin ATX, does it?
Without those, it would be hard-pressed to deliver full power to 3 GPUs and 2 CPUs. At least one extra 8 pin EPS12V connector would probably be needed. To me, it looks like the board may not be designed to be a GPU workstation.

Edit:
NVM, it does seem to have those, they were just hidden behind stickers on the images I found, which made it non-obvious. I hope you had them connected, though.

Power delivery may still not be designed for something like this, depending on what target use-case they figured this mainboard would go into. But thats nothing but speculation.

BryanC · « **Reply #15 on:** March 27, 2015, 01:27:37 pm »

Quote from: Hendrik on March 27, 2015, 12:03:02 pm

That Server Board doesn't have any extra power connectors other than the 24pin ATX, does it?
Without those, it would be hard-pressed to deliver full power to 3 GPUs and 2 CPUs. At least one extra 8 pin EPS12V connector would probably be needed. To me, it looks like the board may not be designed to be a GPU workstation.

Edit:
NVM, it does seem to have those, they were just hidden behind stickers on the images I found, which made it non-obvious. I hope you had them connected, though.

Power delivery may still not be designed for something like this, depending on what target use-case they figured this mainboard would go into. But thats nothing but speculation.

Yep, I had the two additional 8 pins installed, and of course the GPUs each have their own 2x6-pin power connectors. I don't know what the board is specifically designed for. I had to choose this because I needed an EATX configuration and it was the only 2011v3 board with at least 3 GPU slots for that purpose.

It sounds like I may have to find a different board if the PSU tests OK. I figured that if a mobo had 3xPCIe_x16 slots, that I could drop whatever I needed into them. I didn't realize they had to be designed for specific applications. My first workstation build and a learning experience, I suppose.

Hilton · « **Reply #16 on:** March 27, 2015, 06:28:44 pm »

According to xtreme PSU calculator you should be fine with 1600W (you need between 900 & 1000W)

Unfortunately unless the PSU is a single rail high current supply, you'll need to balance the power rail load. I'm guessing probably no more than 20Amps per rail are available so you'll need to check rail assignment on the connectors and balance the power across the GPUs, ATX and the EPS12. If you have lots of drives and fans you'll need to consider them too. I'll check the PSU out for you online.

Hilton · « **Reply #17 on:** March 27, 2015, 06:43:08 pm »

Well it should be ok as long as your not loading up the smaller power rail. It has a 110A and 50A 12v rail. Otherwise it's a poor quality PSU that can't meet the specs.

BryanC · « **Reply #18 on:** March 28, 2015, 12:51:53 pm »

Quote from: Hilton on March 27, 2015, 06:43:08 pm

Well it should be ok as long as your not loading up the smaller power rail. It has a 110A and 50A 12v rail. Otherwise it's a poor quality PSU that can't meet the specs.

Yeah, I had the same thoughts. I think the 50A must go to the 24-pin and 2x8-pin connectors for the mobo so its powering just the board and CPUs. The GPUs/SSDs are using the modular cables that I'm assuming are using the 110A rails. I've read that GPUs using PCIEx3 with external power connectors don't require much juice from the board, but I could be mistaken.

Hilton · « **Reply #19 on:** March 28, 2015, 10:08:50 pm »

Sometimes there's a pci-e aux power connector on the board too, though they're mostly on overclocking boards.

newsposter · « **Reply #20 on:** March 29, 2015, 07:08:20 pm »

:shrug:

Go with SAS-connect SSDs on long cables, and immerse your whole rig in a cooled mineral oil bath.

It's the only way to be sure.

Hilton · « **Reply #21 on:** March 29, 2015, 07:47:54 pm »

I had a quick look through the board manual and it states it only supports 18 core CPUs. It may run with higher cores but unsupported. (unless there's a bios update to support it)
The board power regulators may not be able to supply enough power to the PCI-E bus with 2x 24 core CPUs and 3 GPUs no matter what power supply you put on it.

BryanC · « **Reply #22 on:** March 29, 2015, 08:01:21 pm »

Quote from: Hilton on March 29, 2015, 07:47:54 pm

I had a quick look through the board manual and it states it only supports 18 core CPUs. It may run with higher cores but unsupported. (unless there's a bios update to support it)
The board power regulators may not be able to supply enough power to the PCI-E bus with 2x 24 core CPUs and 3 GPUs no matter what power supply you put on it.

I'm only using 14-core CPUs, but it might be a board limitation nonetheless. I'll have to see what Coolmax says about the PSU.

