I have modified the thread name to include both reviews and MB questions.
With an AsRock Epycd8 MB (it has 7 PCIe slots). With oddles of PCIe lanes (a technical description). And using a 1 to 4 Expansion adapter (USB mining) that will run 3 out of 4 ports on the Epycd8 MB.
Could you really run 21 GPU's? Have enough lanes to? No I no longer have that big of Mining frame.
Even if it yes, I think a more flexible setup with two GPU's on the MB and 12 using 4 Expansion boards would allow for projects that require high-pcie bandwidth to also process some tasks.
Shades of the Asus 19 slot Mining master MB.
Tom M
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
you're really wasting that board trying to cram three GPUs down a single PCIe lane. using a Bifurcation riser would be more appropriate. on the x16 slots you can run x4x4x4x4, and on the x8 slots you could run x4x4 and the system would be a lot more appropriately managed with more bandwidth and less issues with flakey splitters.
there may be some maximum number of devices. but I don't know what that limit is on the EPYCD8. I've seen a ROMED8 with 14x GPUs on it, so probably at least that many,
you're really wasting that board trying to cram three GPUs down a single PCIe lane. using a Bifurcation riser would be more appropriate. on the x16 slots you can run x4x4x4x4, and on the x8 slots you could run x4x4 and the system would be a lot more appropriately managed with more bandwidth and less issues with flakey splitters.
there may be some maximum number of devices. but I don't know what that limit is on the EPYCD8. I've seen a ROMED8 with 14x GPUs on it, so probably at least that many,
Bifurcation Riser? Clearly I need to research some more.
Something like this? https://www.ebay.com/itm/225813523326?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28&srsltid=AfmBOor5_1vK9s4nvXncziRMDvY2bbwBYetSGzBRySOlwzAGk3IkxtxojnY&com_cvv=d30042528f072ba8a22b19c81250437cd47a2f30330f0ed03551c4efdaf3409e
Thank you for the information and the feedback.
Tom M
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
you're really wasting that board trying to cram three GPUs down a single PCIe lane. using a Bifurcation riser would be more appropriate. on the x16 slots you can run x4x4x4x4, and on the x8 slots you could run x4x4 and the system would be a lot more appropriately managed with more bandwidth and less issues with flakey splitters.
there may be some maximum number of devices. but I don't know what that limit is on the EPYCD8. I've seen a ROMED8 with 14x GPUs on it, so probably at least that many,
Bifurcation Riser? Clearly I need to research some more.
Something like this? https://www.ebay.com/itm/225813523326?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28&srsltid=AfmBOor5_1vK9s4nvXncziRMDvY2bbwBYetSGzBRySOlwzAGk3IkxtxojnY&com_cvv=d30042528f072ba8a22b19c81250437cd47a2f30330f0ed03551c4efdaf3409e
Thank you for the information and the feedback.
Tom M
yes, something like that should work. barring any quality control issues of course.
and you need to make a BIOS change in coordination with this riser for it to work. you need to change the PCIe lane bifurcation settings for the slot you use it on to x4x4x4x4 instead of x16. these settings are available in the BIOS.
you might want to double check the BIOS options before buying anything to make sure which slots are capable of running at x4x4x4x4 (sometimes the BIOS only has option for x8x8) and you understand what change you need to make.
I wonder if these would be really good on mini-projects? :)
I also wonder if we will ever get an Apu or iGPU that is competitive with a recent/current generation discrete GPU?.
Respectfully
TL;DR - Very capable for CPU work if the build uses good components. Unsure about the GPU.
I've got something similar (an ASUS PN52-based 5600H (6C/12T) NUC-sized system with 32GB RAM, an NVMe SSD for software and an "ordinary" SSD for data storage and BOINC stuff). I've just looked up the current price for the same system from the place I got mine from and it would come in at about £700 for the basic build (with much less RAM and less, cheaper, storage), £900 for my build (which is a lot more than I paid about 7 months ago.)
Performance on BOINC CPU tasks from WCG, MilkyWay (NBody) and CPDN (when available) is fairly similar to my Ryzen 3700, and the power draw is lower :-)
As for GPU stuff, it has a laptop-style BIOS so [at present] I don't seem to have any way of giving the GPU access to enough memory to support some OpenCL stuff. I think I've got the driver right (Ubuntu 22.04, AMD drivers) but some sites don't seem to believe I've got a viable GPU and others send work that immediately crashes! As I suspect it won't outperform either of my relatively elderly NVIDIA cards I haven't bothered to put much effort into that, but may revisit it when on 24.04...)
So far it has been reliable; I wonder how reliable the devices described in that link would be if worked hard?.
I don't know about "turnkey" since at the very least you need to add memory, case, PSU, cooling solution. then install an arm capable Linux OS.
Sorry. I was misusing the word "turnkey" I should have said something like, easy DIY setup.
I think it may come with a cooling solution.? But even if it does not, apparently the memory is standard, PSU is standard, it fits into a standard PC case. And unlike the last ARM MB I looked at seriously you can apparently install a standard ARM version of Ubuntu and away you "go".
