I wounder.....

[DeepFriedJif]

Hey guys, so I am transforming my current PC into a dream machine. I have so far upgraded my processor and motherboard. 3930k and ASRock x79 Extreme 11.
I want to get 4x gtx 690, now I am FULLY aware that this is beyond more horse power than is necessary, that is the point of the build. Now I am no noob to this, I know that I couldn't use 2 of the cards (4 of the gpus) for gaming, but i plan to run 3 monitors and megatask and what not. Still not necessary but again not my cocern. I was just wondering if the system will pick up and recognise all 4 cards, even if games can not use them, will the system be able too?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to answer!

 

[seumasbeathan]

Let me see if I read this right, you want 4 GTX 690's? That isn't even possible. If you meant 4 680's (2 690's) then yes that is possible but it is not needed, in fact it will give you worse performance than 3 or even 2 680's

 

[yassarikhan786]

As above, 4 x 690's is not possible with any motherboard (as far as I know).

 

[DeepFriedJif]

Well as i would normally agree, as form what I have been able to read on the Nvidia forums the normal limitations for running 4x 690 is either not enough PCIe bandwidth or not enough expansion slots. I will have neither of those problems. I know that the drivers won't support it for games, like I said I am purely wondering if the computer will recognize them so I can use them to accelerate computing. But if its truly not possible them I will find a different solution.(more than open to suggestions)

 

[Pwn3d|HGL]

Try and get one of those Ares II video cards, those are beasts.

 

[Pr3d4t0r]

current motherboards only have enough bandwidth(or whatnot) to support 4 gpu cores at one time, therefore having 4 690's is impossible(and stupid since you would pay for 3 cards to just sit there idly)

get A 690 or 7990, you can always add another card later on if the technology exists to balance it out with cpu performance.

i wouldnt have recomended asrock mobo especially if you wanted to get a quad sli in there, they are not very good to be honest and its always better to go with better brands. it will handle a single/sli ok probably but having a quad sli would only be beneficial on a proper board.

of course you can still grab 4 680's and they would work fine but 4 gpu cores is max you can get up to.

ps. off topic: what actually happens when you install more then 4 cores?

 

[Timeless]

of course you can still grab 4 680's and they would work fine

in benchmarking...


@DeepFriedJif: You should really do your homework on tri/quad SLI systems and their effect on a lot of games cause more isn't always better.

I think the best solution at the moment for ultimate high-res/multiple monitors gaming will be 2 680 4GB in SLI. Anything more is just silly and a waste of time and money.

 

[dragoonk]

Oh dear Lord, the money that would go into that... I'd buy meself a decent car and still be left with some change to get drunk with that kinda money.
The Max for any mobo is 4 graphical cores (2x690's/2x7990's etc.) no matter what you want to use them for. I'd recommend getting one dual GPU card like a 7990.

 

[DeepFriedJif]

Thanks for the input and I have decided to go with either a single 690 or 2 680s for now, ill add more later and witht the new 700 seriers on the way I don't to sink all my moeny if the 700 series iz as great as the 600 series is, if its now ill go for the dual 690s other wise just get the new series cards. Btw, the reason Im going 690 ovet 7990 is for the cuda cores for accelerating video editing and what not.

 

[DeepFriedJif]

current motherboards only have enough bandwidth(or whatnot) to support 4 gpu cores at one time, therefore having 4 690's is impossible(and stupid since you would pay for 3 cards to just sit there idly)

get A 690 or 7990, you can always add another card later on if the technology exists to balance it out with cpu performance.

i wouldnt have recomended asrock mobo especially if you wanted to get a quad sli in there, they are not very good to be honest and its always better to go with better brands. it will handle a single/sli ok probably but having a quad sli would only be beneficial on a proper board.

of course you can still grab 4 680's and they would work fine but 4 gpu cores is max you can get up to.

ps. off topic: what actually happens when you install more then 4 cores?

I was going to get a R4E but with the dual plx chips abd the lsi chip built in I could not pass it up. It has served me very well, i do not regret the decision to go with it. It may be excessive but as you can probably tell thats how I like my systems

 

[| raVen |]

:lol:There is just 1! SLI connector on 690 so you cannot connect more then 2 cards:lol:
Even if you have money, don't spend them like stupid!... Having epic rig doesn't means that you need to have the best specs possible...

 

[deadloss]

Most of the comments I do agree with.

From experience with the GTX590, running this in SLI (2 x GTX590 so in total 4 cores), I had a lot of issues with them, and to be totally honest went down to a single GTX590 and used another card (GTX480) as a dedicated Physx Card.

Using the 480 as a dedicated physx card, did improve performance but overall might not be worth the extra power consumption nor heat in the computer case.
When running 3DVantage that was a difference in the score when using the 480, but again it's entirely down to personal preference.

The GTX590 and 690 from what I understand are more than enough horse power to plough through any game, and get yourself the GTX650 as a dedicated Physx card, and you'll be smiling till the cow come in.

You can take a look at my system here:

http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=50315

Hope this help mate,

Deadloss out...

 

[DeepFriedJif]

Wow.... I had not considered that before. Thank you for the great idea man that might be the best one so far Question, can i use any card for the dedicated physics card or does it have to be a lover end card like a 660 or 650?

 

[deadloss]

Wow.... I had not considered that before. Thank you for the great idea man that might be the best one so far Question, can i use any card for the dedicated physics card or does it have to be a lover end card like a 660 or 650?

I'll be honest I don't truly know, I don't see why you couldn't add a GTX690 as a dedicated Physx card. However it would be a complete waste mate, remember you want a great card doing all the graphic work, and a card only dedicated to Physx, which won't be doing allot all the time.

I've heard that the GTX650 is great for Physx, and wouldn't go any higher than that, plus it will save you money (which from the sounds of it isn't a problem). You've then got to think of power consumption, heat, etc...

I know many people don't believe in Physx, or even having a dedicated physx card with such a high-end card like the 690, but from experience with the 590, it did make a difference.

My advice: A Single GTX690 and (dedicated Physx GTX650), would still be overkill, but that would be an awesome setup my friend.

Hope this helps.

 

[DeepFriedJif]

Thank you for the input man. One of most helpful and insiteful peices of advice I have gotten thus far. I think this will be the plan for now. Gtx 690 for graphis and a 650 or 660 for physx. Again thabks for the advice.

 

[deadloss]

Thank you for the input man. One of most helpful and insiteful peices of advice I have gotten thus far. I think this will be the plan for now. Gtx 690 for graphis and a 650 or 660 for physx. Again thabks for the advice.

Not a problem mate, I will admit it's been a while since i've been in the computing / graphics mode, and I'm sure people here can shed more light on this than me.

Hopefully i've just made you think a little different than overblowing your computer with a stack of 690's

Keep me updated on how you get on, and remember once built get some picture online for us to see :lol:

Cheers,

Deadloss.