BryanC · « **Reply #23 on:** April 04, 2015, 11:57:14 am »

Got the new Coolmax PSU today and the computer still shuts off under load. It seems less stable with this PSU so I think I'm going to try a single-rail 1600W PSU. I'm also going to use a 208V outlet to improve efficiency.

If that doesn't work it's the mobo. I'll be SOL then since I'm slightly over budget and will probably have to sell an extra Titan Black I have for my rendering rig.

BryanC · « **Reply #24 on:** April 07, 2015, 11:17:35 am »

Quote from: BryanC on April 04, 2015, 11:57:14 am

Got the new Coolmax PSU today and the computer still shuts off under load. It seems less stable with this PSU so I think I'm going to try a single-rail 1600W PSU. I'm also going to use a 208V outlet to improve efficiency.

If that doesn't work it's the mobo. I'll be SOL then since I'm slightly over budget and will probably have to sell an extra Titan Black I have for my rendering rig.

Switched to a 208V outlet today. The rig is MUCH more stable. I can run both CPUs simultaneously and one GPU. If I go above that, system still crashes under load. BUT, I can boot with 3 GPUs!!! So it's not a mobo issue, it's a power issue. Ordered a new single-rail 1600W PSU and will be using it on my 208V outlet. Cannot recommend these high-wattage Coolmax PSUs.

Hendrik · « **Reply #25 on:** April 07, 2015, 11:18:32 am »

Poor americans, 110V is really going to be annoying on such high-powered systems.

drmimosa · « **Reply #26 on:** April 09, 2015, 09:01:57 am »

Wow. This is awesome.

Out of curiosity, what is the JRiver benchmark number?

JimH · « **Reply #27 on:** April 09, 2015, 09:55:37 am »

I'm guessing 8,000.

6233638 · « **Reply #28 on:** April 09, 2015, 10:42:40 am »

Quote from: JimH on April 09, 2015, 09:55:37 am

I'm guessing 8,000.

With a 4960X I'd guess something around 6000. The clockspeed might bump it closer to 6500. It's a 6-core Ivy Bridge CPU.

mojave · « **Reply #29 on:** April 09, 2015, 11:38:11 am »

I "only" got 6305 with my i7-5820K.

6233638 · « **Reply #30 on:** April 09, 2015, 12:42:38 pm »

Quote from: mojave on April 09, 2015, 11:38:11 am

I "only" got 6305 with my i7-5820K.

That's why I'm thinking it would be in the 6000-6500 range, because I think it's clocked quite a bit higher, but is an older generation CPU.

Hendrik · « **Reply #31 on:** April 09, 2015, 05:02:21 pm »

I was curious and ran it on my i7-5930K just now, but for some reason my scores are much lower than mojave's 5820. I'm not running a high OC or anything, but its still much slower (barely 5000)
Wonder if we broke something that made it slower recently, or if my system has some undiagnosed difficulties.

mwillems · « **Reply #32 on:** April 09, 2015, 05:05:36 pm »

My JRMarks across all systems are about four or five hundred points lower than they were when the builds were in the 40's. I noticed, but didn't think anything of it, and I don't run benches regularly enough to know what's up. I was just benchmarking some virtual machines, and wanted a "baremetal" point of comparison, and saw my JRMarks on the normal computers dipping.

For example, my i7-2600K used to routinely bench in the low 4000's, it now benches around 3500. I saw a similar decline with the i7-4790K (was in the high 5000's, now in the low 5000's, about five hundred points, give or take), ditto with a few other systems. I wasn't sure what to make of it, but you're not alone Hendrik.

Maybe mojave could validate?

Hendrik · « **Reply #33 on:** April 09, 2015, 05:15:01 pm »

I bet its the number sorting changes we did some time ago, so that it can also sort decimals properly now. Obviously thats going to be a bit slower.
Its mostly the Database section which is slower for me, when comparing individual parts of the results.

Unfortunately that invalidates older benchmark numbers, but what can you do.

Hilton · « **Reply #34 on:** April 09, 2015, 08:19:30 pm »

From just over 2 years ago with the 3930K

JRMark (version 18.0.120): 5368 @ 4.4Ghz
JRMark (version 18.0.120): 6128 @ 5Ghz

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=54396.msg527444#msg527444

It's significantly lower now on the latest MC20 builds on my 4960X but Im not exactly sure. I think it was under 5000 @ 4.7Ghz with the 4960X.
However, even that's not representative as I have very old GTX 580s now which have very little to do with the real performance of MC and they significantly hold back the overall score now.