At least based on the review I saw (I think).
Because I am not a "real" developer it has to be pretty straight forward or I shoot myself in the foot.
Tom M
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
I have modified the thread
)
I have modified the thread name to include both reviews and MB questions.
With an AsRock Epycd8 MB (it has 7 PCIe slots). With oddles of PCIe lanes (a technical description). And using a 1 to 4 Expansion adapter (USB mining) that will run 3 out of 4 ports on the Epycd8 MB.
Could you really run 21 GPU's? Have enough lanes to? No I no longer have that big of Mining frame.
Even if it yes, I think a more flexible setup with two GPU's on the MB and 12 using 4 Expansion boards would allow for projects that require high-pcie bandwidth to also process some tasks.
Shades of the Asus 19 slot Mining master MB.
Tom M
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
you're really wasting that
)
you're really wasting that board trying to cram three GPUs down a single PCIe lane. using a Bifurcation riser would be more appropriate. on the x16 slots you can run x4x4x4x4, and on the x8 slots you could run x4x4 and the system would be a lot more appropriately managed with more bandwidth and less issues with flakey splitters.
there may be some maximum number of devices. but I don't know what that limit is on the EPYCD8. I've seen a ROMED8 with 14x GPUs on it, so probably at least that many,
_________________________________________________________________________
Ian&Steve C. wrote: you're
)
Bifurcation Riser? Clearly I need to research some more.
Something like this? https://www.ebay.com/itm/225813523326?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28&srsltid=AfmBOor5_1vK9s4nvXncziRMDvY2bbwBYetSGzBRySOlwzAGk3IkxtxojnY&com_cvv=d30042528f072ba8a22b19c81250437cd47a2f30330f0ed03551c4efdaf3409e
Thank you for the information and the feedback.
Tom M
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
Tom M wrote: Ian&Steve C.
)
yes, something like that should work. barring any quality control issues of course.
and you need to make a BIOS change in coordination with this riser for it to work. you need to change the PCIe lane bifurcation settings for the slot you use it on to x4x4x4x4 instead of x16. these settings are available in the BIOS.
you might want to double check the BIOS options before buying anything to make sure which slots are capable of running at x4x4x4x4 (sometimes the BIOS only has option for x8x8) and you understand what change you need to make.
_________________________________________________________________________
https://www.phoronix.com/revi
)
https://www.phoronix.com/review/system76-thelio-threadripper-2024/7
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
https://www.notebookcheck.net
)
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Minisforum-Two-new-Mini-PCs-with-powerful-AMD-APUs-presented.795288.0.html
I wonder if these would be really good on mini-projects? :)
I also wonder if we will ever get an Apu or iGPU that is competitive with a recent/current generation discrete GPU?.
Respectfully
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
Tom M
)
TL;DR - Very capable for CPU work if the build uses good components. Unsure about the GPU.
I've got something similar (an ASUS PN52-based 5600H (6C/12T) NUC-sized system with 32GB RAM, an NVMe SSD for software and an "ordinary" SSD for data storage and BOINC stuff). I've just looked up the current price for the same system from the place I got mine from and it would come in at about £700 for the basic build (with much less RAM and less, cheaper, storage), £900 for my build (which is a lot more than I paid about 7 months ago.)
Performance on BOINC CPU tasks from WCG, MilkyWay (NBody) and CPDN (when available) is fairly similar to my Ryzen 3700, and the power draw is lower :-)
As for GPU stuff, it has a laptop-style BIOS so [at present] I don't seem to have any way of giving the GPU access to enough memory to support some OpenCL stuff. I think I've got the driver right (Ubuntu 22.04, AMD drivers) but some sites don't seem to believe I've got a viable GPU and others send work that immediately crashes! As I suspect it won't outperform either of my relatively elderly NVIDIA cards I haven't bothered to put much effort into that, but may revisit it when on 24.04...)
So far it has been reliable; I wonder how reliable the devices described in that link would be if worked hard?.
Cheers - Al.
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E
)
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813140134
It looks like NewEgg is accepting back orders on this Arm MB and CPU combo.
It was listed as out of stock period.
This provides a full sized turnkey desktop ARM MB.
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
I don't know about "turnkey"
)
I don't know about "turnkey" since at the very least you need to add memory, case, PSU, cooling solution. then install an arm capable Linux OS.
_________________________________________________________________________
Ian&Steve C. wrote: I don't
)
Sorry. I was misusing the word "turnkey" I should have said something like, easy DIY setup.
I think it may come with a cooling solution.? But even if it does not, apparently the memory is standard, PSU is standard, it fits into a standard PC case. And unlike the last ARM MB I looked at seriously you can apparently install a standard ARM version of Ubuntu and away you "go".
At least based on the review I saw (I think).
Because I am not a "real" developer it has to be pretty straight forward or I shoot myself in the foot.
Tom M
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)