maybe time for an upgrade


wgstarks

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I’m thinking about adding an nvidia graphics card for video encoding but because my mobo doesn’t have an x16 slot I’ll need to replace it.

 

My current motherboard is an SuperMicro MBD-X10SLL-F. I’m thinking about replacing it with a SuperMicro X10SAE. Not much of an upgrade but it will allow me to reuse my cpu and fan. I think the memory will still be good too. And the IPMI Fan Control app should still work (I hope). Am I missing anything?

 

Also, Google is showing a huge range of prices for the nvidia 1050Ti. Walmart has one for $100 US while Newegg has the same card for $400 US. It’s obvious from the pics that these aren’t really the same card, they don’t look the same at all and I’m a little doubtful of the quality of the cheaper versions. Could use some advice on which is the best price vs quality!!!

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45 minutes ago, JonathanM said:

It has a physical x16 length, but I'm pretty sure if you open the end of the slot it would even work in a 1x slot, at 1x speed.

 

PCIe is special that way.

 

Random google result

https://dfarq.homeip.net/x16-gpu-in-pcie-x1-slot-the-caveats/

Thanks. Might be able to make that work. I’ll just have to give up my m.2 cache drive (I have a spare slot for a 3.5 HDD) or the eSATA card I use for my external UA drive (could use onboard USB 2 instead). I don’t have any spare slots right now.

 

Still need recommendations on which GPU to buy though.

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1 hour ago, JonathanM said:

it would even work in a 1x slot, at 1x speed

The main problem that brought this up is that I’m trying to use the TDARR docker to re-encode my video library to x265. Right now I’m using cpu but TDARR is a real hog. Maxes out all cores that I assign to it. And very very slow encoding that way. If I connect the GPU to an x8 slot using a riser cable would that cause a significant speed lose on the encodes? Faster encodes is my primary reason for making the change.

 

 

Edit: Nevermind, google knows everything 😁. I should have checked there first.

https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2488-pci-e-3-x8-vs-x16-performance-impact-on-gpus

TL;DR- about a 1% decrease in performance in the x8 slot.

Edited by wgstarks
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Depending on the exact usage, there may not be ANY performance penalty, even in a x1 slot. It all depends on how the GPU is being used, if the job you are asking is 90% processing cycles and 10% i/o, it probably wouldn't even matter. Mining using GPU uses so little i/o that PCIe x1 is perfectly fine, no performance penalty at all.

 

I suspect transcoding is somewhere between mining and 3d gaming, probably on the mining end of the scale.

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On 11/1/2021 at 9:25 AM, wgstarks said:

Also, Google is showing a huge range of prices for the nvidia 1050Ti. Walmart has one for $100 US while Newegg has the same card for $400 US. It’s obvious from the pics that these aren’t really the same card, they don’t look the same at all and I’m a little doubtful of the quality of the cheaper versions. Could use some advice on which is the best price vs quality!!!

 

Walmart is super sketch online... They have so many random retailers on there that you could be looking at some wish.com level garbage card. Sure the 1050Ti is an older card but with the microchip shortage the way it is everything is hard to find and it being a cheap Chinese knock off is the only reason I would think you could find a 1050Ti for only $100 brand new.

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