Hilton · « **Reply #35 on:** April 09, 2015, 08:20:25 pm »

RoderickGI · « **Reply #36 on:** April 09, 2015, 09:06:08 pm »

Quote from: BryanC on April 07, 2015, 11:17:35 am

So it's not a mobo issue, it's a power issue. Ordered a new single-rail 1600W PSU and will be using it on my 208V outlet. Cannot recommend these high-wattage Coolmax PSUs.

I only buy single 12V rail 80+ Platinum rated power supplies these days, with DC to DC conversion for the lower voltages. As per my signature, Seasonic won out last time (7 Years Warranty!), but I don't think they have a big enough power supply for your needs.

Which PSU did you order?

PS: Nice rig Hilton, and nice job with the wiring. Lots of work though!

BryanC · « **Reply #37 on:** April 13, 2015, 03:01:06 pm »

Quote from: RoderickGI on April 09, 2015, 09:06:08 pm

I only buy single 12V rail 80+ Platinum rated power supplies these days, with DC to DC conversion for the lower voltages. As per my signature, Seasonic won out last time (7 Years Warranty!), but I don't think they have a big enough power supply for your needs.

Which PSU did you order?

PS: Nice rig Hilton, and nice job with the wiring. Lots of work though!

I ordered the EVGA Supernova 1600W P2 (platinum single-rail). Just got finished installing it and...SUCCESS. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SUCCESS. I was down to the last bit of my grant money and was going to have to start coming out of pocket to get my research done.

The bad PSU just created so many different issues it was impossible to diagnose. One of the most frustrating ordeals of my life.

RoderickGI · « **Reply #38 on:** April 13, 2015, 07:34:05 pm »

Quote from: BryanC on April 13, 2015, 03:01:06 pm

I ordered the EVGA Supernova 1600W P2 (platinum single-rail). Just got finished installing it and...SUCCESS. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SUCCESS. I was down to the last bit of my grant money and was going to have to start coming out of pocket to get my research done.

The bad PSU just created so many different issues it was impossible to diagnose. One of the most frustrating ordeals of my life.

That looks like a pretty good power supply. Ticks most of the boxes. The 10 year warranty is great. The spec sheet doesn't say it uses DC to DC conversion for the lower voltages. Looks like it has separate rails for each voltage. There is also no mention of the voltage output tolerance, which is a bit strange. But the Tom's Hardware review is thorough and gives it a thumbs up, with a couple of caveats. It should be great though.

As you say, inadequate power or poor voltage control can produce so many strange symptoms that I just stopped buying cheap PSU's years ago. It just wasn't worth the time to try and diagnose. Been there. Done that. Kicked myself for buying cheap, especially when ALL the problems disappeared with a new, quality power supply. It is now one of the components in a PC that I am happy to spend money on.

Hilton · « **Reply #39 on:** May 30, 2015, 02:03:45 am »

I installed a Corsair AX1500i today in prep for some video card upgrades when the Nvidia GTX 980ti and AMD 390X come out.

It's a really nice PSU but the cables are a bit stiff.

It also isn't quite up to the task of running my system on it's own either.

I can only put a mild OC on the GPUs from 772Mhz to 840Mhz before its Over Current Protect (OCP) kicks in and does a hard shutdown.
That's still slightly better than the single Enermax Maxrevo 1500 could do. Single Enermax could only manage stock clocks on the GPUs. (running 2 of the Enermax supplies when both were working was fine with GPUs @ 1000/2200)

I'll probably still have to get another Corsair AX1500i when I get the new video cards. (quad SLI 980ti or quad Crossfire 390X)

OCCT GPU Load test - just about on the limt

Click me to open image in a new tab

OCCT PSU Load test (GPU and CPU) - absolutely on the limit

Click me to open image in a new tab

Hilton · « **Reply #40 on:** May 30, 2015, 03:44:08 am »

The Massive box

The goodies - (with the wrong power cord! - had to make my own IEC C19 to 3pin 10Amp cable)

Yep used allll the cable and modular connections.

Errrrr... Not quite as tidy as my custom sleeving job. I may remake one end of the old custom sleeved cables to fit the PSUs when I've finished this round of hardware upgrades. At least it's only one end!

That's a lot of cables...

JimH · « **Reply #41 on:** May 30, 2015, 06:59:47 am »

I am speechless .

I've never seen anything like it. You must be going for a world record in something.

Wow!

Hilton · « **Reply #42 on:** May 30, 2015, 08:31:17 am »

Quote from: JimH on May 30, 2015, 06:59:47 am

I am speechless .

