contemplating a folding rig...

Soldato
Joined
28 Oct 2002
Posts
3,356
right, where to start!

Plan would be to run windows XP with 3 GPU clients running.


**B Grade** Abit IX38 QuadGT Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 (MB-138-AB) £68.99

Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ) £40.24

Intel Celeron E1200 1.6Ghz Dual-Core Processor (LGA775) - Retail £39.09

Coolermaster Elite 330 Midi Tower Case - Black (No PSU) £29.89

OcUK 2GB (1x2GB) PC2-5300C5 667MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £17.24


From what I understand the low spec CPU and ram will be fine running just the GPU client. HDD requirements are also very low - I could get a slightly cheaper HDD, but figure that at least 320gb might be useful some where else if I need it to be.

Running XP would mean that I dont need VGA dummies or monitors connected, is that correct? I would want to put the PC in a cupboard with my switch / router / NAS, so no space for monitor really! would leave it running 24/7 and setup some kind of remote access so i could check up on it now and again.


I have found some reasonably cheap 8800GT's, these seem like a better deal than the 9800GT's that OCUk stock. looks like there is little performance gain for the extra outlay.


Zotac GeForce 9800 GT 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (ZT-98GES4P-FDR) £86.24 x 3

what kind of PSU will i need for 3 of these cards? bearing in mind the CPU will be barely in use and no accesories apart from maybe a few fans.

any other advice on the above?

cheers. :)
 
so to confirm, once setup a windows XP rig wont complain if no monitors or dummy plugs attached?


regards the cupboard and heat, its a good size airing cupboard, but gets quite warm as the boiler is in there. it certainly wont help with the heat, bu then equally i dont need to worry so much about noisey fans as its stuffed in the cupboard, so will aim large fans at the graphics cards etc.! :)
 
Im running XP with multiple GPU's and CPU usage is only 1%-2% with the latest cuda driver and you dont need a dummy load with XP.If your planning on running 3 cards i suggest the MSI K9A2 Platinum board but it is for AMD proc though.I'm also looking to get a used model of this board as my current board wont boot with 3 9800 GX2.Pix of the board below as you can see it got a very good spacing between PCIe slots.

what PSU are using to power that lot?
 
right, all bits ordered and just after a PSU and some additional GPU's now!

ordered one 8800GT for starters and will get some other GPU's from MM as and when they turn up.
 
dedicated box was delayed due to motherboard availability. also my PPD has dropped due to internet migration being messed up.

Internet should be back up today and all i need is a HSF for the folding rig and that will be a 8800GT running 24/7 with more GPU's to follow. :)
 
Back
Top Bottom