I've never seen anything like it. You must be going for a world record in something.

Wow!

You said that last time.

It's just a new powersupply for the moment. I was hoping a new single rail 1500W PSU would run my system but knew there was a good chance I'd still have to put 2 x PSUs in again.

The new GPUs will be fun when they come out. The current GTX 580's have done well to last this long considering the tech is almost 5 years old. I've had them for coming up to 4 years now.

Some people upgrade every year or so (I used to too). Now I do BIG upgrades when the tech has sufficiently changed to warrant it.

I expect with another 4 new water cooled GPUs it will be in the top 20 systems again even without a new CPU and the fancy new DDR4 RAM and X99 chipset.
But that's not why I do it. I like the immersion I get from 3 screens, particularly in flight sims. The next round of upgrades are mostly just for Star Citizen though.

My system today can only muster 24FPS with 3 screens in Star Citizen. So I figure it's finally time.

JimH · « **Reply #43 on:** May 30, 2015, 08:57:52 am »

X-Plane?

I fly a little.

Hilton · « **Reply #44 on:** May 30, 2015, 09:23:47 am »

Yep X-Plane.. also

IL2 1946
IL2 Battle of Stalingrad
IL2 Cliffs of Dover
DCS: A-10C Warthog
FSX
War Thunder... and
Star Citizen

6233638 · « **Reply #45 on:** May 30, 2015, 10:40:25 am »

Quote from: Hilton on May 30, 2015, 02:03:45 am

I installed a Corsair AX1500i today in prep for some video card upgrades when the Nvidia GTX 980ti and AMD 390X come out.

I would have thought you'd be looking at getting Titan X's.
Isn't VRAM going to be an issue at 6048×1080?

I found that I was hitting the limits in newer games on my old 970 at 1920x1080, and that card only had 4GB.
Some tests I've seen have shown newer games to be using more than 6GB. (980Ti = 6GB, 390X = 4GB?)
I don't really know how applicable that is to flight sims, though I'd think it would apply to Star Citizen.

Hendrik · « **Reply #46 on:** May 30, 2015, 10:59:00 am »

If you run multi-screen, every GPU runs a separate screen, so none need the entire frame buffer really, which helps to keep memory in check.
And the Tis have 6GB at least.

PS:
If you want immersion, get a VR headset for Star Citizen...

I need to buy a proper HOTAS until SC is actually complete enough to be worth playing seriously.

6233638 · « **Reply #47 on:** May 30, 2015, 01:26:17 pm »

Quote from: Hendrik on May 30, 2015, 10:59:00 am

If you run multi-screen, every GPU runs a separate screen, so none need the entire frame buffer really, which helps to keep memory in check.
And the Tis have 6GB at least.

PS: If you want immersion, get a VR headset for Star Citizen...
I need to buy a proper HOTAS until SC is actually complete enough to be worth playing seriously.

Data is duplicated across all cards with a multi-GPU setup, rather than pooled together.
3x6GB cards = 6GB available VRAM, not 18GB.

DirectX12/Vulkan with split-frame rendering will apparently allow GPU memory to be allocated independently so that you only have to store the relevant data for the portion of the screen that each card is rendering, but the majority of games will not have DX12/Vulkan support for a number of years, and I don't know that all titles will support SFR.

6GB doesn't seem like a lot of VRAM if you're playing "next-gen" games such as Star Citizen.
We already have console ports eating up 8GB on a Titan X. (e.g. Call of Duty)

Hendrik · « **Reply #48 on:** May 30, 2015, 04:33:43 pm »

Quote from: 6233638 on May 30, 2015, 01:26:17 pm

Data is duplicated across all cards with a multi-GPU setup, rather than pooled together.
3x6GB cards = 6GB available VRAM, not 18GB.

If you run the cards all in SLI, then it would be. But SLI only supports 2 screens, so running 4-way SLI for 3 screens doesn't work. At least thats my understanding.

Hilton · « **Reply #49 on:** May 30, 2015, 09:15:05 pm »

4way SLI actually supports 3 screens for your gaming resolution plus an auxiliary 2d screen.
That's the whole point of SLI. It use to be you could only run 2 screens with a single card and you needed at least SLI to get 3 screen surround working. Now you can do 3 screen on a single card.
A lot of games are starting to use all available video memory, that's not to say they need it. The 390x will be available in an 8GB version too because of the stacked HBM memory.

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Author Topic: My main office/gaming rig had a PSU die today. (Read 11807 times)